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Revision as of 20:16, 27 June 2007

Boy Meets World
File:Boy Meets World s01e01.png
George Feeny (William Daniels) talks with Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) in a screenshot from the Pilot
(September 24 1993).
Created byMichael Jacobs
April Kelly
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes158 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time22 minutes
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseSeptember 24, 1993 –
May 5, 2000

Boy Meets World was 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.

Characters

Main article: Characters of Boy Meets World

Simmy Jackson(Micheal Jackson)-A substitute teacher cory and the "gang" have when Mr.Feeny is sick.

Plot

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 his best friend, Shawn Patrick Hunter, and his trouble understanding his girlfriend Topanga Lawrence. Shawn 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 friends 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.


Continuity errors

  • In the beginning of the series Cory and Eric were four years apart. At the end, this age difference shrunk to two years.
  • Shawn mentioned having a sister in "Cory's Alternative Friend's", then mentioned having a troubled brother, then became an only child. Then he became the troubled half-brother.
  • Topanga mentioned having a sister. Her sister "Nebula" was even shown in an episode of Season 1 (episode 13: "She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not") , then became an only child, in Season 4, she mentioned having sisters, then became an only child.
  • Topanga going from oddball child of hippies to daughter of button-downed suburbanites. Topanga's hippie phase was mentioned in about 2 episodes of the later seasons.
  • The young actor who played Cory's little brother made his debut with the show as the "baby in the hallway" of Cory and Topanga's first apartment together, only to become his brother who was born after the episode aired. [1]
  • In the later episodes of the series, the characters refer to Cory and Topanga having a romance "from the sandbox", but they don't actually get together until high school and then their relationship is rocky at times. This error was fixed by the writers in an episode where Cory states "that Eric told him Topanga had cooties and for seven years he threw dirt at her and thought she was weird".
  • The layout of the high school set changed not only from season-to-season but week-to-week.
  • Shawn's family situation was never consistent. Although throughout most of the run, his father was presented as a lovable lug; during the "college years," it was revealed that he was a drunken bum.
  • In the episode where Cory has to wrestle Joey the Rat, Mr. Feeny calls Vader's character Leslie. In the episode where Joey the Rat gets suspended and Frankie becomes friends with Cory and Shawn, Amy Matthews calls Vader's character Francis
  • Cory and Topangas first kiss is changed throught the series. In season one's episode Cory's Alternative Friends, Topanga pushes him against a locker and kisses him. She asked beforehand if this was his first kiss, when Cory was only 11. However, they later say that this kiss happened when Cory was 13 which was impossible since it had been shown in season 1. It is later said, in season five, that when they were kids, Cory kissed Topanga in the sand box.
  • Eric's Character changes severely after season four, he becomes a goof ball and Mr. Feeny is his smart sidekick. This is strange since Eric in seasons 1-3 is a semi-serious boy who is constantly dating. He loses this part of his character in season four.
  • In the Season 1 episode "Teacher's Bet", Eric's girlfriend makes the cheer leading squad at the end of the episode. Although Eric attends John Adams High, his girlfriend is shown in a blue and white uniform. Later episodes show JAHS' school colors are maroon and yellow.
  • In the episode where Topanga finds out about her parents having troubles, the actors playing her parents changes in the next episode where Cory goes to their parent house trying to patch things up.


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 Topanga and Cory are 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. Cory also refers to himself when the kid mentions the "curly-haired kid." 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.

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. In "Eric Hollywood", these lessons are satirized when the actor "Ben Sandwich" laments about Cory Matthews: "How could I learn so much each week, and still be so stupid?"

Episodes

Main article: List of Boy Meets World episodes

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 abused 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 involving 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.
  • 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." (1999)
  • 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.(2000)

Production notes

Theme music and introductions

Boy Meets World had five theme songs and seven visual images over seven years. The final theme, written and performed by Phil Rosenthal [2], 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, the opening credits for Season 1 were the same style, the ones for Seasons 2-7 are eqivalent to the Season 2/4's Logo

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 Matthews' 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. Seasons 6-7 had many episodes without the house and also without Alan, Amy, or Morgan.

  • The 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. Mr. Feeny taught in the classroom in season 1, Jonathan Turner also has a classroom from Season 2 to 4, after the events in the Season 2 episode "Me and Mr. Joad", Both Mr. Feeny and Mr. Turner taught in the classroom, but this changes when his character is written off the show in the season 4 episode "Cult Fiction" 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.In Seasons 5-6, both Mr.Feeny and Dean Bolander tought in the classroom, In Season 7, only Mr. Feeny taught in the classroom.

  • John Adams Main Floor - Seasons 2-4

This was another multiple-room setting, containing Mr. Turner/Mr.Feeny'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 - Seasons 5-6

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 Senior floor was seen in the opening scenes in the season 6 premiere episode "His Answer" because the episode starts where the Season 5 finale "Graduation" left off, after the "His Answer" episode, it was never shown or mentioned again.

  • Jonathan Turner's Apartment - Seasons 2-3

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, and was seen up until Shawn moved out of it in late Season 3. It would eventually be adapted into the college apartment Eric, Jack, and Shawn used.

  • Jack Hunter's Apartment - Seasons 5-7

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, in the 5th season.
  • 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: Angela, Shawn, and Rachel. 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.
  • Sixth Lineup: Shawn and Angela. After Rachel moves out, Shawn and Angela share the apartment in one or two episodes.
  • Seventh and Final Lineup: Jack, Eric, and Shawn (Again).Permanent Living decisions were finally made in the episode "Pickett Fences", Angela moved in with Rachel in Cory and Shawn's old dorm room, Cory and Topanga moved into "The Married Couples Dorm", Shawn remained in the Apartment, then Jack and Eric moved back in, the original occupants reclaim the apartment, after they do, this setting hardly appears after that moment.
  • Chubbie's Famous Hamburgers - Seasons 2-5

Chubbie's became a mainstay for the Boy Meets World cast in season 2, as well as John Adams High students, and was used often for scenes. It was another multi-room set, with a game room on stage left, and restaurant and bar on stage right, although the game room was used infrequently. Eventually the restaurant becomes a pirate-themed restaurant called "Peg-Leg Pete's" in a late season five episode "Things Change" and was written off the show.

  • Cory and Shawn's 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.Eventually, Angela and Rachel decide to move in the Season 7 episode "Pickett Fences"

  • The Pennbrook 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, Jack and Eric eventually work here.

  • The Married Couples' Dorm - Season 7

This set was where Cory and Topanga live after returning from their honeymoon. It was initially dirty and run-down in "Pickett Fences", but Cory did 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 setting for a few episodes in Season 7, and was used consistently throughout the remainder of the show.

  • WIXB Newsstation - Season 3; two episodes

The WIXB Newsstation was seen in two episodes, "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" because Eric wanted to apply for an internship to boost his grades; he got the job, but was fired in the episode "Stormy Weather" because he (briefly) dropped out of school and only students were allowed to participate in the internship program.

  • The Elementary School - Season 1

The name of the Elementary School that Cory, Shawn, Topanga, and Minkus attended in the first season was never mentioned, but they were in the 6th grade during season 1, the elementary school setting contained Mr.Feeny's Classroom, The Hallway, and The Cafeteria, this setting was adapted for the John Adams High Main Floor for Seasons 2-4.

  • Pennbrook Hallway and Classroom - Season 5

The Pennbrook Hallway was seen in the episode "It's Not You...It's Me", and The Classroom was seen in the episode "How to Succeed in Business", The Pennbrook Classroom would become Mr. Feeny's Classroom in Seasons 6-7.

  • Matthews and Sons - Season 4/7

This Setting was a local Sporting Goods store that Alan bought after he quit his job at the supermarket and he renamed it "Matthews and Sons" , because of himself, Eric, and Cory.Alan is the manager of the store and since Eric is not in College, he works as a Cashier.In one episode, when a mountain girl comes to work at the store, Eric then starts dating her.This was a recurring setting in Season 4, it was seen in One Season 7 episode "I'm Gonna Be Like You, Dad"

  • Mr.Feeny's Office - Seasons 2-5

When Cory, Shawn, and Topanga started attending John Adams High, Mr.Feeny became principal and later a teacher again, but was still a principal, and he had a office.Dean Bolander's office in the Season 4 finale.

Season 2

After Season 1 of Boy Meets World ended, the production team made some changes to the show which would affect 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 mostly until Season 4.In Seasons 4-7, the Rock Music is used briefly.

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, Saint Joseph's University 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. In an episode in the fourth season, while attempting to lure Shawn into an SAT review session, Cory mentions that they have cake at the session from the "Westchester Bakery." (in actual suburban Philadelphia, it is spelled West Chester) There is no such bakery, but the borough exists west of Philadelphia. Chubbies Famous was an actual Philly Cheesestake location that actually did not have much sit down space, unlike the soundstage set led many to believe. The actual landmark is very similar to Pat's and Gino's, two other Philadelphia Cheesesteak landmarks.

Running gags

  • Starting in Season 6, 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. In the final episode, Feeny reprimands Eric, saying "You are not calling a duck!". And shortly afterwards, admits he likes the Feeny call. Eric also gives him a small doll version of Eric which contains a recorded version of 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 and talking back nonsense.
  • Cory has a fondness for chocolate pudding that is often referenced in later seasons.
  • Characters sometimes mention Cory's beloved Nana Boo Boo, who only appears in the episode "She's Having My Baby Back Ribs".
  • Long awkward pauses.
  • No one trusts Eric's strange ideas.
  • Eric calls Morgan "Weasel" constantly in Seasons 1 and 2.

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 was moved to a day-time timeslot on Disney Channel starting on May 28, 2007. 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 weekdays at 3:00 and 3:30pm as of June 11. Disney lost its contract rights with ABC to continue to air reruns of the show past 2007, and will end 2008, so this will be the final season of Boy Meets World on Disney Channel. This announcement comes as a bit ironic, as Disney owns ABC.

===Disney Channel deleted inappropriate parts) 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", 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; however this didn't stop them from airing the Season Five episode "And Then There Was Shawn," despite featuring an extended fantasy sequence where most of the main characters were murdered one by one (as well as a janitor and a boy named Kenny who had a pencil shoved through his head). 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 (Although "PROMises, PROMises" and "The Truth About Honesty" have aired on Disney Channel UK). 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. ABC Family airs all episodes with the exception of the Christmas episodes Santa's Little Helper, A Very Topanga Christmas, And Then There was Shawn and any other holiday themes episodes.

DVD releases

DVD name Cover Art Ep # Release date Additional information
The Complete First Season File:Boy meets world s1.jpg 22 August 24 2004 Audio Commentary with cast and crew on 4 episodes, bonus episode from Season 4.
The Complete Second Season File:BoyMeetsWorld S2 final.jpg 23 November 23 2004 Audio Commentary with cast and picture video commentary with cast and crew.
The Complete Third Season File:BoyMeetsWorld S3.jpg 22 August 23 2005 "World According to Boy" Trivia Game.

References

  1. ^ http://www.tv.com/daniel-jacobs/person/24619/summary.html
  2. ^ http://www.rescuerecords.net/artistinfo.asp?ArtistID=%7BA51B0085-DEB7-4FAB-A1B2-00AE248772D7%7D
  3. ^ http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=5868
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