60 Fun Facts About Boy Meets World

On which network did Boy Meets World air from 1993 to 2000?

It anchored the TGIF block for seven seasons and 158 episodes.

In which city is the show set?

Cory starts as a witty 11-year-old middle-schooler there; the gang eventually leaves for New York.

Who plays Cory Matthews?

He was already under ABC contract at 11, and the project was briefly known as The Ben Savage Project.

Which actor plays Mr. Feeny?

He initially turned it down, fearing the character would mock teachers, until Jacobs explained Feeny was based on his own mentor.

Mr. Feeny is Cory's teacher and also his what?

Cory shares a love-hate relationship with his sixth-grade teacher who lives right over the fence.

Who plays Shawn Hunter?

He was the very first actor to audition for the role.

Who plays Topanga Lawrence?

She was not the original actress cast, but took over before the character's first episode.

What is the name of Cory's older brother?

Will Friedle plays him; the character got sillier over time to suit Friedle's comic gifts.

Cory's little sister Morgan was played by two actresses. Who took over from Lily Nicksay in season three?

On her return the recast Morgan quips, 'That was the longest timeout I ever had!'; both actresses appear in the Girl Meets World finale.

What are the names of Cory's parents?

William Russ and Betsy Randle play them; a fourth child, Joshua, arrives late in the series.

What was Alan Matthews's job at the start of the show?

He ran the Market Giant and won a 'Grocie' Award before opening a sporting-goods store with a friend.

What did Amy Matthews do for a living in the early seasons?

She later worked in an art gallery.

What is the name of the class genius in Cory's sixth-grade class?

Lee Norris returned in Girl Meets World as the wealthy, helicopter-owning father of Farkle.

Who is Jonathan Turner?

Anthony Tyler Quinn's Harley-riding Mr. Turner takes Shawn in as legal guardian and is written out after a motorcycle accident late in season four.

How does Mr. Turner leave the show?

A season five cameo has Minkus calling out to an unseen Turner, implying he recovered; Girl Meets World reveals he married his nurse.

Jack Hunter, played by Matthew Lawrence, is Shawn's what?

He shows up in season five as Eric's college roommate; his mother had hidden Shawn's childhood letters.

What is the name of Shawn's frequently absent father?

Played by Blake Clark, he dies of a heart attack after finally promising to stay; Shawn later talks to his ghost.

Where does the Hunter family live?

Virna runs off with the trailer itself, leaving Shawn with the Matthews family.

Who is Shawn's girlfriend from season five onwards?

Trina McGee's Angela and Shawn were a rare interracial couple on a youth network show at the time.

Which prestigious university accepts Topanga before she turns it down to stay near Cory?

She proposes to Cory at their high-school graduation instead.

Who pops the question to whom at high-school graduation?

An ABC executive had called marrying them irresponsible until an internet poll changed minds.

What is the name of the college the gang attends?

Mr. Feeny follows them there as a professor; the high school was John Adams.

Which character moves in with Eric and Jack and becomes the object of both their affections?

Maitland Ward's Rachel was the last main-cast addition; Jack ends up dating her.

Which future star plays Lauren, the ski-lodge girl who kisses Cory in season five?

Cory and Topanga break up over it before reuniting in 'Starry Night'; Girl Meets World later reveals Lauren has a son.

Which comedy actor played Griff Hawkins, the smooth-talking replacement for bully Harley Keiner?

Girl Meets World later hands Maya the 'Griff Hawkins Totally Cool' Award.

Which My Name Is Earl actor played bully-turned-friend Frankie 'The Enforcer' Stechino?

Frankie's father is the real pro wrestler Vader.

Joey 'The Rat' Epstein left the show so actor Blake Sennett could focus on which band?

He came back once, for the season five graduation episode.

Who plays Dean Lila Bolander, whom Feeny marries?

Feeny had dated a Boston teacher named Elizabeth off-screen for 15 years.

Which Monkee played one version of Topanga's father, Jedidiah?

Michael McKean and Mark Harelik also played him; Topanga's mother was played by both Annette O'Toole and Marcia Cross.

Where do Cory and Topanga consider moving in the series finale?

The hour-long finale aired May 5, 2000; Topanga had landed a law-firm internship there.

How many episodes of Boy Meets World were made?

All of them fit on a 22-disc complete-series set.

Who created Boy Meets World?

Jacobs had produced Dinosaurs for the same TGIF block.

The actor who plays Cory has an older brother, Fred, who starred in which earlier coming-of-age series?

Ben made his film debut at nine in Fred's Little Monsters and guest-starred on The Wonder Years.

The actor who plays Mr. Feeny won two Emmys for which medical drama?

He was also the voice of KITT on Knight Rider and played John Adams in 1776.

Which talking car did the Mr. Feeny actor voice?

He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1999 to 2001.

The actor behind Mr. Feeny has played which three members of one famous political family?

Fittingly, Cory's high school is John Adams High and Riley's middle school in the sequel is John Quincy Adams.

Which animated superhero did the actor who plays Eric voice from 1999 to 2001?

He went on to voice Ron Stoppable in Kim Possible and Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy.

The actor who plays Shawn headlined which 2002 cult horror film?

He later graduated magna cum laude from Columbia and directed episodes of Girl Meets World.

The actress who plays Topanga was born in which state, though she lived there only 21 days?

Born in Mesa, she was raised in California; she has since directed episodes of Raven's Home and Sydney to the Max.

Girl Meets World premiered on which network in June 2014?

It ran three seasons and 72 episodes, ending in January 2017.

In Girl Meets World, what is Cory's job?

His daughter Riley is in his class, just as Cory was in Feeny's.

Who plays Riley Matthews in Girl Meets World?

Sabrina Carpenter plays her best friend Maya Hart.

What are the names of Cory and Topanga's children?

Shawn left New York the day Riley was born to become a travelling writer and photographer.

Which two main characters never appeared in Girl Meets World?

Even the bully Harley returned, as the middle school's janitor.

Which three cast members host the rewatch podcast Pod Meets World?

It launched with iHeart in June 2022; Ben Savage was in early talks but stepped away and, the hosts later revealed, cut contact in 2020.

Which cast member declined at first to reprise his role in Girl Meets World?

Early plans gave Eric a son, Troy; that role's slot went instead to youngest brother Joshua, now played by Uriah Shelton.

Which 1990s hairstyle did Eric and Shawn famously wear?

The middle-parted 'curtains' were everywhere on TGIF.

How did the young actor playing Cory come to be the show's lead?

He was 11; the show was internally called The Ben Savage Project.

Boy Meets World was commissioned for which youth-oriented ABC programming block?

Disney wanted a series for 12-to-14-year-olds, and Michael Jacobs had just finished producing another show for the same block.

Which streaming service carried Boy Meets World from its launch in November 2019?

The show had joined Hulu in 2017 alongside Dinosaurs, Home Improvement and other TGIF staples.

Jacobs made Cory the middle child because he noticed other sitcoms focused on which child?

He created the show for a 12-to-14-year-old audience after a Disney executive approached him.

In the finale, what kind of internship does Topanga land that prompts the gang's big move?

Jack and Rachel join the Peace Corps and Angela leaves for a year in Europe with her father.

Which future pop star played Maya, the best friend in the spin-off Girl Meets World?

The spin-off picked up nearly fifteen years after the original ended and ran for three seasons.

What is the name of the new Matthews baby, born prematurely in season six?

The same season saw Cory and friends start college, where Mr. Feeny was offered a teaching job.

Which actress plays Cory's mother, Amy Matthews?

William Russ plays her husband, a grocery store manager who later runs a camping goods store.

Which earlier series had creator Michael Jacobs produced for the same programming block?

After the puppet sitcom ended, a Disney executive asked him to write something new for young teens.

Which was the only other Friday-night show renewed alongside Boy Meets World in April 1998?

Ratings had fallen 14% from the previous season and the block overall was down 17%; Sabrina later jumped to the WB.

What persuaded ABC to approve Cory and Topanga's marriage after an executive objected?

The romance had grown out of the on-screen chemistry between Savage and Fishel.

What did network executives strip from the pilot script as too mature for the audience?

The episode bombed at the table read and Jacobs rewrote it overnight, also softening the treatment of teachers at Daniels' request.

Which company publishes the rewatch podcast Pod Meets World, launched in June 2022?

Guests have included Daniels, McGee, Randle, Russ, Lawrence and Ward, though Savage declined to take part.