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 (in which the proposed series was still known under a working title of "Genie"), Gillian Apple (Harley Jane Kozak) and her two children, Mickey Apple (Alex McKenna) and Travis Apple (Nathan Lawrence) visit a rug shop where they meet the owner, Madman Mustafa (John Rhys-Davies). 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). 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 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. Reception. "TV Guide  called the series Hammy, artificial, and altogether excruciating".