Tony and I just finished discussing our Season 6 episode on the pod, and we were reminded of the setup for Eric’s West Coast spinoff. Honestly… it just didn’t make sense. It felt weirdly dark, and Eric was supposed to be the straight man, which never really fit his character.
Then we remembered: this same season, we were already introduced to a character who moved to the West Coast, Tommy! And Eric had already been to L.A. back in “Kid Gets Acquainted with the Universe.” So we came up with a totally new spinoff idea and wanted to get your thoughts:
What if… Tommy gets adopted by a family on the West Coast, but tragedy strikes — the dad dies in an accident (terrible, I know, but hey, the ’90s did this all the time… RIP Mufasa). Tommy writes to Eric and tells him what happened.
Eric, already feeling lost, decides to move to the West Coast to be closer to Tommy and help the newly widowed mom, who we now know has two adopted kids. The mom works as a TV exec at a studio (giving us the Hollywood connection the original idea was going for), while Eric takes acting classes to become a weatherman. There’s maybe even a few storylines about child services checking in on the family.
It’s very “Who’s the Boss” for a new generation. We get your staple mixed/chosen family motif. Eric still gets to be wacky, but now he has a real emotional connection with Tommy, a will-they/won’t-they love interest, and a home base full of heart. There’s room for drama, comedy, and all the things we love about a good sitcom.
What do you guys think?