Boy Meets World Season 5 Poster

There’s nothing more important to do when entering the New Year than writing about a magical show that ended 20 years ago. If anyone tries to tell me that Boy Meets World wasn’t great, I might have to terminate the friendship. Let that serve as a warning to you degenerates that I call friends. I mean, Boy Meets World gave us Cory and Topanga, Shawn and Angela, Amy and Alan! Now that I list it like that, it kind of feels like my favorite parts of the show were the relationships, but I mean, they were everybody’s favorite. Look, let’s just get into this thing because I’m revealing too much about this because I’m so excited.

What was it about?!

No need to scream. Well, I mean, this show is magical. I mean, really, really magical. I don’t mean “magical” in the Harry Potter way, but I mean magical in the “it warms your heart and makes you believe in love” kind of way. The whole premise of the show is pretty much in the title; Cory is a kid who is growing up, learning life lessons and meeting the “real world” along the way. Boy Meets World was pretty much watching a TV show about Cory doing dumb stuff and then learning a lesson about why it was so dumb. Some valuable (in the context of this article and nowhere else) information is that the show ran from 1993 to 2000, which is really cool because the majority of the actors were the same, weren’t replaced (except for Morgan, which we’re gonna discuss) and you got to see everybody grow older. I mean, that’s kind of like Full House, but not really.

Top 5 Elements of the Show

Well, there are so many answers to this one because it was just THAT show. Well, if I had to list them:

Credit: Luis Gomez for The List

5. Morgan’s Disappearance: So I feel the need to include this in the “iconic” part because although it fits in with the other iconic TV shows of the time, it did the character disappearance thing different by bringing back Morgan. In Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Aunt Viv was replaced with a completely different looking actress after three seasons. In Family Matters, Judy Winslow completely disappeared after four seasons. See? It happened a lot in the 90s.

4. Shawn and Angela’s Relationship: This relationship is among the most underrated parts of the show because it really only took place from Season 5 and on, but, it was still so f***ing amazing. The relationship is serendipitous and runs counter to everything you know about Shawn to that point. I WISH IT HAD BEEN DIFFERENT.

3. Cory and Shawn’s Friendship: The entire show passes you by and one thing stays consistent (with the exception of a few petty arguments among friends), and that’s Cory and Shawn’s friendship. The dynamic is fairly easy to understand, and it comes in two variations:

Shawn wants to do something dumb, Cory tries to prevent it while saying “Shawn! I’m just trying to help you…” as Shawn storms off angrily, Shawn considers Cory’s guidance and does the right thing.

Cory wants to do the right thing, Shawn convinces him otherwise, Topanga ends up mad at Cory.

Fairly easy to understand, but this friendship really is the fabric of the entire show. I mean, Shawn spent so much time trying to keep Cory and Topanga together that you would have thought he was more invested than either of them.

2. Cory and Topanga’s Relationship: I get it. How could this possibly #2, Gabriel? Just what kind of idiot are you, Gabe? Give me a break. This relationship can pretty much stand on its own in the television universe. I mean, there’s the lifelong romance, the ups and downs, and the ultimate happy ending. What else could you really want?

Mr. Feeny: That’s right. Just Mr.Feeny. I know I talk about ranking a lot of characters in the Top 10 of Best All-Time Sitcom Characters, but I mean it more than ever here. George Feeny is the kids’ teacher, confidante and ultimately, guiding light. He is equivalently wise as Wilson from Home Improvement, but with an outward intelligence of, like, Frasier. I feel that’s the only way to describe him. He’s f***ing amazing. I mean it. He makes other characters better, including Eric, who considers Feeny his best friend. Mr. Feeny is the quintessential rational foil to the rest of the cast because if we’re being honest everyone is usually losing their f***ing minds all the time.

Honorable Mention¹: Will Friedle as Eric Matthews. I love Eric, believe me I do. BUT he was two different characters if we’re being honest. He was both the witty and cunning Eric Matthews from the first three seasons, and also the wildly ridiculous fool that he becomes later. A real, deadass fool. ALL I’M SAYING IS THAT IF THEY WOULD HAVE LET HIM JUST BE SMART INSTEAD OF DUMB, HE WOULD HAVE MADE THE LIST. But I love Eric, I do.

Meaningful Lessons Learned

As any good sitcom does, this one taught you a lesson like every episode. They covered alcohol abuse, domestic abuse, homelessness, heartbreak, mourning a loss. There’s so much more, but this show was like Chicken Soup for the Soul. Remember that series? The book series. The best toilet reading. I didn’t want this to turn into the Mr.Feeny Show but we gotta do it. Mr. Feeny got monologue after monologue of therapeutic words, touching the lives of the students he taught. He was their teacher, then their principal, then a college professor at their college. That’s a little weird, now that I wrote it out… Ignoring that, he follows the cast the whole way and teaches them everything. You came away from watching an episode of Boy Meets World with a more acute understanding of social issues around you (I just would like to say that this show really wasn’t rich in minorities, so I understand the fact that this show didn’t match a lot of people’s upbringings, including mine).

The End

Most good shows will run forever and ever and ever and ever and then conclude in shame after 13 seasons. I mean, sometimes, the show is ready for the end. Other times, the ratings just aren’t there. Boy Meets World ends after seven seasons. Cory and Topanga end up together. Shawn and Angela do not. Cory and Shawn are still best friends. That’s pretty much it. This show really holds a reserved spot in my heart, if only because I would watch episodes with my brother, who loves Boy Meets World more than I do. If you read this entire thing and feel like you need to watch it again, you really should. I think that everyone should give themselves a dose of Boy Meets World at least once a year.