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Boy Meets World is an American television sitcom created and produced by Michael Jacobs and April Kelly. It ran for seven seasons on the ABC network from September 24, 1993, to May 5, 2000.

The show chronicles the everyday events and life-lessons of Cory Matthews (Ben Savage). It also stars Cory's teacher George Feeny (William Daniels), best friend Shawn Hunter (Rider Strong), brother Eric (Will Friedle), and love interest Topanga Lawrence (Danielle Fishel). The show also features Cory's father Alan (William Russ), mother Amy (Betsy Randle), and sister Morgan (Lily Nicksay), while introducing the characters Angela Moore (Trina McGee-Davis), Rachel McGuire (Maitland Ward), Jonathan Turner (Anthony Tyler Quinn), Eli Williams (Alex Désert), and Jack Hunter (Matthew Lawrence) during its later seasons.

Premise

Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) is a witty eleven-year-old middle school student who speaks his mind and has an interest in sports. He shares a love-hate relationship with his sixth-grade teacher and neighbour George Feeny (William Daniels), and often finds himself in trouble during class. Cory's relationship with his older brother Eric (Will Friedle) becomes strained when Eric's obsession with dating girls, which is a foreign concept to Cory, begins to take precedence over the time they spend together. Cory shares a strong bond with his parents, Amy (Betsy Randle) and Alan (William Russ), and his younger sister Morgan (Lily Nicksay). His classmates include his best friend Shawn Hunter (Rider Strong), the intelligent Stuart Minkus (Lee Norris), and the nonconformist Topanga (Danielle Fishel), who he gradually begins to develop feelings for.

In the second season, Cory, Shawn and Topanga begin high school and are taught by Jonathan Turner (Anthony Tyler Quinn), an unconventional English teacher, while Mr. Feeny becomes their principal. Cory and Topanga admit their feelings for each other and begin dating in the third season, while Eric is not accepted to any colleges or universities following his high school graduation. The fourth season includes Eric revisiting his studies and Alan opening a sporting goods store with Eric as his partner. Eric begins college in the fifth season and moves into an apartment with Jack (Matthew Lawrence), who he learns is Shawn's half-brother. Throughout the season, Shawn develops a relationship with a new student, Angela (Trina McGee), and Amy falls pregnant. Topanga is accepted to Yale, but rejects the offer to remain close to Cory, which leads him to propose to her at their graduation.

In the sixth season, Cory and his friends begin college, where Mr. Feeny is offered a teaching job. Rachel McGuire (Maitland Ward) moves in with Eric and Jack and they both develop feelings for her; Jack dates her. The new Matthews baby, Joshua, is born prematurely. Cory and Topanga get married in the seventh season and move into an apartment on campus. The series concludes with Cory, Topanga, Shawn, and Eric moving to New York City, when Topanga secures an internship at a law firm.

Characters

• Cory Matthews (Ben Savage), the protagonist, who experiences challenging scenarios and life lessons as he grows up
• George Feeny (William Daniels), Cory's teacher, and later principal, who imparts life lessons and advice to his students
• Amy Matthews (Betsy Randle), Cory's mother
• Eric Matthews (Will Friedle), Cory's empty-headed older brother
• Shawn Hunter (Rider Strong), Cory's best friend who comes from a troubled family
• Stuart Minkus (Lee Norris) (season 1, guest season 5), an intelligent student in Cory's sixth grade class
• Morgan Matthews (Lily Nicksay, seasons 1–2; Lindsay Ridgeway, seasons 3–7), Cory's younger sister
• Alan Matthews (William Russ), Cory's father
• Topanga Lawrence (Danielle Fishel) (seasons 2–7, recurring season 1), Cory's classmate and friend, who he develops a relationship with and later marries
• Jonathan Turner (Anthony Tyler Quinn) (seasons 2–4), Cory's high school English teacher who is easy-going and inspires his students
• Eli Williams (Alex Désert) (season 3), another teacher at Cory's high school and Jonathan's best friend from college
• Jack Hunter (Matthew Lawrence) (seasons 5–7), Shawn's long-lost half-brother
• Angela Moore (Trina McGee-Davis) (seasons 6–7, recurring season 5), Topanga's best friend at college who develops a relationship with Shawn
• Rachel McGuire (Maitland Ward) (seasons 6–7), Topanga and Angela's friend at college and Eric and Jack's roommate

Production

Development and casting

Boy Meets World was created to air on the TGIF programming block which had been airing on ABC since 1989. The series was created by Michael Jacobs, who produced Dinosaurs for the same block. Jacobs was approached by a Disney executive after the conclusion of Dinosaurs, to write a new series for the 12 to 14-year-old demographic. Jacobs noticed how other sitcoms focused on the oldest child of a family, which led him to create Boy Meets World with the middle child as the central character. Ben Savage was already under a contract at ABC at 11-years-old and Jacobs chose to include him in the series, which became known as The Ben Savage Project. Jacobs wanted to work with William Daniels, but Daniels was apprehensive about acting in a sitcom and initially rejected the offer before asking for the pilot to be re-written. Rider Strong was the first actor to audition for the role of Shawn Hunter and was successful. Strong's older brother Shiloh Strong was shortlisted to play Eric Matthews alongside James Marsden and Will Friedle; Friedle secured the role, however, a different actor portrayed Eric in the unaired pilot.

Writing

During the writing of the pilot, network executives removed the episode's references to Shakespeare, considering these elements as too mature for the audience. The episode was poorly received at the table read, and Jacobs re-wrote the pilot overnight. Jeff Sherman, who was a producer and writer on the show, advocated to include issues such as vandalism and child abuse in the series, regardless of it being a comedy. An episode in the first season, "The Fugitive", discusses the idea of running away from home.

The chemistry between Savage and Danielle Fishel led to producers developing a romantic relationship between Cory and Topanga. Jacobs was told by an ABC executive that marrying the pair would be irresponsible, before a favourable internet poll led to the decision being approved. As the series progressed, Eric's characterization became more foolish and unintelligent to accommodate Friedle's comedic abilities.

Theme music

Boy Meets World used a number of theme songs and opening title sequences over its seven-year run. Season one was the only season of the series that incorporated the names of the main cast and series creators within the opening title sequence, while those credits were shown along with the credits for producers and that episode's director and writers during the show's cold open for the remainder of the series. Every episode of seasons one and four through seven utilized a single theme song for every episode; however, the entire second season and part of season three used various instrumental themes composed by Ray Colcord (who also composed the incidental music used between scenes and commercial breaks throughout the show's run). This practice ended with "The Last Temptation of Cory" (season 3, episode 9) as one of the cycled themes became the sole opening title music for the rest of that season. The final theme, written and performed by Phil Rosenthal, of the band Twenty Cent Crush remained for seasons five through seven, though the visuals changed from seasons 5 to 6 to include Trina McGee-Davis and Maitland Ward.

Series overview

Broadcast

Syndication

Boy Meets World reruns began airing on various Fox, WB, UPN, and independent affiliates from September 8, 1997 to September 1, 2000. During the latter month, Disney Channel assumed syndication rights, with the series running on the cable channel until 2007. To the consternation of some longtime fans of the show, Disney Channel edited many episodes that contained scenes with suggestive content deemed inappropriate for the channel's target audience of 7- to 14-year-olds. All 158 episodes aired during the series' initial run on the Disney Channel, however, due to the adult subject matter and complaints from parents, Disney Channel omitted three episodes from later airings: season five's "If You Can't Be with the One You Love..." (due to its depictions of underage drinking) and "Prom-ises, Prom-ises" (whose main storyline involves Cory and Topanga contemplating losing their virginity on the night of their prom), and season six's "The Truth About Honesty" (due to its sexual references). On May 5, 2014, the show temporarily returned to Disney Channel after a seven-year absence to promote Girl Meets World.

ABC Family aired Boy Meets World from June 21, 2004 to August 31, 2007 and again from April 12, 2010 to December 2, 2015. Though the network in a way inherited the syndication rights to the show from Disney Channel, the episode prints broadcast by ABC Family differed from those seen on Disney Channel and in broadcast syndication as it incorporated scenes cut from the Disney Channel broadcasts (though small portions of certain scenes from episodes during the earlier seasons were cut due to time constraints) and featured the three episodes that Disney chose not to air, incorporated each season's corresponding opening title sequence, and restored the placement of the teaser scenes during the season one episodes to running before the opening titles in the manner that they were shown in the original ABC telecasts (instead of having the cast and creators' names shown during the teasers). However, the program was dropped once ABC Family was rebranded as Freeform. The series also began airing on MTV2 since November 14, 2011, again with the original opening title sequences intact.

On September 29, 2017, Boy Meets World became available for streaming on Hulu along with fellow Disney–ABC television properties Dinosaurs and Home Improvement, in addition to fellow TGIF programs Family Matters, Full House, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Perfect Strangers, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, and Step by Step. On April 11, 2019, It was confirmed that Disney+, a new streaming service owned by Disney, will be carrying the series upon its November 2019 launch.

Reception

Cultural impact

Angela's interracial relationship with Shawn was a relative rarity for a major network television show targeting youths at the time. Trina McGee-Davis once remarked that the typical reaction she received from young fans regarding the relationship was overwhelmingly positive and encouraging, often inquiring as to when the characters would reconcile after a breakup. She expressed her personal wish that her character's relationship would serve as an example of color blindness for the world, in lieu of a less positive reaction a similar relationship had received on Ally McBeal at the time.

Eric and Shawn both wore a popular 1990s hairstyle called curtained hair.

The show also addresses the cultural issues of child abuse ("Dangerous Secret"'), sexual harassment ("Chick Like Me", "Everybody Loves Stuart"), and underage drinking/alcohol use ("If You Can't Be With the One You Love…").

Awards and nominations

Other media

Home video releases

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (as Buena Vista Home Entertainment) released the first three seasons of Boy Meets World on DVD between 2004 and 2005. Because the sales figures did not meet the company's expectations, no further seasons were released. As of 2009, these releases have been discontinued and are out of print.

On August 4, 2008, it was announced that Lionsgate Home Entertainment had acquired the rights to the series. They subsequently re-released the first three seasons on DVD on September 7, 2010, with the same special features from the original releases. Season 4 was released on December 7, 2010. Season 5 was released on May 3, 2011. Season 6 was released on July 5, 2011. Season 7 was released on October 4, 2011, completing the series' run on DVD. Ultimately, Lionsgate was able to release all seven seasons in almost a year's time. All seven seasons of the series are available for download at the iTunes Store.

On November 5, 2013, Lionsgate released Boy Meets World: The Complete Collection on DVD in Region 1. The 22-disc set features all 158 episodes of the series as well as new and previously included bonus features from the original sets.

Sequel series

In November 2012, Disney Channel announced that it had greenlit a pilot for a sequel/spin-off series, Girl Meets World. This series picks up nearly fifteen years after Boy Meets World ended, and follows Cory and Topanga's daughter Riley (Rowan Blanchard) as she navigates the challenges of her adolescent years along with her best friend Maya (Sabrina Carpenter).

Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel reprised their roles as Cory and Topanga, while several other cast members from Boy Meets World made recurring appearances, most prominently Rider Strong (Shawn Hunter), Will Friedle (Eric Matthews), Danny McNulty (Harley Keiner), Lee Norris (Stuart Minkus), and William Daniels (Mr. Feeny). Michael Jacobs returned as showrunner. Girl Meets World ran three seasons before ending in 2017.

Notes

1. Tied.

References

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External links

• Boy Meets World at IMDb

• Boy Meets World
• 1990s American college television series
• 1990s American high school television series
• 1990s American teen sitcoms
• 1993 American television series debuts
• 2000s American college television series
• 2000s American teen sitcoms
• 2000 American television series endings
• American Broadcasting Company original programming
• Coming-of-age television shows
• English-language television shows
• Middle school television series
• Television series about families
• Television series about siblings
• Television series about teenagers
• Television series by ABC Studios
• Television series by Disney–ABC Domestic Television
• Television series created by Michael Jacobs
• Television shows set in Pennsylvania
• Television shows set in Philadelphia
• TGIF (TV programming block)