Was TGIF suppose to end during The 1998-1999 season ?

[FHCastmember]

I heard there were rumors of axing the block however ABC got the Olsen twins back and were banking on Two of a Kind to be a hit, The show bombed and I heard ABC were going to get rid of the block.



I think Boy Meets World was going to be moved to another night, or would have still aired on Friday without the TGIF moniker.
If you look at bumpers from the 1999-2000 TGIF season it's like ABC went out of their way to stop advertising the name TGIF.
Very Very seldom you would see the logo pop up in bumpers.

[AMackII]

No, It(TGIF) surprisingly continued when both Sabrina The Teenage Witch & Boy Meets World were still airing on ABC until 2000 when BMW went off the air after 7 years and Sabrina moved to The WB in Autumn of that year.

[tlc38tlc38]

Once “The Hughleys” joined the block, it should’ve ended and “BMW” and “Sabrina” should’ve kept airing but under a different brand but I did enjoy “Odd Man Out”.

All in all, it was still fun TV and beats the crap on now.

[TMC]

I'm not entirely sure (without extensively researching it online, which I'm not in the mood to do right now), but I've said before that the 1997-98 season was for all intents and purposes, the year that TGIF "died". ABC wanted to capitalize off of the success of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, so they loaded the line-up with other supernatural/fantasy shows like Teen Angel (which had a very macabre premise for a TGIF show) and You Wish (which was basically, a '90s, gender swapped version of I Dream of Jeannie).

The was no longer any balance as Boy Meets World was the only "grounded" show on the line-up. Of course, Teen Angel and You Wish only lasted a single season respectively, and CBS began siphoning away TGIF's target audience with their own version of TGIF (complete with Family Matters and Step by Step) dubbed "The Block Party".

I think one reason why TGIF was running out of steam by the end of the decade, was that they didn't have any new successes to replace aging stalwarts like Family Matters and Step by Step. And ABC really hit a dead end when Boy Meets World ended its run and Sabrina moved to The WB.

[bh7812]

Originally Posted by TMC

I'm not entirely sure (without extensively researching it online, which I'm not in the mood to do right now), but I've said before that the 1997-98 season was for all intents and purposes, the year that TGIF "died". ABC wanted to capitalize off of the success of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, so they loaded the line-up with other supernatural/fantasy shows like Teen Angel (which had a very macabre premise for a TGIF show) and You Wish (which was basically, a '90s, gender swapped version of I Dream of Jeannie).

The was no longer any balance as Boy Meets World was the only "grounded" show on the line-up. Of course, Teen Angel and You Wish only lasted a single season respectively, and CBS began siphoning away TGIF's target audience with their own version of TGIF (complete with Family Matters and Step by Step) dubbed "The Block Party".

I think one reason why TGIF was running out of steam by the end of the decade, was that they didn't have any new successes to replace aging stalwarts like Family Matters and Step by Step. And ABC really hit a dead end when Boy Meets World ended its run and Sabrina moved to The WB.

I feel your post is pretty accurate, TMZ. I do feel, however, to fully answer the TC's question there's a few other pieces to his question's answer that should be included. I'll try to concisely write what happened in TGIF's late life, after Disney bought ABC. All of this was accurate as of a few years back, if any of it's changed please do let me know!

-Sometime in '96, we don't know exactly when that year, tensions between ABC and Miller-Boyett Productions grew severely. Tensions had been growing for a while after the Disney buy out due to Miller-Boyett feeling they didn't have a future with the network after that. At that point, Miller-Boyett was producing most of the TGIF shows, the exception being Boy Meets World. Miller-Boyett were no strangers to TV, they'd produced several shows before TGIF and they currently produce Fuller House for Netflix.

-About midway through the '96 season, ABC was trying to decide what to do with Boy Meets World and Step By Step. At the beginning of that process, they went back and forth on them...yes we'll renew them but unsure on how long and no we're going to drop both. Then, they kicked around the idea of a final 2 year renewal for Family Matters, Step By Step and Boy Meets World so all three could end together which is what they should have done. Shortly after that tensions between ABC and M-B hit a breaking point-Boy Meets World got the 2 year renewal since it was the youngest show of the 3 and not M-B produced. Family Matters and Step By Step got dropped.

-Les Moonves, head of CBS, had ironically started his career at Lorimar, part of WB. He'd wanted to have his own Friday Night Block to compete head on with TGIF for a long while. He was having trouble finding shows for his block however. When Step By Step and Family Matters got dropped, he knew he finally found his anchor shows. He bought both shows from ABC for 40 million dollars!! In the purchase deal ABC agreed to pay 1.5 million an episode for Seasons 9 and 10 of Family Matters. Though I can't find out for sure it seems they agreed to pay the same for at least Season 7 of Step By Step. Les had wanted to give both shows at least 2 more seasons on CBS. The announcement at that year's Upfronts shocked many. The other two shows he got for the block were Meego, Bronson Pinchot's return to TV after his long Perfect Strangers run and The Gregory Hines Show.

-Summer of '97 CBS advertised the hell out of the new block, they got that part right. It premiered in September....by Mid Season, Meego and Gregory Hines crashed and burned. Meego was very understandable, the audience wanted to see Balki again not what they got. Gregory Hines was a really nice surprise-really fun, laid back little show that deserved better than it got. Very grateful Gregory did that for us before he passed away, he seemed to really enjoy it. Family Matters and Step By Step went on hiatus after their Christmas episodes. Both came back briefly in the Spring and then got cancelled. Burn off episodes aired in July. Family Matters had some Season 10 episodes and synopses written, hopefully someday we'll get to see those scripts.

-Family Matters and Step By Step finally died because the audience that grew up with them were growing up and graduating High School around then. That was my last year of High School and when I was getting busier. I tried to keep up with both shows but by mid season I was just too busy, I still lament 20 years later I couldn't keep up and hate that I couldn't.

You brought up an excellent point that TGIF lost most of its steam because ABC didn't find new up and coming shows to replace the existing ones to keep the block going. Complete Savages comes to mind-it was in development for a long time and targeted for TGIF for that reason. It hit development issues and didn't finally premiere until 2003. You could tell right away it was meant for TGIF from the start, it had that TGIF atmosphere and was an excellent fit for that block. I really enjoyed it and hoped it would get renewal. During the year it was on, it had...major ratings challenges. Towards the end of the season they finally moved it into the TGIF block where it should have been, ratings greatly improved but not enough for renewal unfortunately. I feel if it had premiered several years earlier as planned, they could have paired it with Boy Meets World, they were both very compatible with each other. CS would probably have done great and that would nave given ABC time to find other good new shows for the block while BMW wound down. There were lots of good candidates in development at that time.

More recently, I believe with a straight face they should have picked up both Fuller House and Girl Meets World! They wanted to revive the. block, it was an almost unheard of case of perfect timing, exact right shows. The block would finally be alive and well again if they had no question. HUGE mistake, both were pitched to ABC before Netflix too! They could easily have found 2 more compatible shows for the revived block.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by bh7812

I feel your post is pretty accurate, TMZ. I do feel, however, to fully answer the TC's question there's a few other pieces to his question's answer that should be included. I'll try to concisely write what happened in TGIF's late life, after Disney bought ABC. All of this was accurate as of a few years back, if any of it's changed please do let me know!

-Sometime in '96, we don't know exactly when that year, tensions between ABC and Miller-Boyett Productions grew severely. Tensions had been growing for a while after the Disney buy out due to Miller-Boyett feeling they didn't have a future with the network after that. At that point, Miller-Boyett was producing most of the TGIF shows, the exception being Boy Meets World. Miller-Boyett were no strangers to TV, they'd produced several shows before TGIF and they currently produce Fuller House for Netflix.

-About midway through the '96 season, ABC was trying to decide what to do with Boy Meets World and Step By Step. At the beginning of that process, they went back and forth on them...yes we'll renew them but unsure on how long and no we're going to drop both. Then, they kicked around the idea of a final 2 year renewal for Family Matters, Step By Step and Boy Meets World so all three could end together which is what they should have done. Shortly after that tensions between ABC and M-B hit a breaking point-Boy Meets World got the 2 year renewal since it was the youngest show of the 3 and not M-B produced. Family Matters and Step By Step got dropped.

-Les Moonves, head of CBS, had ironically started his career at Lorimar, part of WB. He'd wanted to have his own Friday Night Block to compete head on with TGIF for a long while. He was having trouble finding shows for his block however. When Step By Step and Family Matters got dropped, he knew he finally found his anchor shows. He bought both shows from ABC for 40 million dollars!! In the purchase deal ABC agreed to pay 1.5 million an episode for Seasons 9 and 10 of Family Matters. Though I can't find out for sure it seems they agreed to pay the same for at least Season 7 of Step By Step. Les had wanted to give both shows at least 2 more seasons on CBS. The announcement at that year's Upfronts shocked many. The other two shows he got for the block were Meego, Bronson Pinchot's return to TV after his long Perfect Strangers run and The Gregory Hines Show.

-Summer of '97 CBS advertised the hell out of the new block, they got that part right. It premiered in September....by Mid Season, Meego and Gregory Hines crashed and burned. Meego was very understandable, the audience wanted to see Balki again not what they got. Gregory Hines was a really nice surprise-really fun, laid back little show that deserved better than it got. Very grateful Gregory did that for us before he passed away, he seemed to really enjoy it. Family Matters and Step By Step went on hiatus after their Christmas episodes. Both came back briefly in the Spring and then got cancelled. Burn off episodes aired in July. Family Matters had some Season 10 episodes and synopses written, hopefully someday we'll get to see those scripts.

-Family Matters and Step By Step finally died because the audience that grew up with them were growing up and graduating High School around then. That was my last year of High School and when I was getting busier. I tried to keep up with both shows but by mid season I was just too busy, I still lament 20 years later I couldn't keep up and hate that I couldn't.

You brought up an excellent point that TGIF lost most of its steam because ABC didn't find new up and coming shows to replace the existing ones to keep the block going. Complete Savages comes to mind-it was in development for a long time and targeted for TGIF for that reason. It hit development issues and didn't finally premiere until 2003. You could tell right away it was meant for TGIF from the start, it had that TGIF atmosphere and was an excellent fit for that block. I really enjoyed it and hoped it would get renewal. During the year it was on, it had...major ratings challenges. Towards the end of the season they finally moved it into the TGIF block where it should have been, ratings greatly improved but not enough for renewal unfortunately. I feel if it had premiered several years earlier as planned, they could have paired it with Boy Meets World, they were both very compatible with each other. CS would probably have done great and that would nave given ABC time to find other good new shows for the block while BMW wound down. There were lots of good candidates in development at that time.

More recently, I believe with a straight face they should have picked up both Fuller House and Girl Meets World! They wanted to revive the. block, it was an almost unheard of case of perfect timing, exact right shows. The block would finally be alive and well again if they had no question. HUGE mistake, both were pitched to ABC before Netflix too! They could easily have found 2 more compatible shows for the revived block.

One thing to keep of note regarding Miller-Boyett productions is that no new series of their's ran longer than a single season after 1993. It's similar to when in the early '80s (when they were still at Paramount), Bosom Buddies was the only show that they produced to last more than a single season. The point is, that Miller-Boyett's track record could be very hit or miss. The final nail in the coffin for Miller-Boyett wasn't the cancellation of Two of a Kind (although it was a final confirmation that their "cutesy" formula didn't work anymore) but the repeal of the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules in 1993, followed by the 1996 Telecommunications act. Now, a network like ABC can do many of their sitcoms in-house instead of having to seek the services of outside producers.

[FHCastmember]

Originally Posted by bh7812

I feel your post is pretty accurate, TMZ. I do feel, however, to fully answer the TC's question there's a few other pieces to his question's answer that should be included. I'll try to concisely write what happened in TGIF's late life, after Disney bought ABC. All of this was accurate as of a few years back, if any of it's changed please do let me know!

-Sometime in '96, we don't know exactly when that year, tensions between ABC and Miller-Boyett Productions grew severely. Tensions had been growing for a while after the Disney buy out due to Miller-Boyett feeling they didn't have a future with the network after that. At that point, Miller-Boyett was producing most of the TGIF shows, the exception being Boy Meets World. Miller-Boyett were no strangers to TV, they'd produced several shows before TGIF and they currently produce Fuller House for Netflix.

-About midway through the '96 season, ABC was trying to decide what to do with Boy Meets World and Step By Step. At the beginning of that process, they went back and forth on them...yes we'll renew them but unsure on how long and no we're going to drop both. Then, they kicked around the idea of a final 2 year renewal for Family Matters, Step By Step and Boy Meets World so all three could end together which is what they should have done. Shortly after that tensions between ABC and M-B hit a breaking point-Boy Meets World got the 2 year renewal since it was the youngest show of the 3 and not M-B produced. Family Matters and Step By Step got dropped.

-Les Moonves, head of CBS, had ironically started his career at Lorimar, part of WB. He'd wanted to have his own Friday Night Block to compete head on with TGIF for a long while. He was having trouble finding shows for his block however. When Step By Step and Family Matters got dropped, he knew he finally found his anchor shows. He bought both shows from ABC for 40 million dollars!! In the purchase deal ABC agreed to pay 1.5 million an episode for Seasons 9 and 10 of Family Matters. Though I can't find out for sure it seems they agreed to pay the same for at least Season 7 of Step By Step. Les had wanted to give both shows at least 2 more seasons on CBS. The announcement at that year's Upfronts shocked many. The other two shows he got for the block were Meego, Bronson Pinchot's return to TV after his long Perfect Strangers run and The Gregory Hines Show.

-Summer of '97 CBS advertised the hell out of the new block, they got that part right. It premiered in September....by Mid Season, Meego and Gregory Hines crashed and burned. Meego was very understandable, the audience wanted to see Balki again not what they got. Gregory Hines was a really nice surprise-really fun, laid back little show that deserved better than it got. Very grateful Gregory did that for us before he passed away, he seemed to really enjoy it. Family Matters and Step By Step went on hiatus after their Christmas episodes. Both came back briefly in the Spring and then got cancelled. Burn off episodes aired in July. Family Matters had some Season 10 episodes and synopses written, hopefully someday we'll get to see those scripts.

-Family Matters and Step By Step finally died because the audience that grew up with them were growing up and graduating High School around then. That was my last year of High School and when I was getting busier. I tried to keep up with both shows but by mid season I was just too busy, I still lament 20 years later I couldn't keep up and hate that I couldn't.

You brought up an excellent point that TGIF lost most of its steam because ABC didn't find new up and coming shows to replace the existing ones to keep the block going. Complete Savages comes to mind-it was in development for a long time and targeted for TGIF for that reason. It hit development issues and didn't finally premiere until 2003. You could tell right away it was meant for TGIF from the start, it had that TGIF atmosphere and was an excellent fit for that block. I really enjoyed it and hoped it would get renewal. During the year it was on, it had...major ratings challenges. Towards the end of the season they finally moved it into the TGIF block where it should have been, ratings greatly improved but not enough for renewal unfortunately. I feel if it had premiered several years earlier as planned, they could have paired it with Boy Meets World, they were both very compatible with each other. CS would probably have done great and that would nave given ABC time to find other good new shows for the block while BMW wound down. There were lots of good candidates in development at that time.

More recently, I believe with a straight face they should have picked up both Fuller House and Girl Meets World! They wanted to revive the. block, it was an almost unheard of case of perfect timing, exact right shows. The block would finally be alive and well again if they had no question. HUGE mistake, both were pitched to ABC before Netflix too! They could easily have found 2 more compatible shows for the revived block.

So the original plan was for BMW, Step by Step and Family Matters to all end in 99 ?
Interesting, I think that would have been too much change for one year, I think the ratings
would have plummeted the next season with only Sabrina holding the fort down.

[bh7812]

Originally Posted by FHCastmember

So the original plan was for BMW, Step by Step and Family Matters to all end in 99 ?
Interesting, I think that would have been too much change for one year, I think the ratings
would have plummeted the next season with only Sabrina holding the fort down.

Correct. That was the original plan. I do apologize for the length of that post but when folks ask about that whole ABC/Miller-Boyett/CBS situation there's not really an easy way to write a short version of what happened due to how much happened in that short time frame. From everything I've been able to read, for a bit during the period they were trying to decide what to do with Family Matters and Step By Step, they were very seriously mulling giving those two and Boy Meets World one final 2 year renewal so they could end them all as a big TV event. Boy Meets World from all accounts wasn't in any danger of cancellation at that point, it was more a question of if it would remain part of TGIF or get moved to another night. As we saw, BMW got the 2 year renewal and the other two were dropped.

For as fast as FM and SBS were aging I wonder if ABC immediately regretted dropping those two after CBS bought them. It seemed in a lot of ways they didn't know what to do without 2 of their 3 uber hits that night. They sure seemed to put all their chips and hopes on the Olsen twins after that. It would be utterly fascinating to have ABC, CBS and Miller-Boyett interview on the tensions and aftermath but with Les Moonves in super hot water right now it won't be anytime soon sadly. It's really hard to piece everything together exactly since all we really have is a few Wikipedia articles and a few more articles written by neutral third parties that have also had a hard time getting the complete picture.

Let's talk for a minute because it's been asked and mulled over on, the whole question of how they could have kept the block alive and going. As I wrote, Complete Savages was developed fir and targeted at TGIF. Even if they'd had to tweak and adjust it, they really should have gotten it on by the Fall of '97 at the latest. I believe it would have been at the least a modest success, enough to help hold the block up while ABC was looking for projects to inject new life into the block. I think it would have been a certified hit most likely. Paired with BMW, it definitely would have softened the blow of losing both FM and SBS a lot. The CS team definitely understood what made a TGIF show a TGIF show, it was a perfect fit for that block.

Then we should look at what they could have done post BMW. At that point, CS would have been a few years into it's run and probably the premiere anchor show for the block. Then it would be a question of finding 3 more compatible shows. For those I believe they should have looked at quite a few of the shows that ended up going to Disney Channel that became smash hits. Specifically Hannah Montana, The Suite Life, Good Luck Charlie, Lizzie McGuire and a few others. I've read in a few places Hannah Montana was initially developed for and targeted at TGIF but ABC had issues with Miley Cyrus' age at the time-something about how they were sure they wanted her biut felt she was too young at the time. A few years later they tried pitching to ABC again but they were in their reality TV craze and not really interested anymore. That ultimately went to Disney Channel. At the least, they should have picked it up later to reboot the block along with a few of the other shows that became big on there. That would have breathed the life into the block it needed. The other Disney Channel shows I listed were enormously compatible with TGIF. Good Luck Charlie could have come later.

Finally, more recently I really believe not picking up Fuller House and Girl Meets World were huge mistakes on a grand scale. That was a perfect lightning strike of circumstances they won't see again. It would be going strong now if they'd picked up both when they should have. There were definitely a few other multi cam TGIF compatible shows that they could have picked up with those. Why not have gotten the new One Day at a Time? Or The Ranch? I've seen a little of Part 1 of The Ranch and really liked it, still need to catch up with that! Though that show has a lot of F bombs in it and it's certainly more mature than most TGIF stuff, I think it could still have worked well. There's different combinations that could have worked. Truly hope ABC will regroup and try TGIF again next season the right way with the reboots that are heavily rumored. I've said a million times I'll be there for sure if they bring back the block the way the audience has been asking for.

[tlc38tlc38]

^I completely agree that abc should’ve picked up “Fuller House” and “Girl Meets World”. Being on an actual “real” network would’ve allowed “GMW” to be a lot better and it’d probably still be on today. I’ve yet to see an episode of “Fuller House”; not sure if it’s worth my time.

[FHCastmember]

Originally Posted by bh7812

Correct. That was the original plan. I do apologize for the length of that post but when folks ask about that whole ABC/Miller-Boyett/CBS situation there's not really an easy way to write a short version of what happened due to how much happened in that short time frame. From everything I've been able to read, for a bit during the period they were trying to decide what to do with Family Matters and Step By Step, they were very seriously mulling giving those two and Boy Meets World one final 2 year renewal so they could end them all as a big TV event. Boy Meets World from all accounts wasn't in any danger of cancellation at that point, it was more a question of if it would remain part of TGIF or get moved to another night. As we saw, BMW got the 2 year renewal and the other two were dropped.

For as fast as FM and SBS were aging I wonder if ABC immediately regretted dropping those two after CBS bought them. It seemed in a lot of ways they didn't know what to do without 2 of their 3 uber hits that night. They sure seemed to put all their chips and hopes on the Olsen twins after that. It would be utterly fascinating to have ABC, CBS and Miller-Boyett interview on the tensions and aftermath but with Les Moonves in super hot water right now it won't be anytime soon sadly. It's really hard to piece everything together exactly since all we really have is a few Wikipedia articles and a few more articles written by neutral third parties that have also had a hard time getting the complete picture.

Let's talk for a minute because it's been asked and mulled over on, the whole question of how they could have kept the block alive and going. As I wrote, Complete Savages was developed fir and targeted at TGIF. Even if they'd had to tweak and adjust it, they really should have gotten it on by the Fall of '97 at the latest. I believe it would have been at the least a modest success, enough to help hold the block up while ABC was looking for projects to inject new life into the block. I think it would have been a certified hit most likely. Paired with BMW, it definitely would have softened the blow of losing both FM and SBS a lot. The CS team definitely understood what made a TGIF show a TGIF show, it was a perfect fit for that block.

Then we should look at what they could have done post BMW. At that point, CS would have been a few years into it's run and probably the premiere anchor show for the block. Then it would be a question of finding 3 more compatible shows. For those I believe they should have looked at quite a few of the shows that ended up going to Disney Channel that became smash hits. Specifically Hannah Montana, The Suite Life, Good Luck Charlie, Lizzie McGuire and a few others. I've read in a few places Hannah Montana was initially developed for and targeted at TGIF but ABC had issues with Miley Cyrus' age at the time-something about how they were sure they wanted her biut felt she was too young at the time. A few years later they tried pitching to ABC again but they were in their reality TV craze and not really interested anymore. That ultimately went to Disney Channel. At the least, they should have picked it up later to reboot the block along with a few of the other shows that became big on there. That would have breathed the life into the block it needed. The other Disney Channel shows I listed were enormously compatible with TGIF. Good Luck Charlie could have come later.

Finally, more recently I really believe not picking up Fuller House and Girl Meets World were huge mistakes on a grand scale. That was a perfect lightning strike of circumstances they won't see again. It would be going strong now if they'd picked up both when they should have. There were definitely a few other multi cam TGIF compatible shows that they could have picked up with those. Why not have gotten the new One Day at a Time? Or The Ranch? I've seen a little of Part 1 of The Ranch and really liked it, still need to catch up with that! Though that show has a lot of F bombs in it and it's certainly more mature than most TGIF stuff, I think it could still have worked well. There's different combinations that could have worked. Truly hope ABC will regroup and try TGIF again next season the right way with the reboots that are heavily rumored. I've said a million times I'll be there for sure if they bring back the block the way the audience has been asking for.

Did not know Hannah Montana was going to be TGIF !

Well TGIF is back now on ABC, but off the boat is not a good fit at all. Lets hope next season is better!
Do you have any info on when TGIF came back in 2002 for one month on ABC Family, it only lasted 4 weeks.

Also do you have any info about the FM set being turned into the season 2 Set of Everyone Loves Raymond ?
(final season of FM was taped on the same set as Raymond Se 2)



I do have some tea about Miller/co the set for Full House in Summer 95, remained in storage until MEEGO was green lit, some of the pieces of the living room were used for Meego, and some parts were used for Two of a Kind, the stairs are actually the original steps from Full House. The backyard of Meego is actually the Tanners back yard. The BBQ grill is the Tanner's as well.


Miller Boyett was super cheap when it came to using sets

[icecream]

Originally Posted by bh7812

You brought up an excellent point that TGIF lost most of its steam because ABC didn't find new up and coming shows to replace the existing ones to keep the block going. Complete Savages comes to mind-it was in development for a long time and targeted for TGIF for that reason. It hit development issues and didn't finally premiere until 2003. You could tell right away it was meant for TGIF from the start, it had that TGIF atmosphere and was an excellent fit for that block. I really enjoyed it and hoped it would get renewal. During the year it was on, it had...major ratings challenges. Towards the end of the season they finally moved it into the TGIF block where it should have been, ratings greatly improved but not enough for renewal unfortunately. I feel if it had premiered several years earlier as planned, they could have paired it with Boy Meets World, they were both very compatible with each other. CS would probably have done great and that would nave given ABC time to find other good new shows for the block while BMW wound down. There were lots of good candidates in development at that time.

My primetime directory says Complete Savages was on Fridays from the start between 8 Simple Rules and Hope and Faith. From September 2004-February 2005 it aired there, then came back in May to presumably burn off episodes. I don't know if ABC still called that block TGIF then, but Complete Savages didn't air on any other night. While what I saw of it was good, the cast would have had to be almost totally different if it had come 7 years earlier in 1997 since it was a bunch of teenage boys and the father.

[stevea]

Originally Posted by bh7812

...For those I believe they should have looked at quite a few of the shows that ended up going to Disney Channel that became smash hits. Specifically Hannah Montana, The Suite Life, Good Luck Charlie, Lizzie McGuire and a few others. I've read in a few places Hannah Montana was initially developed for and targeted at TGIF but ABC had issues with Miley Cyrus' age at the time-something about how they were sure they wanted her biut felt she was too young at the time. A few years later they tried pitching to ABC again but they were in their reality TV craze and not really interested anymore. That ultimately went to Disney Channel. At the least, they should have picked it up later to reboot the block along with a few of the other shows that became big on there. That would have breathed the life into the block it needed. The other Disney Channel shows I listed were enormously compatible with TGIF. Good Luck Charlie could have come later.

I think some of these It's A Laugh Productions shows, like Suite Life, were "too good" for Disney and should have been on ABC (repeats of several were on the ABC Kids block on Saturday morning for a few years). Suite Life had superb writing, particularly the original 3 Zack and Cody seasons. The sets were excellent--all they would have needed to do to bring it up to ABC primetime standards, was to produce it on film, rather than on videotape with filmlook processing. I'm sure the same is true of other IAL shows like Hannah Montana, Wizards, GLC, etc.

[howierules86]

Originally Posted by catsrule

My primetime directory says Complete Savages was on Fridays from the start between 8 Simple Rules and Hope and Faith. From September 2004-February 2005 it aired there, then came back in May to presumably burn off episodes. I don't know if ABC still called that block TGIF then, but Complete Savages didn't air on any other night. While what I saw of it was good, the cast would have had to be almost totally different if it had come 7 years earlier in 1997 since it was a bunch of teenage boys and the father.

Yes, I can confirm that ABC brought back TGIF from 2003 to 2005 (I was much more fond of Hope and Faith than the other shows at that time).

[tlc38tlc38]

I started religiously watching the block in the 93/94 season. To this day, those 4 shows are very special to me. I do enjoy most, if not all of the shows TGIF had in its original run (except for “The Hughleys”; never a fan of that show).

Favorite block:
Family Matters
Boy Meets World
Step by Step
Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper


Second favorite block:
Family Matters
Boy Meets World
Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Clueless

[icecream]

Originally Posted by tlc38tlc38

I started religiously watching the block in the 93/94 season. To this day, those 4 shows are very special to me. I do enjoy most, if not all of the shows TGIF had in its original run (except for “The Hughleys”; never a fan of that show).

Favorite block:
Family Matters
Boy Meets World
Step by Step
Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper


Second favorite block:
Family Matters
Boy Meets World
Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Clueless

The Hughleys was a transplanted show anyway. Its first season aired after Home Improvement on Tuesdays.