The History and Origins of TGIF | Family Friendly Television | Bring Back the 90's

[@notmyname5591]

It was good times.

[@Makoto03]

Loved this video on TGIF. Nostalgic.

[@101iswhatsup]

The 90s were awesome. TGIF, pizza, video game rentals from blockbuster. Wake up, get a bowl of cereal and watch Saturday morning cartoons.

[@njunderground82]

Perfect Strangers is still its one of my favorites. Such a great show. I have the DVD set.

[@cabellero1120]

Back when the Networks actually cared about Family friendly programming!

[@User-1683x2]

Did they?

[@TheCheat420]

Even 25 years later as a grown ass man the goodbye scene from Boy Meets World makes me cry like a baby. "Tell us you love us!" Presses the button every time.

[@ericveneto1593]

He edited out Topanga’s response to Mr. Feeny urging them to do good. She said,”Don’t you mean well?” He simply replied,”no”

[@averymerrick]

ABC's TGIF block (1989-2000) began to die in the fall of 1997: stemming from a combination of aging sitcoms like Family Matters and Step by Step moving to CBS (who started - and ended - their own family-friendly Friday night sitcom line-up in 1997-98 called "The Block Party"), the oversaturation of supernatural/magic type shows (Sabrina the Teenage Witch and new series You Wish and Teen Angel, the latter of which both lasted only one season), the failure of Two of a Kind (which was the last sitcom produced by the previously reliable Miller-Boyett group) starring the Olsen twins the following year. Ultimately, the ending of Boy Meets World after seven seasons and Sabrina, The Teenage Witch moving to The WB after the 1999-2000 season. ABC would bring back the TGIF brand for the 2003-05 & 2018-19 seasons, but it never met the same success it had before.

[@SigmaRho2922]

Since 8 Simple Rules ended, ABC had major scheduling troubles in the Friday night time slot, and these scheduling troubles would become even worse in 2007 and 2008. The network aired the bingo game show National Bingo Night for one season of six episodes in May and June 2007, and that show was renewed for a second season of five holiday-themed episodes that was planned for December of that year despite low viewership when all of a sudden financial problems at the show's production company caused it to be canceled shortly before production was set to begin. Making matters even worse, the Writers Guild of America was about to go on strike, and the game show Duel, which was planned as a midseason replacement, was hastily rushed into production, with its six episodes airing in the time slot that National Bingo Night was planned to air in. Duel got higher viewership than National Bingo Night ever did, prompting it to be picked up for ten additional episodes that would air later in the season. As the writers strike was about to be resolved by that time, the network had no room on the schedule, so the episodes were aired on Friday evenings beginning in April 2008. After four episodes with low viewership, the network announced ahead of the fifth episode that Duel would not be renewed for the 2008-09 season and that the remaining five episodes would air in the summer in the same time slot. The last episode of the series aired on July 25. ABC would later find success in the last two hours of the Friday night time slot when Shark Tank moved to an 8 pm (later 9 pm) time slot on Friday in 2011, where it would remain for seven seasons until it got moved off of Friday in 2017. Shark Tank would only last two and a half additional seasons on Sunday before moving back to Friday after Fresh off the Boat concluded in February 2020. 20/20 would expand to two hours in late 2019 due to its declining viewership, which was made worse by the failure of the third incarnation of TGIF in 2018-19. As for what happened to National Bingo Night after its last minute cancellation, it would be succeeded by Bingo America, which ran as a half hour show from March 2008 until January 2009. That show would eventually get canceled as a result of the financial crisis of 2008.

[@maliahjoy2959]

Im loving all the podcasts

[@michaelharrison1172]

Family matters, Boy meets Word, and Step by step were my jam. Actually didn't mind the reboot of Boy meets Word with the Girl meets Word either.

[@anthonyrowland9072]

Perfect Strangers is actually hilarious. A lot of plots only work in a pre cell phone world. lol

[@TheCheat420]

This video randomly popped up in my feed and I liked it a lot. Id definitely watch more videos about 90s stuff like this.

[@maliahjoy2959]

Id love to go to 90s Con one day

[@sejejo7565]

So I’m a way your whole family has seen me on tv cause I was a background extra on Sabrina for two seasons.

[@Pissgremlin5964]

You were my family's favorite background character extra of all time! We didn't even call it Sabrina. We'd say "is that show with sejojo in the background on?". You did an incredible job!!

[@jwilliams7554]

Growing pains never aired on TGIF. Maybe briefly during summer reruns

[@ComicgeddonTV]

It actually did ... kinda... the pilot of Hangin with Mr. Cooper and the preseeding bumper for it... in the Bumper, Alan Thick as Jason Seever appears to welcome Mark Cooper to the neighborhood and tells him, he and his family used to live in the house that Hangin with Mr. Cooper's pilot took place in. The Seavers also hosted TGIF on a couple of occasions. And its spin-off Just the 10 of Us was part of tgif during the 88/89 season.

[@jwilliams7554]

@@ComicgeddonTV well here’s the thing, mr cooper first aired on Tuesday nights so that pilot episode didn’t even air on Friday

[@ComicgeddonTV]

You forget about reruns... The pilot episode did air in reruns on TGIF, not just in the Summer, but also during the broadcast season.

[@angelagokool9514]

My sister and I loved watching the TGIF lineup! I don't know how much of it our dad watched, since he was always working, but our mom used to watch it with us. I'm surprised you didn't mention Dinosaurs, except for showing some images of it. It was created by Brian Henson, featuring characters from Jim Henson's Creature Shop, after Jim had passed away, in 1989. Dinosaurs had appealed to a wide audience, not just children. The fun characters were for the kids, but much of the source material was aimed at the adults, whether it was Carl's "Mating Dance," or the sexual harassment episode, where Fran's friend sues a co-worker, for his unwanted advances. The show ran from April 26, 1991, to November 10, 1995 (I had to look it up). The final episode, which had found the Sinclair family in the middle of the Ice Age, I believe was meant to be a commentary on climate change. Most of the shows dealt with serious issues, as you had mentioned, that were often relevant to the 90s. I'm happy to hear that people today are still watching, even if the format has changed, from television to streaming. However, not all of them were successful (anyone remember Aliens in the Family?). But they will always hold a special place in our hearts.

[@stenbak88]

It’s funny how much good these shows actually did. We need family friendly and family oriented shows that show life. Everyone likes to go by race or gender now but back then neither matter

[@davidatkins7444]

Dont forget Hanging with Mr Cooper

[@jdmcknight41]

Dont forget about the show " Going places... "

[@DCMarvelMultiverse]

It was a family night before Disney bought it. TGIF began its branding on 1989. Disney bought it around 94 or 95.

[@ComicgeddonTV]

If you watch the video, I said that TGIF began in 89

[@averymerrick]

Disney brought ABC in 1995, made public in June 1996.

[@maliahjoy2959]

It is not okay to separate the art from the artists

[@ComicgeddonTV]

it is... you can absolutely appreciate the art for what it is and still have negative feelings toward the artist themself and what they represent. I still enjoy the Cosby Show and 7th Heaven regardless of the issues the fathers of both shows had outside of the show... I still enjoy Michael Jackson's music regardless of his personal issues with children (whether they be true or not). You can still love Harry Potter while loathing J.K. Rowling. It's ok. you can hate the artist but love what they created. The sins of the father ya know.

[@fenrichvega6166]

As much as I loved tgif back in the day, I really don't think its a good idea to bring it back now. In this day and age of streaming everything u wanna watch, a program block like tgif wouldn't work. Alot of people don't have cable anymore/watch TV, and there's just sum 90s things that should be left in the 90s instead of bringing it back. Gotta know when to keep stuff as just a memory and move on instead of bringing something back only to see it die and have that as ur new memory

[@randycunningham7318]

Some lame shows.