I Smell A Spin-Off: The Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted

Original Show: The Vampire Diaries

Spin-off Idea/ Description: Ten or so years after the end of The Vampire Diaries Lizzie and Josie Saltzman have grown into strong-willed and powerful young witches - thanks to the teachings of their parents Alaric and Caroline at the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted. It is a school for untrained witches, werewolves and any person who has been adversely involved with the supernatural. There, they can come and learn more about it, particularly how to control it and use it for good. But when your parents are running the school, and your struggling to juggle teenage hormones and powerful magic, the girls soon start to rebel against their teachings and seek out information about their past that their parents have always tried to hide.

Possible Title Ideas: Young and Gifted, Coven Of Our Own, Magic Awaits, Within These Walls.

Idea originated from: During the events of The Vampire Diaries Finale 'I Was Feeling Epic' Caroline Forbes opens up 'The Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted' with the help of Alaric, Jeremy Gilbert and Dorian Williams, who all teach there.

Format: Serialised drama

The show would be similar to: The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, Charmed, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hemlock Grove.

Will it feature any stars of it's parent show?: All the aforementioned characters. But wouldn't it be super cool if they could also bring Georgie back somehow to keep Alaric company?

How about any of guest stars?: There's the opportunity for plenty, but you wouldn't want too many too often lest it become a Vampire Diaries reunion series. Bonnie, Matt and Peter could show up every now and then. And there's plenty of other Vampire Diaries characters that could come back for this series like Valerie Tuelle or Kai Parker. And that's not to mention anyone from The Originals.

Possible plot ideas: So many. As mentioned above you'd want a lot of time focused on the students living in the boarding school and their struggles, mainly Lizzie and Josie and their difficulties being the daughters of the headmistress and a teacher at the school and how the other students treat them because of this. In seeking to know more about their covens past the girls will discover Caroline is not their real mother which will cause a lot of conflict, and could potentially lead them to discovering Kai. Caroline will struggle trying to be the perfect example all of the time, particularly if she is somehow drawn to turn off her humanity switch or is involved with a questionable love interest. Alaric has always still harboured feelings for Caroline and finds it increasingly difficult to work with her, plus their different styles of parenting often put them at odds. Jeremy and Dorian have a budding bromance but they, and all the teachers at the boarding school, often disagree over the best way to deal with potentially dangerous students. Some are more forgiving of their students fatal mistakes than others. A student/ teacher affair would be cliche but also interesting depending on who it was.

Target Audience: Probably what The Vampire Diaries original audience looked like - the young female demographic.

Could it work as a show?: Absolutely. If Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters has taught us anything if that there is plenty of material to be mined from following the lives of conflict teenagers that have supernatural abilities.

Could it ever actually happen?: Yes! Co-creator/ executive producer of The Vampire Diaries Julie Plec told TV Line in response to question about a possible spin-off, 'It’s a wish, not a promise, but I do think there are more stories to be told. I think The Originals has the opportunity to visit with some of these characters, and I think there are future shows down the line that can be spawned out of this world and could tell good stories. It’s a hope for the future if nothing else.' It sounds like we may have to wait until The Originals is over to see whether this comes to fruition or not, but like Plec herself said, here's hoping it will happen.

I Smell a Spin-off: Sam Merlotte's Shifty Business

Original Show: True Blood

Spin-off Idea/ Description: After selling his bar, long-time Bon Temps resident and shapeshifter, Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell) decides it's about time he got away from all the crazy supernatural beings, and went and travelled America. He buys an RV and starts travelling, but soon realises that it's not so easy getting supernatural beings out of your life when you are one. Having experience in such matters, as Sam travels from town to town he starts helping people with their supernatural troubles, whether it a young boy coming out as a shifter, or scaring off a persistent vampire, Sam quickly learns the people of America need his help, and he's happy to provide a helping hand (or paw).

Possible Title Ideas: Shifty Business, Shifter, Drift & Shift, New Moon Rising, Howling for You.

Idea originted from: Sam's season five storyline in True Blood. Two of Sam's shifter friends are found murdered, and wooden bullets with a silver interior are found at the scene, implying their killers are hunting down supernatural beings. Later Sam and his girlfriend Luna, who is also a shifter, are shot, but survive the incedent. Sam convinces Sherriff Andy Bellefeur to let him help him in the invetigation because of his heightened senses, and during the investigation his abilities save Andy's life, and he smells out clues that help him indentify the masked killers.

Format: Monster/ Case/ Lesson of the week.

The show would be similar to: True Blood, Supernaural, Grimm and Scooby-Doo.

How could it be written out of it's parent show?: Sam would have to have a legitimate reason for selling his bar and wanting to leave Bon Temps. At this stage of the series, halfway through the fifth season, if his girlfriend Luna is killed by the supernatural beings hategroup, and he realises that Andy and Jason are hesitant to prosucute the men because of they shared dislike of supes, he may leave town, having become aware that he will never be truly accepted for who he is.

Will it feature any stars from it's parents show?: Sam Merlotte of course. I also suggest he take another minor True Blood character with him so that's it's parent show can focus more on its main characters rather than continously developing boring sideline plots. Hoyt, Terry and Alcide would all work well in my opinion, but I'd choose Hoyt Fortenberry (Jim Parrack). He'd be Sam's slack-jawed but lovable side-kick that Sam constantly has to get out of trouble. Plus, Hoyt could have his own story of redemption. After the events of True Blood's fifth season and his involvement in the supernatural beings hategroup, he can't face what he tried to do to his friends, and leaves with Sam to help him help other supes in need in attempt to right his wrongs.

How about any guest stars?: I could see that happening, but not often. A show like this would need to stand on it's own two feet, mostly seperate from True Blood.

Possible plot ideas: Other than helping everyday people with their supernatural (vampire, werewolf, were-panther, maenad, witch, ghost, or otherwise), problems, and Hoyt's redemption, I could see Sam running into people from his past, like some he met at Maryann's or after he was abandoned as a teenager. His adoptive parents could show up and some point, too.

Target Audience: This would target True Blood's audience, obviously, but be slightly more skewed to the young male demographic.

Could it work as a show?: I think it could. It's monster/ case/ lesson of the week format has proven time and time again to be popular with viewers. Plus, like many other procedurals, it has the oppurunity to have famous guests stars on every week to get viewers watching. I can see it now: Sam and Hoyt must help a woman (special guest star Kathy Bates) with her supernatural alligator problem.

Could it ever actually happen?: No. True Blood is based off a series of novels by Charlene Harris, and Sam Merlotte is a fairly important character in those novels. True Blood would have to finish, and the Charlene Harris would have to give the go ahead for Sam to have his own spin-off, which will never happen.

I Smell a Spin-off

Welcome to what I hope will be an occasional segment on my blog titled I Smell a Spin-off. For those who aren't aware of the concept, spinoffs are when part of a successful show, usually characters, but sometimes a general concept, are taken and given a second show of their own.

From a producer's perspective, it's a chance to explore other aspects of a concept. Actors can find opportunities to grow in their craft, as well as rise in importance by moving from just being part of an ensemble to having a show built around them. For the networks, it's a chance to establish a show with a built-in audience, making it that much easier for them to sell advertising. And for audiences it's an opportunity to watch a show that expands on the characters and ideas of a program we already love and watch.

Television fans can be an obsessive bunch, and since the rise of online media and forums, now more than ever fans have the ability to voice what they think a good spin-off of their favourite television program would be. At one stage or another most long-running and successful television shows, whether the idea of the writers or network executives, or yes, even the sometimes over obsessed fans, consider the creation of a spin-off.

One of my favourite television shows of all time, Angel (above), is a spin-off from Buffy the Vampire Slayer that lasted five seasons. Angel, a popular and well known character on Buffy, and one half of the famous lovers, left the show at the end of season three, hoping to give Buffy a normal life. He moved to Los Angeles and attempted, with the help of new characters and old, to redeem himself for his past mistakes as a vampire buy helping the helpless through a supernatural detective agency. While it maintained some similarities to its parent show, including its humour and monster-of-the-week beginnings, spin-offs have the ability to become something not only apart of, but more than, it's parent show.

Anyway, as a TV nut, I often see promise in minor characters, plots, and situations that just aren't given as much attention as I'd like in the grand scheme of some television shows. That's why, with my I Smell a Spin-off segment I plan to highlight these ideas and give them a little justice by creating a mock spin-off for them. Things I'll be discussing will include: what characters will be involved, possible plots, how it will link from it's parent show, and most importantly, could it ever actually happen? I hope you all enjoy reading these, and please feel free to post your own spin-off ideas in the comments. I'd love to hear them!