I am kinda stoked...Hey, Anytime I get more TWD is good thing.
OR they can air while the TWD is on hiatus.
Doesn't that risk TWD burnout, though?
Much as I dislike the thought of waiting until February, or October come season's end, at the time, less is often more. If the spin-off goes out over the summer, there's a good chance I'll be ambivalent about the parent show's return, especially if - as I think it'd have to be, or would end up being - it was just more of the same, just with new characters.
I'd question whether the producers would have the energy or time to run both, too. Some of the decisions re: narrative and pacing are already iffy. With a second show to think about, there's a good chance that the decisions made for both shows will become increasingly rushed and/or ill-advised.
Now, if they were to do a TV movie, with new characters and a new situation, and maybe parachute them into a separate strand within TWD as-is (allowing those characters a bit of a rest...as well as to stop the writers and producers galloping through the material at comic book pace, allowing themes and characters to mature a little before they end)...maybe that'd work better.
One possibility that springs to mind about the idea of spin-off, though, is that the prods are limit by contractual obligation where TWD is concerned, perhaps (probably) to do with what must be included and when, and they'd prefer to have access to the 'universe' but with a free hand to do what they liked, which is what the spin-off would provide.