If you grew up in the late ’80s or early ’90s, your nights were likely spent sitting on the couch watching ABC’s TGIF line up, which consisted of nostalgic hits such as “Full House,” “Family Matters,” “Perfect Strangers,” and “Step by Step.” But if you always assumed the acronym stood for “Thank God It’s Friday,” think again.
As it turns out, the network’s legal team wanted to steer clear of religion when they were coming up with a name for their big weekend kickoff — a Friday lineup that would feature some of ABC’s best TV shows of all time. Contrary to popular belief, the acronym actually stands for “Thank Goodness it’s Funny.” According to a deep-dive oral history by Entertainment Weekly, the question of who actually coined the block’s moniker is still a matter of debate, and the answer differs depending on who you ask.
“If anybody brings up TGIF, my first thought is how it came about because I personally created that phrase,” veteran producer Robert L. Boyett told the outlet, recalling a pitch session with the Warner Bros. publicity team. Yet inside ABC’s executive wing lies another version of this story. Then-executive V.P. of ABC Entertainment Stuart Bloomberg gave credit to the on-air promotions team, spearheaded by ABC exec Stuart Brower and writer-producer Jim Janicek.
Who really coined the term ‘Thank Goodness It’s Funny’?
“We had 10,000 different names,” Janicek told Entertainment Weekly, listing off rejects like “Friday Night Funnies” and “Friday Laugh Factory.” “TGIF was on there; however, there was an existing restaurant chain, and there also was the existing phrase, ‘Thank God It’s Friday,’ so part of me was concerned that we would not get through our title clearance side. I wasn’t really betting on that being the name.”
Mark Zakarin, then-senior V.P. of marketing, pushed for the acronym because it captured an “emotion,” but the network’s broadcast standards department had rigid rules about using the word “God.” Zakarin suggested pivoting to “Thank Goodness It’s Friday” to appease the censors. Ultimately, though, it was former Disney CEO Bob Iger — then president of ABC — who delivered the final pun. “I said, ‘How about calling it ‘Thank Goodness It’s Funny’?’ We didn’t want to use God,” Iger recalled. “Then the TGIF thing hit me, which was such a double entendre.” In the same interview, former ABC executive Ted Harbert backed up his boss’ story, claiming that it had been Iger who had come up with “TGIF.”
Decades later, the true definition of the phrase remains a piece of forgotten TV trivia. “It’s so funny because even to this day people say, ‘Well, ‘Thank God It’s Friday’ really worked,'” Iger joked. “And I said, ‘It was ‘Thank Goodness It’s Funny.’ I don’t think anybody even remembers that.”
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