You Wish (TV series)


You Wish is an American fantasy sitcom television series created by Michael Jacobs, that ran from September 26, 1997 to June 19, 1998. It started as part of ABC's TGIF programming on Friday nights for the fall of 1997, along with Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Boy Meets World, and Teen Angel.

Synopsis

Just as Sabrina, the Teenage Witch was considered a 1990s version of Bewitched, You Wish was a 1990s version of I Dream of Jeannie. In this sitcom, a genie lives with a family, instead of a single man.
In the show's pilot episode, Gillian Apple and her two children, Mickey Apple and Travis Apple visit a rug shop where they meet the owner, Madman Mustafa. There they buy a rug, where they unexpectedly release a genie, who has been imprisoned for 2,000 years. The genie's name is simply "Genie", although in the first episode Gillian refers to him as "Steve from Canoga Park", an alias he later uses. Jerry Van Dyke was introduced to the show in the third episode as Genie's Grandpa Max.

Cast

Crossovers

Although the series made a total of 13 episodes, it was taken off after the seventh episode, "Genie Without a Cause." This episode, which aired on November 7, 1997, was part of a night-long TGIF retro crossover, which started with Sabrina. Sabrina made a time ball, which Salem swallowed and caused the time period to be the 1960s. Salem then crossed over to Boy Meets World, turning it into the 1940s, then this series to the 1950s and then to Teen Angel to the 1970s.

Cancellation

You Wish was a ratings failure and was cancelled after seven episodes. Reruns from the first season of Sabrina the Teenage Witch were added to the TGIF lineup to fill the empty slot for the remainder of the season. The remaining six unaired episodes of the series were burned off in May and June 1998, filling the slot of its fellow new TGIF series, Teen Angel, after that show was canceled.

Episodes

Reception

TV Guide called the series "Hammy, artificial, and altogether excruciating".