SELLEST OSAST
In this episode of How It Started, How It Ended, Angela and Bobby revisit the pilot and series finale of Boy Meets World, the ABC sitcom that followed Cory Matthews from middle school through adulthood. A staple of the network’s TGIF lineup, the show ran for seven seasons, from 1993 to 2000.
Angela remembers Boy Meets World as one of her favorite shows of the 1990s, even though she was older than its intended audience. Bobby, on the other hand, never watched it, despite being a fan of The Wonder Years and recognizing the connection through Fred Savage’s younger brother, Ben. They discuss the show's coming-of-age format, its creators Michael Jacobs and April Kelly, and a cast that included William Daniels as the memorable teacher George Feeny.
The pilot introduces 11-year-old Cory, his family, his older brother Eric, and his complicated relationship with Mr. Feeny, who turns out to be his next-door neighbor. Angela and Bobby discuss the episode's focus on first love and family relationships, Cory's disappointment when Eric abandons their plans to attend a Phillies game, and the unexpectedly touching moment when Cory sees Mr. Feeny alone at dinner. They also notice what isn't there: Topanga, who would become one of the show's defining characters, does not appear in the pilot.
The series finale, “Brave New World,” takes a different approach, using flashbacks to revisit the relationships and moments that shaped the characters. As Cory and Topanga prepare to move to New York, Shawn and Eric make plans of their own, while Jack and Rachel prepare to join the Peace Corps. Angela and Bobby look at how the characters have changed, including Eric's transformation from the cool older brother into the show's comic relief. They also discuss the evolving relationships between Cory and Shawn, Cory and Topanga, and the young adults and their mentor, Mr. Feeny.
The finale ends with one last visit to Mr. Feeny's classroom. After years of advice and life lessons, the group says goodbye. For Angela, the flashbacks and emotional send-off bring the series together in a satisfying way. Bobby agrees, even though he came to the show without the history of having watched it.
Verdict: Boy Meets World sticks the landing. The two-part finale gives longtime viewers a chance to revisit the characters' journeys while providing a meaningful conclusion to Cory's coming-of-age story.
In this episode:
- Angela's memories of watching Boy Meets World and other 1990s teen-oriented shows
- How Boy Meets World fit into ABC's TGIF lineup
- The show's coming-of-age format and its connection to The Wonder Years
- Creators Michael Jacobs and April Kelly
- William Daniels' career before playing Mr. Feeny
- The casting of Ben Savage, Danielle Fishel, Rider Strong, and Will Friedle
- Why Topanga wasn't in the pilot
- The pilot's story about Cory, Eric, and the Phillies game
- Mr. Feeny's lesson about love and the discovery that he lives next door
- The show's music, laugh track, and references to other ABC programs
- How the finale uses flashbacks to revisit important moments in the characters' lives
- Eric's transformation from popular older brother to comic relief
- How Cory and Topanga's relationship developed
- Shawn Hunter's friendship with Cory and relationship with Angela Moore
- The surprising timeline of the characters' school years
- The significance of the final scene in Mr. Feeny's classroom
- Why Boy Meets World ended after seven seasons
- The sequel series Girl Meets World and Sabrina Carpenter's early role
- The Pod Meets World rewatch podcast
- The documentary Doc Meets World and the cast's reflections on their time on the show
- Why Angela and Bobby agree that Boy Meets World stuck the landing
Shows and people discussed:
Shows
- Boy Meets World
- The Wonder Years
- Saved by the Bell
- Family Matters
- Full House
- Charles in Charge
- My Two Dads
- Mork & Mindy
- St. Elsewhere
- The Graduate
- Knight Rider
- The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
- Blossom
- America's Funniest Home Videos
- Lost
- Girl Meets World
- Doc Meets World
People
- Ben Savage
- Fred Savage
- Michael Jacobs
- April Kelly
- William Daniels
- Dustin Hoffman
- Rider Strong
- Will Friedle
- William Russ
- Betsy Randle
- Danielle Fishel
- Trina McGee
- Sabrina Carpenter
- Frank Pace
Podcasts
If you enjoyed the show, follow How It Started, How It Ended wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok for more conversations about the TV shows that got us hooked—and whether they delivered the ending they deserved.
SELLES OSAS
NÄITA MÄRKUSI 🔗
TRANSKRIBEERI 🔗
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Welcome to the podcast.
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I'm Bobby Meadows.
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And I'm Angela Johnson Meadows . We're the couple that watches TV together.
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And this is How It Started,
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How It Ended, where we revisit the first and last episodes of some classic TV shows and answer one question: Did they stick the landing?
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So what are we looking at today?
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Today we are looking at Boy Meets World, one of my favorite shows from the 90s.
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Was it really?
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I enjoyed it.
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I was too old to be watching it, but I think I was in my 20s at that point.
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But that was a period where I watched a lot of shows that were skewing younger.
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I don't know if I was like having a period where I didn't quite want to grow up, but yeah, shows shows like Boy Meets World and Saved by the Bell.
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I was all into those.
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We did our first podcast was on Family Matters, which was also part of TGIF.
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Was TGIF your jam?
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I think I definitely watched it, but I think it's because it was the best option out of the three networks on Friday night.
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I remember watching it with my parents.
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We had a ritual where my father would bring home pizza and we'd all watch TV and eat pizza together.
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Was it Papa John's?
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It was, of course.
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Papa John's, the first time I ever had it was at your parents' house.
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And so let's I guess talk a little bit about what Boy Meets World was.
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So it was a coming of age story, right?
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Right, yeah.
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It was set around a character named Corey Matthews who was an 11-year-old.
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and it was really following his experience growing up.
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The character who played Corey Matthews, Ben Savage, at that point, his claim to fame really was being the younger brother of Fred Savage, who starred in The Wonder Years, but many people saw Boy Meets World as the spiritual successor to Wonder Years because it was carrying on the coming of age format into the 90s.
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Wow.
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It, as you mentioned, it was part of the TGIF lineup, which at that time included shows like Full House and Family Matters.
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Those shows were really successful, but they typically centered on the family.
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Boy Meets World was different because it was focused on the experience of Corey and his journey through adolescence.
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Oh wow.
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So he started out, he starts out in middle school, and I they end up in college, right?
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Yes, exactly.
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That's quite a run.
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They've been from 1993 to 2000.
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So seven seasons.
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Well, and so the creators were Michael Jacobs and April Kelly, and I know that Michael was he was the creator of Charles in Charge and My Two Dads.
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I never saw Charles in Charge, but I did watch a little bit of My Two Dads.
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That was a good show.
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Did you watch either of those?
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Yeah, I watched both of those, probably not in their entirety, but definitely was tuning in on a regular basis.
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Okay.
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And April Kelly, I bowed down to her because she started her career on Mork and Mindy, which was me and my brother, the first episode, we were absolutely all the way into Mork.
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And we thought Mindy was okay.
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But Mork and Mindy was the greatest show I'd ever seen.
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So if I had known she was part of this, I might have watched it.
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I never saw Boy Meets World.
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I remember when it was advertised, and because I was a big fan of The Wonder Years, and so when I saw that Fred's little brother was gonna be in a show, as you mentioned, I was interested in it, but it just didn't appeal to me.
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And yes, I was probably even older, so but way too old to be watching.
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You were not the target audience.
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I was not the target audience.
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Once again, on one of our shows that we're looking at, I was not the target audience.
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At the time, the most well-known character at that point was William Daniels, who played George Feeny, the teacher in the show, and he was very well known and had been seen in shows like St.
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Elsewhere, where he won two Emmys.
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He was also in The Graduate playing Dustin Hoffman's father.
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And he was also famous for being the voice of Kit in Knight Rider.
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The Graduate was one of my favorite movies.
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I didn't watch St.
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Elsewhere, but I do remember him being on that show.
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You didn't watch Saint Elsewhere?
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Oh my god.
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Okay.
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As has been established, there were many, many shows that I just never saw.
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But I did, I did like him.
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And I actually I didn't realize he was on this show until we started preparing for this podcast.
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Yeah, and then rounding out the cast, we had Rider Strong as Corey's best friend; Will Friedle, who played Eric Matthews, Corey's older brother; William Russ played the father; and Betsy Randall played the mother.
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Both of those, the last those last two characters, had had bit parts in various shows, but this was really their their breakout roles.
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And also Danielle Fishel rounded out that cast playing the famous Topanga.
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Topanga.
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The only thing I know about Boy Mead's World was that she was everybody's wannabe girlfriend back in the day.
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Yeah, and interestingly, she almost didn't get the role.
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Really?
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Yeah, another actress was initially cast and filmed some of the early material, but producers felt the chemistry wasn't right and replaced her with with Danielle, and Topanga quickly became one of the show's most defining characters.
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My understanding is that William Daniels almost turned down Mr.
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Feeny because he didn't like the initial script, and he thought he wanted to make sure that teachers were respected in the show, and that was what swayed him to actually take the role.
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With this being a coming-of-age show, it really appealed to people who were in middle school and had the ability to grow along with Corey as he went through the trials and challenges of going from a middle schooler to a young adult.
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In the show, they tackled a lot of different themes and offered meaningful life lessons about things like family, friendship, first love, identity, responsibility, and growing up.
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And they also tackled some pretty mature issues that weren't common in family sitcoms at that time, like divorce and racism, poverty, grief, and peer pressure.
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Boy Meets World really fit kind of, I guess, into what was going on on television at that time.
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There was a lot of focus on family shows and shows that everybody could watch together, like The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, or the TGIF lineup you mentioned, Blossom.
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They were really appealing to, I guess, what eventually became the Millennials.
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All right, so how about we take a break, watch the pilot, and when we come back, we'll talk about how it started.
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And we're back.
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We just watched the pilot.
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Angela, how about if you give us a recap?
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So the pilot episode of Boy Meets World debuted on September 24, 1993.
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The pilot attracted approximately 16.5 million viewers, making it the fifth highest-rated show of that evening.
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In the pilot episode, we meet Corey Matthews, who is caught listening to a Phillies game in class while his teacher, Mr.
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Feeny, is lecturing about love.
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Feeling betrayed when his older brother Eric ditches him to take a girl to the Phillies game, a heartbroken Corey runs away to live in his backyard treehouse.
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In class, Corey struggles to understand why he should care about romance when his teacher and next door neighbor, Mr.
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Feeny, tries to teach the class about love through the story of Romeo and Juliet.
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By the end of the episode, Corey has spoken to his parents and confronted Eric and then begins to grasp the complexities of growing up and the true meaning of familial love.
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I thought the show firmly knew who its audience was.
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I was trying to watch it as not myself today, but how I might have viewed it back then.
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It really established Corey, established him as a smart aleck.
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He feels his family is against him, he relies on his friends, he tolerates his younger sister and doesn't really seem to like school or get along with his teacher.
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So I really thought that if I'd been in middle school and having someone who just graduated middle school as a child living in my house right now, all those things would absolutely have appealed to me.
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So I felt they really stuck the beginning for for this pilot.
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Yeah, I think they were really on the mark for portraying a middle school student and kind of how he thinks about life and approaches the day-to-day things that he encounters.
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You see his relationship with his older brother Eric?
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Okay, yeah, the older brother Eric, he comes in, he has this issue with this girl that happens throughout the show.
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Eric has cancelled his plans to go to the Phillies game with Corey in order to take this girl that he likes.
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And he goes through with that, but it ends up that during the date, Eric feels very inferior and doesn't know what to say to this girl, and so ends up having an awful time and doesn't know what to do moving forward.
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And eventually Corey is advising Eric on how to get the girl back.
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And I thought, well, that's different.
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Usually, of course, it'd be the older brother advising the younger brother.
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And I was wondering if that's how their relationship was and how it was going to be.
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Yeah, I think the relationship between Corey and Eric, I think because Corey is the main character really in this show, that there will be that it made sense for there to be a moment where he was giving Eric some advice.
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It also showed that he was able to take what he learned in class from Mr.
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Feeny about love and apply it to what Eric was going through with this girl.
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I thought another interesting thing was establishing Mr.
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Feeny, and he's really no nonsense, and Ben Savage says it that Mr.
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Feeny does not like him.
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And of course, I'm sitting there thinking, because I've seen sitcoms before, is he going to soften over the course of the show, over the course of the series?
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And then you have that really nice scene where Corey he's upset with his parents, he's upset with his brother, nobody likes him.
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He's up in the the the tree house and he peers over and you find out that Mr.
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Feeny is his neighbor, which I thought, oh, that's an interesting turn.
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And then he can see in the window, and he sees that Mr.
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Feeny, whoever he was gonna be having dinner with, isn't coming, so Feeny clears the plate away, and it's a really touching scene, and you see that that actually affects him, and it goes into their relationship for the rest of that episode anyway.
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One thing that I did not like was the music.
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I don't know if you noticed that, but it was like to me, it was really hokey kind of family sitcom music that I could have done without.
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I noticed the really loud laugh track that kind of was grading me, but again, like I said, I was trying to ignore that and be like, okay, this is the early, you know, this is the 1990s, they have big laugh tracks like that.
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Wonder Years didn't though.
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Another thing that stood out to me was there were a couple of callouts to some other shows on ABC.
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So during the episode, Corey mentioned something about Full House and he also says something about America's Funniest, he doesn't say home videos, but you can tell that that's a nod to that show.
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Yeah, I caught the Full House one as well because that's where Feeny, Mr.
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Feeny is trying to teach them, as you mentioned earlier about Romeo and Juliet, and he says, you know, you have to understand the depth of it.
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And Corey responds, he can't understand the depth of Full House.
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I think something interesting to note in, you know, we talked about who the core players or core cast of this show was, but in this episode, it is very apparent that Topanga is not there.
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She has not been introduced yet.
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Yeah.
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Of course, I was looking for her.
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Once it came to an end, I thought, okay, she's gonna be in the line of like an Elaine Bennis from Seinfeld, who's not in the pilot.
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It's really interesting how things change from a pilot, you know?
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Like you establish this family show, and but yeah, Topanga's not in it.
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And it's kind of like when we watch Family Matters.
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You watch the pilot and Urkel's not there, and it's like, how can Urkel not be there?
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He's the entire show.
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I wonder if Danielle Fishel's absence from the first episode has to do with the casting issue they had with Topanga.
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As I mentioned earlier, they had somebody else slated in that role who didn't work out.
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That's a good point.
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That's a really good point.
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As you were watching this, you are an older brother with a with a a younger brother who's seven years younger.
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I'm not sure of the exact age difference between Corey and Eric, but I'm wondering if that relationship rang true to you.
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Yeah, I think Eric says he's in 10th grade, so I guess they're about four years apart.
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I loved eventually taking my brother places.
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I know that there were occasions where I let him down and we had to reconcile from time to time.
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So certainly I could relate to that.
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He never put his arm around me and gave me advice about girls, though.
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I don't think we ever had that type of moment.
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But whenever I see sibling relationships, I always pull for them to be strong like my brother and me.
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I think that wraps up the pilot.
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How about if we watch the finale? And when we come back, we will talk about how it ended.
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The plot is really simple.
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Corey goes to Mr.
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Feeny with an issue and says that Topanga doesn't want to move to New York, and he's very excited about it.
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And Mr.
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Feeny tells Corey that Topanga actually lacks confidence.
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And so Corey then convinces Topanga to move to New York.
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Shawn goes with them, as does Eric, who has changed greatly as a character.
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And then Shawn's older brother Jack and his girlfriend are joining the Peace Corps.
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But what we see throughout this show is flashbacks that show the relationships between the characters and how they were established.
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I wasn't a hundred percent sure, but I'm assuming that in those flashbacks, we saw Topanga's first appearance, as well as their first kiss, them arguing and her proposing to Corey.
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Again, I thought it was very, very effective.
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What did you think?
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I thought, you know, this finale, which was delivered in two parts, I think really tied up the show, especially for those who had been following it the entire way.
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It was a treat for those who had been on that journey.
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As you mentioned, there were a lot of flashbacks, and so you were able to see different points in the characters' development and kind of how they've gotten to where they are now.
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It was all really touching, and I know as we were watching it, I had to press pause a few times to ask you who people were, and I didn't always know which segments were flashbacks and which were the current plot.
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Yeah, some of the things you'd mentioned there were some differences in between the pilot and this final episode.
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A lot of changes.
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Yeah, which you know, over the course of seven years or seven seasons you would come to expect.
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I think one of the major differences is Eric's character development.
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In the pilot, we see Eric as this kind of popular, at least appears that way.
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We appears to be popular, cute, you know, got it together.
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We learn from the pilot that he's got some insecurities.
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But by the time we get to the finale, and I'm sure this developed along the way, Eric is much more of a comic tool.
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I wonder, you know, I know that I read that it was because he was so good at comedy that the writers just really dove into that aspect.
00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:45.759
I also saw another theory that this entire series is told from Corey's perspective.
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When he was younger, he thought his brother was cool, and then he didn't.
00:17:49.759 --> 00:17:52.960
And so I thought that was really an interesting take.
00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:54.480
That is an interesting point.
00:17:54.880 --> 00:17:58.640
You know, another big change, there's a character named Topanga in it.
00:17:58.640 --> 00:18:06.960
She actually joined in season one, episode four, but then she and Corey became one of the I guess great love stories of sitcom history, perhaps.
00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:19.359
Yeah, and when she joined, that wasn't the original plan really for them to have a romantic relationship, but they had such good chemistry that they allowed that relationship to develop in that way.
00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:21.599
The flashbacks are really interesting.
00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:26.079
and you know, you we were just speaking, you were just speaking about Eric.
00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:27.680
The Feeny call.
00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:28.799
What was that all about?
00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:35.599
That you know, Eric is a part of his developing character and becoming more comedic and kind of slapstick.
00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:38.720
Like he would, when he would encounter Mr.
00:18:38.720 --> 00:18:41.440
Feeny, he would be like, Feeny?
00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:44.000
Fee, Fee, Fee, Fee, Feeny.
00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:45.039
What he really?
00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:47.200
He would just do different variations.
00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:52.640
I mean, there was a section in the finale where they do like a montage of his different calls.
00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:54.400
Yeah, I didn't know what that was.
00:18:54.400 --> 00:18:56.960
As we were watching, I was like, What's what is this?
00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:03.039
Yeah, I think that is just part of their relationship, and and Mr.
00:19:03.039 --> 00:19:10.880
Feeny seemed to come to expect and even accept that as part of their relationship.
00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:15.519
You know, another change, the opening credits changed drastically.
00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:22.880
And there was a black character in there, a black girl, woman, but she's not in the finale.
00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:24.319
I'm wondering what happened to her.
00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:25.519
I know who she was.
00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:30.960
She was Trina McGee, who played Angela Moore, and she was Shawn's girlfriend.
00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:32.799
Have we established who Shawn is?
00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:38.720
So, yeah, I don't think we said it explicitly, but Shawn is Corey's best friend.
00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:47.200
Interestingly, in the pilot episode and some of those earlier episodes, Corey's friends kind of rotated.
00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:59.119
There was like an even among fans, this talk of the the lunch table being this place where characters go and and disappear because I think they were just trying out different people.
00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:10.160
But I think the the chemistry between Ben Savage and Rider Strong was strong, and so he became the constant best friend going forward.
00:20:10.880 --> 00:20:11.440
Okay, yeah.
00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:16.079
So Angela was his girlfriend, like I say, played by Trin Trina McGee.
00:20:16.079 --> 00:20:25.920
And yeah, I don't know where what happened to her character, but she was in the credits, so she probably was in the show that season, but just was not in the finale for whatever reason.
00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:35.920
Yeah, and I would imagine they explained that and kind of gave her a storyline that made sense for her not to be in the final episode.
00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:41.200
Yeah, an interesting thing I found about her was that again, she's playing Shawn's girlfriend.
00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:44.319
She was in real life ten years older than him.
00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:44.640
Yeah.
00:20:44.640 --> 00:20:46.640
You talk about black not cracking.
00:20:46.640 --> 00:20:48.000
Good lord.
00:20:49.279 --> 00:20:55.039
Yeah, well, I think she has talked about that kind of the challenge of being so much older than the rest of the cast.
00:20:55.920 --> 00:21:03.519
You know, one thing, of course, because I'm a math guy, and in apparently they they were in sixth grade when the series started.
00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:06.640
Seven years later, they seem to be out of college.
00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:12.640
Seven plus six is thirteen, so they should have been freshmen in college.
00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:15.680
But they begin season one, sixth grade.
00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:17.839
In season two, they're in ninth grade.
00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:28.640
That's interesting because they made such a big deal about this show being different in that it followed chronologically the growth of Corey and his friends.
00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:29.200
Right.
00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:34.160
So that's interesting to learn that they took out some years in that process.
00:21:34.480 --> 00:21:38.559
Yeah, and they pulled some Facts of Life moves to keep this cast together.
00:21:38.559 --> 00:21:40.000
Because in season two, Mr.
00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:47.920
Feeny's now principal at the high school, and then once they all go to college, he's offered a job at the college where they go.
00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:50.960
So you gotta do stuff to keep the cast together.
00:21:51.759 --> 00:22:01.119
Right. But as you mentioned, the the flashbacks were really endearing and they really highlighted different areas or different strengths that these characters had.
00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:03.680
So you had flashbacks that showed Mr.
00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:07.279
Feeny and the advice that he had given over the years.
00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:12.640
You see the friendship that has blossomed between Corey and Shawn.
00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:18.400
You also have flashbacks that look at the relationship between Eric and his father.
00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:23.680
That scene you're just talking about, a ghost appears between Shawn and Eric, and it's their father.
00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:29.920
Now I'm sitting there, I had no idea, of course, but I assumed that this meant something to people who'd watched the show.
00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:33.440
And then they do a flashback showing him.
00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:35.680
And I'm like, wow, that was so nice.
00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:43.599
I know it had to be just really satisfying for viewers to see the father come back and have the relationship with his boys again.
00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:49.920
I was watching, and again, I did watch the show as it was on, but that has been decades now.
00:22:49.920 --> 00:22:57.359
So there was a scene where Corey, as they're getting ready to leave, he stops and he gives some advice to this young boy.
00:22:57.359 --> 00:22:58.000
Yeah.
00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:00.960
And I was like, who is that little boy?
00:23:00.960 --> 00:23:04.319
And so I had to actually go and look it up.
00:23:04.319 --> 00:23:08.400
And so that little boy is actually Corey's little brother.
00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:09.119
Really?
00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:13.039
His parents had another kid very late in the game.
00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:13.759
Okay.
00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:15.440
Alright.
00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:26.720
So the the finale ends with Corey, Topanga, Shawn, and Eric coming to a classroom.
00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:30.240
Because they're all leaving. They're all going to the world.
00:23:30.559 --> 00:23:30.880
Yeah.
00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:37.279
So before they leave for their adventure to New York, they stop in this classroom where Mr.
00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:42.240
Feeny is for some final advice.
00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:51.119
And it's it's a to me, and I think to anyone who had been watching this show throughout, it was very emotional, a very touching ending.
00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:53.279
With some humor built in.
00:23:53.279 --> 00:23:59.279
So Eric is his his comedian self and he's pressuring Mr.
00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:02.799
Feeny to tell them that he loves them.
00:24:02.799 --> 00:24:03.440
And Mr.
00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:05.200
Feeny refuses to do it.
00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:15.279
But they do get to the point where it is time to go and they say their last words, and and Corey says, You'll always be with us.
00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:21.039
And after the four leave the classroom, Mr.
00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:26.160
Feeny finally says, I love you all, class dismissed.
00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:29.119
And so that was the end, fade to black.
00:24:29.119 --> 00:24:31.519
But the show, the legacy continues.
00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:43.839
This show has a really incredible legacy, not only as one of the defining sitcoms of the 1990s, but it keeps attracting new audiences through streaming, and they even had a sequel series.
00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:45.039
Did you watch that?
00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:46.640
Girl Meets World.
00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:47.920
I did not.
00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:52.960
Probably mostly because I didn't have Disney at the time that that came out.
00:24:52.960 --> 00:25:02.160
But yeah, Girl Meets World was a show on Disney that followed the daughter of Topanga and Corey.
00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:09.759
One of the things I thought was interesting is that her best friend was played by Sabrina Carpenter.
00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:10.319
Oh, really?
00:25:10.559 --> 00:25:13.039
Who we now know as a pop star.
00:25:13.039 --> 00:25:21.440
The show is now is also has a podcast now where Danielle, Rider and Will rewatch episodes.
00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:24.160
The podcast is called Pod Meets World.
00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:32.160
And that kind of gets into another side that is the facts that Ben Savage is not part of it.
00:25:32.160 --> 00:25:40.000
And the three of them, who you just mentioned, have talked about they're kind of estranged, or not kind of estranged, they're estranged from Ben Savage, but don't know why.
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:41.279
Have you heard about that?
00:25:41.599 --> 00:25:47.440
I've heard about it, and I'm kind of at the same place you are where I I don't know the reason behind it.
00:25:47.440 --> 00:26:00.960
It's kind of sad because they were, you know, the four of them had really good chemistry during the show, and it's it is kind of sad to see there's something that's keeping them from staying connected.
00:26:01.279 --> 00:26:19.039
Yeah, and there's also they've talked about how Michael Jacobs was kind of it was kind of a tough experience while they were on the original show, that his management style was difficult, that he could be really controlling and created a lot of stress for the cast.
00:26:19.359 --> 00:26:23.839
Yeah, this really came out in a documentary about the show called Doc Meets World.
00:26:24.079 --> 00:26:24.480
Oh wow.
00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:26.799
And that focuses on the original cast.
00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:38.960
and several of the actors and producers, including Rider Strong and Danielle Fishel, as well as producer Frank Pace, they revealed that working with Jacobs could be highly controlling and stressful.
00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:46.960
His approach to showrunning is widely described across the entertainment community as his way or the highway.
00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:54.160
It's a dynamic that's left a lasting and sometimes negative impact on the young actors in the show.
00:26:54.720 --> 00:26:56.880
Do you know why the show ended?
00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:10.400
The last episode, Brave New World, aired on May 5, 2000, and it ended primarily because the creative team felt the story had reached its natural conclusion.
00:27:10.400 --> 00:27:14.799
The series was built around Corey Matthews' journey from childhood to adulthood.
00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:23.119
By the end of season seven, Corey had graduated from college, married to Topanga, and was leaving for New York to begin the next chapter of his life.
00:27:23.680 --> 00:27:25.519
So, as you said, the story was complete.
00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:25.920
Yeah.
00:27:26.400 --> 00:27:27.920
Our boy is now meeting the world.
00:27:28.319 --> 00:27:28.720
Right.
00:27:28.720 --> 00:27:41.599
But it was nice that it did get a I'm gonna say quote unquote proper ending, and the show wasn't pulled abruptly off the air because of poor ratings.
00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:50.720
Instead, ABC renewed it for that seventh season, which allowed the writers to craft a planned finale that gave closure to the characters.
00:27:51.200 --> 00:27:53.440
I guess that leads into the question, Angela.
00:27:53.440 --> 00:27:56.000
Do you think the finale stuck the landing?
00:27:56.480 --> 00:27:57.440
I think so.
00:27:57.440 --> 00:28:05.920
I think this finale has been very different than the other some of the other ones that we've watched with the flashbacks.
00:28:05.920 --> 00:28:13.519
We have a chance to see not only where they are now and where they're going, but also that character development.
00:28:13.519 --> 00:28:17.519
So I feel like that all came together in a nice package.
00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:23.519
Yeah, I will say that for someone like me, it was still an emotional ending.
00:28:23.519 --> 00:28:32.400
There are other shows I've seen like Lost that use flashbacks effectively, but this was definitely one of the most effective ways of using them.
00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:34.880
So yeah, I definitely thought it stuck the landing.
00:28:35.119 --> 00:28:37.119
So that's it for Boy Meets World.
00:28:37.119 --> 00:28:38.480
Thank you for hanging out with us.
00:28:38.640 --> 00:28:40.160
Again, I'm Bobby Meadows.
00:28:40.319 --> 00:28:42.000
And I'm Angela Johnson Meadows.
00:28:42.240 --> 00:28:45.839
Join us next time, back on the couch, for How It Started, How It Ended.
00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:50.319
Because endings matter, especially to the people who stuck around.
00:28:56.000 --> 00:29:01.599
How It Started, How It Ended is produced by Bobby Meadows and Angela Johnson Meadows for Ain't We Cute Productions.
00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:06.400
Subscribe and listen to How It Started, How It Ended wherever you find your favorite podcast.
00:29:06.400 --> 00:29:12.480
And you can follow us on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram at how it started underscore how it ended.