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TGIF (ABC)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
TGIF is the slogan of a prime time programming block on the ABC. A similar programming concept to NBC's Must See TV lineup on Thursdays, most of the TGIF shows were family sitcoms. The slogan comes from the initials of the popular phrase Thank God It's Friday.
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The block of predominantly family-friendly situation comedies was inaugurated with the following sequence of shows in the 1988-89 season: Perfect Strangers, Full House, Mr. Belvedere, and Just the Ten of Us, and the first hosts were Larry Appleton, Mark Linn-Baker, and Balki Bartokomous, Bronson Pinchot. The actual debut of the TGIF branding took place at the start of the 1990-91 season. In subsequent years, Perfect Strangers spin-off, Family Matters, and the Brady Bunch-inspired Step by Step joined the line-up.
During the most successful years of TGIF, the main characters of one of the Friday prime-time sitcoms would "host" the two-hour block of episodes for that week. Always in character, they would introduce each show and comment on the proceedings afterward; (Sometimes, characters from a sitcom that did not air on a Friday night would appear) sometimes, they would find a common thread between each show (e.g., dog riding). The night's former mascot was a cartoon mouse breaking a clock with a hammer, which appeared during the 1988-1990 era. In the late 1980s-early 1990s Fall Season, various casts would host Saturday Morning Preview Specials, which previewed much of new Saturday morning programming which would air the following day prior to the Disney acquisition of ABC Saturdays.
TGIF was promoted with a series of trading cards featuring publicity shots from Perfect Strangers, Full House, and Family Matters.
In 1996, ABC scheduled a music special for The Beatles Anthology. To promote the special on the previous Friday, all of the TGIF sitcoms' opening theme songs were each replaced with Beatles songs, regardless of the individual shows' plot with the exception of Boy Meets World. From the Boy Meets World Wikipedia guide: "The writers of Boy Meets World twisted the concept around, by instead using a Monkees song and having that week's episode feature the Monkees as guest stars."
Some hosts referred to TGIF as, "Thank Goodness It's Funny."
20/20 always occupied the 10 p.m. spot following TGIF, and because of its positioning and the popularity of the TGIF shows before it, 20/20 would be watched by many children who had been watching the TGIF programs. This led to some common and unfortunate jokes among children, such as when 20/20 devoted an entire hour to the Lorena Bobbitt saga that was watched by many children and teens.
In 1997, Family Matters and Step by Step left TGIF and aired on CBS for the same night (which would be the final season for both). Both shows appeared on CBS Block Party, a similar sitcom programming block with four sitcoms, but failed with both the lineup and shows only lasting one season. As their Friday evening programming evolved, ABC retired the traditional TGIF logo and phased out the theme song.
ABC began to see sagging ratings in the TGIF lineup. Popular programs such as Boy Meets World and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch started experiencing declining ratings. New shows joined the lineup, including the likes of Teen Angel and You Wish, which lasted only a season (or less) before they were dropped.
On November 7, 1997, Salem from Sabrina, the Teenage Witch appeared on all four shows in the TGIF lineup and caused the characters in each show to travel back to a different point in time. The former four TGIF lineup episodes were non-canonical because supernatural did not exist in those programs. On a later episode of Boy Meets World, Melissa Joan Hart made second cameo, as an aside, due to the episode in question involving a coven of witches being thwarted from taking the soul of one of the characters. The cameo features "Boy Meets World" character Eric describing the event and swearing off witches, not realizing that Sabrina is one.
Musical group Hanson hosted TGIF leading up to their special Meet Hanson. Between the shows it showed them in the studio, "commanding" the shows to come on, and at one point even incorporating TGIF into their mega-hit song "MMMBop".
By 2000, ABC had discontinued the Friday prime time programming block entirely, with the exception of a Working Comedy comedy block during Fall 2000/01 of fading comedies: Two Guys and a Girl, Trouble with Normal, Madigan Men, and Norm. This lineup only lasted one year; ABC then reverted to dramas and reality shows like The Mole. By then Friday nights were the weakest rating night of the week, with only a few shows receiving attention, such as CBS' CSI, which premiered on Friday.
TGIF returned to the air in Fall 2003 with heavy promotion. This included a promo spot employing the pop tune "YMCA" (sung as T-G-I-F), featuring all four family comedies’ casts seated on a living-room couch. However, although the night was once again branded as TGIF, it did not include the "hosting" segments of the past incarnation. That season’s lineup met with only moderate success, seeing a consistent second- or third-place showing against a popular CBS lineup that included Joan of Arcadia and JAG. By early 2005, ABC had stopped actively promoting the TGIF name, and once again dropped the TGIF block in the fall of 2005.
In Fall of 2005, Hope & Faith continued to air on Friday nights, Less Than Perfect was renewed for midseason 2005-2006 airing (April 2006), and The George Lopez Show was moved to a Tuesday comedy block, then back to its original night of Wednesday. Ironically, CBS cancelled both Joan and JAG in May 2005.
In Spring 2006, Hope & Faith moved to Tuesday's lineup, and Friday nights have been used to debut hour-long dramas. Even if Friday sitcoms would return on ABC, it is presumed that they would be similar in tone to the other nights’ offerings, and not match those 1990s sitcoms targeted specifically at families and children.
In 2000, when Sabrina, the Teenage Witch moved to WB, it also debuted on Friday nights. This was seen to invigorate that network's similarly-targeted Friday sitcom block lineup. The WB's lineup featured the hit shows Reba, Grounded for Life, and What I Like About You.
After finishing syndication periods, remnants of TGIF now occupy the daytime and afternoon lineup on ABC Family. The cable network airs hour long blocks of the sitcoms 8 Simple Rules, Full House, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Family Matters, Step by Step, and Boy Meets World.
Time for fun...
(Thank Goodness)
Time for a good laugh...
(It's funny...)
Time...Time...
(Time...Time...)
Time for fun...
T-T-Time...
It's Friday night
and the mood is right
Come have some fun
show you how it's done
T-G-I-F