"TGIF"

Back When Friday Nights Meant Something: A Love Letter to TGIF on ABC

There was a time — before endless streaming, before social media scrolls, before smartphones buzzed with constant updates — when Friday nights had a rhythm. A ritual. A glow that came not from screens in our hands, but from one in the living room, where the whole family gathered.

That time was called TGIF, and if you were there, you remember.

You remember the moment the ABC logo came on screen, the cheesy-but-charming theme music played, and the words “Thank Goodness It’s Funny” lit up with the promise of two full hours of sitcom magic. For a kid in the late ’80s or ’90s, this was prime time in every sense of the word.

There was something sacred about that weekly lineup: Full House, Family Matters, Step by Step, Boy Meets World, Hanging with Mr. Cooper, Sabrina the Teenage Witch… The shows rotated, but the feeling stayed the same. That cozy, familiar comfort of knowing exactly where you’d be from 8 to 10 p.m.

Dinner was done. Homework was “mostly” finished. You probably had a Capri Sun or a slice of pizza in hand. Maybe you were in footie pajamas or wrapped in a blanket on the carpet, just close enough to the screen to feel part of the action.

And the characters — they were like extended family. You watched Michelle Tanner grow up. You laughed at Urkel’s wild inventions and “Did I do that?” mishaps. You rooted for Cory and Topanga. You secretly wanted to live in that cool, blended beach house from Step by Step. These shows didn’t just entertain — they showed us life. The awkward, the sweet, the silly, the serious. All wrapped in a laugh track and a life lesson.

There was no skipping intros — because the intros slapped. You sang along. You knew every lyric. And when that last show ended and the credits rolled, you felt it — the cozy finality of another week done. Your heart a little lighter. Your world, for just a moment, simpler.

TGIF was more than TV. It was togetherness. It was slowing down. It was a cultural touchstone in a pre-digital world — when “quality time” happened naturally, and our favorite characters taught us things we didn’t know we were learning.

And sure, we’ve got countless shows now, on demand, at our fingertips. But there’s a kind of magic that only exists in memory — when you didn’t just watch something… you felt it.

So here’s to those Friday nights. To the glow of the TV, the warmth of family, the sound of laughter filling a room. To the era when TGIF wasn’t just a catchphrase — it was a moment in time.

And honestly? We didn’t know how good we had it