In today’s society everything seems to be about sharing ideas. When one clothing brand creates a new style, another is quick to create something similar; when a music artist comes out with a new song, about ten others follow in their footsteps. Most recently, this new trend has been affecting the television scene, as an increasing amount of producers have developed spin-off series in an attempt to branch out and give a new meaning to an already existing show.

Townsend Harris students, even those with dark circles under their eyes, still find time to watch all new and existing shows, and so they have varying opinions on all upcoming spin-offs. Harrisites agree that a producer can decide to create an extension of a show for one of three reasons: either fans have been begging for more from their favorite characters after the original series ended, the first show has lost much of its appeal to viewers, or both the original and spin-off will be a success.

One of these shows, ‘The Vampire Diaries’ which focuses much of its attention on the love triangle between Elena Gilbert and two vampire brothers, Stefan and Damon Salvatore, is having a spin-off called ‘The Originals.’ This new show is going to revolve around Klaus Mikalson, one of the original vampires of all vampires, and his story.

While some are excited for the new show to begin, others are afraid of what will happen to the role that Klaus played in the ‘Vampire Diaries.’ Viewers have come to love Klaus, despite his violent past, and are rooting for his romance with a secondary character, Caroline, who also happens to be one of Elena’s friends. Some viewers fear that the romance will diminish between Klaus and Caroline since they are now on two different shows.

Freshman Juhi said, “I’m very excited about ‘The Originals’ because of Klaus and his story. It’s complex. He’s complex. Klaroline ending is a bit sad but you could tell they weren’t supposed to end up together at first. I think they only spun Klaroline because of all the shipping the fans did.”

Senior Aman Kaur shares the excitement and is waiting for the series premiere of ‘The Originals’. “I feel that this is an excellent idea since the viewers get to see more of the secondary characters, which really isn’t possible in the original show. This also means that the viewers get to see more of Klaus and Elijah which is perfectly fine with me. Caroline stopped Klaus from going all bad on everyone else. It will definitely be interesting to see how her absence influences him.”

Two other shows that are also having spin-offs are ‘Pretty Little Liars’ and ‘Once Upon a Time.’

“Ravenswood” is the name of the Pretty Little Liars spin-off. Although the original show takes place in the real world, where four teenage girls are constantly targeted because of their friendship with a girl who was murdered over a year ago, the spin-off is more of a fantasy type show that includes magic. Many students are hesitant about the direction that this new show is going in, and are only worried about what will happen with the existing show.

“In the last season everyone was running around saying this and that about who A was. The wrong image of A kept coming up so I got tired of it, which is why I think a lot of people might not watch Ravenswood,” said freshman Adina Singh.

Freshman Katerina Jou sighed when asked about her thoughts on the new show. “Being supernatural is okay but it’s very grey, a bit creepy.” She added, “There are creepy dolls everywhere. It’s like insidious.”

While some are thrown off because this spin-off will have supernatural elements in it, others believe it is not going to add anything new to the table.

Senior Akhtra Khan said, “The new show looks exactly the same with uglier people. The story isn’t as good and I don’t think they can pull it off as well.”

The last spin-off is ‘Once upon a time in Wonderland.’ The original show ‘Once upon a time’ is about a world full of twisted fairytales that are somehow interconnected to make for an entirely new perspective on the classic tales we read about as children. As the name suggests, the spin-off will take place in Alice’s Wonderland, a location familiar to the general public.

Daniel Wuest said, “I’m kind of excited for it but I hope it doesn’t suck or be confusing like the original Once Upon a Time.”

Even though sophomore Flo Fils-Aime hasn’t seen the trailer for the upcoming show, she is still excited for its premiere. “I want to see the mad hatter, and I curious to see who [will] step up to the throne in Wonderland.” Additionally, she wonders what time frame the show will cover, unsure of whether it “will take place before [the queen of hearts, Kora] dies.”

While many students have a positive attitude towards the success of these spin-offs, others are hoping that, as many students have put it, they won’t suck. Only time will tell if this trend will prosper or if television shows are better left as one deals.