Hulu has added the complete runs of classic TGIF shows Boy Meets World,Home Improvement, and Dinosaurs to its streaming roster. In late July, it was announced that Hulu would soon be offering a huge treat to those who grew up watching ABC’s famous TGIF comedy line-up. The streaming service had acquired the rights to the full runs of popular sitcoms Full House,Family Matters,Step by Step, Perfect Strangers, and Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper, which together totaled over 800 episodes of content.
As of September 29, Hulu has added all five of the above shows, as promised. However, the service has also thrown in a special surprise that’s sure to make TGIF fans even happier than they already were about all the new additions. Hulu has quietly added the full runs of Boy Meets World, Home Improvement, and Dinosaurs as well, making Hulu’s TGIF collection even more enticing to anyone looking to binge their 90s favorites.
According to TV Line, Hulu has obtained the exclusive streaming rights to all three shows, just as it did with the five previously announced TGIF acquisitions. This continues a recent push by Hulu to seemingly try and scoop up all the long-running sitcoms it can, and perhaps more importantly, keep them out of the hands of rival Netflix. Just last month, Hulu added the entire run of Will & Grace, in the first ever streaming deal for the series. Hulu also recently inked a deal with NBC Universal that will see the full run of 30 Rock head to the service on October 1.
Boy Meets World is probably the biggest get of Hulu’s three unexpectedly added TGIF shows, as the Michael Jacobs-created series maintains an incredibly loyal fanbase to this day. This devotion of course helped lead Disney Channel to create sequel series Girl Meets World in 2014, which ran for three seasons of its own, and eventually featured the return of the entire core BMW cast to their classic roles. That said, adding Home Improvement is a big win for Hulu too, as the six-season run of Last Man Standing proved that Tim Allen still has a large following.
While Dinosaurs is decidedly more of a cult item than the other two, it still managed to last four seasons of its own, and retains a sizable fanbase. Dinosaurs also became famous for its depressing series finale “Changing Nature”, which featured dad Earl Sinclair inadvertently assisting the company he works for in bringing about an ice age that causes the extinction of dinosaurs. For a show that often mined comedy from Baby Sinclair whacking his father with a frying pan, the apocalypse is a pretty dark direction to go in.
