ABC’s TGIF Creator Clarifies Acronym Didn’t Stand For “Thank God It’s Friday”
Many people thought the abbreviation meant for “Thank God It is Friday” throughout the years, but Jim Janicek, who helped design the programming block, explained in a recent interview that the letters actually stood for “Thank Goodness It is Funny.”
Regarding the names they contemplated before to TGIF, Janicek stated on Pod Meets World, “We were talking about stuff like the #Friday Fun Club.” I think I could find the entire list somewhere, but I do recall that one. “It is Friday night.” There are a lot of shorthand expressions.
“With a tiny mouse named Friday the Mouse, we created our first animation, which was somewhat more kid-friendly. We worked with a man named Bob Kurtz, who owns a business, to animate that,” Janicek said. “[Kurtz and Friends Animation] made the initial advertisements for Shell and for [Sinclair], but I am not sure if he is still alive.”
And I was with him,” he added. The open was being animated by us. “We have arrived on TGIF,” stated [ABC execs] Bob Iger and Stu Brower over the phone. After deciding to call it “TGIF,” we began animating those letters into the open and proceeded from there.
Janicek added, “I think Bob came up with ‘Thank Goodness It is Funny,’ to avoid any problem with any restaurant,” stating that “time was ticking” on completing the animation.
The television series Full House, Family Matters, Perfect Strangers, and Just the Ten of Us launched the TGIF programming block in the fall of 1989. These programs paved the way for the newsmagazine 20/20. The block was hosted alternately by Friday night show stars.
The animation of Friday the Mouse announcing the programming block as “Thank goodness it is humorous” may be seen in the video below. Bronson Pinchot (Balki) and Mark Linn-Baker (Larry) from Perfect Strangers also restate what the acronym TGIF truly means.
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 were among the other shows that were a part of the TGIF lineup during its first run.
In the fall of 2003, ABC revived TGIF with George Lopez, Hope & Faith, Life with Bonnie, and Married to the Kellys. This iteration of TGIF concluded in 2005 after two seasons.
With Fresh Off the Boat, Speechless, and Child Support included in the block, a third attempt to revive TGIF was attempted for the 2018 fall season. There was only one season of that version of TGIF.
