TGIF

Think back to when you were a kid, do you remember being under the mercy of your parents?? As a child, you are some what limited to the things you can do at random. What does all of this mean you may ask? Well, to put it simple, I spent many Friday nights stuck at home with nothing to do. I am talking about the age, where you weren't able to just go somewhere, or come and go as you please. After all, I suppose it's not supposed to be that way, but nonetheless, Friday was the kickoff to the weekend...and not a minute could be wasted. Insert ABC's TGIF Friday night lineup.

The TGIF lineup could be considered to some, as the cure to the Friday night blues; and to others, it was a Friday night must! Either way, TGIF provided a few hours of cheesy sitcoms and shows to quench your Urkel/Olsen twin thirst. There were many shows featured throughout the life of TGIF; some good, and some...well...let's just say they never even had hopes of a rerun. Here are a few of the shows that I can remember watching on those countless Friday nights...

Although this show needs no introduction, it's called Full House. Basically, a house full of people mooch off of a single dad named Danny. His brother in law Jesse is a washed up musician, and struggles throughout the whole show to...well get a job! Joey, a random childhood friend, lives in the house too, and his role was to make a lot of bad jokes and live in the basement. Of course there was DJ, Stephanie, and Michelle, always getting into some type of trouble, how cute...right? With heartwarming morals and a sad violin music track that signaled the ending of the show (with lessons to be learned), Full House was a classic. I want to act as if I don't care for this show...but that wouldn't be very American.

Boy Meets World was one of my favorites as a kid. I am not sure why I liked it better than the others, I just did. Perhaps it was Corey Matthew's fuzzy little head, or the way that Shawn was always complaining about something, there was never a dull moment around the Matthew's house. I always envied the fact that the kids on the show had a teacher/principal that followed them through every grade!...actually, I find that pretty disturbing. Either George Feeny had some crazy advancements through the school system, or he suffered through some personal problems. Not that it matters, Feeny was a pretty good guy in my book!

It's a rare condition, this day and age, to read any good news on the newspaper page, Love and tradition of the grand...oh excuse me, that song is just so darn catchy. What can you say about Family Matters, it's a pretty good show, that is still being replayed on multiple channels. Although Steve Urkel had the ability to crawl under your skin, he meant well. Like every other show, characters come and go, but the mystery of where Judy Winslow disappeared to still has the FBI puzzled. Everyone probably has some type of memory (positive or negative) about Family Matters, but one thing does raise a question; does the show really say Sha Shoom when it opens? Eh, who knows...probably one of the many mysteries of life.

Here is one for the books! Step by Step featured two families that came together through love to unite and live happily ever after. Although my last statement was false, Step by Step was all but happily ever after. I did like this show, but even as a kid, most of the characters seemed kind of annoying. Actually, when I really think about it, I am not sure what bothered me more, the characters or the amount of chest hair Frank Lambert displayed on EVERY episode. Like most sitcoms, Step by Step taught us life lessons to never be forgotten; although when the lessons came from Cody (the tall goofy one) they just didn't have the same affect. The show was a tad more racy than one would imagine, but with eye candy such as Patrick Duffy and Suzanne Somers...the sky is the limit! (That was a joke if you didn't catch it).

This paragraph will be rather short, for I really can't remember too much about Hangin' with Mr. Cooper. It seems that perhaps Cooper had a house (like Danny Tanner), and gets mooched off of by random people. He taught school and of course (say with me) LIFE LESSONS! Although I can't remember all that much about Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, one thing is for sure, if a show has Raven Symone and Omar Gooding in it...it can't be half bad.

Last but not least is Dinosaurs! This short lived program was loved by many including myself. What kid doesn't like live action dinosaurs, especially when they have names like Earl, Fran and Robbie. Of course, the first thing that pops into my mind is the little baby dino screaming knock the mama with his cooking pot at hand. Dinosaurs was a TGIF favorite for myself, although there was that creepy episode where Earl's face is stuck in the tree, please tell me you remember that? If not, it was creepy, trust me.

There you have it folks, a few of the TGIF lineup shows that I remember. I can truly remember enjoying my Friday nights spent with the folks on ABC. Even though some of these shows have long since been canceled, some still thrive today. So, if you get the urge for some old TGIF action, look hard, and you may just find what you are looking for!

Thanks to everyone I borrowed pictures from, you helped make this article possible.