When creating a television show, there is always the hope that it will be picked up by a studio, do well in the ratings and garner a strong fanbase. Once the writers and creators have achieved this, the next logical step appears to be to capitalise on the success of the show and its characters by expanding the world into other spinoff or interconnecting shows. It has been happening for decades, though arguably more frequently and successfully in the US than here or in the UK, but we've become accustomed to seeing characters or families leave one show only to crop up again a few months later in their own new show. For the fans it was a bonus, not only did you have the show you love to watch, you also got this new show and new characters to enjoy, whilst also having the fun of seeing some of your favourite characters cross over and interact. But at what point does it stop becoming just a fun way to enjoy more of your favourite characters and writing, and become a chore that you have to keep up with in order to have a full understanding of what is going on?
Anyone who knows me will be able to tell you how much of a Grey's Anatomy fan I am. When I was 8 and the show was first airing I used to watch it religiously with my Mam. Those Tuesdays in Primary school where Grey's Anatomy would be on at 9pm followed by Desperate Housewives at 10pm and I got to stay up and watch both are some of my favourite memories with her. I rediscovered a love of it in 6th Year when I rewatched it in its entirety after my mocks (probably not a great idea in hindsight), and watched it fully again in college. Despite Addison Montgomery being my favourite character when I was a kid, I never felt the need to watch Private Practice, and it didn't really matter that I didn't watch it because aside from Addison coming back to Seattle Grace every now and again or one of the doctors visiting her in LA, there wasn't a huge amount of overlap in the two series. They existed and could be enjoyed on their own. The same can be said of the Law and Order or Chicago (Med, Fire, PD) franchises. You don't have to have seen every episode of every Law and Order spinoff to understand what's going on in Law and Order SVU. Similarly, you could be a fan of Chicago Med and never watch and episode of Chicago PD. The audience knows they all exist within the one city and timeline, but save for the occasional cross-over episode the plots of each individual series aren't interwoven or linked.
Much like Private Practice I didn't really feel the need to watch the latest Grey's spinoff, Station 19, when it first started airing. It was centring on Dr. Warren, who wasn't a favourite character of mine anyways, and I wasn't really captivated by the premise. All this coupled with the fact that I couldn't find anywhere to watch it here meant that I never really felt like I was missing out by not watching it, until last year.
While Station 19 had started out much like Private Practice, with the firefighters cropping up in some episodes of Grey's and the doctors occasionally interacting with the firefighters on Station 19 there wasn't a huge amount of crossover. Until suddenly relationships between characters on the two different shows began to emerge and storylines would interact so much that if you didn't watch one show you would miss half of the story with nothing but a minute recap at the beginning to fill you in. Very suddenly, things in Grey's were only starting to make sense if you were also watching Station 19, meaning in order to get the full experiecne of the show and its storylines, you simply had to watch both shows.
*MASSIVE SEASON 17 GREYS ANATOMY SPOILER BELOW!!! BE WARNED!
What finally persuaded me to fully emerse myself in the Station 19 world was a sex trafficking storyline that was unfolding on both Grey's and Station 19. At the end of season 17 episode 6 of Greys, Andrew and Carina DeLuca leave the hospital in pursuit of a child sex trafficker that had evaded them at the end of season 16. This was continued into episode 6 of season 4 of Station 19 where Andrew is ultimately stabbed by the traffickers. At the opening of episode 7 of Greys he is brought to Grey Sloan to be treated. Without watching Station 19, all a Grey's fan will have seen is Andrew and Carina leave the hospital at the conclusion of one episode, then arrive back the following next week with him mortally injured in the back of an ambulance. Through some dialogue and a brief recap, audiences are somewhat brought up to speed on the events of the preceding Station 19 episode, but key aspects the plot won't be fully understood without watching both series.
While Station 19 is actually a very good show, and I have really enjoyed watching it, by having the two shows interact and overlap so much the writers run the risk of alienating more casual viewers, who might stop tuning in at all if they feel forced into watching something they aren't interested in in order to fully understand the plots and storylines.
For longtime fans, spinoffs can be a great means of expanding their love and enjoyment of a successful series. Theres more characters for them to enjoy, situations to get invested in and a greater understanding of the world and cities of their favourite shows. Similarly, spinoffs or prequels can be used to great effect to prolong the run of a much loved series, like what Young Sheldon has done for The Big Bang Theory. But if writers and creators try too ardently to have numerous shows and plot point overlap, it can very quickly become confusing for fans and potentially alienate dedicated viewers.
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