The 90's was certainly a time everyone remembers being a fun decade. And that's basically it. People simply remember what the entertainment industry was like back in those days. Granted there were things to appreciate back then for sure like the words twerking and selfies didn't exist, Disney being its most popular with the Lion King, Aladdin, Mulan, etc. On top of that, people in the 90s were well acquainted with dramedy. In the case I make, that would be half hour situation comedies that focused way less on being anywhere funny and was your half hour PSA. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad. But to make them into a sitcom when it's so serious 95% of the time just doesn't work. It shouldn't be regarded as a sitcom and it definitely shouldn't be compared to other shows of the genre it's made out to be. It could've been like Lizzie McGuire. I haven't watched that show in awhile, but regardless of whether or not the characters were funny, it could relate to pre-teens and teens. It was in the right genre and didn't try to be a sitcom. Now All In the Family (especially All In the Family), and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air could be very serious shows as well. In fact, All In the Family was the first show of its kind to be a sitcom while also addressing any issues that went on during its time. The only difference was, it could act like a sitcom. The dialogue would come off as funny even during the scenes where things were starting to get serious, mainly due to how the characters are, especially Mike and Archie and how different their political views were.
Boy Meets World, on the other hand, couldn't equal up to that. It got too serious. But to be serious to get whatever message an episode had across, that I could tolerate. But it doesn't work as a sitcom and never should've tried to be. It's like if two people are fighting in front of a kid, but because they're supposed to make the kid happy, they remember he or she is in the room and try to lighten up the mood by making funny faces at them. Heck, I could give Marvin Marvin credit as a sitcom if it was ever actually trying. People tend to regard shows like Boy Meets World as a sitcom and they're not. Even when the episodes aren't trying to give us some sort of message for kids what to do and what not to do, it doesn't work most of the time. With the exception of Eric Matthews and George Feeny. There are good things to say about Boy Meets World regardless, but I like going into the cons first for anything before giving out the pros for something.
Before I tackle the cons of Boy Meets World, I'll atleast say something about Girl Meets World. Sure, it's nice that the show is going to show life from a girl's perspective, but, the YTV original show called Life With Boys is already doing what Girl Meets World will do. The only difference between those two shows is that Life With Boys really is fresh, giving us completely new characters and an even tighter family than even the Matthews in Boy Meets World. The family in Life With Boys are more closer, even if the family is not complete. And the main character, Tess played by Torri Webster, has one friend and we only see one friend: Allie played by Madison Pettis. The show is very family based and the show has even taught a couple of things that Boy Meets World didn't even do: smoking, bullying and how to deal with it, and even showing Valentine's Day in a better light, showing the girls celebrating Valentine's Day just with girls and trying to show they don't need a significant other to celebrate Valentine's Day. Surely, Girl Meets World will be like Boy Meets World but I find it won't be so good if it needs to rely on the original characters often to be more loved. In fact many people seem to be more keen on watching it if the original characters were on the show full time. Even bringing Mr. Feeny back I find to be a bad idea. He fulfilled his purpose in Boy Meets World as a teacher and a life coach (who could sadly only be there for just the main characters apparently for seven years). It will be more than a decade since everyone moved from Philadelphia. If Cory Matthews has grown as we believed him to be doing from the series finale and onward, then I'd rather we see that. Show him as a hybrid of his father Alan and Feeny, but have that part of himself fans remembered from the original series. The one who Topanga Lawrence fell in love with. It'd atleast be okay if the original characters did come to visit at some point or even for a holiday like Christmas. Heck, every Christmas special would certainly be special that way! So that's what I'd like to see for Girl Meets World, but as of now, I really love Life With Boys. It's not exactly funny either like Boy Meets World isn't, but as the kind of show all three are, I like Life With Boys best.
Onto the cons of Boy Meets World before addressing the pros. One thing that bothers me is when people speak about Boy Meets World, they have such high respect for it, saying the show taught morals and lessons but there's two flaws to this: it didn't teach fans to accept and respect people with different opinions from themselves, and it didn't teach people everything about life. It didn't teach us about bullying, suicide, school shootings, or showing us even the aftermath of a tragedy (terrorism, natural disasters, etc), or dealing with someone with cancer or any terminal illness. It didn't cover everything. And even after the show ended, the world didn't get any better. Regardless of how you feel about the entertainment industry, that's not why the world didn't get any better. America and the rest of the world woke up due to one of the biggest tragedies in this century. Children lost whatever innocence they had left and could no longer grow up the way kids in the 90's did, where they would simply grow up going to school, coming home from school, having a television show that they either enjoyed during their spare time or a show that helped them get through whatever problems they may have had either within their family or their peers in school. Teenagers still drink or do drugs and smoke and still find themselves getting addicted to them. I grew up with a huge set of kids in elementary school and we were taught atleast twice that drinking, drugs, and smoking are bad for you. We were even taught about bullying constantly and to not do it to anyone. But even with the message right in your face as Boy Meets World was, my peers didn't listen to them like I did. They still wanted to drink, do drugs even, smoke, some still bullied. Some people just wanted to fit in with the crowd any way they could. It's a lot like Hollywood in a way. You have to do certain things in order to become mainstream and fit in with the popular people like Lady Gaga and Rihanna and Nicki Minaj. They might actually be talented, but almost all the time now, simply being musically gifted or a talented actor alone isn't enough to get people to appreciate them as a performer, even if you are a decent person or someone who's well grounded thanks to the people in your life. Shocking people with being promiscuous or showing you drink or do drugs or smoke seems to sell a lot. Possibly because it makes people feel more comfortable to know someone isn't perfect (or to any fan of anyone, perfectly imperfect). The point is, even if a show like Boy Meets World gives out a really positive message and tells you something is bad, at the end of the day, it is our choices that matter most. We are to blame for our poor choices. Call of Duty and Halo don't make everyone pick up a gun and kill someone just as much as Marilyn Manson doesn't. When people are attacked by bullies in anyway too much, I believe a message eventually sinks in to that person that they need to do whatever it is they unfortunately feel like they have to do. On media alone, I believe if someone knows that something is right or wrong, they have their own code/morals/moral code/personal beliefs, and/or if they've been taught to appreciate themselves as they are, anything they see or listen to won't make them do anything bad.
Another problem I have with Boy Meets World is the fact that shows like this even existed, shows that had to send out a message to kids back then. What does that say about the parents or to the parents? What does it say about our education system? Fortunately, I had to be taught by my parents not to imitate what I saw on TV and then I was able to watch whatever show that got me doing it previously, only this time I wouldn't be so hooked on it that I would imitate what I saw. And my elementary school taught me twice when I was 8 and 12, respectively, the consequences of drinking, drugs and smoking. My high school taught me the risks of having sex and how we should be careful, how we should make sure that other person we could be lucky to be with isn't carrying any diseases he/she are probably not even aware of, how if we had sex with someone of the opposite gender, we could become a parent faster than probably our own parents. But some people still chose to drink, do drugs, smoke, or have sex before marriage even when there was visuals shown to us that those things aren't a good idea. I have seen pictures of people having parties where they could get drunk and their parents would be visible in the pictures and not showing that they have any problems with their teen(s) drinking. My own father did the same for one of my siblings. Does that say anything about the parents back then or even today? Does that say anything about our education system? Or do we just not have a stronger influence and a more positive impact on kids as we should (even stronger than the child themselves)?
Moving on from how flawed Boy Meets World is when it comes to our society, I'm sure it did teach some people to do better in life. But what also makes the show flawed are the characters. Nowadays, people could watch a show once and if a character does something bad in that episode, they lose a viewer because he or she wasn't perfect in the viewer's eyes. When you look at Boy Meets World, fans will think the characters do no wrong, or if they have done wrong, it's overlooked and ignored. Even if it was shown repeatedly and there's two good examples of that, but I'll save that for last.
First off, there's Morgan. Many people could look at her as a brat if the show took place in this decade and she does come off as a bit of one in later seasons. She even dresses sexy for her first date and Amy isn't even phased by this one bit, as opposed to Alan. Nowadays people would be hating on Amy for allowing that to happen. Especially if the characters went to the beach and the girls were shown in bikinis there'd be a riot, as there has been for other shows made for kids where the characters have went to the beach.
There's not much to say about Angela except she was a boring character who only seemed to exist to be Shawn's true love. I wonder if we'll ever hear about her character in the spin off.
I'm sure there has to be someone who didn't like Eric that much. I'm surprised no one complained about him being a ladies man. He became ridiculous in the last few seasons of the show that it's incredible how much he changed after high school. If this show was on today, people on IMDB would probably be complaining about how Eric wanted to poison his sister for his dad's birthday. His plan is so ridiculous that I'm surprised nothing is said or done about it. He even made fun of Shawn being poor. If any other character in another show did this, fans of that show would never hear the end of those people that are hating on that show. But for Boy Meets World, this one goes ignored.
And we have Rachel, who people can complain about for even just one episode, having dressed sexy and washing the dishes in a sexy way in front of Cory and Shawn and turning them on would've been something to complain about if this show didn't have its name people are familiar with. Not to mention the sexy picture of her she made for Jack that was revealed in the prank war episode in the final season would also show she's not a perfect character, but there's no criticism for her actions either, whether or not we know she was sorry she ever did those things.
Jack can be considered a bit conceited and greedy in the final season. People would not find it funny either that someone is being taught about their greed consuming them and then shrugs it off to go buy a lottery ticket anyway. But somehow the audience found that funny.
Speaking of which, I find the live audience for this show can be as annoying as laugh tracks would be. Except they can be even worse. Live audiences go wild when characters kiss, and sometimes for a show, if you're going to talk to me about realism in a sitcom, how real is it when a character wins an argument or says something really funny and then suddenly stops because we hear the audience cheer for them for one minute before they can finish everything they say?
Alan was a pretty decent character actually. I don't have anything to say about him that's really negative except what sounds like a running gag for him "Get a job" wasn't funny. Just a good message. But he and Amy did start treating Eric like he really was an idiot. They weren't that close to him in my opinion as they were with Cory and even Morgan.
Stuart Minkus wasn't really in the show much but no one speaks ill of Shawn and Cory for having always picked on him. And they picked on him constantly in the first season, yet no one complains about this.
Shawn could be complained about for being a ladies man too even. He wasn't the best with girls at all. Except maybe with Angela but even that relationship was a bit messy. He became quite a hypocrite in the sixth season when his character started to become depressing because he didn't have Angela. Losing his father, I understood, but this was a different story. The season before this one, he was criticising Cory for being all mopey because he didn't have Topanga anymore. Yet when it was his turn to be the one moping over his loss, Cory and Topanga were there for him. Nowadays, people just can't stand seeing people being so depressing. It's not even like we ever saw Cory and Topanga actually go through bullying or knew what it was like to make them stand by Shawn during this time in his life.
Now before I say anything about George Feeny, I have to say, this is the man who's the heart of Boy Meets World. He was the life coach and I know a teacher in my own life who was like him. The only difference was he was only my teacher for one year. Our whole class was close to him and he was close to everyone else, which is more than I can say for Feeny sadly. Think about it. He didn't talk to another student besides whoever was the main character for seven years. You have to feel sorry to the people that didn't grow up being taught by Feeny and guided through life by him. Those poor unfortunate souls.
And last but not least, Cory and Topanga. There's so much I can say that I found wrong with them more than halfway through the series. Some of the things they said and done would be outrageous to viewers if this was on today and not in reruns. They started off okay. Actually Cory wasn't so nice to Topanga during season 1, as far as I can remember. There can be a complaint about that as well. But season 3 is when things started going a bit downhill. In the Disney World episode, Cory follows Topanga all around the place trying to get her back. Just because he's in love with her still, does that make it okay for kids to follow someone they love around, thinking they'll win someone's heart? People in real life would not appreciate that at all, even if you say you love them. Then there came the two parter episode in season 4 when Topanga was going to move away with her parents - but then she disobeys her parents and runs away to be with Cory. Did that ever tell kids it's okay to do this because you'll be forever with your lover? If not, this just shows kids aren't always that affected by what they see or listen to. And in real life, doing something like this, I've never heard of it working out before. Besides, divorce rates are high these days. But then Topanga does even worse for herself. She gives up Yale to stay with Cory. If their love was so strong, surely Cory could've let her go and they'd be patient with each other until they were done school and they would meet up again, but this, to me, shows their relationship wasn't that strong. Also, just like how Bella Swan giving up her entire life just to be with Edward Cullen is considered a bad message to kids, doing this makes Topanga atleast half the woman Bella was. And once they're engaged, Cory reveals himself to be so obsessed with sex. He's so obsessed that even Topanga knows this and has no problem whatsoever! Does this send a good message to kids? That it's okay to be with someone even if they want to have sex with you so bad because you two are apparently so in love? He's still got a mind of his own. He's really into her for different reasons. At one point he really wants her to let him "touch something", and another time Topanga actually lets him see her butt. But this is okay for viewers apparently. How? You'd think people would complain about the fact that she's doing this before they even get married and a few episodes later, the wedding is off for a long while, with neither of them knowing if they'd ever actually be together again. And Cory alone isn't so much of a good character either. We never saw him get up and actually go to work. Despite all the ridiculous things Topanga did, atleast she was still doing something with her life, going into law. We atleast knew she actually had a goal for herself in life. All Cory had in life was just to be with Topanga forever and she seems to be the one doing so much for him and their relationship, it's kind of sad.
So that's all the flaws with Boy Meets World. So what is good about it? Simply the fact that it would try to teach you about life, if not everything there is. It taught us that the things we learn in school are for good reasons, it showed us parents leaving Shawn behind to have to fend for himself and how he had to deal with it, how important college is, it taught us about cults and what to do when you're being abused by a parent, it taught us not to cheat, not to settle, it showed us how a death in the family affects some people, sexual assault, how important friends are in one's life, it also taught us once about relationships in high school through one episode I can't remember right now. These were the messages that stand out to me the most. Possibly the only big messages that were really there. But the biggest message I think stands out the most with this show is that, despite Cory and Topanga, the show did try to show us how to love. The message about what love is was told like chapter to chapter all throughout the show I believe. So yes, Boy Meets World sure did have heart.
For sure, it was good with storytelling. The characters, not so much. There are flaws with the show and if there is anyone that's not a big fan of it, here's a message to the fans that Boy Meets World should've told you: no one's an idiot just because they don't like the same thing you do or they aren't as much of a fan of something like you are. Boy Meets World isn't a bad show, simply a bad sitcom. It's a lot like how people view good people. There are those that'll see someone and think they're just so perfect in every way. And then there are those who just can't believe that there isn't a single ounce of anything bad within this show. Or with people who are so goody two shoes like this show is. When people see someone who is a goody two shoes all the time, people often can't help but think they're fake and that they do have flaws that contradict their image. To me, it's fake, it isn't perfect as everyone pretends to be at all. But it's a great guide-to-life show and nothing more and that's okay. Okay is wonderful.
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