Boy Meets World Season 6 Episode 13
Janet Denzel
The series centers around the life of Riley and her friends and family, particularly their school life, in which Cory is their history teacher. Riley shares a strong relationship with her best friend Maya Hart, who assists her in learning to cope with social and personal issues of adolescence. Several Boy Meets World cast members reprise their roles in the series.
It has been several years since Cory and Topanga Matthews moved to New York City. The series follows their daughter, Riley Matthews, and her best friend, Maya Hart, as they navigate challenges of life and school. Following along with them are their classmates Lucas Friar and Farkle Minkus and Riley's younger brother Auggie.
In November 2012, it was reported that Disney Channel was in the early stages of development of a follow-up series titled Girl Meets World, which would center on Cory and Topanga's 12-year-old daughter Riley. The original idea for the series was developed by Corey Marsh, an executive director at Disney Channel, who approached Michael Jacobs, co-creator of Boy Meets World, to produce a similar series for a new generation of children as executive producer and showrunner.[2] The idea was to create a modern version of the show from a different perspective to the original.[2] On November 26, 2012, it was confirmed by Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel that they would be reprising their roles as Cory Matthews and Topanga Lawrence-Matthews in the series.[3][4] In February 2013, it was announced that Michael Jacobs had reached out to all of the former Boy Meets World cast members to take part in the new series.[5] On June 17, 2013, Disney Channel officially greenlit a series order for Girl Meets World, which began production that summer.[6] On January 23, 2014, the first season order was increased from its initial 13-episode count to 20 in order to make a full season.[7] On May 2, 2014, a full trailer for Girl Meets World was released.[citation needed] On May 21, 2014, the pilot episode became available as a preview to users on the various Watch Disney Channel mobile and television apps which require TV Everywhere authentication to watch. Following the TV premiere of the pilot, the episode "Girl Meets Sneak Attack" was made available via the apps.[8] On June 13, 2014, the pilot was made available for free on iTunes. On August 6, 2014, Girl Meets World was renewed for a second season by Disney Channel.[7] The second season premiered on May 11, 2015.[9] The third season of Girl Meets World was announced on November 25, 2015.[10] The third season premiered on June 3, 2016.
Auditions began in mid-November 2012 for the lead roles of Riley Matthews, the daughter of Cory and Topanga, Maya, a witty friend of Riley's who has a troubled past, and Elliot, Riley's older brother. By the end of January 2013, Rowan Blanchard and Sabrina Carpenter were cast as Riley and Maya, respectively.[11][12] Teo Halm was tapped for the role of Elliot in early March.[13] Filming of the pilot began on March 20, 2013,[14] and concluded on March 22, 2013.[15] Rider Strong and Will Friedle made a surprise visit to the set, sparking rumors of a return, or at least a cameo appearance, in the upcoming series.[16] Maitland Ward also made a visit to the set and was asked about the return of her character, Rachel McGuire. Ward said, "I can't really share any show info, but it would be fun if the old gang got back together again!"[17] On October 5, 2013, Teo Halm announced on Twitter that he was no longer involved with the series. A report by TVLine suggested the series was undergoing creative changes after the pilot and his character was ultimately written out of the series.[18] On March 12, 2014, it was announced that Lee Norris would reprise his role of Stuart Minkus.[19] On March 18, 2014, it was announced that Rider Strong would reprise his role of Shawn Hunter.[20] On December 3, 2014, it was announced that Will Friedle would reprise his role of Eric Matthews, beginning with the second season, along with William Daniels reprising his role as George Feeny in a larger role.[21] On February 3, 2015, it was announced that Trina McGee would reprise her role as Angela Moore and Blake Clark would reprise his role of Chet Hunter.[22][23] On April 7, 2015, it was announced that Anthony Tyler Quinn would reprise his role as Jonathan Turner.[24] On June 5, 2015, it was announced that Matthew Lawrence would reprise his role as Jack Hunter.[25] On April 1, 2016, it was announced that Reginald VelJohnson would guest star in an episode as a police officer, a nod to VelJohnson's previous role in a different TGIF sitcom, officer Carl Winslow of Family Matters.[26] On July 28, 2016, it was announced that Lily Nicksay and Lindsay Ridgeway, both of whom portrayed Morgan Matthews, would appear in the season three finale.[27]
After four months of searching for a viable network, on May 3, 2017, co-creator Jacobs confirmed that he was unable to come to an agreement with any outlet to continue the show, thus effectively ending the series.[37]
The series originally premiered in the United States on Disney Channel and in Canada on Family Channel on June 27, 2014.[38][39] The series premiered on Disney Channel in Australia on August 25, 2014, and in the United Kingdom and Ireland on August 29, 2014.[40][41] In the Balkan countries, Greece, the Middle East and Africa, the series began airing on Disney Channel on November 15, 2014.[42] The series started airing on Disney Channel in Canada on September 1, 2015;[43][44] the episode "Girl Meets I Am Farkle" premiered on Disney Channel in Canada on September 3, 2015, which was before its initial airing in the U.S. on September 11, 2015.
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the series an 84% approval rating based on reviews from 19 critics. The site's consensus states: "Though not quite as comical, Girl Meets World sweetly shares the nostalgia of its predecessor, Boy Meets World, with its young audience while providing positive moral values for today's youth."[45] Metacritic gives the series a score of 64 based on reviews from 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[46] The series premiere received positive reviews. Kevin Fallon of The Daily Beast called it a "perfectly pleasant Disney Channel show".[47] Rob Owen of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said it was "a cute half-hour that capably introduces new characters and sets the table for the new series".[48] Diane Werts of Newsday said the series "does its job of bringing tween-based family viewing into the 2010s".[49]
If only real-life problems could be solved in 20 minutes or less. Heck, I'd even settle for a "To be continued" episode. The one thing you just had to love about Boy Meets World was that all of Cory, Shawn and Topanga's life crises could be magically resolved by the end of the episode. Whether Cory wanted to find out what made him special or Shawn's dad skipped town (again) or Topanga's family was moving to Pittsburgh, every episode had some sort of moral or life lesson that came out of it. Translation to real life: Every day has a something to teach you. True, some lessons will be more simple that others (i.e. sharing is caring), but it's something valuable nonetheless.
Is it sad that I use Cory and Topanga as my gauge for the perfect couple? No matter what happened or how many times they broke up, they always found their way back to each other in the end. Call it a naive view on the world. Call it a television relationship. But Cory Matthews and I call it the power of true love.
Seemingly the most memorable Boy Meets World moment of all time was when Eric announced that he had become a hermit and changed his name to Plays With Squirrels ... and married a moose. In the classic season seven episode portraying the gang's 10-year reunion if they stopped being friends, Plays With Squirrels shares that he has recently finished writing a "compendium of knowledge" titled The Secret of Life. Three-thousand pages long and he wrote only one line: "Lose one friend, lose all friends, lose yourself." Why? "Because nothing else seemed important."
Perhaps even more imperative than believing in yourself is having somebody who believes in you. The ever-inspiring Mr. Feeny constantly offered guidance and support for, well, anyone who happened to show up on the other side of his fence. He always helped whoever came to him for advice because he understood the power that comes from knowing that somebody else has faith in you. Everyone needs someone to believe in them, which means that we can all be Mr. Feeny for somebody.
Remember the episode when Topanga impulsively cut her gorgeous, long hair in the middle of the John Adams High School hallway to prove a point to Cory? While I would say "Don't cut your hair with safety scissors" or "Looks aren't everything" are valuable life lessons, that's not exactly what I took away from her impromptu haircut. To me, Topanga was making a statement about the unattainably of perfection. Nobody's perfect (10 years later, Hannah Montana would try to take credit for this fact, but I credit Topanga). If Topanga, the epitome of a perfectionist, isn't perfect, then nobody is.
I think it's pretty safe to say that Cory and Shawn managed to make even more (and bigger) mistakes as they got older (hitting professors or stealing motorcycles, anyone?). Let's face it: The central theme of every episode usually had to do with somebody making some sort of blunder. It's tempting to think that as we get older we consequently get wiser, or that we will somehow have a better grip on life and making decisions. Well, Cory and Shawn can completely prove that theory wrong. The important thing is to accept that everyone messes up sometimes (just hopefully not all the time). That's life. And if you're lucky enough to have friends and family to get you through your not-so-shining moments, then you're already one step ahead of the game.
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