Boy Meets World

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Boy Meets World

George Feeny (William Daniels) talks with Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) in a screenshot from the Pilot
(September 24 1993).
Genre Sitcom/Teen drama
Creator(s) Michael Jacobs
April Kelly
Starring Ben Savage
William Russ
William Daniels
Betsy Randle
Will Friedle
Lily Nicksay
Rider Strong
Danielle Fishel
Lee Norris
Anthony Tyler Quinn
Lindsay Ridgeway
Alex Désert
Matthew Lawrence
Trina McGee-Davis
Maitland Ward
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
Language(s) English
No. of episodes 158
Production
Running time 30 minutes
(with commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel ABC(1993-2000), Disney Channel (2000-Present)
Original run September 24, 1993 – May 5, 2000
Links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary
Portal:Philadelphia
 Philadelphia Portal

Boy Meets World is an American television sitcom that chronicles the events and everyday life lessons of Cory Matthews, who grows up from a pre-pubescent boy to a married man. The show aired for seven seasons from 1993 to 2000 on ABC, where it was one of the headliners of ABC's TGIF lineup. The show joined Disney Channel in 2000 and ABC Family in 2004.

Contents

[edit] Characters

Main article: Characters of Boy Meets World

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The show revolves around Cory Matthews; the other characters often serve to help him cope with his difficulties in achievement in school, his moral conflicts with Shawn Hunter, and his trouble understanding his girlfriend Topanga Lawrence.[1] Cory's best friend, Shawn Patrick Hunter, is dissimilar to Cory; he is a social rebel, he has an unsupportive family, and he has success with women, something which Cory envies at times. Cory's mother and father (Amy and Alan Matthews) are hard-working people trying to make a decent living in order to raise their three children (by the end of the series, a fourth child, Joshua Matthews, is born). Their other two children are Eric Matthews, the funny, handsome, sometimes borderline-psychotic older brother who tries to distance himself from Cory at all possible times; and Morgan Matthews, the younger sister, who sometimes uses her position as means of getting what she wants. Cory, with his stubbornness and laziness, struggles with his friend to get through school. To help them, there is Mr. George Feeny, Cory's teacher and neighbor. He tries as hard as possible to get them through school and he eventually does. Finally, there is Topanga Lawrence, Cory's first love, and in the later seasons, his fiancée, then wife. Topanga and Cory's relationship is the main focus of the later part of the series, and at the end of the series, Topanga, Cory, Shawn, and Eric leave suburban Philadelphia for New York City while later new-comers to the cast, Jack and Rachel join the Peace Corps and Angela goes to Europe with her father.

[edit] Comedic and Narrative style

Boy Meets World contained a mix of dramedy and smart humor, deadpan humor, and non-stop straight-out farce, with the latter beginning to increasingly dominate the show as time went on.

[edit] Playfulness

Fourth wall jokes abound, there is never-ending deadpan humor, and multiple episodes openly parody then-current popular movies, including Scream, Rounders, and The Truman Show. Wrestler Vader appears as a recurring character playing his own wrestling persona, and characters repeatedly mention the show's format, plot formulas, and continuity errors.

[edit] Self-deprecation

The series is particularly notable for its ability to make fun of itself. In the episode "Eric Hollywood", the cast parody themselves and the show on the set of Kid Gets Acquainted With Universe, and reveal that the actors are nothing like the characters they play onstage. The show even goes to the lengths of bringing back the character of Stuart Minkus from the first season as a cameo for the high school graduation episode, who explains his absence by having been in "that part of the school over there (pointing off-camera)," to which Cory replies "We don't go over there." Minkus then calls out, "Oh, hey, Mr. Turner!" The character of Mr. Turner is a teacher who plays an important role in several seasons of the show, and then disappears after he suffered a motorcycle accident. Similarly, Cory's sister Morgan unexpectedly returns after an entire season's absence, played by a different actress, with the wisecracking comment, "That was the longest time-out I've ever had." Another example is the pig, Little Oinky: while still in high school, Shawn obtains a piglet and names him Little Cory. The pink pig disappears after one episode, only to reappear for a single cameo during the show's college years as a full-grown pig.

Another example of self-reference occurs in the final episode, when Cory is talking to his little brother Joshua. He tells him that he is one day going out into the real world and he will make mistakes, but he will learn from them and eventually become a good person; he then stops and says, "Boy meets world. Now I get it." Also in the last episode when Cory, Shawn, Eric, & Topanga say their goodbyes, Mr. Feeny says "I loved all my students equally," Cory replies "Come on, Mr. Feeny, you haven't spoken to any other student in like seven years."

[edit] American Broadcasting Company references

Similarly, it was one of the only shows in ABC's TGIF programming block to openly acknowledge its placement there and have characters poke fun at it; when the show was rescheduled from 8:30 to 9:30 because of its increasingly adult subject matter, a boy who Cory is babysitting complains that his "favorite show" has been rescheduled past his bedtime for no good reason, exclaiming, "They're trying to kill it!" Cory enthusiastically agrees. When ABC began advertising its airing of The Beatles Anthology by replacing its shows' theme songs with Beatles songs, a move ignored in the scripts of most of its shows, the writers of Boy Meets World twisted the concept around by instead using a Monkees song and having that week's episode feature The Monkees as guest stars.

[edit] Eric Matthews

The increasing sense of the show's realism unraveling and the plot becoming increasingly farcical—especially with the character of Eric Matthews, who had changed from a relatively serious character into a hyperactive, wisecracking, idiot savant failure, who served as a source of screwball comic relief—caused many viewers to conclude that the show had jumped the shark.[2][citation needed]

[edit] Life Lessons

Unlike many family shows (especially those in the TGIF lineup), Boy Meets World often concluded episodes with characters learning to deal with existing circumstances rather than showing the characters successfully changing those circumstances. An example is the episode "How To Succeed In Business" (Ep. 5.9) in which Cory and Shawn both work as interns in a large corporation. Shawn exhibits savvy in customer relations and quickly climbs the corporate ladder, while Cory is demoted to janitor and consequently questions his future. Rather than showing Cory overcome his circumstance through ambition or hard-work, the episode ends with him learning to take pride in his current position.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Boy Meets World episodes

[edit] Serious episodes

See also: Very special episode
  • In the first season finale, Mr. Feeny gets ill after Cory wishes Feeny could be sick for one day. However it turns out to be more serious when he finds out Feeny is in the hospital, and Cory is haunted by Mr. Feeny's "ghost." (1994)
  • In the second season finale, Shawn can't handle living in a different home after his father runs away to find his mother again. (1995)
  • Shawn learns that his friend gets hit by her dad, but doesn't tell anyone. (1996)
  • Shawn joins a cult and the rest of the cast try to get him out of it. Only a motorcycle accident to Jonathan causes Shawn to rethink his actions. (1997)
  • Cory and Shawn get drunk after Cory breaks up with Topanga. (1997)
  • One of Cory's professors (Ben Savage's brother, Fred Savage) sexually harasses Topanga. Cory shoves him and is then threatened with expulsion. The script called for Ben to punch Fred, however Ben refused. (1998)
  • Shawn's father suffers a heart attack and is taken to the hospital. While there, Shawn is still mad at his father but when the two finally reconcile, Chet suffers another heart attack and dies at the end of the episode. Chet's death was so serious the issue continued on until the episode "Road Trip." (1998)
  • In the final season of the show, Cory, Shawn and Topanga come together and get into a war with Rachel, Jack, and Angela (and Eric is a spy on both teams). Rachel is emotionally hurt when Cory and Shawn show a poster sized picture of Rachel half-naked with red hair all over and soon all of them stop talking to each other. Eric is upset when he finds out nobody wanted him on their team. In the next episode, both Eric and Mr. Feeny try to bring them back together but fail after they fight some more of his body. We then see them seven years later and they all have changed because of their broken friendship. In the end it was an alternate future because the next scene shows the scene where Rachel has left the classroom they were in but Eric takes her back and they eventually are friends again.

[edit] Production notes

[edit] Theme music and introductions

Boy Meets World had six theme songs over seven years. The final theme, written and performed by Phil Rosenthal [3], remained for the fifth through seventh seasons, though the visuals changed from Seasons 5 to 6 to include Trina McGee as Angela Moore's main part (who moved from guest star to regular cast in Season 5) and Maitland Ward as Rachel McGuire (who was added as a regular cast member in Season 6).

ABC Family was the first network since ABC to show all the accurate introductions for all seven seasons. For the syndicated and Disney Channel broadcasts, a slightly modified version of the Season 4 theme, accompanied by the Season 4 opening credits was used for the first three seasons; for the rest of the show's run the original opening themes were kept intact.

[edit] Stage settings

Boy Meets World was filmed almost exclusively on-stage. There were occasionally scenes filmed in outdoor settings, but these were few and far between. At least one set of John Adams High School was the same as the set of the high school in Saved by the Bell.[citation needed]

  • The House - full run

The House was primarily a four-room setup consisting of the Matthews' living room, kitchen, Cory and Eric's bedroom, and the backyard that adjoined that of George Feeny. There were also occasional scenes in Cory and Eric's bathroom and their parents' bedroom. The house was the main setting for the show, as most of the episodes spent at least some time here.

  • Mr. Feeny's Classroom - full run

While the classroom and school changed between seasons one and two and seasons five and six, a classroom was always present in the show. Jonathan Turner also has a classroom from season two to four, but this changes when his character is written off the show and the setting of John Adams High is changed significantly.

Mr. Feeny also had an office from Seasons 2 to 5, with one scene in season four using it as Dean Bolander's office. Dean Bolander also teaches a class in what would become Mr. Feeny's Pennbrook classroom.

  • John Adams Main Floor - Seasons 2/3/4

This was another multiple-room setting, containing Mr. Turner's classroom and the main hall. The door on the right that led offstage has been used as the entrance to Mr. Feeny's office, both boys' and girls' bathrooms, the janitor's closet, or the counselor's office.

  • John Adams Senior Floor - Season 5

This set began the trend of many expensive, short use sets. This was the set adapted from the Main Floor set, and appeared to be almost the same as that set except for the reversal of many items. Mr. Feeny's classroom was connected to the stage right side of the main hall.

  • The First Apartment - Seasons 2/3/4

Jonathan Turner's apartment was introduced in Season 2, but became a main setting for the show in Season 3 after Shawn moves in with Jonathan. This set would later be adapted to become the college apartment.

  • The Second Apartment - Seasons 5/6/7

In the beginning of Season 5, Eric leaves home to attend Pennbrook University and rents an apartment with Jack Hunter, who recently moved to town also to attend Pennbrook. At Chet Hunter's insistence, Shawn moves in with them, but the Apartment would see a number of different occupants over the years.

  • First lineup: Jack, Eric, and Shawn.
  • Second lineup: Jack, Eric, and Rachel. At the beginning of Season 6, a few months before Shawn plans to move out of the apartment and into a dorm with Cory, Eric and Jack kicked him out to make room for Rachel. Shawn, upon seeing Rachel, takes this in stride.
  • Third lineup: Jack and Rachel. After Chet Hunter's death, Jack and Rachel begin dating, and Eric moves out a few episodes later.
  • Fourth lineup: Topanga, Angela, and Rachel. Eventually, Eric decides to return to the apartment, but at the same time Rachel invites Angela and Topanga to move in. His chivalrous nature winning out over logic, Jack begrudgingly leaves. He and Eric return to fight the girls for the apartment a few episodes later, but lose.
  • Fifth lineup: Jack, Eric, and Shawn (again). After Cory and Topanga get married in season seven, Topanga moves out, and Shawn moves in with Angela and Rachel. Rachel later moves out to assume the title as a Resident Aid for one of Pennbrook's dorms, leaving Angela and Shawn. After the episode "Pickett Fences", Cory calls Shawn and Angela's living arrangement "playing house" compared to his and Topanga's dorm. Towards the end of the episode, Shawn decides that Cory is right and they agree that Angela will move out and live with Rachel in the dorm, and the three original occupants move back to the apartment. They remain there until the end of the series.
  • The Trailer - Seasons 2/3/4/5/6

Shawn and Chet Hunter live in the trailer until Shawn moves into the apartment in Season 5, and Chet's death in Season 6. This set was used sparingly.

  • Chubbie's Diner - Seasons 2/3/4/5

Chubbie's became a mainstay for the Boy Meets World cast, and was used often for scenes. It was another multi-room set, with a game room on stage left (audience right), and restaurant and bar on stage right, although the game room was used infrequently. Eventually the diner becomes a pirate-themed restaurant towards the end of season five and is never seen again.

  • The Dorm - Seasons 6/7

The dorm room that Shawn and Cory live in during Season 6 connects to the dorm hall. The room was used throughout the series, housing some occupants that do not live in the apartment. The dorm hall is seen very rarely, only in a few episodes in season six, and is also connected to the co-ed bathroom which is seen in only two scenes in episode #6.4.

  • The Student Union - Seasons 6/7

This replaced the John Adams hallway as the main school setting. It was the largest main set in the show by far, with a café on stage left, couches and a coffee table stage center, a pool table behind it, miscellaneous items in back stage left, and a patio stage right. All of these areas were used at least once during the show's run.

  • The Married Couples' Dorm - Season 7

This set was where Cory and Topanga live after returning from their honeymoon. It is initially dirty and run-down, but Cory does a lot of work to renovate it (fresh paint, furniture, etc.). The set has three sections: the dorm hallway, a living room/kitchen area, and a bedroom. It was a central focus of three episodes in Season 7, and was used consistently throughout the remainder of the show.

[edit] Season 2

After Season 1 of Boy Meets World ended, the production team made some changes to the show which would effect the show until the end, Here are changes they made for the 1994-1995 season.

  • The Opening. Seasons 2 and 3 had pretty short openings so more episode time is made.
  • The Logo. The BMW logo looks different than the one in Season 1, The Season 2 logo is not seen in Season 3, but is seen in Season 4.
  • The Credits. The Season 2 style of the credits were equivalent to the style of the logo, the Season 2 style of credits is used until the end of the series.
  • The Background Music. Instead of using Season 1's irish reggae music for Season 2, they used guitar rock for season 2's opening and episode music and used it until the end of the series

[edit] Trivia

  • The series contains several references to the musical and movie 1776, in which Daniels played future American President John Adams:
  • It is never clear at what point Cory and Topanga first met. The show often discusses or features their first meeting at different points and settings within their lives.
  • The episodes "Prom-ises, Prom-ises", "If You Can't Be With the One You Love...", and "The Truth About Honesty" are banned from airing on The Disney Channel due to their frank discussion about pre-marital sex and teen drinking.
  • Early in the show when Topanga reveals her crush on Eric, she introduces her sister Nebula. Later on throughout the show, Nebula is never mentioned again.
  • In one of the earlier episodes (6th grade) Cory tries to straighten his hair. Shawn then says "I'll ask my sister Stacy what she uses to straighten her hair." It is later said in the series that Shawn has no siblings except his half brother Jack.
  • It is implied that the shows takes place in the same universe as Sabrina, the Teenage Witch as Sabrina is seen on the show on two different occasions, and the episode where she features prominently from the "Time Ball" crossover night is featured as heavily in circulation as the other episodes of the show.

[edit] Ties to The Wonder Years

The following actors appeared on both Boy Meets World (which starred Ben Savage) and The Wonder Years (which starred his brother Fred Savage):

  • Fred Savage (Kevin Arnold) guest starred as Stuart in the season six episode "Everybody Loves Stuart" and directed two season seven episodes.
  • Dan Lauria (Jack Arnold) guest starred as a County Judge in the season four episode "Wheels."
  • Steven Gilborn (Mr. Collins) guest starred as a quiz show host in the season four episode "Quiz Show."
  • Ben Savage guest starred in episode #3.14 of The Wonder Years, as a seventh grader who acts as Cupid.

[edit] Philadelphia references

It is one of the few television shows to take place primarily in the Philadelphia area, and makes multiple local references. These include Cory's love for the Phillies and his brother Eric's attempts to get into Swarthmore College—finally ending with Cory and most of the cast attending Pennbrook, an institution that appears to be a pastiche of Swarthmore, Penn, and other Philly-area colleges. Pennbrook is also the name of a train station in suburban Lansdale on Philadelphia's R5 line, as well as the name of nearby middle school.

[edit] Running gags

  • If Eric spots Mr. Feeny in a crowd, he will most likely say "Feenay! Fee-hee-hee-hee-nay!", otherwise known as the Feeny call.
  • Cory sometimes calls Topanga "the wife".
  • Angela always says she needs to "find some black friends" or "my very white friends".
  • Topanga is usually thriving for A's and will chase teachers down if they give her an A- or a B, actually going as far as demand Feeny gives her an A for a final assignment with no grades, just so that she'd have the most A's in the school.
  • Shawn is usually referred to as "trailer trash" or "trailer boy".
  • Rachel often says her boyfriend is "scum" or "trash".
  • Morgan is known for her sassy mouth.
  • Cory has a fondess for chocolate pudding that is often referenced in later seasons

[edit] Ratings

While the show was a top 30 hit at its peak on the Nielsen Ratings chart, viewers began to leave the show in large packs by 1999-2000. ABC canceled BMW in early 2000 after the show was down to only a bit more than 3 million viewers on Friday night.

[edit] Syndication

Boy Meets World was picked up by the Disney Channel in 2000 after the show's cancellation. The show still airs on the Disney Channel today after seven years; it is currently shown at 2:00 a.m. ET. Additionally, in mid 2004, the show was added to the ABC Family Channel line-up at 5:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. ET. The show currently airs on ABC Family at 8:00 and 8:30 a.m. EST on weekdays, 10:00 and 10:30 a.m. weekends. The show also airs on a few local stations across the U.S.

[edit] Disney Channel "banned" episodes

The Disney Channel has banned three episodes from ever being aired on their network. These episodes include "If You Can't Be With the One You Love" (after losing Topanga, Cory resorts to drinking to solve his problems and Shawn becomes an alcoholic), "PROMises, PROMises" (Cory and Topanga want to have sex after the prom but don't), and "The Truth About Honesty" (an honesty game causes trouble at Rachel and Jack's dinner party). These episodes have not aired on Disney Channel because they are thought to be inappropriate for their target audience (children) to be viewing. These episodes were not shown in syndication at all and were not seen since the ABC original airings until 2004, when the ABC Family Channel aired all three episodes. In addition, Disney Channel makes many edits for content when airing the show, especially in the later seasons, when sexual jokes became more frequent. These edits and banned episodes, however, only occur in the United States; in Canada there are no edits and all episodes are shown on the Family Channel. Coincidentally, the banned episodes have been seen on ABC post-2004.

[edit] DVD releases

DVD name Cover Art Ep # Release date Additional information
The Complete First Season 22 August 24, 2004 Audio Commentary with cast and crew on 4 episodes, bonus episode from Season 4.
The Complete Second Season 23 November 23, 2004 Audio Commentary with cast and picture video commentary with cast and crew.
The Complete Third Season 22 August 23, 2005 "World According to Boy" Trivia Game.
The Complete Fourth Season 22 originally scheduled to be released on January 10, 2006 Cancelled due to a 39% decline in sales from Season 2 to 3.

Boy Meets World: DVD Boxset Petition

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://abcfamily.go.com/daytime/boymeetsworld/about.html
  2. ^ Jump The Shark - Boy Meets World
  3. ^ http://www.rescuerecords.net/artistinfo.asp?ArtistID=%7BA51B0085-DEB7-4FAB-A1B2-00AE248772D7%7D
  4. ^ http://www.lanceandeskimo.com/bmw/index.php?episode=12
  5. ^ http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=5868

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Boy Meets World
v • d • e
Episode List
Primary Characters

Cory Matthews |  Eric Matthews | Shawn Hunter | Topanga Lawrence | George Feeny | Alan Matthews | Amy Matthews
Secondary Characters

Morgan Matthews | Jonathan Turner | Eli Williams | Joey Epstein | Jack Hunter | Angela Moore | Rachel McGuire


TGIF
Aliens in the Family • Baby Talk • Boy Meets World • Brother's Keeper • Camp Wilder • Complete Savages • Clueless • Dinosaurs • 8 Simple Rules • Family Matters • Full House • George Lopez • Going Places • Hangin' with Mr. Cooper • Hi Honey, I'm Home! • Hope & Faith • The Hughleys • Just the Ten of Us • Less Than Perfect • Life With Bonnie • Married to the Kellys • Mr. Belvedere • Muppets Tonight • Odd Man Out • On Our Own • Perfect Strangers • Sabrina, the Teenage Witch • Step by Step • Teen Angel • Two of a Kind • Where I Live • You Wish
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