ABC‘s TGIF programming block had viewers hoping for Friday nights to watch their favorite sitcom.
Over the years, many people believed the acronym stood for “Thank God It’s Friday.” However, in a new interview, Jim Janicek, who help create the programming block, clarified that the letters stood for “Thank Goodness It’s Funny.”
“We were talking about things like the ‘Friday Fun Club,’” Janicek said on Pod Meets World about the names they considered before TGIF. “There’s a whole list somewhere I probably could dig up, but I remember that one. You know, ‘It’s Friday Night.’ Lots of little short-isms.”
Janicek recalled that the network’s executives were initially worried that using TGIF would cause problems with a chain of restaurants.
“We did our first animation, which kinda was more childlike, with a little mouse called Friday the Mouse. We were animating that with a guy by the name of Bob Kurtz, who runs a company,” Janicek explained. “I don’t know if he’s still around, but [Kurtz and Friends Animation] did the original commercials for Shell and for [Sinclair].”
He continued, “I was with him. We were animating the open. And then [ABC executives] Stu Brower and Bob Iger called and said, ‘We’ve landed on TGIF. We wanna call it TGIF.’ So that’s where we got the name, and we started animating those letters into the open and went from there.”
Janicek noted that “time was ticking” on making the animation happen, adding, “Bob, I believe, came up with ‘Thank Goodness It’s Funny,’ to avoid any conflict with any restaurant.”
The TGIF programming block began in the fall of 1989 with Full House, Family Matters, Perfect Strangers, and Just the Ten of Us, shows which led into newsmagazine 20/20. Stars of the Friday night shows hosted the block on a rotating basis.
In the video below, you can see the animation of Friday the Mouse introducing the programming block as “Thank goodness it’s funny.” Bronson Pinchot (Balki) and Mark Linn-Baker (Larry) from Perfect Strangers reiterate what the acronym TGIF actually stands for as well.
The original run of the TGIF programming block ended at the end of the 1999-2000 TV season with the following shows: Boy Meets World, The Hughleys, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, and Making the Band.
Other shows that were part of the TGIF lineup during its initial run were Family Matters, Clueless, Step by Tep, Teen Angel, Brother’s Keeper, Two of a Kind, Odd Man Out, Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper, Getting By, Where I Live, Aliens in the Family, Muppets Tonight, You Wish, Going Places, Baby Talk, Billy, Camp Wilder, and Dinosaurs.
ABC resurrected TGIF in Fall 2003 with George Lopez, Married to the Kellys, Hope & Faith, and Life with Bonnie. This version of TGIF lasted for two seasons, ending in 2005.
A third attempt to bring back TGIF was made for the 2018 fall season, with Fresh Off the Boat, Speechless, and Child Support being part of the block. That iteration of TGIF only lasted one season.
