When ABC (a network that was in the midst of an overhaul as
The Walt Disney Company took over) canceled the long-running shows
Family Matters and
Step by Step, CBS picked them up, paying a $40 million sum to earn the rights to the shows, and made them the cornerstones of the new "Block Party." Two new family comedies were added. The first was a new production from
Miller-Boyett Productions (the production company behind
Family Matters and
Step By Step among other TGIF series),
Meego.
Meego, in addition to being produced by TGIF alumni, also starred a TGIF alumnus:
Bronson Pinchot, who previously starred as
Balki Bartokomous in
Perfect Strangers and as Jean-Luc Rieupeyroux in the sixth season of
Step by Step (Pinchot even used a similar accent to the one he used for the Balki character);
Meego also featured well-known contemporary child stars
Michelle Trachtenberg and
Jonathan Lipnicki. The second new series was
The Gregory Hines Show, an eponymous sitcom featuring entertainer
Gregory Hines; CBS head
Leslie Moonves described the Hines show as being more mature and edgy than the other shows in the block, but still
family-friendly enough that children could watch comfortably.
Jaleel White, who played
Family Matters star character
Steve Urkel, stated that the producers jumped at the opportunity to jump to CBS because ABC was already shifting the
TGIF block toward a much more child- and teen-oriented image, moving away from the whole-family approach it had taken at the beginning of its run (White believed being paired with the likes of
The Gregory Hines Show was a far better fit than shows such as
Muppets Tonight and
Aliens in the Family that had been appearing on
TGIF at the time), and that they did not believe Disney would give Miller-Boyett as prominent of a role as they had held with ABC before Disney had bought it. CBS, still experiencing aftereffects from the
loss of NFL rights and multiple key affiliates to Fox in 1994, saw the purchase as a golden opportunity to draw a younger demographic than it was drawing at the time. The CBS Block Party was CBS's second and final attempt to compete with TGIF; in 1992, CBS attempted a similar block, albeit targeting an older demographic than either TGIF or the Block Party, that featured
The Golden Palace (the continuation of the long-running NBC sitcom
The Golden Girls),
Designing Women,
Major Dad, and
Bob. Like the
Block Party, this block also failed after one season, and by the end of 1993, all four series had been canceled. ==Lineup==