Will TGIF Still Resonate?

One of TV's most successful brands returns but will it still resonate?

- Jason Lynch

TV’s nostalgia craze is now extending beyond reboots and revivals like Magnum P.I. and Will & Grace. This Friday, one of television’s most famous programming blocks returns: ABC’s TGIF, which initially stood for Thank Goodness It’s Funny. From 1989-2000, the ABC brand entertained kids and their families on Friday nights with hit sitcoms like Full House, Family Matters and Perfect Strangers.

For children in the ’90s, “this was their whole social life on Friday night. Either they watched with their family or they would have sleepovers with friends,” said Rebecca Daugherty, EVP of marketing for ABC. After Daugherty went heavy on nostalgia during her campaign for Roseanne’s return last spring, “we learned that people are hungry for that. So we feel like, what better time to bring that comfort food back on Friday?” The network is counting on those now-grown TGIF fans to return for its new Friday block: family sitcoms Fresh Off the Boat and Speechless, both of which are relocating to the night, followed by game show Child Support.