 Welcome back to Come Again TV, the only place on YouTube where all geek culture collides. Today's episode is going to be a little different because we're going back in time to the 1980s and 90s when Friday nights ruled the world. DJIF aired on the ABC television network on Friday nights between 1989 and 2000 with attempted relaunches from 2003 to 2005 and again from 2018 to 2019. It was a two-hour long programming block that in its original run broadcast family-friendly sitcoms during prime time. For those of you who grew up streaming without an understanding of terms like this, prime time was a period of television programming that took place between 7 and 10 p.m. in the United States. For the most part, prime time programming was directed towards adults with more mature television shows. ABC, however, which was owned by Walt Disney, decided to go another way and make prime time for the whole family. This wasn't just for Friday nights either. Tuesdays were also centered around family-friendly shows with a few of them actually being right on the edge of family-friendly and mature, like Rosanne. ABC, which stands for American Broadcasting Company, got its start in 1953 and almost immediately began broadcasting family-friendly content, such as the Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Leave It to Beaver, The Donna Reed Show, The Flintstones, The Brady Bunch, and The Partridge Family through the 1970s. DJIF officially launched on September 22nd, 1989 as the brand child of Jim Janisek, with the letters standing for Thank God It's Friday. Those starring in DJIF sitcoms, however, chose a different meaning. Thank goodness, it's Friday. With the wording then being changed across the board and television bumpers promoting the programming block. Prior to developing DJIF for ABC, writer and producer Jim Janisek, who promoted ABC's Tuesday and Friday night comedy lineups, was reminded of the times when his family would gather around the television to watch the wonderful world of Disney, which aired between ABC, NBC, CBS, and the Disney Channel between 1954 and today. These memories inspired him to develop a comedy block that was specifically for the entire family. Support for his creation quickly gained steam as he approached studios and performers of ABC produced shows. Janisek received support from ABC network president Bob Iger. Iger had long been a feature of ABC and The Walt Disney Company, having joined ABC in 1974, forming menial labor on television sets and working his way up to his current position as CEO of The Walt Disney Company. In its first year, DJIF was composed of the show's perfect strangers, Full House and Mr. Belvedere, with growing pains and just the 10 of us being added the following year. From the very beginning, DJIF utilized its stars as hosts of the programming block, beginning with Mark Lynn Baker and Bronson Pinshow as Larry Appleton and Balkie Bartokomas, where the actors and character would introduce each show, as well as commercial breaks. This continued into the 90s when other series stars began alternating hosting duties, such as the cast of Family Matters, Full House, Step by Step, and Boy Meets World. It was during this time the name was changed from Thank God It's Friday to Thank Goodness It's Funny, and introduced by the cast of Full House. It was during the 1989 season that Perfect Strangers, the show that arguably started DJIF, spawned a spin-off series that aired right before it during the programming block. Family Matters was originally pitched as a realistic sitcom revolving around the perfect strangest characters of Harriet and Carl Winslow and their family. Actress Jo-Marie Payton had joined the cast of Perfect Strangers in a supporting role as elevator operator Harriet Winslow working in the same newspaper office as Larry and Balkie as part of the main cast from 1987 until 1989. In the show, the newspaper's owners decided to make the elevator self-service, which put Harriet out of a job. This allowed for her character to transfer over to her own show, Family Matters, in a kind of soft reboot. She does? Yes. Well, what was Harriet doing in there at that whole time? No, Harriet used to run the elevator, but now she's got her own show. It's called Family Matters. Watch this. This is my husband Carl. Say hello, Carl. Hello. And this is Carl's mother, Mother Winslow. Say hello. Well, how do you do? It's a real pleasure to meet you. I'd like to take this opportunity to tell you about my world travel. Mother, we don't have enough time. We need to talk about the show. These are our children, Eddie, Laura, and Judy. Hi. Hi. Yo. And this is Harriet's sister, Rachel, and her son, Richie. Say hi, Richie. You keep working with them, Rachel, while we watch this. Are we ever gonna eat? My digestion's about to shut down. Come on, Richie. Come on, say hi. Say hi. He was great in rehearsal. So come join our family on Friday nights. That's all we need. More people in the house. We look forward to being with you on Family Matters. Eddie, get your feet off that baby's blanket. Yes, Mama. Harriet's family was really nice. Will I ever get to see them again? Every Friday night, right before Perfect Strangers. Well, well, Cousin, I want to tell the whole building about Family Matters. Too bad I can't use the elevator. You can use the elevator. It still works the same way. Thanks, Cousin. During their time on Perfect Strangers, Harriet and Carl resided in the same apartment building as Larry and Balkie, having two children at the time. But when they gained their own show, Family Matters, Harriet and Carl became home owners. Having lived in their house since Eddie was very young and had three children, Eddie, Laura, and Judy. Some elements from their time on Perfect Strangers had transitioned over though, such as Carl being a police officer. A role that Reginald Val Johnson portrayed on several occasions, beginning in 1984, with Ghostbusters, where he portrayed the corrections officer that released the team to go see the mayor. Val Johnson continued portraying police officers in movies like Playing Clothes, Die Hard, Turner and Hooch, Die Hard 2, and TV shows like One of Our Own, Chuck, Family Guy, and the Boy Meets Girl Spinoff, Girl Meets World. I like to think these are all the same character. You know, after the events of the New York City cross-strip, New York City corrections officer decided he would much rather take on a less dangerous job and became a New York City limo driver, where he drove for McDundee. After saving Mick from some muggers, he decided to move out to LA, where he became a full-fledged police officer. It was here that he made Sergeant and Harriet became pregnant with Eddie, at which time he was involved in a terrorist attack at Noctomy Plaza, and eventually moved his family to Chicago, where he was bumped down to patrolmen before becoming Sergeant again. I know, I know. There's some holes in that, but hey, it's fun to imagine that Ghostbusters Crocodile Dundee, Die Hard, and Family Matters all take place in the same universe, isn't it? Anyway, the connection between Perfect Strangers and Family Matters wasn't the only one on TGIF. In fact, at one point, Family Matters, step-by-step, Full House, and Boy Meets World were all interconnected as being part of a shared universe, as Steve Urkel, portrayed by Jaleel White, appeared in at least one episode of all four shows. Well, in Boy Meets World, he was only mentioned as Corey's pen pal. During the height of TGIF's popularity in the 90s, each series had at least one or two episodes that took place at either Disneyland or Disney World, in order to promote ABC's parent companies, theme parks. These episodes were generally some of the most memorable, and weren't only confined to TGIF shows, but the majority of ABC's sitcoms. During Roseanne's Disney World episode, we actually witnessed Darlene show innocent affection for the first time. During Boy Meets World's Disney World episode, we witnessed Corey and Sean follow Tupanga to the theme park, where the couple eventually got back together. In the Family Matters two-parter, we witnessed Stefan or Kel propose to Laura. This was done to promote the idea that Disney World was the most magical place in the world. TGIF broadcast its final sitcom block of its original run on May 5, 2000, which saw a long-time series Boy Meets World end its run with an hour-long final episode. We wanted to know if you had anything else left to teach us. Believe in yourselves. Dream too good. Well, I guess there's just one thing left then. Tell us you love us. Now look, if there's one thing I've taught you is that there is a line between teacher and student that must never be crossed. Tell us you love us. I regard all my students equally. Come on, Feeny, you haven't even talked to another student for seven years. I mean, you wouldn't. Tell us you love us. I surely will not. Okay for you then. I will never forget you. You are more of a father to me than my own dad. I don't know what's gonna happen to me, but I do know that I'm gonna be a good person who cares about people. And I blame you for that. Never once. I'm not gonna forget you. You're the best person I know. You coming with us, Mr. Feeny? You gonna sneak up on us in Central Park or something? No, I shall remain here. No, you'll always be with us. As long as we live okay. I love you all. Class dismissed. This was also the same night that ABC aired its final two episodes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, which then went on to air on the WB network. During the final year of its run, TGIF dropped its hosting segments and the name TGIF itself was only used for promos and bumpers. During the following television season, ABC renamed the programming block as Working Comedy and moved away from the family-friendly format that made it such a success in the 80s and 90s. Over the years, ABC has attempted to relaunch the TGIF block with little to no success due to it steering away from family comedies and into more mature comedies. Over the years, a number of shows have become popular as a result of being part of TGIF. Shows like Growing Pains, Perfect Strangers, Family Matters, Boy Meets World, Step-by-Step, Full House, Dinosaurs, Sister-Sister, Hanging with Mr. Cooper, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Mr. Belvedere. On a personal note, a few years ago I introduced my children to TGIF by creating a family night on Fridays where we had to order pizza and set around the TV together without anyone being allowed to use their phones or computers and watch four shows in our own personal streaming TGIF lineup. This quickly became a weekly tradition that we continue today. The shows that began our TGIF nights were Family Matters on HBO Max, Sister-Sister on Hulu, Sabrina the Teenage Witch on Hulu, and Boy Meets World on Disney Plus. While it isn't quite the same as having the TGIF intro and bumpers included, it comes pretty close to remaking those nights from my own childhood where my family gathered around the TV and watched TGIF. We are now in the final seasons of Sister-Sister and Sabrina and my kids have already expressed interest in replacing them with Full House and The Cosby Show. I know The Cosby Show wasn't on TGIF nor was it an ABC sitcom, plus let's not forget the whole thing with Bill Cosby. But we decided that for TGIF we wouldn't just stick to ABC shows, that we would include any sitcom that was family-friendly, and in spite of Bill Cosby's personal issues and legal matters, The Cosby Show was a fantastic family-friendly sitcom. We as a society need to relearn how to separate the art from the artist. It's okay to find enjoyment in someone's art even if we don't like the artist themselves. In recent years, stars from TGIF's series have begun podcasts where they rewatch their shows and give behind-the-scenes insights into them. Melissa Joan Hart has a podcast entitled What Women Binge that premiered in January of 2022 with co-host Amanda Lee, where they talk about everything that interests them, including 90s sitcoms. Three of the stars of Boy Meets World, writer Strong, Danielle Fishel, and Will Friedle host the podcast Podmeets World, where each week they rewatch one episode from Boy Meets World and interview fellow 90s actors, producers, costumers, etc. Podmeets World has become a favorite of mine. In a recent episode, the cast spoke about a return to family-friendly comedies and how they have been lacking in recent years, with the majority of sitcoms being either child-centered or adult-centered, but not in between. On a related note, other 90s sitcom stars have also continued the trend of producing podcasts based around their shows, such as Lawrence Brothers, who produced the Brotherly Love Podcast, and Will Friedle co-hosts a number of other podcasts, which include I Hear Voices, alongside Kim Possible co-star Christy Carlson Romano. Stars from the 90s also gathered together in what is becoming a yearly convention called 90s con, which is essentially a comic con for all things 90s. This year's 90s con will be held in Tampa, Florida and Hartford, Connecticut. If you'd like to join the TGIF discussion, and who knows, maybe convince ABC to bring back the TGIF Family-Friendly Programming Block, join our Facebook group, bring back TGIF Family-Friendly Fridays on ABC. If you'd like more history and origins videos about all things 90s, let me know in the comments below. So what was your favorite TGIF sitcom? Personally, I like Family Matters. Boy Meets World was a close second for me, but Family Matters was where it was at. Many of the episodes weren't afraid to deal with hard hitting topics such as racism, gang violence, drugs. The list goes on and on. The same goes for Boy Meets World. They did it in a way that kids could understand that wasn't preachy, that would be considered realistic, that would help parents to talk to their kids about these topics. So overall, Family Matters in Boy Meets World would have to be the top two sitcoms that TGIF produced. They were really innovative for their day. If you enjoyed that video, make sure to check out one of these two playlists for more videos just like the one you just watched. I've been Shannon. This has been Comic NTV, the only place on YouTube where all geek culture collides. Take care geeks!