ABC's 'TGIF' Creator Reveals Acronym's True Meaning, Everyone's Been Getting It Wrong

justjared.com:

The creator of ABC‘s “TGIF” is setting the record straight. Jim Janicek created the popular programming block back in the 1980s, and it has featured such shows as Roseanne, Full House, Family Matters, Step by Step, Boy Meets World and more.

While many thought it stood for “Thank God It’s Friday,” Jim reveals that the Friday night block’s acronym actually stood for something else! Keep reading to find out more… “[TGIF] is not ‘Thank God It’s Friday,’” Danielle Fishel said on a new episode of her podcast, Pod Meets World.

Along with her Boy Meets World co-stars and co-hosts Rider Strong and Will Freidle, they cleared it up that TGIF stands for “Thank Goodness It’s Funny.” “We were [first] talking about things like the ‘Friday Fun Club,’” Jim revealed. “There’s a whole list [of brand names] somewhere I probably could dig up, but I remember that one.

You know, ‘It’s Friday Night.’ Lots of little short-isms.” “I don’t recall exactly where [‘TGIF’] came from. That was on our list!” he added. Jim also noted he was skeptical of using that when it was first pitched as it could have caused a legal dispute with the restaurant chain TGI Friday’s. “We were animating the open.