It doesn’t get much more heartwarming than the ’90s sitcom Boy Meets World. For seven seasons, from 1993 to 2003, fans watched Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) grow up and experience everything from dating to friendship problems to anything else that young adults encounter as they learn who they want to be.
It’s always a fascinating exercise when you go back and watch a show that defined your childhood or high school years. At first, you bask in the glow of nostalgia… but then you start thinking about the storylines and characters more critically. Since it’s been over a decade since the show was on the air, let’s take a nostalgic look back at Boy Meets World and see what parts of the series are strange and awkward today, and which are classic and timeless.
10. Aged Poorly: Topanga’s Attitude
Topanga Lawrence (Danielle Fishel) is a huge part of Boy Meets World. It’s impossible to think about this show without her. She’s Cory’s love interest and she loves nothing more than getting amazing grades and succeeding.
But when you go back and watch the show, you realize something: Topanga has a pretty bad attitude, and this is one aspect of the show that has aged poorly. Instead of being sweet and charming and funny, she’s annoying and even kind of rude. Topanga often says, “But I’m Topanga!” and she always expects to get straight A’s and lots of praise at all times. For example, when Mr. Feeny (William Daniels) asks her to stop talking, she responds, “You yelled at me, but I’m Topanga.” Who does that? Can’t she be more polite?
9. Timeless: First Love
Many Boy Meets World fans count Topanga and Cory among the best couples. When it comes to the timeless aspects of this show, the portrayal of first love is definitely on the list.
Cory has moments in the early seasons when he knows that he has a crush on Topanga and when he acts super silly and immature. It makes sense since he’s so young and he’s just figuring all of this stuff out. When he describes their relationship in one scene, he says to his mom, “I mean, when we were born, you told me that we used to take walks in our strollers together in the park. When we were two, we were best friends, I mean, I, I knew everything about this girl. I knew her favorite color. I knew her favorite food. Then we became six, you know, and Eric made fun of me because it wasn’t cool to have a best friend that was a girl or even know a girl, so for the next seven years I threw dirt at her.” That really couldn’t be cuter.
8. Aged Poorly: Eric’s Silly Character
What happened to Eric (Will Friedle) on Boy Meets World? Cory’s older brother was always hilarious and quirky… and yet, as the seasons went on, he got so incredibly silly that it was tough to watch.
It’s fair to say that his character has aged poorly. He becomes so strange that there’s even a fan theory floating around the Internet about him being hurt in the head and, therefore, not being able to function properly.
7. Timeless: Shawn’s Struggles
Fans of Boy Meets World remember Shawn Hunter (Rider Strong) as charming, always clad in a leather jacket, and very handsome. But his character goes beyond good looks and a lot of his storylines surround his tragic personal life. He doesn’t come from a perfect family the way that his best pal Cory does, and he even moves in with his teacher, Jonathan Turner (Anthony Tyler Quinn).
Shawn’s struggles are one part of Boy Meets World that is timeless. No matter what decade it is, there are always kids who don’t come from happy families and who carry around that pain on a regular basis. It’s great that this show didn’t shy away from portraying that.
6. Aged Poorly: Morgan Is Only In Some Of The Episodes
Boy Meets World fans know that something weird went on with the character of Morgan. She was portrayed by two different actresses, Lily Nicksay and later Lindsay Ridgeway, and there was a gap where she was in season one and two, then she wasn’t around at all, and then she came back in season three.
Morgan is another BMW character who has aged poorly as it doesn’t seem logical that Cory’s younger sister would suddenly be nowhere to be seen. A lot of the show was filmed in his house and fans would see his brother Eric and his parents, so this couldn’t really be explained away.
5. Timeless: The Hardships That Young Adults Face
Even though Boy Meets World is, at first glance, a cheesy sitcom that feels like it has a lot of similarly corny messages (be a good person, be kind to your friends, try hard in school, do your best, etc.), it does feature the characters’ struggles.
The show does explain the hardships that young adults face as they get older. For example, Shawn falls in love with Angela Moore (Trina McGee) and their break-up is really harsh. In the season seven episode “Angela’s Ashes,” she leaves to go to Europe with her dad. It’s so sad to watch. BMW never acts like growing up is simple and it doesn’t expect its characters to be super smiley and full of positive thoughts all of the time.
4. Aged Poorly: The Girl Crazy Characters
When Rachel McGuire (Maitland Ward) is introduced in the sixth season, Eric and Shawn’s older brother Jack (Matthew Lawrence) live with her. They both like her and that becomes a big part of the show.
Eric and Shawn are so girl crazy that it honestly doesn’t hold up well. They act so immaturely around Rachel and any other girl that they meet, and it’s tough to watch this in 2019.
3. Timeless: Cory And Topanga’s Marriage
Many people marry their high school sweetheart and in the case of Cory and Topanga, they have known each other since they were babies. It makes sense that by the time that Boy Meets World ended, they would tie the knot.
But instead of an easy and obvious walk to the altar, the characters go through quite a lot of obstacles and tough moments, and that keeps things super realistic. The fact that this couple knows that marriage won’t be simple and that they really want to make sure they’re making the right choice makes this aspect of the show feel timeless. The best part about their upcoming wedding is that Cory and Shawn are concerned about how their friendship will be altered. A lot of people don’t talk about this, and it’s something many people can relate to.
2. Aged Poorly: Cory’s Family Life
While Cory is supposed to come from a great family unit, this is actually something about the show that has aged poorly. His parents, Alan (William Russ) and Amy (Betsy Randle), are totally boring characters who aren’t very well developed.
