Think of the span of time between 1993 and 2000. While these seven years were probably a fundamental time in your development as a person (including casual milestones such as birth, learning to walk, kindergarten, and other early childhood events), they were also extremely important in history, being the 7 years that the legendary show Boy Meets World was on the air.
What was Boy Meets World, you might (but hopefully not) ask? Well, to put it lightly, it was the show that practically raised the kids of the 90’s. Yes, we’re talking about the show that followed the lovably dramatic lives of Corey Matthews, Topanga, Eric, Shawn, and everyone’s favorite teacher: Mr. Feeny. While I could probably write an entire book about the reasons why I love Boy Meets World, this article is focused on the newest manifestation of the show—Girl Meets World. Yes, you guessed it: the newest version of the show follows Riley, the daughter of Corey and Topanga Matthews. Rowan Blanchard, an 11-year-old actress, is cast to play Riley, and the young actress Sabrina Carpenter has been cast to play Riley’s best friend, Maya Fox.
Before any predictions about what direction the new show will take, lets take a moment to reflect on where Boy Meets World left us. Spoiler alert: Corey and his crew finally met the world and left their hometown—only after tackling the obstacles of school, bullies, parental divorce, relationships, first love, abstinence, alcohol, college, engagement, and everything in between.
So how will this framework apply to the life of a present-day 6th grade girl?
There will definitely be issues surrounding the Internet, social media, and other technologies that didn’t even exist when Boy Meets World initially aired. I’d be shocked if the show doesn’t include episodes about cyber bullying, inappropriate websites, texting, and maybe even something about naked pictures. The world right now makes the 90’s look like the stone age, so the show has many external factors to address along with the plethora of coming of age obstacles that girls face. The show in the 90’s was fairly conservative, so it will be interesting to see how the same issues from Boy Meets World are addressed in Girl Meets World.
I can only hope that Girl Meets World has the same humor and lovable cast as Boy Meets World—(Corey and Topanga will be played by the same actors) and does not fall into the trap of being just another cheesy Disney Channel show. To be honest, Girl Meets World has HUGE shoes to fill, and there are about a billion ways in which it could go wrong. However, perhaps the director, Michael Jacobs, can work his magic again and create a new “Girl Meets World” dynasty. I certainly hope so, and am eagerly awaiting the show’s premier sometime next year.