Top 11 TGIF Shows

If this doesn't make you happy, you have no soul.

TGIF was the greatest night of the week when we were kids.

I mean it, man, TGIF is one of the rare things that actually brings together kids of the 80s and kids of the 90s.  Myself, having been born in 1980, was there for the inception and early years of TGIF, while those of you born circa 1990 would have been all caught up in the blossoming romance of Corey and Topanga.

So here are the eleven best shows to ever grace Friday nights on ABC.

11. Mr. Belvedere 
Mr. Belvedere fills up the end of the list because it was at the end of its run when TGIF started.  Personally, I never really considered the show to be part of TGIF, but technically it was there - and I remember loving the show as a kid.

I totally bought this mag.

10. Sabrina, The Teenage Witch
I was never, honestly, a viewer of this show.  It's on this list because of it's sheer popularity and longevity.  I did, however, buy the issue of Maxim magazine that featured Sabrina in some tastefully risque photos.  That right there is enough to get her on this list.
09. Hangin' With Mr. Cooper
Hangin' was a show that never really decided what show it was going to be.  This was evident by how the theme song would change from season to season. A funny show, and Holly Robinson was always easy on the eyes for a boy of eleven.  I think this show really only existed because Raven Symoné needed a paying gig after the Cosby Show was done.  Still, it was a really enjoyable sitcom that got lost in the hype of the other TGIF monsters.
08. Sister Sister
It didn't matter what this show was about - it starred Jackée, and that was enough to get us to watch it.
07. Step By Step
I remember the premiere of this vividly, because I was so excited for a new show with Suzanne Sommers.  As a very little boy I used to watch the syndicated episodes of Three's Company.  Even though I didn't understand half the jokes in the show, I thought Three's Company was awesome.  Step By Step, a kind of new take on the Brady Bunch, gave us the line, "Dana Dana Dana - you're driving me insane-a", which I continue to use on The Lovely Wife to this day.
06. Dinosaurs
Not the mama! Not the mama!  Not the mama! 'Nuff said.

Do the dance of joy!

05. Perfect Strangers
Here's another show that helped created TGIF while it was already an established sitcom hit.  I consider Perfect Strangers to be one of the greatest sitcoms ever created, and Balki Bartokomous is one of the greatest sitcom characters to ever be on TV.  And, if it wasn't for Perfect Strangers, we would never have had Family Matters. So grab your cousin Larry, herd some goats, and do the dance of joy!
04. Full House
My favorite TV show of all-time, it seems like there's nothing I can say that I haven't already said about the Tanner family.  So why isn't it higher on this list?  How rude, you say!  Well, have mercy, because Full House was only a TGIF show for the first half of its eight year run.  So there.  Cut.  It.  Out.

03. Family Matters

Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeez.

I actually remember when this show got popular.  It originally didn't feature Steve Urkel, and I don't think he was even in the pilot episode.  But I remember being at school on Monday morning and everyone talking about just how funny Urkel was.  It didn't take long for the show to become all about him.  Poor Carl Weathers.  I wonder what he's up to now.  Anyway, my point is, that Urkel was so popular on TGIF that we were still talking about it the following Monday.  Usually the mind of a kid forgets shit over the weekend. Not Urkel.  We embraced him.  Well, at least for a couple seasons of the show.  Then we all hated him. 
02. 20/20
Some would argue that Barbara Walters' show wasn't actually part of TGIF, but I consider it a staple of Friday nights on ABC.  After watching two hours of fluffy family fantasy life, Mrs. Walters would start talking about some real shit.  I mean shit like date rape, drugs, abusive kidnapping parents, and - don't make me say it - tax evasion!   It's also the only remnant of TGIF that still airs today with new episodes.  Damn, the Barbara has some longevity.
01. Boy Meets World
No other show truly represents TGIF than Boy Meets World.  Even at the age of seventeen I found myself tuning in just to see what was happening with Corey and Topanga.  Okay, mostly it was to see how incredibly attractive Topanga was getting at she got older, but we all had our reasons.  When I first moved in with The Lovely Wife we had a goldfish named Mr. Feeny.  I'd also like to point out that Boy Meets World survived, having never really having a catch TV theme song or intro.  In a time where shows like Full House, Family Matters, Perfect Strangers, and other night's shows (Roseanne, Home Improvement, Friends, Seinfeld, and American's Funniest Home Videos) used a catchy song to get our attention, Corey and Topanga didn't fucking need one. 

So there you have it.  Is there a show I'm missing?  Do you think something else should be #1? Comment below!

Thanks for reading!
- ryan