The boy meets the world It was one of the most popular sitcoms of the 90s and the creative minds behind the series believe it could have lasted up to ten seasons if it weren't for the undeniable fact that time ages us all. Instead, this memorable family sitcom centered on the exploits of Cory Matthews, played by Ben Savage, ran for over 150 episodes over seven seasons..
Decades after the end of its run, The boy meets the world It has become the latest former long-running TV show to be revived for nostalgia's sake in the form of Girl Meets the Worldwhich told the story of Cory Matthews' daughter, Riley. Considering The boy meets the world was popular enough to be revived, why did the series have to disappear in the first place?
What was Boy Meets World about?
The typical American high school student faces a familiar world
The boy meets the world It aired as part of ABC's TGIF (Thank God It's Friday) block, which was intended to appeal to a younger audience. The series centers on Cory Matthews as he navigates the complicated waters of middle school and high school alongside his best friend, Shawn Hunter (Rider Strong), and romantic interest, Topanga Lawrence (Danielle Fishel).Of course, along the way, Cory and his friends experience ups and downs, while also getting some help from the adults in his life, like his teacher, Mr. Feeny (William Daniels), and his parents, Amy (Betsy Randle) and Alan (William Russ).
Following The boy meets the world season five, Cory and his friends have all graduated from high school, necessitating their attendance at college for the final two seasons of the series. In keeping with the contrived nature of most sitcom storylines, Cory and his friends attend the same college as his older brother, Eric (Will Friedle). Even Mr. Feeny gets a job on campus to keep the main cast together! But, by the end of season 7, the writers' room had run out of ways to keep this young group of friends together for much longer. So, they shipped them off to New York City and wrapped up The boy meets the world after seven successful seasons.
Why did Boy Meets World have to end after season 7?
The show has become haunted
Like many long-running television series, The boy meets the world eventually reached the point of diminishing returns when it no longer generated the kind of valuations it had earlier in its life cycle. In particular, the last season of The boy meets the world was marked by significant changes to ABC's Friday night TGIF schedule.
In the 1990s, ABC ruled Friday nights with an iron fist, offering a block of programming (remember those?) that the whole family could enjoy. The boy meets the world It began airing in the 8:30 p.m. time slot during its first few seasons, but was eventually moved to 9:30 p.m. as Cory and his friends found themselves growing older (and engaging in) more “adult” situations in college.
By 1998, the entire TGIF block was in trouble, with The boy meets the world ratings dropped 14% compared to the previous year and the entire TGIF schedule recorded an overall drop in ratings of 17%. Following The boy meets the world sixth season, only this one and Sabrina, the teenage witch were renewed, and after the 1999-2000 television season, ABC shut down TGIF. This meant shows like Sabrina, the teenage witch have been moved to a different network, while The boy meets the world it was cancelled altogether.
|
Season |
Number of episodes |
Average number of spectators |
|
1 |
22 |
8,500,000 |
|
2 |
23 |
11,500,000 |
|
3 |
22 |
10.100.000 |
|
4 |
22 |
8,700,000 |
|
5 |
24 |
11,600,000 |
|
6 |
22 |
10.900.000 |
|
7 |
23 |
8,700,000 |
The news didn't necessarily come as a shock to everyone. Star Fred Savage was reportedly already planning on attending college. On the other hand, some of the people involved in the making The boy meets the world believe that the success of Sabrina, the teenage witch led to the cancellation of their series. In particular, Will Friedle, who played Cory's brother Eric, suggests that By Sabrina leaving ABC is what specifically led to the end of his show. During an episode of the podcast “Brotherly Love,” Friedle jokingly explained,
“We would have gone towards an eighth season if
Sabrina
got picked up and Sabrina got picked up, but then they jumped ship and went to another network. TGIF basically failed because Sabrina left, so Boy canceled. So if Sabrina would have stayed… it's usually Melissa's fault.”
As much as Will Friedle is clearly speaking with his tongue firmly in cheek, there is no doubt that there is a grain of truth to it. That ABC decided to cancel the TGIF block and then send Sabrina at WB or decided to ship Sabrina first, precipitating the end of TGIF, it all ended with The boy meets the world meeting what undoubtedly felt like an untimely end for its fans and cast members.
Of course, another reason why The boy meets the world is that the story naturally reached an organic point where it left things. After spending much of their childhood and adolescence working on the series, the actors had outgrown the characters they had played in their youth. They were no doubt eager to experience everyday life for a short time or pursue more challenging adult roles. As Cory and Topanga contemplated moving to New York so Topanga could attend NYU Law School, the series bowed and said goodbye to both its characters and fans. Although, as it turns out, that goodbye wasn’t forever.
Did Boy Meets World ever return to television?
The character has grown up, but his spin-off series has remained stuck in the past
In the following years The boy meets the world conclusion on ABC, it was syndicated on several television networks, where it was discovered by a whole new audience. These reruns led to a resurgence in the popularity of the series, and that interest eventually led to Disney Channel ordering a spin-off series in 2012. Instead of focusing on Cory and Topanga, the series shifted its perspective to that of their daughter, Riley (Rowan Blanchard), and renamed itself Girl Meets the World.
Just like her parents had decades before, Riley now had to navigate the complicated world and emotions of middle school, this time with the help of her best friend, Maya Hart (Sabrina Carpenter), and her childhood crush, Lucas Friar (Peyton Meyer).
While Girl Meets the World While initially met with great enthusiasm, especially by fans who loved the original series, the show failed to create a meaningful connection with the new generation of fans that the younger characters were intended to attract. According to Forbes, Girl Meets the World Ratings plummeted rapidly. After opening with more than 5 million viewers in its first season, it averaged just 1.5 million viewers in its third season.
Ultimately, Disney's biggest mistake in relaunching it The boy meets the world didn't appeal to the built-in audience that already loved its traditional characters. Instead of reinventing the series as something more adult with Cory and Topanga once again starring, they took the path of least resistance by repeating what had worked in the past and attempting to tell similar stories with a reshuffled cast of characters. An entire audience was sitting there, waiting for Disney to get this series right. By aiming the revival at a demographic that felt disconnected from the original, Girl Meets the World it was destined to fail, and The boy meets the world It probably should have been cancelled after what was otherwise a successful seven seasons.