Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Remember ABC's T.G.I.F.?




So it's offical. Danielle Fishel and Ben Savage will be on Disney's new show, Girl Meets World, based around Cory and Topanga's pre-teen daughter, Riley. I am both excited and nervous about this. Boy Meets World in my opinion is flawless.(No hyperbole there, if you were wondering) It has great characters, good lessons, and it's friggin hilarious. So, to have a new generation watch something like that, seems like a good thing. However, I am nervous because I don't want this series to be the black mark on the otherwise flawless series. I am guessing that is how most Boy Meets World fans are feeling right now. Since today's TV shows are so different from the more wholesome sitcoms that came before, they might do this series completely wrong. But I have high hopes for the series because the two have signed on, and Michael Jacobs, the original creator, is working on it again. (How far off could the show be with all of that.) So thought I would take this surge of Boy Meets World popularity to discuss my love of ABC's original T.G.I.F. line-up and then later this week just the love of Boy Meets World by my co-writer. (Really we both work on all the posts, we spend too much time together. She is proof reading this now! Hi!) (Hi back! We know, we have issues)

Now, don't think I am only posting something on the classic 90s T.G.I.F. Sitcoms because of the recent beginnings of a Boy Meets World sequel series. This has been on our Blog to do list for a while and I have always had an unhealthy (I mean unhealthy) obsession with Boy Meets World since it began in 1993. (I was a #trainwreck from an early age. 3 to be precise) I have marathons of it all the time. And by marathons I mean, me in my room, alone,  just watching all my favorite episodes. I tend to call them Tuesday.  I quote it constantly,. I want my future husband to have eyebrows as sexy as Eric's, and I can make anything relate back to Boy Meets World in some way. (Go ahead try me.) I know, unhealthy. But that is the #Trainwreck way.

I really just miss these great teen shows. All the teen shows now are sex and drug obsessed. They have way too much drama everywhere. I think Gossip Girl is getting away with more things than Sex and the City did at the start. Okay, maybe it's not that bad but seriously. How do these shows stay on? The Playboy Bunny Club got shutdown after a few episodes for salacious content and that show was not even geared toward a younger audience like the other over done teen shows are. Granted, I am 22 and don't like these shows for other obvious reasons. (My nostalgia)

The 90s teen shows taught actual values, and you didn't even realize you were learning because Eric or Salem the cat would say something funny right after the sappy moral of the story bit. (Except in Full House. Stupid Full House...Sorry, I have just never been a fan. Hugs do not solve a child driving a car through the kitchen wall. They just don't) The humor didn't take away from the lesson at all, it just made it more entertaining. These new shows barely have lessons at all. The most moral thing I have learned from some of them is don't be a bitch because then maybe someone might try and steal your boyfriend. However, someone is probably already trying to steal your boyfriend, anyway.

I want the people who are watching these crappy teen shows to be exposed to the wonderful-ness that was ABC's TGIF line-up. All the shows were great and worked together to make one night of tv, even if it was a show like You Wish, Teen Angel  or Two of a Kind that only got one season. They still made them fit seamlessly into the line-up. This is channel where they had themed nights and all the episodes were somehow strung together, even though they were in completely different universes; like the Time Ball night. The night where Sabrina makes a magic time ball and sends the Sabrina cast to 60s and then Boy Meets World to the 40s. These nights were more than just a line up of shows. ABC made them a fully composed night of fun and made sure each show flowed perfectly into the next. They used tiny promos and bits in between the shows to create this flow. Salem would be on Boy Meets World set during the promo/bit with the time ball and be the cause of the time change. TV doesn't do that anymore and it saddens me. Most shows just stand alone. These nights are such a creative ways to make somewhat bizarre episodes for a real world setting show. What shows now have episodes like that that are not dream sequences?

TGIF night even expanded into the Sunday night movie, The Wonderful World of Disney. Do you guys remember those? The random Disney TV Movie premieres that did not go on Disney Channel. My family would sit and watch these almost every Sunday, and if they didn't, I did. (Wow I really have always watched a lot of TV. This is really interesting to notice now...once a #trainwreck, always a #trainwreck) This was the place where Sabrina Goes to Rome and Sabrina Down Under premiered. Both of those movies are now on my hard drive because they are amazing! Having a close knit group of shows allowed for such fun expanded programming. And since the internet was not huge then, expanded programs were much more difficult. No webisodes here.

I do realize I am speaking from a nostalgic point of view. This is the TV I grew up on and that obviously makes it better than the TV you grew up on; and every generation feels that way. (I am right though.) But these shows did perfectly encompass the 90s/early 00s, my childhood. Most of the shows started in the early 90s and then were off air by mid 2000. Boy Meets World began in 1993 and ended in April of 2000. Sabrina continued longer until 2005, but only because it was transferred to the WB, a channel that was having major success with Charmed and Buffy, and Sabrina fit right into their line up. So yes, I am biased on this topic but it's my blog (and co-writer's) and we do what we want!

So this was one rambly post so I will leave you with this....no more writing. WOO HOO! Thank God! Just my favorite Episode of my two favorite TGIF Shows. Can you guess which ones?? Sabrina and Boy Meets World. So difficult to guess from what you have read.

ENJOY!


Boy Meets World:
Season 7  Episode 3
"All Angela's Men" There is a part in this episode where it's so funny, the cast never even gets through it. You know it's good.


Sabrina, the Teenage Witch
Season 3
Episode 16
This is the episode where N'Sync appears. Sabrina has had Britney Spears, The Backstreet Boys and N'sync on it. Those three episodes alone are the epitome of the 90s. Got to love TGIF!




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2 comments:

  1. Hi,

    I just wanted to say what a great post you wrote there. It really captured just how amazing friday nights used to be on ABC back then. That is something that I have been writing about as well. Shows today don't compare to shows in the 90s. They were funny, wholesome, had real plots that flowed into each episode and all taught something, in both the episode and series as a whole.

    Glad to see the impact that such a great show had on another fan of Boy Meets World.

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  2. Thanks a lot for the comments. I really did enjoy writing this post. So, I am glad there are others who also have an appreciation for such a great set of shows and such a great show as BMW. Our Friday post will be something similar written by co-writer. So make sure to check that one out too.

    I also checked out your blog and really enjoyed your stuff. I need to read more of it. I am following it now. Keep up the good work!

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