Spring Break
A return to when Fridays were funny
A look back into the changes over the years to ABC's classic Friday lineup
KC Kenney
Issue date: 9/2/03 Section: Scene
There was a time when Friday nights were spent at home with the family. Before the parties of college, before the football games of high school and before the dances of junior high, there was TGIF.
Starting in the late 1980's, ABC ruled the Friday night market for television. Whether a kid, parent or just someone looking for classic comedy programming on Primetime, anyone could count on the slapstick and track laughter of four great shows on Friday night. TGIF changed a lot over the years, altering time slots and featured shows, adding characters and plot crossovers, and offering fun contests to viewers. It wasn't that long ago that one could send in a tape of their best Urkel impression in hopes of earning a brief stint as an extra on Family Matters.
In 1988, the first TGIF lineup went on the air. It featured classics such as Full House, Perfect Strangers, Mr. Belvedere and Just the Ten of Us. Mr. Belvedere didn't make it through to the following year's lineup, and soon Just the Ten of Us was left behind also. It made way, however, for a slew of some of the greatest and most memorable TV shows of our generation, including Family Matters, Step By Step and Boy Meets World. Perfect Strangers stuck around, with cousin Larry and Balky appealing to the older audiences later in the lineup. More and more, though, the programming became aimed at young teens and pre-teens who would have TGIF sleepovers and regale each other on the playground with their best Urkel impressions or mimicked one-liners from Full House.
What wasn't there to love? Step By Step was a retro Brady Bunch family that tried to show that, despite differences between people, one way or another one learns to love and maybe even accept his or her family. Complement that with Full House's great comedic timing of Uncle Joey, the party antics of Uncle Jesse and the happy family morals of Bob Saget as he shared his wisdom with his three girls, all the while accompanied by sappy background saxophone music. Steve Urkel offered hope to the classic geek, redefining the standard height of the belt buckle and becoming a pop culture icon. He spread his nerdiness by cutting a CD and plastering "Did I Do That?" on T-shirts all over the country.
Starting in the late 1980's, ABC ruled the Friday night market for television. Whether a kid, parent or just someone looking for classic comedy programming on Primetime, anyone could count on the slapstick and track laughter of four great shows on Friday night. TGIF changed a lot over the years, altering time slots and featured shows, adding characters and plot crossovers, and offering fun contests to viewers. It wasn't that long ago that one could send in a tape of their best Urkel impression in hopes of earning a brief stint as an extra on Family Matters.
In 1988, the first TGIF lineup went on the air. It featured classics such as Full House, Perfect Strangers, Mr. Belvedere and Just the Ten of Us. Mr. Belvedere didn't make it through to the following year's lineup, and soon Just the Ten of Us was left behind also. It made way, however, for a slew of some of the greatest and most memorable TV shows of our generation, including Family Matters, Step By Step and Boy Meets World. Perfect Strangers stuck around, with cousin Larry and Balky appealing to the older audiences later in the lineup. More and more, though, the programming became aimed at young teens and pre-teens who would have TGIF sleepovers and regale each other on the playground with their best Urkel impressions or mimicked one-liners from Full House.
What wasn't there to love? Step By Step was a retro Brady Bunch family that tried to show that, despite differences between people, one way or another one learns to love and maybe even accept his or her family. Complement that with Full House's great comedic timing of Uncle Joey, the party antics of Uncle Jesse and the happy family morals of Bob Saget as he shared his wisdom with his three girls, all the while accompanied by sappy background saxophone music. Steve Urkel offered hope to the classic geek, redefining the standard height of the belt buckle and becoming a pop culture icon. He spread his nerdiness by cutting a CD and plastering "Did I Do That?" on T-shirts all over the country.