TGIF! Thank Goodness It’s Friday! The popular family-friendly comedy block debuted on ABC in September of 1989 in the United States. It featured four 30 minute comedies for the entire family to enjoy to fill a two hour television block. The popular comedy block ran until 2000 before seeing a brief resurgence in 2003. The original run featured 28 different shows with the longest running on Friday nights being “Boy Meets World,” a show that was immensely popular among children and tweens. While the second run featured eight shows in its two years of existence.

During its time on ABC, the Walt Disney Corporation wound up taking control of the ABC network. That led to several of the shows falling under Disney’s control and many of them shooting episodes at Walt Disney World. But, as time has gone on, Disney has allowed the rights to some of these shows to lapse. Given recent announcements about removing original content, I doubt they’ll re-acquire too many of the rights, but if they have enough, here’s some potential additions to a collection.

TGIF SHOWS ALREADY ON DISNEY+

Disney still has the rights to some of these shows with some of them already available on Disney+. Unfortunately, there are currently only three series from TGIF available on the service in the United States. While they can be a place to start, there will definitely need to be some series added to make this collection viable.

TGIF series already available on Disney+ include:

• Dinosaurs
• Boy Meets World
• 8 Simple Rules

TGIF SHOWS ON HULU

Another wrinkle in the Disney+ situation is always Hulu. Disney has a two-third ownership stake in the service, and CEO Bob Iger announced in 2023 that Hulu will start folding into Disney+ toward the end of the year. What does that mean for shows not on Disney+ but on Hulu? Can they be incorporated into a collection? Once Hulu merges into Disney+, can they be moved to Disney+? Or will Disney need to acquire streaming rights? Those are questions that still need to be answered, but Hulu could still provide more content for this potential collection.

TGIF series already on Hulu include:

• Full House
• Family Matters
• Sister Sister
• Sabrina the Teenage Witch

These TGIF series are currently only available for Hulu Live subscribers:

• Step By Step
• George Lopez

TGIF SHOWS NOT ON A DISNEY OWNED STREAMING SERVICE

There are several shows that were a part of the TGIF lineup, that are not on either Disney+ or Hulu. While it’s true that Disney has let the rights lapse for some of them, it’s also entirely possible Disney owns the rights to others and hasn’t had a reason to put them on the service yet. If Disney has the right, it would be nice to see them added for a TGIF collection.

TGIF shows not on a Disney owned streaming service:

• Perfect Strangers
• Free Spirit
• Just the Ten of Us
• Going Places
• Baby Talk
• Billy
• Camp Wilder
• Getting By
• Where I Live
• Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper
• On Our Own
• Muppets Tonight
• Aliens in the Family
• Clueless
• You Wish
• Teen Angel
• Brother’s Keeper
• The Hughleys
• Odd Man Out
• Making the Band
• Married to the Kellys
• The Big House
• Complete Savages
• Hope & Faith
• Life with Bonnie
• Less Than Perfect

CONCLUSION

As you can see, there is a plethora of TGIF shows not available on a Disney owned service. Some of these series only lasted one season and may not be worth adding to Disney+. But, if Disney has or can re-acquire the rights to some of the shows like “Muppets Tonight,” “Clueless” “The Hughleys,” “Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper,” “Hope & Faith,” “Life with Bonnie” or “Less Than Perfect,” I think there is an audience for those shows. Even without adding those shows, if Disney can incorporate the shows on Hulu into Disney+, there is still enough content to justify a TGIF collection.

TGIF remains wonderful nostalgia for many Americans who were children, pre-teens and tweens during the 1990s. Many of us are now parents who would love to share these shows with our own kids. And finding them all in one convenient collection could be a strong way for Disney+ to keep current subscribers. This collection is unlikely to bring in new subscribers, but there’s something to be said for the potential of keeping the ones you have.

What do you think? Do your remember TGIF? Would you like to see a TGIF collection? Which of these shows was your favorite?

Jeremy Brown

Jeremy has been a big Disney fan since he was a kid growing up during the Disney Renaissance. One day he hopes to go to every Disney Park in the world.

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