TGIF Series: The Kickoff Episode

Was it really a Friday night in the 90s if a two-hour primetime block of sitcoms wasn't playing in your home? This episode kicks off our series on TGIF (or Thank Goodness It's Funny), the ABC programming block that brought us iconic Xennial shows like Full House, Family Matters and Dinosaurs. 

In this episode we talk about the background of TGIF -- and stay tuned for a deeper dive into some of these classic shows.

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Transcript

Welcome And TGIF Series Setup

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Were your Friday nights in the 90s dedicated to a two-hour block of sitcoms? Are characters like Urkel, Balkie, and Uncle Jesse synonymous with your foundational sitcom watching?

SPEAKER_02 0:13

If you've ever cleared your social calendar to check in with your favorite characters on TV, you might be a Xennial who watched the massively popular TV lineup TGIF. And so are we. Hi, I'm Katie.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

And I'm Danny and welcome to our first of our series on the 90s Friday Night Staple ABC's Thank Goodness It's Funny programming, also known as TGIF. Hey. And he was like, What? And so I was like telling him, like, remember, blah, blah, blah. And he was like, oh, those shows were bangers.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

They were so many bangers that we're going to talk about.

What TGIF Covered And Era Focus

SPEAKER_01 0:53

He's like, those are gonna, those are gonna be so good. So today's episode is just an overview of the primetime TV phenomenon that brought us those banger iconic shows, like Full House, Step by Step, Family Matters, and one of my favorites, Dinosaurs. Yes. Now I love that Katie wrote that. I did. Like, but I knew you were gonna read it. It's true. Not the mama. Yes. Um, our upcoming episodes, um, we're gonna dive deeper into some of these shows uh with more info on the characters the writing and of course the surrounding controversies, because y'all, it was the 90s. And we're even gonna re-watch a few episodes. Obviously, we're not gonna re-watch entire series. We're already doing that. Yes. So we're just gonna watch like highlighted episodes.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

Yeah. That's gonna be fun. Um, I know one of the first ones I'm doing, I went through and grabbed four episodes today that I think we should both watch. I emailed me. Yeah, I saw that.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

I saw it and then you emailed me. We're so we are so 90s.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

I'm gonna see you later. Here it is. Well, for me, I want to reference it later. I don't want to be like, oh, you told me this.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

And it was probably like hella early in the morning, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:57

It was pretty early. Yeah, I got up pretty early today. Uh so yes, today we're going to be talking specifically about the launch of TGIF. And so there's technically three blocks of time that there were different TGIFs that ran. Okay. But we're only You mean like eras? Yeah. Okay. Kind of. Like it went off, came back, went off, came back. Oh, right. But we're gonna talk about the main one. This series is about 1989 to the year 2000. That's a lot. That's a lot. There's actually so it was rebooted 2003 to 2005, and then it was rebooted like 2018 for like a very small amount of time. That's not relevant to us, anyways. No, it's not. So just so you guys know, if you watched those TGIFs, uh, we're not gonna talk about that.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

We're doing the OG lineup.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

We're doing the OG lineup, and we may not cover every show individually, but we'll see. We'll see how it goes.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

We'll definitely get the first the ones that were in the first lineup for sure.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. So hopefully some of your favorites are in there. And I'm wondering, I'm wondering this right now, so we can decide on air. Should we tell listeners, maybe on social media, the episodes we're gonna watch so they can re-watch them before we drop the episodes? We can. For example, for full house, whatever ones we're gonna rewatch.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

Well, I'm gonna just be full honest. If it's the ones I'm researching, I may not know first. Oh, I will because I'm gonna have to tell you.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

Yeah, I think we'll share it.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Okay, let's do that.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

And and then obviously you can watch other episodes outside those if you want.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

Unless we say that right now and then we don't do it.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

You know what? If that happens, rip which rip to this idea has happened a lot. So look, I already know the ones for the first one, so we'll share those. Yeah, okay, we'll share those. So you can follow along because with our Dawsons rewatch, it's pretty clear what we're watching and when. So if people want to watch, they know where we're at. So this might be fun.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Or you could be like Sarah, our friend Sarah blew through the whole series in like a month or something.

Listener Rewatch Plans And Social Sharing

SPEAKER_02 3:54

She was loving it, she just kept going, which is so crazy.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

I love it. I although, I mean, she didn't like just sit there and stare at it. Like it was no, you know, you can have it on. But before we get going, yeah, let's chat. We are wearing happy new year headbands. We are oh, yeah, happy 2026 because when y'all hear we're recording this a couple days before the first day of the new year. This is New Year's Eve Eve.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

It is, guys.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Katie's coming to my New Year's Eve party. What? News flash, newsflash. She is putting her journaling on pause for the evening. I am for like four or five hours. I can't believe it. I am sh sh I think she's even going to be there until midnight. So everybody pass out right now. Yep. From shock. I'll be there. What's happening? Actually, her kids guilted her into it, and I'm all here for that. Thanks, kids.

SPEAKER_02 4:41

That is what happens. I know. Two of them are going to be there. So I know. The one needs a ride anyway, and then the other one kind of wants a ride home because she wants to stay till midnight. So it's fine. It'll be great. I am actually very much looking forward to it. Except that it's gonna be really cold.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Well, that's why you're fucking going outside. Okay. Now there will be people who go outside because listen, this is the funniest thing to me about living in Florida. I was at the store the other day, and uh this lady, I was at Cole's, I was trying to find a shirt because we're taking family pictures. Guys, I all day I went shopping and then ended up with some wearing something in my closet. Isn't that just how it goes? Right. So I was getting a shirt, and this lady, the worker, was like, Oh, you're preparing for that cold weather that's coming, right? I said, No, no, no, no, I will not be outside. I am dreading it. And she's like, Oh, I can't wait. I can't wait. I'm so excited. All these people get excited about like this, it's not just like 60s, this is like 30 degrees cold. If you want that weather, you need to not live here. Now, I guess not everybody has a choice. PS, but also, like, we don't get that excited about cold weather here in Florida, so I don't need to hear that excitement from people.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

I don't like it that cold. I like 60s.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

You like a chill in the air?

SPEAKER_02 5:54

I like a chill in the air. It's fun to walk my dogs because they they find so much joy in the cold because they're probably freaking hot. Because they're sweating all the time. Like they are like puppies when it's cold out, and it's so cute.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

I am an indoor cat, guys. We know this. I only like outside if it's perfect conditions, and for me, that is sunshine and warmth. If my feet can't be bare, I don't want it.

SPEAKER_02 6:19

I get you.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

I don't want it. So I get like I get viscerally mad when it's freezing cold. I can't, and I used to live my life like that. We lived in the Midwest. I was just viscerally pissed off all the time because I hate, hate, hate being cold. That's why I've never been skiing. I'm also scared of heights and a ski lift. I want to throw up thinking about it. Uh so anyway.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

Wow. I are so but you're gonna stay inside at your party, so you won't be vis visceral viscerally pissed off at your party. No, I'm gonna be having a great time inside.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

But the port, like we do have a nice outside around our pool with sitting because people will want to go out there because it's probably gonna be hot. There are um currently 70 RSVPs, sure, and uh you know I'm making a big vat of pasta salad.

SPEAKER_02 7:09

Oh, are you? Not Caesar salad?

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Well, are you gonna do Caesar pasta salad? I guess I could. That'd be such a fun Katie twist.

SPEAKER_02 7:17

All right, that's what I'll do.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Okay, that sounds delicious, actually.

SPEAKER_02 7:22

I was trying to not put my opinions on my dish for the people will eat that up. Yeah, that's true. And other people are bringing their favorites.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

Do you know what I love is that um one of our friends named Anthony, we have a few. This is not the one you're in a show with, but I don't know if he the other one wants me to blast his name. Okay. Him and his wife are bringing ambrosia salad, and I just think that is the cutest thing. I love that. And I will eat some. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

Yes, I do so good. I'm like, ambrosia salad, let's go. That sounds so fancy.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

It I mean, it is a New Year's Eve party. I know.

SPEAKER_02 7:52

It's fancy times.

New Year Banter And Word Of The Year

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Um, I don't know where we're gonna put everything. It's fine. I borrowed chairs from Katie in a cooler. It's fine. Everything's fine, it's not that deep. It's either gonna be a fun party or disaster, and there's just the way it is.

SPEAKER_02 8:03

Um I heard chairs, coolers, and ambrosia salad. So I feel like this party's a success already.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

Let's talk about uh New Year's. Our word of the year. I failed our last episode.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

We didn't come up with a word for the year for the podcast on the word of the year episode. Did we? And also Danny didn't have one. So what do we want to attack first right now?

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Well, my my word is gonna be a word I've used before. I I go, I pretty much flip and flop between two words, and I've done this since I've done the uh a word of the year since like 2017 or whatever it was.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Um, it's gonna be focus. I like that because uh I am a chronic multitasker, which I've talked about. I have ADD that is unmedicated and untreated, and that is fine.

SPEAKER_02 8:51

Diagnosed, but unmedicated and untreated.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

It's not fine, guys. That's actually terrible. It's a whole thing, and I'm not gonna talk about it because nobody cares about my um myself with that. But I am focus is kind of like intention, but like I try to do too many things at once. Noted by I always have open cabinets in my kitchen because I'll be like putting dishes away and then go fold clothes in the laundry, and then that'll make me think, oh, I need to go write this down, and then I turn around and it looks like a ghost has been there.

SPEAKER_02 9:25

I feel that.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

I know everybody else who struck has the same struggle. Y'all know what I mean. It drives my husband bonkers.

SPEAKER_02 9:33

I saw this, I'll have to send it to you. It was like a reel, and it was a type C mom. And it's basically like the beginning of a Sunday morning, and she's like, Yep, I'm gonna do this laundry. We're gonna and she keeps saying, We're gonna be productive today. We're gonna and then she's like, you know, follows a trail of oh, I'm gonna wake up cabinet down and oh, oh, oh, I need my planner, I need to write this thing down. Oh, I gotta call the doctor's office. Oh, blah, blah, blah. And then it's like 10 p.m. and the laundry's not done. She's like, man, we didn't even get the laundry done. Like, we've done nothing today. And I was like, Oh, yeah, I feel that.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

And I mean, I usually will get all the things done. It's just, I need to just focus on one thing, get it a hundred percent. And that goes for not just anyway, so that's gonna be my word. So I did decide on a word.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

Focus.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

Focus.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

I really like that, and I do think it's different from intention. Yes, it is, and it like you said, it can be in the moment, like in the kitchen when you're putting dishes away, or it can be bigger picture things, like your business or the podcast, or whatever, your relationships, you know. Correct. I love that. I love that. And if you haven't listened yet, my word was and is abundance. We'll see.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

By the way, uh, House of Abundance was totally on pose. Yes, okay. It was Electra's house.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

Electra's house.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Remember Electra? Yeah. Okay. Oh, I love that name.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

Anyway, uh Podcast Word. Podcast word is probably okay, hear me out.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

Um, I don't know what the word is. I don't know if it's backtrack or basics, but I was writing down like what I want to work on on the podcast for me. Like, because you know, we do different things for the podcast, some things together and some things we go into our strengths. And I was like, I want to go back and audit the episodes and make sure the notes are right and the sources are correct, and make sure we've got little blog posts on our site about it. And um, so I was like, that's all kind of like looping back to strengthen what we have. So I don't really know what that is. I don't either, and I don't know if that's just like literally podcast maintenance and like you should do that all the time, or if that's like like basic shit we should be doing from the beginning. Instead, we're sitting here in New Year's hats just recording another episode. We don't even have the sources for our last episode anywhere, but here we are.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Just recording and recording. We got no listeners, we got no sources, but the content is there, the content lives.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

So I don't know if that's a word, but that's a I know we're gonna have to. Well, you just said like five words. Oh no. I said back to basics, backtracking.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

I mean, back to basics is three words. True. Backtracking's I don't think that sounds like a positive word.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

It doesn't. It sounds like regression.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Yeah, we don't want to do that. I don't know. So wow, we know listeners, help. What if help? No, nope, because they're gonna be like, get y'all shit together. What if we don't even have a lot of listeners?

SPEAKER_02 12:21

But they but they are the hardcore ones, and they can give us ideas.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Well, I think maybe for the podcast, we talked about like connections and stuff. I think it should still be growth. I think we should still hang on to that.

SPEAKER_02 12:35

Year two of growth.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Yeah, I think go because who said it had to be a new one? Me. Why?

SPEAKER_02 12:42

Did you say that? No, okay, just now I said that.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

Well, I'm gonna say I'm gonna say it's okay to have growth 2.0.

SPEAKER_02 12:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:49

Oh, I like that. I mean, I just I mean that doesn't have to like literally growth 2.0.

SPEAKER_02 12:55

Nope, that's it. No turning back. You said it, that's what we're doing. All right, growth 2.0.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

All right, growth 2.0 and focus and abundance and abundance in Billy Porter's voice.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

And Electra. House of Electra. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

No, it wasn't. House of Electra. It was House of Abundance.

SPEAKER_02 13:10

House of Abundance. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

Electra.

SPEAKER_02 13:12

Okay, got it. But to now bring it forward to just go back in time again. Let's now we can backtrack. Here we go. So back to TGIF, which is what this episode's about. First of all, is it is it though? We're not sure. Happy New Year's, happy New Year's, parties, words, whatever. Did you watch TGIF? And I know we've talked about this, but for listeners, what are your memories of it and which shows like stand out the most to you?

SPEAKER_01 13:39

I mean, y'all know I watched it because I was a TV kid. I watched so much TV, and this came out 89, you said 89.

SPEAKER_02 13:46

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

Yeah. Like in my peak TV watching era. Um, I do I did watch it all. I I loved Mia Sitcom back in the day. I have to say, Full House was never one of my faves because I felt like it was too wholesome. And I don't think I realized that's why I didn't like it that much as a kid. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Like I'm more of a Roseanne kit like person. We're actually gonna talk about Roseanne a little bit today than I am um Full House, but I I loved Perfect Strangers.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

Oh my god, me too.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

Which when we get to that, we'll talk about all that. I loved Family Matters. And there was a show, I can't remember if it came on uh TJF Just the Ten of Us. Do you remember that show? It didn't work.

SPEAKER_02 14:32

Yeah, that was one of the originals.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

I loved that show. So yeah, I did. I I watched it and I loved it. I I didn't really love step by step when that came on. Yeah. There were some I but anyway, I know you loved Full House.

SPEAKER_02 14:45

Loved Full House. Oh my god, I loved it. And when we rewatch, I know it's gonna be painful. Oh my god, I am dreading it.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

When I saw the episode you sent me, I went, Oh god, I remember that one.

SPEAKER_02 14:56

Yeah, well, yeah, yeah. There's one in particular. Yes. Yeah, it's gonna be rough. Um, I loved Full House. I liked Step by Step. I think I watched most of those. Loved Family Matters because I grew up just outside Chicago. Oh, nice. It's kind of fun to have a sitcom in Chicago, whether it was actually filmed there or not. Who knows? Maybe we'll find out when we research it. But I loved Perfect Strangers. Yes. I just thought that show was so funny. But I did say to my husband this morning when I was talking about all this, because he was like, What are you working on? I'm like, Oh, I'm just going over my notes for today and was telling him what we were doing. And he watched Perfect Strangers. I said, I wonder if the like concept of like a foreign person living here, like, I wonder if it's not funny. Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

I have a feeling it was well, they may, I think they made up where he was from. It wasn't like that's what my husband said.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

He goes, it's not a real country. I'm like, I know.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

But still, they were making they were putting like stereotypes on foreigners. So I'm a little nervous to re-watch it.

SPEAKER_02 15:53

But he was like, he was like defending it. He was like, no, no. It he wasn't, he wasn't portrayed to be stupid or anything, it was just a silly show. It was very slapstick.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Brandt is very Gen X.

SPEAKER_02 16:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

And like, we ain't apologizing for shit.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

No, no, he's like, it was fine. Although he hates Full House with a passion. Oh, well, I can totally see that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, and I remember this is so random, but I remember watching Hanging with Mr. Cooper. Oh my god, I loved that show. Yeah, I can't wait to talk about that one.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

That one, though, was a little later though.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

It was later. I want to say, I have it in my notes here, but I want to say it was 94, 95, something like that.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Yeah, see, and I was in high school then, and I don't think I was like, I wasn't home on Friday nights anymore.

SPEAKER_02 16:29

Right. This would have been like just at the end of me being home on Friday nights, I think. So I remember at least watching it a season or two.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

And then it and then Dinosaurs, yeah. Dinosaurs was fun.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Dinosaurs.

SPEAKER_02 16:40

I thought that was on longer. It was only three seasons.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Yeah, it wasn't there very long.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

I I imagine that show was hard to make because it got picked up and was shown on like neck at night or something. Okay. That doesn't sound right. But it it they showed the reruns somewhere else.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

They did, yeah. Uh Paramount bought it, but I'm not sure where they played it.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

Was it on the family channel? Maybe it was. Oh, maybe. ABC Family Channel. Maybe that was it. I bet you.

Defining TGIF And ABC’s Family Strategy

SPEAKER_02 17:04

Yeah. All right. So we'll have more on all those individual shows as we go, but for today, we're gonna talk about TGIF. So if you did not watch this, or you are one of our younger listeners, let me tell you what it was. Thank God it's funny, or TGIF was an American primetime television program block that aired on ABC starting in the late 1980s, so 1989. The name comes from the initials of the popular phrase, thank God it's Friday. However, the stars of the lineup touted the meaning as thank God it's funny. In its various incarnations, the block mainly featured sitcoms aimed at a family audience. And I forgot about this until I like wrote this out. It was the lead-in to 2020. Do you remember how 2020 came on after TGIF?

SPEAKER_01 17:54

Nope.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

2020, which was.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

What do you mean it was the lead-in?

SPEAKER_02 17:58

Well, it was the two hours leading up to 2020. And 2020 started at 9 o'clock Eastern. Yes, and that was uh it is late. But it's a news magazine show. And it's before the news, the 10 o'clock. And it was on before TGIF started. It started in 87. So it was kind of like family friendly, and then at nine o'clock, not that 2020 is like inappropriate, but it was about crimes and murders. I didn't know. But I remember watching it. I do not remember. Obviously, I do not. I have never liked that. No. Um, so two hours of sitcoms followed by 2020, which is still on 2020. Woo! Wait, was it Barbara Walters on there? Uh-huh. Okay. I did watch some of his name, the older guy that was with her. Barbara Walters and um I can see his face and hear his voice. Everyone's screaming at me. I'll I'll look it up. Okay. Well, we're not talking about 2020, but I just when I saw that, I was like, that's right. I don't remember that, but okay. Um, so ABC as a network, at least at the time, was really known for kind of being the family network, like the family channel. So as far back as the 1950s, they aimed to have programming that you could sit down with your whole family and watch. Examples of this are The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet in 1952, Leave It to Beaver, 1958, Donna Reed Show, 1958, The Flintstones, 1960, The Brady Bunch, 1969, Partridge Family, 1970.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

Damn, they had them all. They had all the family members. Because there were only three networks.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

I mean. Right. So that was that was kind of their way. Not that the other networks didn't have family-friendly stuff, but it was like they wanted to be known as that.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

Well, because you think about it, and then you think of NBC, it was like friends and ER and like all that. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 19:43

So the idea of TGIF as a programming block was the idea of this guy, Jim Janisek. And he was, I know, I had to look up how to say it. That's fun. Janisek. That's how you say it. And he was a producer at ABC, and he'd worked there as a writer and a producer for. For like 10 years at this point, I believe, yeah, late 1970s. And he was already in charge of promoting the sitcoms that ran Tuesday through Fridays. And he had this idea because when he was a kid, he would sit down with his family and watch the wonderful world of Disney on ABC. And so he wanted something like that, where like you're not just like here and there, oh, my show's on, my other show's on, one person's watching it, whatever, but that the it's like an event. Like you sit down and watch it, which in '89, when this came out, that was still something that was achievable. Yeah. I think. And again, less networks, even cable. Some people had cable, some people didn't. Like it didn't offer as much as it does now. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

I can remember not having cable.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Yeah, me too.

SPEAKER_01 20:44

Yeah, like me too.

Birth Of The Block And Early Lineups

SPEAKER_02 20:45

Absolutely. So making it sort of like something you would schedule time around to be able to watch this stuff. So he was trying to get support for this idea of like these blocks of time, not necessarily on Friday. And he started approaching like individual producers at the network and different writers to kind of get this idea. And eventually he went to the network president, Bob Iger. Yes, Bob, and kind of gave him this idea. So before this concept of like a block of programming, the Friday night schedule at ABC did have some comedy sitcoms already. It had Webster, which ran till 87. Yep. Benson ran till 86. Did you ever watch Benson? I don't think so. I didn't watch that one, but my husband was like, oh, Benson. I mean, he's older than us, but he was like, Oh, I loved Benson. No, I don't remember that. I never watched it either. And Different Strokes, which ran to 86. So this idea of kind of having like star shows on a Friday night was already a concept. It just wasn't like labeled anything, or like a push by the network to actually do. So before TGIF, ABC was reformatting its Tuesday night lineup to have a comedy block from eight to nine, and then it had two dramas, an hour-long drama after that. So from like eight to eleven. But starting at nine were the dramas. Moonlighting was one of the dramas. Oh yeah. And so they decided to kind of tweak that when Moonlighting went off the air, and they decided to make it more of a comedy night. And they called it Terrific Tuesday. Do you remember that? I don't remember that at all. And it had that was what, mid like that was late 80s? Yeah, yeah. Late 80s. We were pretty young. Yeah. It was like 87, 88. Um, oh 89, I guess. February of 89, they added a second hour of comedy, including Who's the Boss?

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Oh, I did watch that show. And I obviously watched Roseanne. Yeah. Troy's Troy had a huge crush on Alyssa Milano. As did Minnie Gin X, everyone boys.

SPEAKER_02 22:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

And girls. And girls. I mean, let me let me be clear.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

Look, she retweeted me once. What? Yeah. And it was the best day of my life. For what? It was when Tegan was little. So 10 years ago, maybe. I wrote something for my blog, because I wrote on my blog a lot at that time about how breastfeeding's lonely. And it was a whole post about how, you know, basically like I had to leave an outing with friends early. And then you sit in a room by yourself in the dark. And you're the only one who can do it. And if you're out in public, you got it. Yeah. And it was like about that. I wasn't complaining, but it was just like I'm in the middle of this, and this is hard. And she read it, retweeted it, because I tweeted it with like some sort of hashtags, like breastfeeding or something. And she was breastfeeding at the time. And she was like, most real thing I've ever read.

unknown 23:30

Ah.

SPEAKER_02 23:30

Isn't that crazy? I have a screenshot of it. Okay. I was like, I'll show it to you. That is crazy. Yeah. So this would have been like 2015, probably, because Tegan was a couple months old.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

And Twitter was still like a thing. And Twitter was like, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

And I was always on there putting my links from my blog. Yeah. And um, I was just like, What? What? I know.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

I would totally freak out.

unknown 23:53

I know.

SPEAKER_02 23:54

See, that's what we needed.

SPEAKER_01 23:55

One person to do that.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

I know. For our podcast. No, for real, though. Like my my blog, like exploded, I'm sure. Exploded after that. Like our social numbers, uh, the number of people reading us. I think the Google algorithms like kept bumping us up on topics. Yeah. One one famous person. One just maybe it's Alyssa Milano. She's gonna listen to this episode and be like, most real thing I've ever heard.

SPEAKER_01 24:17

Retweet. Won't be this one.

SPEAKER_02 24:20

It won't be this one. Unless she means the part where everyone had a crush on her. Well, because she probably feels that.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

That's true.

SPEAKER_02 24:26

All right, moving on.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

Anyway, also who's the boss? I had a crush on Tony Danza.

SPEAKER_02 24:30

He's a cutie. Right.

SPEAKER_01 24:31

I like his voice too. I guess maybe I had a dad complex. Because look, I had a crush on Dawson's dad. Tony Danza. I mean, they're both objectively very handy. I mean, my dad, my dad did die young and my parents were divorced. So there you go. There you go, Jen. Go ahead and uh uh analyze that. Analyze away.

SPEAKER_02 24:50

John will be like, this is a 10-second analysis. Really? You have daddy issues. Yeah, I know. Thanks. So basically, this terrific Tuesday was really seeing a lot of traction. And they were promoing it as such, and ratings were very stupid, but also like 89, come on. So that was Jim Janisek's idea. So the network went back to him and said, like, we need something else like that. Fix our Friday. Basically. Yeah. And so when they announced their lineup for the fall of '89, they came up with a name and it was called the Friday Fun Club.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

Okay, that is really bad.

SPEAKER_02 25:26

That one's real bad. And they were going to have predominantly family-friendly sitcoms, and they already had three programs that were on the network either on a different night or already on Fridays that were going to be part of it. And that was Perfect Strangers. Okay. It'd been on the air for about a year. Full house, same thing. And wait for this one. Mr.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

Belvedere. Oh my god, my okay. Fun fact the street I grew up on was Belvidere. What? Yes. Street I grew up on, 1026 Belvedere. That's where I live. That's so good. I don't live there no more. But um somebody does.

SPEAKER_02 25:59

So you're like, so go say hi to that person. You didn't say the city in this episode. It's fine.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

It don't matter. I mean, literally, what we nobody cares. Anyone couldn't find it. Nobody cares. Anyway, yeah. So when that show came out, my sister and I were like, yes. I remember really liking that show. That guy who played Mr. Belvedere was the best.

SPEAKER_02 26:17

So good. I think we'll have to watch a few couple of that one. Sure. I just want to revisit it. And now that it was your street name, we'll have to. I know. And then they had one more to fill out the two-hour block, which was a new show called Just the Ten of Us. Yes. Which was a spin-off of Growing Pains. And it was um, it wasn't on this long, but that that one was part of the original two-hour block. The spin-off what because the coach it had some the coach was the dad. It was like a basketball coach. Something like that. And he was widowed. No, no, no. You know what I'm thinking of? Girl, that's you're gonna laugh. There's another one called Just the Two of Us or something later. That's Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, way later. Oh, I know. And that's that someone's a coach and a widower.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

And wow, they only had sitcoms. They only had a few storylines to pull from for sitcoms.

SPEAKER_02 27:03

They were like, let's just recycle this one. One parent has to be dead.

SPEAKER_01 27:06

I remember my two dads.

SPEAKER_02 27:07

Like, yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh, that was a good show. Okay. So before we get too much further, we have to stop and talk about Miller Boyette Productions.

SPEAKER_01 27:17

Oh, yeah, that sounds familiar.

SPEAKER_02 27:18

Do you remember the little thing at the end? It was like in cursive. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So they are a production company. So they aren't like part of ABC, but they worked exclusively with them on a lot of different sitcoms. And it's a partnership of Thomas L. Miller and Robert L. Boyette. Ooh, I wonder if they have the same middle name. And I wonder.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

I love how Katie is always surprised by her own notes.

Miller-Boyett’s Formula And Influence

SPEAKER_02 27:42

No, I just I didn't say it out loud. So by the late 80s, they had already mastered um a very specific lane, right? They they were really good at writing these sort of family sitcoms that had a moral involved that you could sit down and watch, and by the end you've like learned a lesson, you're gone on a journey or whatever. So at its peak, TGIF was essentially built on these Miller Boyette shows. They produced Perfect Strangers, Full House, Family Matters, and Step by Step. And let's see. Oh, so Janisek knew who they were, knew their work. So when he pitched TGIF as a brand, Miller Boyette came in and was like part of the whole entity. Okay. For quite a while. Now, not every single TGIF show was theirs. Got it. But some of the like really main ones that saw a lot of success were.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

All right, Miller Boyette, let's go.

SPEAKER_02 28:34

Um, yeah, and they just had they had sort of a formula. They used multi-camera setups. Obviously. Yes. They had big like ensemble casts. Yeah. So that you could have lots of characters you liked, or just big families in the case of some of this, like tons of characters. Clear moral centers. It's a one of the things I read said without feeling preachy, I was like, uh wrong. That's not right. And comedy that generally worked for like kids and adults. Like you could watch it together and enjoy it. Um, their big thing was Thomas Miller said this you could walk into the room halfway through an episode and instantly know who the family was, who the heart was, and who was about to learn a lesson. True. I mean, yes. I mean, happy with all of those.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

I think that's probably why a lot of people like those shows, is because they all you they were predictable. Right. You get what you expect. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:33

Yeah. Which is nice. Especially if you are trying to watch with your kids, you're not worried that something crazy is about to happen. Right. You're not gonna get tricked by a plot twist, right? Well, sometimes, but not like that kind of plot twist.

SPEAKER_01 29:47

Like, but you know, some shows were more predictable than others. Uh-huh. Full house. Yeah. And they had the music where Danny would always have the lessons. Well, they're they're not the only show. Family Matters had the music too.

SPEAKER_02 29:58

He did. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:59

I mean, they pretty much all those shows, they have the do you ever okay? Did you ever watch Allie McBeal? Oh yeah. Okay, do you remember how she would like have like in her, like she would imagine like theme songs about her life? Yeah. You remember like she would have like music playing? I do that all the time. Do you ever do that? I'll be like sitting in a moment. I'm like, oh my gosh, what song would be playing right now if I was on like I do like Allie McBeal, and every time I'm like having a heart-to-heart combo with my kids, I'm not kidding. I think this is where the instrumental music was coming in.

SPEAKER_02 30:30

Swell. Anybody. But that's how your brain knows. Here comes the lesson.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

That's how much TV I watch as a kid. It now impacts my brain.

SPEAKER_02 30:40

I don't know that I've ever done that, but now I think I might start.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

You don't, it's very distracting.

SPEAKER_02 30:45

Oh. That's okay. I mean, I could I'm distracted by everything all the time. So why not why not add music in there?

SPEAKER_01 30:53

You know, let's do it. Like, seriously, like you know, um, for instance, another good example is like John Travolta walking down the street in the opening of Saturday Night Fever, right?

SPEAKER_02 31:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

That that BG Okay. So when you're like walking somewhere and you're excited, think about what song would be playing. Okay. My kids used to do this when they played baseball because they were like, what would my my walk up song be?

SPEAKER_02 31:16

Oh, I like that.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

You know, because it has to be like your theme song and it would change all the time. Um Okay. I'm gonna think about that. By the way, mine would be thunderstruck.

SPEAKER_02 31:27

That's your that's your walk-up song, like your theme song. I've never played sports in my life. I know what mine would be. I need to think about this. Not right now, but I'll think about it.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

Watch you say something totally unexpected. I might.

SPEAKER_02 31:39

If it hits me during this episode, I'll say it out loud. If not, like I'll really put some I'll attend my journal and really, really reflect on this and come back if I have time, because now I have plans.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

Now you have to go to a party. Oh my god. How terrible.

SPEAKER_02 31:58

How as I write my journal, spend more time with friends and family sitting alone to all the parties.

Hosting Segments, Theme Songs, And Rotations

SPEAKER_01 32:07

Where literally you will know every person at this party. Oh, probably. Every single person. No, you will, I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_02 32:12

And the cat.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

I mean, well, he'll be hiding. Oh, that's gonna be way too many fucking people. That's overstimulating for a kitty. Cooper goes, he said, Oh my god, it's gonna be so gross because everybody's gonna have their shoes on because we don't wear shoes in our house ever. And I'm like, Well, I'm obviously not gonna ask people to take their shoes off at a party.

SPEAKER_02 32:31

It's a lot of people too.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

But he was he's like so grossed out by it, like thinking about how gross. And I'm like, Well, great. Thanks so much for bringing that up because now that's all that's gonna be in my brain.

SPEAKER_02 32:40

You're like, you know what you can do January 1st, Cooper.

SPEAKER_01 32:43

Oh god, I know we're gonna have so much to clean up. Oh, I don't want to think about it.

SPEAKER_02 32:46

Um I hope you bought a lot of things that you can just throw away.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Well, I don't like to waste. I know. Um, I did buy like paper plates and and pl and you know, throwaway cups.

SPEAKER_02 32:58

Okay, good.

SPEAKER_01 32:59

All that. And then like I didn't, I bought individual little champagne bottles because I I didn't want to buy more plastic.

SPEAKER_02 33:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01 33:07

And you I would have had to buy more cups for flutes, yeah, and then like throw all those away because I'm not gonna wash 70 of those and reuse them.

SPEAKER_02 33:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

But I can recycle the glass.

SPEAKER_02 33:20

Right. So and so can the folks who like take it home.

SPEAKER_01 33:23

So it costs a little more, but I feel like it's better it's better used. Also, I didn't want to open 80,000. Uh I want everybody to open their own shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It would have taken me half an hour to open enough bottles. It would. Even non-alcoholic ones, still.

SPEAKER_02 33:38

Right, still. Anyway. That'll be fun. Okay, so moving on. So Miller Boyette, yay! Miller Boyette Productions. All right, so I had to look this up. I looked up a lot of fun little promo things throughout this. Oh fun. But that first season of TGIF, they had an opening sequence before like the shows would start. I remember. But the first season was Animated Mice.

SPEAKER_01 34:01

Oh, that I don't know. Only for one season. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

And I thought that was funny because he said he used to watch the World of Disney. And I was like, was it like an homage or just and they sang a song and it was a whole thing. But what I remember, because that only lasted for one season, is what they would do is they would have members of the cast of the shows host the evening. Yes. I do that's what I remember. And so when they first started doing that, the first night that they did it, so it would have been the second season. So in 1999. 90, 90. Yeah, 90. Um, they had Dave Coulier, John Stamos, Mary Kate, and Ashley Olson appear, but the Ashley, Mary Kate and Ashley alternated as Michelle. It wasn't like both of them standing there. And they were introducing um what was happening that night and would tell you what was gonna go on and that's they tell you like little synopsis of the episodes, right?

SPEAKER_01 34:52

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:53

And on that particular one, they kind of explained like the shows that were gonna be on that season and things like that. So I found some of those clips. Those were really fun.

SPEAKER_01 35:00

Oh, I gotta look them up.

SPEAKER_02 35:01

And then they introduced this new um theme song. Okay, I where other words I was singing it at home and I watched the video, but it was like very 90s. It was like all the different sh geometric shapes and the letters T G I F and it was like, thank God it's Friday, T G I F Yeah I didn't know. It was super short, but they would do it at the beginning of the night, and then they continued with different characters, and the characters would introduce like shows that weren't theirs. They just kind of take turns hosting the night. Yeah, that's kind of fun.

SPEAKER_01 35:31

I remember that.

SPEAKER_02 35:32

I like that. I like that idea. Um, so in that season, they had Full House and then Family Matters arrived. Yeah, Perfect Strangers was still on, um, and just the ten of us was still on. But then halfway through the season, they pulled out Just the Ten of Us and aired this other comedy called Free Spirit.

SPEAKER_01 35:52

I do not remember that.

Spin-Off Power: Family Matters From Strangers

SPEAKER_02 35:54

And that did not last. Well, that's probably why I don't remember it. Yeah. Free Spirit. What was that about? It says it was um, it was just a comedy. It says ultimately short-lived, I guess. Wait, we need a son. Let me look it up. Look it up. I have a feeling it was about a ghost.

SPEAKER_01 36:09

What do you think it's about before I look it up?

SPEAKER_02 36:11

I feel like it was a rebel teenager. Oh, wow, going deep there. Okay. I don't know. I mean, I don't know if that's because I actually know that or because I free spirit would have been like 1989, 1990.

unknown 36:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:25

Cancel. Cancel. Sorry. Free spirit only. Uh oh, a what does it say? This is so 90s. A witch is assigned to act as a housekeeper and care for children of a divorced attorney. I can't. Is that so 90s or what?

SPEAKER_02 36:42

That's the most 90s plot I've ever heard.

SPEAKER_01 36:45

And there is absolutely nobody that we know. Oh no, it's that lady. What lady? Oh, and um frickin' Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer wasn't it? Allison Hannigan?

SPEAKER_02 36:54

Allison Hannigan? I love it. Yeah, look at it. And what lady? I don't recognize that.

SPEAKER_01 36:58

That lady.

unknown 36:59

No.

SPEAKER_01 36:59

She hold on. Well, now we gotta figure that out. And that kid. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:03

She doesn't look like it.

SPEAKER_01 37:04

Okay, hold on. Now we have to look this up really fast because we're gonna dig into all these other shows. Her name is Corinne Boyrer. What is what? Hold on. You gonna know her. You're gonna know her from something. All right. She said she. I have to find this, guys. Don't you love it when we research on air?

SPEAKER_02 37:24

I do, but you're right. This is not one we're probably gonna read. No, we're not. So we have to spend a little time on it because some of the other ones will get a whole episode. Why can't I find it now? Well, whatever. Well, it okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:34

It doesn't matter. I can't find it.

SPEAKER_02 37:36

So Alison Hannigan as a child and maybe this lady, which who we know somehow. She was she was in I love that synapse. We need to bring back 90s sitcoms. They'd flop. She was in a bunch of shit.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

So she was in tons of shows in the 80s. She was in Saint Elsewhere. Okay. Uh TJ Hooker, remember that show? Yeah. Falcon Crest. She was in bunches of things. What what do I know her from is the question. You don't see it on there. I don't know. I'm I'm blanking. Sorry. That's okay. Whatever. We can eliminate that from but anyway. Free spirit was about a witch, housekeeper, nanny, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 38:20

So you were closer than me when you said ghost. Because I said rebel team. Now, granted, those teenagers might have been rebels.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

I mean, that would that's been a pretty deep show for ABC TGIF.

SPEAKER_02 38:32

That's true.

SPEAKER_01 38:33

You gotta have more like a babysitting witch.

SPEAKER_02 38:35

We do get a little closer to that further into the TGIF era with like Boy Meets World and stuff. Oh, yeah. We get a little bit never watched that. Yeah, that one's that one's good. Well, we should do that one. That was when I was a little older too, but I remember my high school boyfriend like Topanga.

SPEAKER_01 38:50

Well, they all who yeah, they all she's like an Alyssa Milano like yeah for that next generation, for the millennials.

SPEAKER_02 38:56

And um, so we would watch it. So I did watch some of it, and I did like it.

SPEAKER_01 39:01

Well, we'll I never really watched it. Um, but you know who had a crush on that was on that show was Right or Strong.

SPEAKER_02 39:09

Oh god, I know.

SPEAKER_01 39:10

Right, adorable. And who I mean, the name do you have a cool name? I wonder if that's his real name.

SPEAKER_02 39:15

I don't know. We should definitely watch that one and research it, and we'll find out about his name in the process. Yeah. Hooray. Stay tuned, listeners. All right. So, Family Matters. Do you remember that it is a spin-off of Perfect Strangers? No. Yes. So Larry from Perfect Strangers worked at a Chicago newspaper. It wasn't the Chicago Tribune, but essentially, and there was kind of like this like wise cracking, smart mouthed newsroom, mail room worker who was Harriet Winslow. Ah. And on a couple episodes, her Chicago cop husband was also in the episode.

SPEAKER_01 39:53

Got it.

SPEAKER_02 39:53

And they were like really popular. Yeah. Like viewers loved them.

SPEAKER_01 39:56

Well, you know. You know why that was too.

SPEAKER_02 40:00

Not many people of color anywhere.

SPEAKER_01 40:02

Tragically and unfortunately, there's hard there was hardly any people of color on any mainstream sitcoms.

unknown 40:09

Right.

SPEAKER_01 40:10

And so obviously, like they're gonna be popular and they're great actors too. So good.

Short-Lived Experiments And Odd Fits

SPEAKER_02 40:16

Yeah. So so they were at and I always love when like a spin-off lasts longer than the actors. Than where they came from. Right. So it lasted longer than perfect strangers. Um Fraser's like that from Cheers. Frazier was on longer than Cheers. It was on so long. So so long. Um all right, so that one debuted with Harriet Winslow, and she began as a recurring character on Perfect Strangers. So the show itself didn't have like great ratings at first. It was in the TJF block, so some people were watching it until the introduction of Steve Urkel. I was gonna say Jayle White, and we'll talk more about that in this season, but and he came in halfway through the first season. So they didn't like flounder for long because there he was. Um and it shifted from this kind of like down-to-earth family sitcom to sort of like conventional family comedy, but also slapstick comedy with his introduction, and then in also in the 1990-91 season uh Family Matters, also oh no, I just said Family Matters. I'm sorry, I was thinking step by step as I was reading Family Matters, but no, it wasn't any of those. We have Perfect Strangers, Family Matters, Full House, and Going Places. What was that? No, it was a comedy centering on the lives of four roommates who were Alan Ruck, Heather Lockleer, Jerry Levin, and Hallie Todd. And they write for a candid camera style hidden camera show. I do not remember this. I vaguely I feel like I remember a show that had Alan Ruck and Heather Locklear. Well, but maybe I was just and it was more of an adult targeted show.

SPEAKER_01 41:53

So that's why it was on like last or something.

SPEAKER_02 41:54

It was on last. It was in that final slot. That one was called Going Places.

SPEAKER_01 41:59

Going Places. I just want to see what they look like. Let's see.

SPEAKER_02 42:04

Yeah. Good idea. I know. It's just fun. It was canceled after one season.

SPEAKER_01 42:08

Oh my gosh. Nope. I do not remember that. Here you go. Let me look.

SPEAKER_02 42:13

Do you you remember that? I do remember that. I remember that like apartment that they're in.

SPEAKER_01 42:17

I mean, it's very um very 90s.

SPEAKER_02 42:21

It's like it's uh is that um what's his name from Ferris Bueller?

SPEAKER_01 42:26

Yeah, Cameron. Cameron.

SPEAKER_02 42:27

Yeah, Alan Ruck.

SPEAKER_01 42:28

That's that's his name? Uh-huh. I didn't don't think I realized that. And that guy. Who's that guy?

SPEAKER_02 42:34

He was in um Oh yeah, I think that's uh where did his name just go? Jerry Levin.

SPEAKER_01 42:40

Yeah, yeah. He was in all kinds of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 42:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 42:44

I don't remember this.

SPEAKER_02 42:45

There's a lot of- I kind of think it was like a pre-friends. Like a pre-friends, that's what it looks like. Where it's like people in their like late 20s, early 30s, career-minded, single.

SPEAKER_01 42:57

And you could tell they each have like a persona. Uh-huh. Like he's the business guy, and like you have one that's like a Phoebe type character, one that's like the all-American girl. I mean, there's a reason why they use formulas because they work.

SPEAKER_02 43:10

They do.

SPEAKER_01 43:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:11

They do. So that was only on for one season, and it was replaced in 91 by Baby Talk. Do you remember that one? Well shit. Now I gotta get my phone out. That was a sitcom based on the film, Look Who's Talking. I was gonna say that had high ratings at first, and then but in its second season, just kind of imploded.

SPEAKER_01 43:31

How many times can we watch a baby talk to like in its brain? Is that what it did?

SPEAKER_02 43:35

Basically, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:36

I mean, that that idea gets old quick, even though there were like four of those. Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_02 43:42

Scott Bayo was in that show? Okay. Is that the kid from Look Who's Talking? I think it is. Oh, like the baby?

SPEAKER_01 43:51

Oh, wait, I don't know. It just looks like him. It just looks like him. Yeah, never mind. Baby talk. Oh my gosh. I love how every picture for every 90s sitcom is the same except different people. I know. Like it's the same colors, the same lighting, the same posing. I absolutely love it.

SPEAKER_02 44:06

I'm with you. I'm with you on that. Yeah. And I don't remember watching Baby Talk because the first thing I thought of when I saw that was look who's talking. And I was like, oh, it's a ripoff. But then I was like, no, it's literally based on that.

SPEAKER_01 44:16

Do you want to know what the overview is?

SPEAKER_02 44:18

Yes, I do.

SPEAKER_01 44:19

Oh my god. A single mother searches for the right man to complete her family. Get out of here. Stop.

SPEAKER_02 44:26

That's baby talk. Yes. Oh my God. All right. I had to switch to my phone because I'm missing a whole page. So I just was like, how am I in 1996 already? Don't worry, guys. What? I got this. I got this. Okay. How did you lose a whole page in the middle? Because I thought it was out of order, but no, it's just a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 44:44

Your papers are stapled.

SPEAKER_02 44:48

Somebody stole my middle page. I don't know what to tell you. I don't know what to tell you.

SPEAKER_00 44:53

Oh boy. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 44:55

All right. So the good news though, when Baby Talk was canceled, it was replaced by dinosaurs. Okay. It's a good thing I found it on my phone. I mean. Jim Henson television produced live action comedy using audio animatronic puppetry. Y'all know I love that. Yes. And that's centered on the Sinclairs.

SPEAKER_01 45:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 45:19

A family of dinosaurs living in prehistoric Pangaea.

SPEAKER_01 45:22

They're various. It's so funny to me because they have the mom and the dad are different dinosaurs and all their kids are different.

SPEAKER_02 45:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:29

Like kinds of dinosaurs, which is what?

unknown 45:32

Right.

SPEAKER_01 45:32

Interesting.

SPEAKER_02 45:33

Yeah, that is. I didn't think about that. Yeah. Well, that's interesting because they weren't people, like live actors, that show actually did touch upon more topical issues. They talked about environmentalism, women's rights, sexual harassment. Yeah. Even LGBTQ rights. I don't know. We'll have to look up. Really? We'll have to look up what episodes those were.

SPEAKER_01 45:57

Oh, y'all know I'm gonna do the research for dinosaurs. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:00

Dinosaurs is all you girl. All me. I'll watch them, but I'm excited for you to research it. They talked about censorship, body image, drug abuse, and racism. Well, okay. So there you go. Go ahead, dinosaurs. Um, they were on TJF for the full run, um, which was three seasons.

SPEAKER_01 46:19

You said because they weren't people, they hit upon.

SPEAKER_02 46:22

I think what you mean? What I mean by that is like if I'm sitting here in an episode and I'm sexually harassed, then like you would think people would watch that and be like, oh my gosh, that's terrible. But you're gonna get people that are like, ah, they're just trying to be political. But if it's literally a puppet dinosaur, I don't know. I just think it's more like a subtle way to sneak in some of those messages. You don't think so?

SPEAKER_01 46:45

Well, I no, I'm just thinking about it because I don't think I've ever thought about that before. That's just my thought. Like, like you think so like people are more willing to accept it from a dinosaur puppet than a real life person who's I do think that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 46:59

Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_01 47:00

I mean, you might be right.

SPEAKER_02 47:01

I think there's examples of that now. I mean, like we have the Simpsons, like you can watch it and kind of laugh at it and not be like completely outraged by it, whereas if it was live people doing a show or whatever you would be.

SPEAKER_01 47:16

I mean, people get stupidly outraged for stupid stuff all the time, but I see. Very true.

SPEAKER_02 47:21

I see what you're saying. And I'm guessing when you research dinosaurs, you'll find a little bit of that. You'll find some controversy. But I don't know, yeah. I think people don't mind learning life lessons from dinosaurs, puppet dinosaurs. Could you imagine like people out there being like, them dinosaurs are too woke? I mean, yes, yes, sadly. Them dinosaurs, them dinosaurs, them dinosaur puppets woke, and they're literally prehistoric. Woke dinosaurs. Get out of here.

SPEAKER_01 47:48

I have here for a woke dinosaur puppet. Puppets.

SPEAKER_02 47:51

Dinosaur puppets. So in the nine, also in that 91 season, joining the lineup was step by step a star vehicle for Suzanne Summers and Patrick Duffy. Yeah. Remember him? Yes. Did you think he was handsome?

SPEAKER_01 48:05

No.

SPEAKER_02 48:06

Really? I thought he was.

SPEAKER_01 48:07

He did not do it for me. And my mom loved Dallas. That's where I remember him from.

SPEAKER_02 48:11

Okay. Yeah, and that and he had just come off an 11-year run as Bobby Ewing on Dallas. And that show stayed on TGIF for six seasons. Whoa. That was one of the longer ones.

SPEAKER_01 48:21

Yeah. And the girl that was on My Two Dads was in that show. Yes. What's her name?

SPEAKER_02 48:26

Um she had the long hair. Stacy Keenan?

SPEAKER_01 48:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:29

The blonde. Is that right? Stacy Keenan.

SPEAKER_01 48:31

No.

SPEAKER_02 48:31

Is that right? Yeah, that's right. Okay. Um, so it was a Brady Bunch-inspired comedy, right? They're two single parents, each with three children. And they create a stepfamily after marrying each other in the midst of a whirlwind romance on vacation. I don't remember that. Wow. But I do remember like part of the plot line being that they didn't really know each other for long when they got married. That sounds like a cautionary tale, everybody.

SPEAKER_01 48:59

You marry somebody you meet on vacation, you're gonna end up with six kids. Right.

Step By Step And The Shifting Tuesday Moves

SPEAKER_02 49:03

You better be sure about that. Watch out. Uh, and so just for that season, they actually moved Full House to Tuesdays. Oh. So it was in the same lineup with Roseanne. The show Coach was on by then, and home improvement on Tuesdays. Oh, yeah. But then it came back the next season. I don't know why. Yeah, Full House doesn't fit in with that. Not with that group. Nah. No, not at all. But I don't know why they did that. Maybe they were trying to get more people to watch that block because Full House was so popular, but those were pretty popular shows on their own. So I don't know. I don't know why they did that. But then it came back. Um, there were three new shows in '92, '93. I didn't remember any of these, and they were canceled either mid-season or by the end of season. Okay, let's see if I do. Camp Wilder. Yes. You remember that one?

SPEAKER_01 49:54

I do remember that show.

SPEAKER_02 49:55

Where I live.

SPEAKER_01 49:57

No. And Getting By. No. Camp Wilder, I remember. And I I gotta see. You don't have any info about those shows? No. I just want to see a picture to see if there was like somebody cute in that show, and that's why I watched it. I was like, why didn't I launch this? Let's see, Camp Wilder. It was like teens. Oh, yeah, you know who's in that? Hillary Swank.

SPEAKER_02 50:20

Oh, I love her.

SPEAKER_01 50:21

Um, I mean, that's not why I watched it. And that blonde and look, um, Jerry O'Connell.

SPEAKER_02 50:26

Yep. That guy. Who's that guy? I can't say he's um that blonde-haired guy. Oh, yeah. I don't know his name. We have said it's that guy or that girl. And we have no I know exactly who that is, though.

SPEAKER_01 50:40

No qual his name's Jay Moore. That's it. Jay Moore. Yeah. Okay. Just came to me, guys.

SPEAKER_02 50:45

Hey.

SPEAKER_01 50:46

Uh, so yeah, so Jerry O'Connell and Jay Moore is probably want to watch that. Yes. I don't even know what it's about. Uh a young woman opens up her home to the friends of her younger siblings who regularly go to her for advice.

unknown 51:02

What?

SPEAKER_01 51:03

Who's the who's the younger siblings? It was only 20 episodes, guys.

SPEAKER_02 51:07

Yeah. Uh is it Hilary Swank?

SPEAKER_01 51:10

No. Um. I don't know. It doesn't say who it is. Okay. No, Hilary Swank was one of the younger peeps. Okay. It was that lady with the brown hair.

SPEAKER_02 51:19

Who's that lady? Hold on.

SPEAKER_01 51:22

I don't know. Anyway.

SPEAKER_02 51:23

What the heck is that? I don't even know. Cape Wilder. Okay, I can't. But you don't remember the other two. I don't really have anything on them. Um, and then in the following season, 1993, had three new comedies, two of which stuck around for a while. One is Boy Meets Worlds, um, which this is funny. Boy Meets World was created by the same person who created Dinosaurs. Michael Jacobs, or like written by like the concept by, which is interesting. And what they were trying to do was find a sitcom that kind of piggybacked on the success of a show that had recently gone off the air, The Wonder Years. Well, because it had his brother. And it had his brother, Ben Savage. We could also do a Wonder Years episode.

SPEAKER_01 52:09

That would be good. I'm gonna add that to our list.

SPEAKER_02 52:10

Add it to our list.

SPEAKER_01 52:11

Because y'all know.

SPEAKER_02 52:12

Um, and so this is one where you know, the themes of The Wonder Years is more introspective and nostalgia, and like being um a teen or a young person trying to get to adulthood, right? And those things that you go through. And so it covered Corey Matthews was his name in the show. That's Ben Savage, and he navigates life with his family, friends, an ever-present teacher and neighbor, George Feeney, who was played by William Daniels, and the series, which ended up being the longest-running TGIF comedy, not pr oh, sorry. Ready? Let me finish my notes. Not produced by Miller Boyette. Okay. So there you go. Every time I say Miller Boyette, I think of Chef Boy RD. Why? It like feels the same in my mouth. Okay. Well, I'm like, that's I don't know why. Like sorry, everyone. Well, weird, intrusive thought. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 53:06

We don't make sense on the spot. We don't. So if there is anything we are consistent about, is that right?

The Teen Turn: Boy Meets World And Cooper

SPEAKER_02 53:11

It is. That is true. So that same season, there was a show that was already on Tuesday nights, the season before that moved over, and that was Hangin with Mr. Cooper. Okay. And that came from the full house creator, Jeff Franklin. And I remember watching this, and it was starring comedian Mark Curry, and he played an NBA player-turned teacher. Very, very 90s plot again. And eventually a high school basketball coach. And his name on the show was Mark Cooper. And it co-starred Dawn Lewis. She was from a different world. Yep. And Holly Robinson. Yeah. Previously of 21 Jump Street. Um, and so that was that one was on for five seasons. Was it really? Yeah. And eventually Raven Simone joined the cast and Sondra Corterman. They were the main guy's cousins. I don't remember Raven Simone on there, but I didn't really watch that show. So she would have been like young, but not like young young. Like she probably would have been a teenager, I would have imagined by then. I don't know. Didn't she have her own show when she was a teenager? Yeah. That's a rare. See maybe she was young still on that one. Um, and then in 94-95, Sister Sister came on. Oh, yeah, yeah. Tia and Tamara Maori, uh, which, you know, I don't know if we'll watch that one or not.

SPEAKER_01 54:28

Well, all those ones came out when I was in high school, so I didn't really watch those. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:32

And then ABC canceled Sister Sister in 1995 after its second season, but then it was picked up by the WB.

SPEAKER_01 54:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:41

So that was a good one.

SPEAKER_01 54:42

Cooper recently was re-watching that.

SPEAKER_02 54:45

Sister Sister?

SPEAKER_01 54:45

Yeah. Oh, cool. They have such a he loves to rewatch old shows. Because you know, they have them on all the they do. Like Disney and all that. And he'll just get in, he gets into a phase. He and his that theme song is so catchy. Sister.

SPEAKER_02 54:59

Sister! Heaven knows how much I'm still. Yeah, it is. It's so catchy. It is. And they I like them like as actresses. I've seen them in other things. They one or maybe both of them have been into like Hallmark movies for the holidays. They were in an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? Oh, that's right. That's right. Yeah, I like them. They're fun. All right. So now we're into about 1996. We're getting to the end of this era, getting close. And TJIF's ratings are kind of floundering a little for a lot of reasons, right? Its initial crowd is getting older and not home on Sunday or Sunday nights, maybe not, but not home on Friday nights. And, you know, just taste changing for what people want to watch on TV, things like that, more options on cable, all the things. Um, so they started to shift at that point from these like family-centric shows, especially after the success of Boy Meets World, to more teen and maybe even adult audiences.

SPEAKER_01 56:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 56:00

So they tried to come up with some ideas that would maybe grab the attention of those demographics. And the first was Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Yes, with Lissa Joanhart. Yeah. I don't remember really watching that one because that would have been smack in the middle of like high school and stuff. But I remember anything I have ever seen on it, I really liked. Listen, it has a talking cat. It has a talking cat.

SPEAKER_01 56:24

And then Britney Spears was a guest star once. Oh, because that was when Melissa Johnhart was on her video. Uh-huh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:31

In Crazy.

SPEAKER_01 56:32

Crazy for you. That she was in that movie.

SPEAKER_02 56:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 56:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:35

Yeah. So anyway, so that one was on, and that was a breakout hit. People love that show. And so that breathed kind of new life into TGIF. And then the second teen show that they brought in in '96. You're already gonna know it when I say it. Clueless. Oh, the TV show. The TV show debuted on TGIF uh following the success of Amy Heckerlin's movie hit from 1995. And we talked about that when we watched Clueless, yeah. The movie. And it was like highly anticipated, but didn't really live up to. I mean, it didn't have Alicia Silverstone, it didn't have a lot of the like same characters. It had Stacey Dash, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:15

It had Stacey Dash and it had the redhead girl.

SPEAKER_02 57:18

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Uh-huh. But it wasn't Amber.

SPEAKER_01 57:21

She played Amber.

SPEAKER_02 57:22

So that one was pulled in '97. Um Step by Step was still on at this time. Hanging with Mr. Cooper was still on. Family Matters was both on. Uh, but the Family Matters and Step by Step were both canceled in '97. But they they had a good run. They had a really good run. And it was partly that. It was partly like everybody's getting older. Everybody's getting older, and like the storylines had kind of when the actors are getting older. Well, moving on to other things. Like you can do that for a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 57:57

Because what was the brother's name on Family Matters? Eddie? Eddie. Like I remember he was the oldest, and then he like was gone and then came back. And like right, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 58:06

It's it gets harder to gets harder to write it. So by then, too, CBS had a new competing thing on Friday nights. I never remember watching this called CBS's Block Party.

SPEAKER_01 58:17

Oh, yeah, I don't know. What shows were on that?

SPEAKER_02 58:19

That's a good question.

SPEAKER_01 58:20

Okay, never mind. Doesn't matter.

Mid-90s Additions And WB Hand-Offs

SPEAKER_02 58:22

I don't know. They might be in here somewhere, but I don't have them there. So they kind of were competing with that now. Um, what's this one? Boy Maids World. Oh, they started adding some fantasy teen kind of shows. I guess Sabrina Teenage Witches one, but one called You Wish. I don't remember that. But it was about a genie living with a family.

SPEAKER_01 58:46

Oh my god, stop.

SPEAKER_02 58:48

And Teen Angel. I remember that show. You do? I do. Centering on a teenager who died during an eating challenge. He returns to Earth as his best friend's guardian angel. So there was a ghost show.

SPEAKER_01 59:00

Yeah, that was the one. Teen Angel. I remember that. Again, there must have been a cute person playing. That's why I remember. Probably.

SPEAKER_02 59:07

His name was um Mike Damis. Well, was the teenager. And Corbin Alred was his best friend.

SPEAKER_01 59:15

I don't know what that means.

SPEAKER_02 59:16

Me either.

unknown 59:18

Me either.

SPEAKER_01 59:19

That's just well my god. Let me see if they were adorable. Because if they were, that's why I remember it. Hands down. That's why you oh my god, that's so late 90s. The hair I can't hold. This is like the promo poster. He's got that like spiky shiny.

SPEAKER_02 59:31

Oh my god, I love it.

SPEAKER_01 59:32

Probably had frosted tips. Um, which sounds so dirty. It does. Wasn't that guy in Can't Hardly Wait? Not the main guy. No.

unknown 59:42

No.

SPEAKER_01 59:44

No, that's the he was in uh Empire Records. He played the kid that stole stuff. That's yeah, that's who that is. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:52

Look, we are so the one kid on the right looks like um a handsome.

SPEAKER_01 59:57

He looks like Devin Sa he looks like Devin Sawa. Is that

SPEAKER_02 1:00:00

Is that him?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:00

No, that's not him. Everybody had that butt cut hair hair day. Which is now popular again, so go figure.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:08

Anyway.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:08

Um Died during an eating contest.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:11

Well Well, I guess at least he came back to guide his friend.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:16

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:17

Oh, CBS's block party. I knew I had it somewhere. Now we're back. Here's what they had.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:23

What'd they have on there?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:24

Unsolved Mysteries.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:26

Ooh.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:28

Bill Cosby. How is that a block party? Kids Say the Darndest Things. Oh, that show was hilarious. And the revival of Candid Camera. Okay. Maybe that's where I went. Wait, Unsolved Mysteries. What was the second one? Uh Kids Say the Darndest Things.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:45

I thought you said one before that.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:47

I just said Bill Cosby hosted Kids Say the Darndest Things. And the revival of Candid Camera.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:53

I mean, Bill Cosby's problem. But that show was I mean, it's a it's a funny concept. Hilarious. And I love a candid camera show.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:04

I love it so much. I used to love Punked.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:07

Oh, I loved Punked. That was really good.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:10

I loved Candid Camera and I always hoped that I would be like on there one day. Nah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:16

Nah. Hey, look, that's an idea that keeps getting revived over the years. I know. So maybe there's still time.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:22

Listen.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:23

Maybe there's still time.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:24

I would like to be the person who's like um making the candid camera joke happen. Yeah. You know what I mean? Right. Like they have their actors doing something crazy weird. That would be fun. That'd be one of the actors. That would be so fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:36

You know what I didn't like that was similar to that was the what would you do? Did you ever watch that?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:41

Uh-uh.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:42

It was like a hidden camera and actors, but they would do something. Like I can't there was one where like two actors were sitting at a bar and there's a bartender who's not an actor and the cameras are on. And she gets up to go to the bathroom and the guy puts something in her drink. Oh, I don't like that. That's like a moral dilemma show. Yes, I don't like that. It made me so uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:05

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:06

And there was like one where like a kid was like wandering around lost and like people weren't helping him. And I'm just like, Okay, now this is a nightmare. Because one, everything's edited. Oh, yeah. Everything's contextual, of course. Like and they want to make good TV. So I hated that show.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:24

Well, no, but I, you know, I would love to do like the candid camera ones where like, you know, you wear like a chicken suit and then go sit in like a courtroom or something and see what people are like, what is happening? That would be funny.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:35

You know, like it would be hilarious. I love it. Well, maybe we'll bring it back. Oh, and the fourth show. Oh, yeah. Did you ever watch Nash Bridges? No girl. Don Johnson. Oh, so that was Block Party, but it only lasted for two seasons. Block party, like as a thing. It just didn't. Yeah, well. They were a little too late. If they're trying to introduce this in like 1996, because TGI also at one time was popular, what?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:00

There's also no common thread that ties those shows together. Like they're very different. Like you could watch one and be done. Like the person watching Unsolved Mysteries probably isn't gonna want to watch.

Ratings Slide, Sabrina, And Clueless TV

SPEAKER_02 1:03:12

Maybe Nash Bridges, because it's like law enforcement crime TV. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe, but I agree with you. And candid camera people aren't probably watching Nash Bridges or whatever. So anyway. So TGF is still out here, still fighting for its life. 1998. Two new shows, two of a kind. It's darn what that is. Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. Oh, yeah, that was I was in college by then. So centering on a widowed college professor. Again with the widow. This is the one that confused me. Again with the widow. Who hires one of his students to help take care of his twin daughters? Ooh, red flag. Yuck. And then another one called Brothers Keeper. In a hold on. Oh boy. An odd couple style sitcom centering on a widowed college history professor who agrees to let his irresponsible pro football player brother move in with him and his son.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:08

Two new shows involving male widows that are professors.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:11

That have people move in with them to help with their children.

unknown 1:04:15

Hello.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:16

Guys, maybe there's a reason those did not succeed.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, there's more to that. The the pro football player moves in per a stipulation in his brother's contract with the San Francisco 49ers.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:27

What? There's a lot going on there.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:29

I don't even know. Was the person cast a ex-pro football player? Uh I don't think so. I'm just curious.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:36

Justin Cooper. Girl, you know I'm not gonna know. No, I don't think so. So ABC's idea here, which I get I get the thread, is that maybe bringing the Olsen twins back.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:46

But like have a varied plot line. It's like two widows, they gotta meet college professors and they gotta need help. That's what that's our idea. That's two different circumstances twins and a football player. Isn't that crazy?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:01

I mean, the nice did that a lot. It's a little silly. Yeah, weird. Anyway, um, and neither one did well. They were shocking information. They're on until the end of the season, which was in 1999. I mean, I am not surprised. Well, actually, mid-season. They were canceled in May, but they still had shows running through July. So they brought home improvement over. And do you remember the Hugleys?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:30

Vaguely.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:31

Yeah. So that one came over too. And um, the Hugleys actually stayed on the block until TGIF was off in 2000. It starred comedian D.L. Hugley as the black owner of a successful Los Angeles vending machine business who moves his family to a predominantly white middle class neighborhood. Okay. I read a little, I mean, at least it's a new idea. Literally. All right. He has a family. He and I could see how that would be interesting, I guess. Uh, and it was, I know a lot of it was written by that comedian. Like he helped with the writing for it. I didn't really watch that one, and it's kind of later, so I don't know if we will, but also, fun fact, I don't like home improvement.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:10

I think Tim Allen on that show is a complete chauvinist asshole.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:14

Yeah. I like Patricia Richardson, his wife, on the show. And I always thought Wilson, the neighbor, was funny. Oh, yeah. With his little eyes. Howdy, neighbor with his little his little eyes that like Fisher hat. Yeah. Um, my dad liked that show, which totally. That was the audience. So that was one we would watch because he liked it. And he liked um and my dad's in construction. Right. So like he got a kick out of like the little family comedy stuff, which you said there's a lot of chauvinistic stuff in there. But then there's like the the mishaps on his TV show.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:53

But also that was like total man. Like he did that whole r arc stupid nonsense. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:59

I know.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:00

That's not one I would like to do.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:01

It was like all his jokes were about being a man, quote unquote.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:05

Right. And they had all boys, Jonathan Taylor Thomas. That was his come up and the rise. And I can't remember the guy's name who played um his assistant. And I can't remember his name on the show. It was Al. Al. I don't think so, Tim. That guy's been in a bunch of other stuff, and he's very likable. He has like some kind of YouTube series. He's like so like lovely as a person. I like him. Anyway. Alright. So in the final season of this first era of teaching we've been this this how long? How many years? Look, 11 years. That's a long time. That's a long time.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:43

I did not think it was on that long. It was on that long.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:46

Yeah. As a latch last ditch effort to kind of save this block. In 2000, ABC launched the reality music competition series making the band. Oh do you remember who came out of that show? What band it was? What show is that? O Town. O Town from Orlando. Yes. And I will say it's all a little problematic now.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:08

Oh, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:09

Because it featured heavily boy band Empresario, an eventual con convict, Lou Perlman. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:16

Putting together a new boy band. He was a skis, guys.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:20

But the show was pretty popular, and then O-Town was popular.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:23

We need to watch that documentary that they made about the boy bands. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:28

That would be good.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:29

Uh I don't not yet, but we will.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:31

Yes. So that final season, um, that that was on making the band Sabrina the Teenage Witch and the Hugleys. Um that's very different than how it started. And Odd Man Out.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:42

I mean, they tried they tried to evolve, it just didn't they tried. Pan out.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:46

Now, let's see. Sabrina and the Hugleys went over to the WB and UPN.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:53

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:54

And then Boy Meets World ended its run, but it was seven seasons. Yeah, it's a long time. And then Odd Man Out was just like canceled.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:01

Yeah. Boom. Done. Well, I don't even know what that is. Who's in that?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:05

You don't know. Um, was Odd Man Out the one with a one of the college professors? We are another fucking professor? No. Oh my god. Oh my god, it's a different one though. Another well, listen. Odd Man Out about a teenage boy navigating life with his widowed mother and three sisters.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:24

It's like Disney with the dead parent. Come on. Oh, but that one didn't work. ABC, why do we have so many widows? I don't know. And widowers.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:33

At least she wasn't a college professor.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:34

It's the same thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:36

I know. I said, why do we have so many widows? And you said, and widowers. Well, because widowers are men, and widows are women. Are you serious? Yeah. Why is that? Why does an odd man out is this one boy living with his mom?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:55

A widow is what? A woman. And a widower is a man. Why is that? Yeah. Are we saying patriarchy is in the word widow? I mean, this is fucking stupid. Are you serious? I am a limit. I'm not saying that. Is your mind? Everybody is a widow. I don't care. I'm not putting on extra ending. Why? That's dumb. I don't know. How do you know that? Danny, I think everyone knows that. Not me. Don't even laugh at me. You thought the word was hears.

unknown 1:10:23

Look.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:25

And you laughed at me. So no, I can laugh. Oh, you're right. You're right. Go ahead. I mean why.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:31

I'm looking this up. This is the dumbest thing I've heard of. To designate men and women, I'm sure. Which is not right. I'm just saying that's why.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:38

But why? So let's think about it. So he that means to me, I guess if you have an ER on the man's, that means they make the widows. Yeah, maybe. But then if their spouse dies, they're still a widower.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:54

I don't get that. Then you're not making nobody a widow because you're the widow.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:58

Someone just put it on there to designate man woman, I think. But that it doesn't make no sense. Okay. Why?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:04

We're gonna find out. Amy's called a widower. This stresses me out. I did not know this. This is learning a lot. I'm going to go home and ask my husband if he knew this. I bet he didn't.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:15

Say what is it? What is it called when a man lives in his wife?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:18

It says a man is called a widower because the ER suff suffix, common in old English for masculine nouns, was added to the existed word widow, originally used for both genders around the 14th century. Okay. To create a distinct male counterpart. But originally, widow was used for both.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:43

It doesn't really say why they're going to be able to do it.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:45

So your 13th century self just never let go of the uh the knowledge. No, because that's weird. Well, yeah, ask Troy. Just say, what's it called when a man loses his spouse? What's it called when a woman loses her spouse?

SPEAKER_01 1:12:01

I never knew this. And see what he says. Okay. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:06

Let's get to the end of Troy. Why does that make me so mad? I don't know. You're very upset about it. It's so stupid. Like, why does an ER make me mad that you're saying? All these shows have the same plot. Well, and also, why do we have 80,000 widows in the show? I mean, even like Full House, Danny was a widower. Correct. And that's why his friend and uncle came to live there.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:26

Because he does he can't handle his life.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:28

He cannot raise children alone.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:30

And then Aunt Becky came, but that's a whole other thing. I mean, to be fair, it's much easier when you have a village of people. And we are made as humans.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:38

Men or women. Like if you're single parenting for any reason, hopefully you have support from those people.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:44

You know what? I was listening to MPR the other day. Um, and they were they were talking about significant other. Oh, it was a podcast. And they were talking about significant others and like who exactly is a significant other. And they were telling all these different stories on how it can be like not, it doesn't just have to be a spouse or like a romantic partner. They were talking about these families that decided they were gonna just all live together and like like they weren't it's not like a polyamory situation. It'd be like your family, my family, and like Sarah's family deciding, you know what, let's just live on a big giant property together and we all communally parent and everybody helps out. And I was like, And like take care of the land and all the stuff. Well, not well, no, it's not like that. It's like they lived in the suburbs or something. Well, it was like big love, except not polyamory.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:30

I mean, it's not a terrible idea.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:31

I was like, that sounds great to have other people to help out, especially when you don't have family, like we never have family earth.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:37

Families that do that, you know, that live near each other on purpose.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:40

But these people also were like in a situation where they didn't live close by family or they they didn't have family who were helping them or whatever. And I was like, that's which the funny thing is, as I was listening, I was like, but that's how like humankind began anyway. Like from the dawn of time when we were whatever you believe, how we began, we lived in communities like that and helped each other in a lot of communities all over the world. Anyway, I just think that's interesting to think now we're in our country, we're so isolated in all our things.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:19

That like that idea that you just mentioned is so radical, radical. Yeah, yeah. I and of course, you know me, like the numbers right away. I'm going, yeah, you could probably like get like a really nice piece of property with your combined resources and each build a nice house and or whatever, you know, and have lots of space for vehicles and and then obviously like the actual community, having the people around you to to help you raise your family or just live life.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:46

And then they were talking, this is totally unrelated, and then we'll move on because we have to finish this episode eventually.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:51

We're almost to the end of TJF, thank God.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:53

Also talked about um what if your significant other was yourself? And they were had this interview with this lady who wrote a book of she's like 70-something years old, and she's like, I am single, I've always been single, and I always will be single because I love it. Now, it doesn't mean she doesn't have like sure intimate moments or whatever, but she's like came up with this quiz about how some people are like basically it's just challenging the narrative we've created that you have to have a life partner, you know, um, to be happy. And she was talking about all this research because research actually shows that single people are happier. Single people without children, especially two, are happier, they're more financially secure. I mean, some of it makes sense, like you're only taking care of yourself, so financially, obviously. Right, you know. But um, she was like, I have this quiz that I like I ask people to see if on the inside if they are like a perpetual like single person who just happens to be in a relationship. And she had all these funny questions. I was dying laughing because I'm like, I do not want to ask my husband this, and like I don't want to answer this myself because part of it was like, Does the idea of sleeping alone in a bed excite you or make you sad? And I'm like, I don't see, I know.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:10

I like I love sleeping alone in a bed, me too. But I but I don't know if it's because it's a novelty.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:16

Well, true. Well, actually, I've always liked sleeping alone because I me too.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:21

Yeah, like if I'm at a hotel for work travel or something, I love sleeping by myself or even home, like if my husband's gone for some reason. But I don't know if that's just because I've been married and tried to for so long, and when my kids were little, they come get in bed or like or what. I also think it's nothing to do with the partner. I'm just so overstimulated during my waking hours that I don't want to engage with a person when I'm in bed. I don't want to like touch anyone. Like I just it's like this is my recharge, right? Like, and I have to do it fast.

Making The Band And TGIF’s Finale

SPEAKER_01 1:16:56

Well, I also am a light sleeper, and there's that's the worst thing is having anything, even pets in there with you. They tell you sleep alone. If like you have insomnia or sleep problems, you need to be alone in a room. Like, don't let your pets in, have a separate bed from your spouse, like all these things. But then the other question was um, I can't remember now what it was. Uh, but I was like, oh god. Like, am I my significant other? But then I think that's I mean, you know, uh and my husband knows this, like the worst part of being married for me is sharing a bed. Like I hate it. I don't mean I don't mean like intimate relations. I mean like I don't mean like I mean like actual space. Like I can't I love sleeping by myself. And when I was little, like my sister, she likes to have somebody else in the room. Like, so she used to like try and scare me on purpose when I was a kid, so I'd come sleep in her room with her. But she's not like a touchy person at night. Like her and I are the same. We don't want to be touched, like we are not like cuddly sleepers or anything like that, and um, but she would just like scare me on purpose. So I would go because that's the only way. Like, I hate sleeping in the bed with people, and I'm just that way. I don't like it. I need I need my island of yeah, and you are too, because you put up barriers like nobody's business. Yeah, like she has pillows, dogs has barriers.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:21

Dogs have a new um sleeping mask that Amelia got me.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:26

Love sleeping masks.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:27

You put it in the freezer. Have you ever done a cold one? I don't like cold, so that's not for me. See, I wouldn't think I would, but I get headaches. I get headaches. And even if like the couple nights I've used it so far, I didn't have a headache, but I still just like put it on. Well, I was still watching TV, so I just had it on my forehead. What? And I was like instantly ready to fall asleep. That's hilarious. I was like, oh my god, pulled it down on my eyes, fell asleep. Love that. I loved it. No headache. Well, anyway. Anyhow, not a barrier that's now you can't even see my face. It's fine, don't worry about it. And here's someone.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:57

So I sleep on an eye mask now, too. I listen, I love it. I my oldest brought one to college because I said, take it. You might want this because the lighting's such and he's like, that was the best thing I brought from home.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:09

Oh, that's so funny. Well, that's good to know. For when I'm packing children.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:14

Because you know, they don't have the you don't know. And then your roommate gets up all early, you have lights on, like earplugs and an eye mask is the way.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:21

I love that for dorm lines. Good advice. All right, let's get through this. We are never gonna be finished. All right, so the final night of the original era GIF was May 5th, 2000. Whoa, really? They made it past Y2K. Yep. Wow, they did. Day after my birthday. Day after my 18th birthday. Whoa. Wow. So it featured an hour long series finale of Boy Meets World and an ABC series finale of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, because remember, it went over to the W. And it was just a two hour episode block of those two. That was the final number. Like Boy Meets World for an hour and Sabrina.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:03

So then what happened on Friday nights after that? Just whatever. Don't really know. They just didn't market it as like an event.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:09

Yeah, I'm getting they still have comedies, I think, on Friday nights. And 2020's still on. It's still going. Still going strong. Um, and I won't get too far into this, but they did try to do a second run of it, 2003 to 2005. Um this time, I do love this part though. There was a promo spot that used the village people pop tune YMCA, sung as T G I F G-I-F-N-In remember this at all. Um, but it did have uh because we were full ass grown-ups, we were, yeah and but that was where the George Lopez show debuted. Oh, okay. And Life with Bonnie, with Bonnie Hunt, yeah. And then um Married to the Kelly's, I don't know, I don't know what that is, and Hope and Faith, which had Kelly Rippa in it.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:56

Whatever.

Critiques, Crossovers, And Representation

SPEAKER_02 1:20:57

Yeah, which got her like some notoriety to um eventually be on Regis and Kelly. She was on soap opera General Hospital, I think. All my children. All my children, you're right. But I guess then being on there kind of painted her in a different light, which got them to want her to try to be on the talk show. Anyway, all right, so you know me. I looked up controversy. Yes. Now we may run into some more controversy per show.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:24

We definitely will.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:25

Overall, not a lot of controversy surrounding TGIF, this first block, except that the quality of the shows declined. People thought they were on for too long. One of the biggest complaints I saw was that Family Matters kind of became the Urkel show.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:41

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:41

And not only that, it started to get into this area of like almost like outlandish plot lines. I don't know if you remember when he would clone himself. Oh, yeah. And it was just all these, instead of being like this relatable family comedy, which is how it started. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:57

And it took the focus away from the Wenslow family.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:59

It did. Yeah. So that was a big one. Um, what else? Racial representation, particularly the Hugh Lee's um scrutiny for portrayal of black family life. Although, as I mentioned, um Wait. Like that was the vending machine guy.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:17

I don't know exactly why, but it said that they leaned into stereotypes that weren't authentic. But did he write it? He was one of the people who helped write it. Okay. But that doesn't mean through, you know, whatever. Um, they started to do a lot of like shared universe stuff, meaning like characters on one show. Like Laura Winslow met Michelle Tannery at one point, and then it just felt very like forced and like, why are you doing this? I mean, crossover stuff can be good or bad.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:46

Well, I think it's good when it like randomly happens, like not often, but when you do it frequently, it becomes it kind of it takes away like the oh, look how funny.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:55

Right. It's just like, oh wait, you're from a different universe in this universe. Yeah, and just in general, people kind of it fell out of favor, just that style of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:06

Well, I mean, because that, you know, it evolved, TV evolved, and then we're getting into people are like the internet is more popular, and people aren't watching TV as much anymore together. And correct. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:21

So that is the overview of the OG run of TGIF. So lots of cool episodes or shows we talked about in there. Some um that had the same plot as each other. A lot of widows. Yeah. Because when I first was like plotting this out for us, and I was like, okay, like let me, I'm like, we're gonna do all the shows. And then I started running into like these like random ones that were like half seasons or toward the latter end where we were older. So we've got definitely some staples in there, and then we're gonna see how we feel about the extras as we get through those. And the way it'll work is we'll both watch some of the episodes, the same ones, but then one of us will lead the research per show. And our first one is full house. Our first one's full. I'm on it. I'm on the ball, and we'll probably go out of order too, because then I was like, oh, should we do perfect strangers first? Because in order, but I don't think so. I just think we need to do perfect strangers before family matters. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:16

We need to do, I think we need to do like the big, the big name, like the ones that are I said Katie, the ones that are relevant to our generation. Yes, because some of them are not Sabrina the Teenage Works.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:29

That's not like that's out of our I did watch Boy Meets World, so we might do that one when we get to it, but that might be kind of like um chronologically wise, about as far as we go. Because I did not watch that. Okay. Well, maybe it'd be interesting for you to watch an episode or two because I'll come at it. And you'll come at it with like a I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:48

Yeah, I remember it because I was what is that like late 90s? I was in college. Yeah, yeah. So I didn't watch like a school about uh because they were like in middle school or something. I think it started in middle school. So yeah, I'm not watching that, but no, I remember it being in pop culture because we were still in that era of people watching the you know, of whatever.

What We’ll Cover Next And How To Follow

SPEAKER_02 1:25:07

I remember them being yeah, and the the actors themselves were pretty big stars. Yeah, yeah. So that makes sense. But well, we would love to know if you watched TGIF, if you loved any of these shows, if you hated any of these shows, particularly the very uh random ones that we just learned about today, if you know any of those. With that guy. Um, and we are going to share our episodes so you can watch with us if you want. We'll get full subscribe. We'll do that this after this episode's live. We'll get that on social. So keep an eye on our Instagram and our Facebook for sure. We're also on YouTube and TikTok. And we also have a Patreon account. Yes, we're actually gonna record some bonus content today. So uh for eight dollars a month, you get additional episodes. Sometimes we just talk about our lives, sometimes we've done trivia before. We do all kinds of different stuff on there.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:59

Also, y'all need to like us and review us and share us.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:05

Help us grow this year, and sharing is caring for us, sharing is caring, and leaving that review or sharing with a friend or on your own social media is free.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:14

It really does matter too. Like that's free money. Uh and it's a click, click, click, type in our comments. This podcast is amazing. Now, if you're gonna give us a bad rating, don't do it. Move on, find you something else, spend your time doing something else.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:28

But if you like us, share us. Yes, that would be great. Thanks, guys, for listening, and we'll see you on the next TGIF episode. See you later. Bye.