Memorable TV Line-Up’s:ABC Friday Night (Fall 1989/1993)

 

So I discussed the most memorable line-ups from NBC and CBS. Time to give ABC a turn. And it only makes sense to discuss one of the best remembered and best loved program blocks from that network-TGIF!! Yes I’m sure there were better line up’s especially in the 70’s, but this is the one that really stands the test of time (the concept even being revived recently). This year also happens to be the 30th anniversary!

 

Around 1988 ABC had discovered putting kid friendly shows on Friday was a smart idea. This made sense, usually Friday was a black hole for TV viewership since people often go out. Except younger kids. So we had Benson, Webster, Mr.Belvedere..to name a few. This peaked in 1988 while also at that time ABC had success branding its Tuesday lineup “Terrific Tuesday”. So much success they did the same thing on Friday’s, thus TGIF (Thank Goodness it’s Funny) was born. The premiere of the block featured an animated mouse and even a theme song, but we’ll get back to that in a bit. For now, here are the inaugural shows that launched TGIF in 1989.

8:00
Full House

This show’s legacy amazes me. It isn’t smart or sophisticated, and everyone no know’s! It was cute, and I guess that’s what people love about it. The show knew it was corny and silly so it just went and had fun with it.

8:30
Family Matters

Family Matters was a weak Cosby rip off until they discovered the secret ingredient, Steve Urkel of course. I’ll be honest at the time I didn’t like him because I felt he took away from the family show it was supposed to be. I eventually realized that the show needed this character, it  gave the show a special something that allowed it to stand out. And it’s no shock that sitcoms were ripping off the idea from then on. And as I said before, this was the best theme song.

9:00
Perfect Strangers

I tend to think this show wasn’t meant to be a kid friendly show. But they must have figured out that the show wasn’t exactly high art, and it really did fit into the TGIF line up pretty well. It wasn’t there long, the show was well into its by 1989, but they had some of the best interstills of any of the other shows.

9:30
Just the Ten of Us

This is one show that deserved a little better fate. I think it was cancelled because ABC had other shows they wanted in this slot, so it was easier to get of it than move it. Or maybe I am wrong and the show wasn’t very good. This Growing Pains spin-off sent the Lubbock family to California where Coach Lubbock taught at an al male school. Not problem except he has four very attractive daughters. I liked that the family was struggling, a change of pace for the time. This was before Roseanne showed you could show a lower blue class family. Hmm, maybe if this had come out a few years later…..

And we can’t talk about TGIF without discussing the promo’s. For the first five years or so the block was hosted by characters from the various shows  (and once in awhile people who had nothing to do with the shows at all) on at the time. They were done in character and were silly, goofy…and unique. I don’t remember seeing this before or after the way they did here, really making it feel like a community and reaching directly out to their audience.


Here is one of the first one’s. This how TGIF opened way back then. I love how disinterested Dave Coulier clearly is!

The lame mouse gimmick was dropped pretty fast in favor of the more familiar titles and jingle:

And one more:

Of course Full House would move to Tuesday’s and Family Matters would anchor the block for many years. A lot of shows came and went and it feels appropriate to quickly go over a few of these other TGIF shows here.


Just the Ten of Us would make way for:

Which never worked here, just the wrong place for it

Another  special new show premiered in 1991 and was a smash hit:

Dinosaurs was a Jim Henson Production was a massive success, but not because it was cute with the (Not the mama!) baby, but because it was surprisingly smart. It dealt with lots of satire and social commentary that made it a really good show and not just a silly cash grab (for that check out Muppets Tonight).



And then the 1993-1994 season TGIF reinvented itself and a lineup that people will say was even better than the one I listed above emerged. I didn’t really watch by then, I was just to old though I did tune in once in a while. But I know kids younger than I remember and loved this block.

Leading with Family Matters at 8:00pm we then got :

8:30
Boy Meets World

9:00
Step By Step

9:30
Hangin w Mr.Cooper

To me this felt like the TGIF show was “Hangin w Mr.Cooper 2.0” because it was not the same show that it started with. It became more family friendly in the second season, and it worked so there’s no problem with that.



This lasted a few years, and of course we finally got :

There were several awful shows came and went like Baby Talk, Getting By, The Hughley’s, and Getting By that I won’t mention. It was pretty much the shows I listed that truly made TGIF the memorable lineup it was. By 2001 it was clear kids weren’t watching anymore, and the shows coming out were terrible, so the brand was dropped. It would be revived a few years later, but that’s a subject for another day.


Oh and what aired at 10:00 every year TGIF existed?

This show started in 1978 and is very much still on the air.

Unlike the last article I was very much around for this when it began. You have to give ABC credit for coming up with a clever idea and going ALL THE WAY with it. They tried to spin off the idea but there was only one TGIF! For ten year’s ABC OWNED Friday night’s.