''You Wish'' is an American

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

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 ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' is a comic book series published by Archie Comics about the adventures of a fictional American teenager named Sabrina Spellman. Sabrina was created by writer George Gladir and artist Dan DeCarlo, and first appeared ...

'', ''

Boy Meets World ''Boy Meets World'' is an American coming-of-age sitcom created by Michael Jacobs and April Kelly that aired on ABC for seven seasons between September1993 and May2000. The series centers on Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) and his friends and fami ...

'', 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 Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic myt ...

lives with a family, instead of a single man. In the show's pilot episode (in which the proposed series was still known under a

working title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...

of ''Genie''), Gillian Apple (

Harley Jane Kozak Harley Jane Kozak (born January 28, 1957) is an American actress and author. She made her film debut in the slasher film ''The House on Sorority Row'' (1982), and had a recurring role as Mary Duvall on the soap opera '' Santa Barbara'' between 1 ...

) and her two children, Mickey Apple (

Alex McKenna Alex McKenna is an American actress and voice-over artist. She gained fame by playing Petunia Stupid in ''The Stupids'' (1996) and Mickey Apple in '' You Wish'' (1997). She resumed her acting career with guest appearances in CW hit teen drama ...

) and Travis Apple ( Nathan Lawrence) visit a rug shop where they meet the owner, Madman Mustafa (

John Rhys-Davies John Rhys-Davies (born 5 May 1944) is a Welsh actor best known for portraying Sallah in the ''Indiana Jones'' franchise and Gimli in ''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy. His other roles include Michael Malone in the 1993 series ''The Untouch ...

). There they buy a rug, where they unexpectedly release a genie ( John Ales), 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 (thus, Van Dyke was simultaneously appearing on two ''TGIF'' series, ''You Wish'' and '' Teen Angel'' at the same time as different characters).

Cast

* John Ales as Genie *

as Gillian Apple * Jerry Van Dyke as Grandpa Max *

as Mickey Apple * Nathan Lawrence as Travis Apple

Production

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 Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from history, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. In popular culture, the "nostalgia cycle" is typically for the two decades that begin 20–30 ...

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, ranking 92nd for the season 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 TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

'' called the series "Hammy, artificial, and altogether excruciating".

References

External links

* * * https://archive.org/details/YouWish You Wish on archive.org {{TGIF (ABC) 1990s American sitcoms 1997 American television series debuts 1998 American television series endings American Broadcasting Company original programming English-language television shows American fantasy television series Television series by ABC Studios TGIF (TV programming block) Television series about families Television series created by Michael Jacobs Genies in television