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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.
Characters
PlotSpoiler 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. Comedic and Narrative style
PlayfulnessFourth 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. Self-deprecationThe 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." American Broadcasting Company references
Eric MatthewsThe 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] Life LessonsUnlike 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. EpisodesSerious episodes
Production notesTheme music and introductionsBoy 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. Stage settingsBoy 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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 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.
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.
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. Season 2After 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.
Trivia
Ties to The Wonder YearsThe following actors appeared on both Boy Meets World (which starred Ben Savage) and The Wonder Years (which starred his brother Fred Savage):
Philadelphia referencesIt 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. Running gags
RatingsWhile 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. SyndicationBoy 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. Disney Channel "banned" episodesThe 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. DVD releases
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References
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