Shonda Rhimes once had Us waiting all day for Thursday night on ABC.
The Shondaland television dynasty began with Grey’s Anatomy, which debuted in 2005 starring Ellen Pompeo as the titular Dr. Meredith Grey. The medical drama was joined by Scandal in 2012, a steamy political thriller with Kerry Washington leading the cast as fixer Olivia Pope and Tony Goldwyn making fans swoon as President Fitzgerald Grant III. In 2014, Rhimes introduced Viola Davis’ Annalise Keating on How to Get Away With Murder to her list of formidable female leads.
Thursday nights on ABC eventually became dedicated to Shondaland shows — and viewers treated each week like a special event. TGIT (or Thank God It’s Thursday) was a moment in culture that proved the power of primetime TV at a time when DVR and streaming were beginning to take over.
Grab your popcorn and red wine (if you know, you know) and join Us in remembering the era of TGIT:
What Happened:
Starting in 2014, ABC centered its primetime programming around Rhimes’ productions on Thursday nights. The network branded the block in a similar fashion to its previous TGIF stretch of sitcoms on Friday nights — and gave NBC’s Must See TV a run for its money. (The competing lineup was originally more comedy-forward but swapped to dramas to keep up with TGIT.)
Thursday nights on ABC featured Rhimes’ first and longest-running series, Grey’s Anatomy, followed by Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder.
Why It Was a Big Deal:
The introduction of How to Get Away With Murder — which eventually earned Davis an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, making her the first Black woman to win the accolade — gave ABC viewers “the total trifecta of twisty, tweetable drama,” per a tweet shared by the network in July 2014. Each Thursday, #TGIT would become a trending topic online, allowing fans to engage with one another while tuning in for the marathon of Rhimes’ steamy series. Virtual watch parties took place all over the country, making TGIT a can’t-miss event in fear of stumbling across a spoiler while scrolling.
On the industry side, TGIT was a ratings juggernaut. In December 2014, Nielsen data ranked How to Get Away With Murder as the No. 3 show with the key demographic of 18 to 49-year-old viewers. Scandal trailed closely behind at No. 4 and Grey’s at No. 8 — and the phenomenon only grew more popular as the years continued.
What People Said:
Live-tweeting became an integral aspect of the TGIT tradition, and the platform’s former head of global media and agency research gave Rhimes and the stars of her shows credit where it was due. “These are shows where they’ve got it down to a science to a certain extent,” Anjali Midha told Variety in September 2014. “They really know how to integrate Twitter, and what we now see from the data is that these guys were spot on. They really knew something about how this could drive conversation about their program.”
Darren Schillace, then ABC’s senior VP of marketing strategy, said social media gave the shows life beyond Thursday nights. “People are really watching these shows with an eagle eye and when you start allowing fans the access to get an insider’s look and somebody answers, it’s really cool. … It’s not just that weekly tune-in. All week long you can engage different parts of the shows,” he said.
Rhimes’ longtime producing partner Betsy Beers compared the online action to chatting with coworkers at the office water cooler at the time. Looking back on TGIT a decade later, Beers marveled at the “surreal” peak of its popularity.
“[It was] just this amazing moment of excitement and validation for what it was we were doing,” she told Bustle earlier this year. “I don’t remember the last time a producing team, certainly two women, had an entire night of television.”
Rhimes, however, was more frank in her assessment of the phenomenon. “That was exhausting,” she told Variety in April, confessing that she had “zero” work-life balance when TGIT was blowing up. “It’s not that it’s inconceivable; I know that we did it, and it was an accomplishment. But it was exhausting. And it was great. I loved the storytelling. But I feel like it almost killed me. It was too much. Getting to slow down was probably the best thing for my creativity.”
What Happened Next:
Scandal ended in 2018 after seven seasons, and How to Get Away With Murder wrapped its sixth and final season in 2020. Grey’s is still holding strong — season 21 debuts on ABC Thursday, September 26 — but Rhimes has largely shifted her focus away from primetime.
In 2017, Shondaland struck up a partnership with Netflix which spawned hits like Bridgerton, Inventing Anna and Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.
“What I like about being at Netflix is that there isn’t one show,” she told Variety. “I do know that we like to tell stories that feel grounded in some kind of reality. We can be in Regency England, but it still has to feel grounded in the reality of being a woman. We can do sci-fi, but it’s supposed to be grounded in the reality of being in the 21st century. But I don’t limit us; I really don’t think that there’s any one thing that we have to do. And Netflix hasn’t bothered us with that yet, which is nice.”
When asked whether her deal with Netflix was “endgame,” Rhimes teased, “I’m not going to die there!” before sharing her thoughts on the next chapter of her career.
“Here’s the thing that’s interesting: I’m not doing any worrying about the future — which is an excellent sign — because I’m very happy there,” she explained. “We’re making the projects we want to make and getting the creative control that we wanted to have. As long as I’m happy there, I’m staying there.”
Following its 2020 debut, Bridgerton became one of the streaming platform’s most popular original series. With three seasons under its belt — and a fourth on the way — the book series adaptation is showing no signs of slowing down.
When it comes to Rhimes’ OG TGIT programs, however, fans still hold strong feelings — especially when it comes to their ships. And whenever Olivia and Fitz reunite IRL, it takes Us right back to Thursday nights on ABC.
