The Sequel Series

While not common, there is a type of series that happens on TV that shows up from time to time. While you might know the concept of a spin-off, when one series inspires another one, you might not know about the sequel series as it isn’t as common. In truth, the sequel series is a type of spin-off as they are always related like that. But what are examples and what makes them different? Well, I might as well get into that in this post.

Sometimes we have had shows from a franchise go away to be replaced sooner or later with another show in the franchise. The earliest example of this was Scooby Doo. But none of the new shows were a sequel series. They were related shows and part of the same franchise. But a sequel series is different in other ways than that.

One of the best examples that I can think of that a sequel series is relates to Power Rangers. It started with one simple show. But then it continued from Mighty Morphing Power Rangers to Power Rangers Zeo. Later, each season was like a different show with each new season with the only connection being that they are always about Power Rangers, a team of spandex fighting ninjas fighting against bad guys. But each was connected in some way and a sequel to the previous season.

What makes this different from a regular spin-off is that the two shows never co-exist at the same time. One in effect replaces the other one. If it doesn’t happen exactly or right away, it is a show in the same universe as the first show set after the first show is over. It often has the same characters or at least one but might not have any of them at all.

Nowadays, the TV world has brought us new shows that were a sequel series. After The Originals ended, the franchise continued with Legacies. The Good Fight was a continuation of The Good Wife franchise with largely only one of the characters continuing on. The Conners was a good example of this, even if it was brought about by unusual circumstances brought on by Roseanne’s cancellation. It nonetheless continued the story of that franchise.

Often, a sequel series isn’t needed at all. This is largely because it can often just continue in the same show even without people that we saw originally. Other times, it is unfeasible to try to continue the show with or without certain changes taking place or it otherwise makes sense to make it a different show with a different premise with only some of the same people in it.

Now when someone new hosts a talk show, this isn’t a sequel series. This is simply The Tonight Show with Jay Leno being hosted by someone new and different. They are even considered separate shows due to the separate hosts even if it is under the same general name. These shows also don’t overlap in any ways since they don’t have people hosting at the same time.

There’s not really much else to say in this post. I hope that you can understand what the premise and idea of a sequel series is if you didn’t know it before. I don’t even know if it has a real name for sure or if this is something that I just named myself.