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60 Fun Facts About Boy Meets World

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1

Which two words end the last line of Boy Meets World, spoken by Mr. Feeny after his former students have left?

Class dismissed. Moments earlier Eric had demanded that he say he loved them and he refused; only once the room is empty does he add 'I love you all' before those two words.

2

In which city is Boy Meets World set?

Philadelphia. The pilot turns on a Phillies game: Cory is caught listening to it on a radio in class, then loses his seat at the ballpark when his brother takes a date instead.

3

Who plays Cory Matthews on Boy Meets World?

Ben Savage. ABC already had the 11-year-old under contract, so creator Michael Jacobs built the series around him, and at the audition stage it was known simply as The Ben Savage Project.

4

Which actor plays Mr. Feeny on Boy Meets World?

William Daniels. He turned the part down at first, not wanting to make fun of teachers, and agreed once Michael Jacobs explained that Feeny was based on a high-school mentor of his own.

5

On Boy Meets World, Mr. Feeny is Cory's teacher and also his what?

His next-door neighbour. In the pilot Cory moves into his treehouse in a sulk and from it watches Mr. Feeny sit down alone to a dinner made for two.

6

Who plays Shawn Hunter on Boy Meets World?

Rider Strong. Creator Michael Jacobs says he was the first boy to audition and was cast on the spot, with everyone else sent home, a story the actor himself says he doesn't believe.

7

Who plays Topanga Lawrence on Boy Meets World?

Danielle Fishel. Another girl was cast first and replaced; Fishel, 12, recalls being warned on her first day that she could be next, rehearsing late into the night with her mother and being applauded by the creator the next day.

8

In a Boy Meets World episode set seven years in the future, Eric has become a hermit known by what name?

Plays With Squirrels. He has renounced society to write a huge book on the secret of life, and it holds a single line: 'Lose one friend, lose all friends, lose yourself.'

9

Which Boy Meets World character vanished for half a season and returned played by a different actress?

Morgan Matthews. Lily Nicksay left after season two and Lindsay Ridgeway stepped in midway through season three, where Morgan explains her absence as the longest time-out she ever had.

10

In the Boy Meets World finale, Mr. Feeny reveals that Cory is short for which first name?

Cornelius. Cory says his old teacher must finally know him well enough to call him Cory, and Mr. Feeny answers that he knows him well enough to call him Cornelius.

11

On Boy Meets World, what is Alan Matthews's job when the series begins?

Supermarket manager. He runs a Market Giant store, with Eric working under him as a box boy, until he walks out in season four and takes over an outdoor-supply shop with Eric as his partner.

12

In Topanga's first Boy Meets World episode, what does she draw on her face as performance art?

Lipstick. Topanga arrived as a hippie classmate paired with Cory on a school project, and the writers say the spark between the two young actors in that episode is what set the whole romance going.

13

On Boy Meets World, who is the genius of Cory's sixth-grade class?

Stuart Minkus. He disappears after the first season, then reappears at the high-school graduation and explains that he has simply been in the other part of the school all along.

14

On Boy Meets World, who is Jonathan Turner?

A maverick English teacher. Mr. Turner turns up to class in a leather jacket and, when Shawn's parents leave town, takes the boy in to live with him.

15

How does Mr. Turner leave Boy Meets World?

He is hospitalised after an accident. A motorcycle crash leaves Mr. Turner in a coma; Girl Meets World later showed that he recovered, married his nurse and became a schools superintendent.

16

On Boy Meets World, Jack Hunter is Shawn's what?

Half-brother. Jack grew up apart in a wealthy stepfamily, and Shawn resents him for never answering his childhood letters until it emerges that Jack's mother had hidden them.

17

On Boy Meets World, what is the name of Shawn's frequently absent father?

Chet. He returns in season six promising Shawn that this time he will stay, suffers a heart attack on that same visit and dies, and afterwards appears to Shawn as a ghost.

18

On Boy Meets World, where does Shawn Hunter's family live?

A trailer park. When his mother Virna walks out she takes the trailer with her, so his father sets off after her and Shawn is left to stay with the Matthews family.

19

On Boy Meets World, who becomes Shawn's girlfriend in season five?

Angela Moore. He drops her under his two-week dating rule, then falls for the unseen owner of a lost purse whose contents seem made for him, and the things inside turn out to be hers.

20

On Boy Meets World, which university accepts Topanga before she turns it down to stay near Cory?

Yale. Cory hides how he feels and tells her she has to go, and a torn Topanga ends up asking Mr. Feeny what she should do.

21

On Boy Meets World, what does Topanga do at the high-school graduation that stuns Cory?

Proposes to him. He accepts, his parents take it badly, and the two slip away to elope, only to call it off because she wants his mother to be there.

22

On Boy Meets World, what is the name of the college Cory and his friends attend?

Pennbrook. Mr. Feeny announces he will retire to Wyoming when they finish high school, yet he comes back and is soon teaching them all over again at the college.

23

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

Rachel McGuire. Jack is the one who gets to date her; the show's creator held that it was always funnier when Eric chased her and never quite got there.

24

Which future star plays Lauren, the ski-lodge worker who kisses Cory on Boy Meets World?

Linda Cardellini. Lauren's kiss leads Topanga to break up with Cory for a while in season five, and the next year Cardellini landed her breakthrough lead in Freaks and Geeks.

25

Which comedy actor played Griff Hawkins, the smooth-talking successor to bully Harley Keiner on Boy Meets World?

Adam Scott. Long before Parks and Recreation and Severance, his Griff arrived just as Harley was packed off to reform school and ran the school's bullies on charm instead of muscle.

26

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

Ethan Suplee. His Frankie starts out as a bully's muscle and reforms into a gentle writer of poetry, and his father turns out to be the real pro wrestler Vader.

27

Blake Sennett, who played Joey 'The Rat' Epstein on Boy Meets World, went on to form which indie band with Jenny Lewis?

Rilo Kiley. He and Lewis, both former child actors, were a couple when they started the band in 1998, the year Joey made one last appearance at the graduation, and they kept it going for years after they broke up.

28

Bonnie Bartlett, the real-life wife of Mr. Feeny's actor, joined Boy Meets World as which character?

The college dean, Lila Bolander. She becomes his character's boss, coaxes the retired teacher back into the classroom, and by the end of season six the real-life couple are married on screen as well.

29

Which member of the Monkees played Topanga's father, Jedidiah, in two early Boy Meets World episodes?

Peter Tork. For his second appearance, in 'Rave On', Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones guest-starred as well, so three Monkees shared an episode without ever playing the Monkees.

30

Where do Cory and Topanga move at the end of the Boy Meets World finale?

New York. Eric and Shawn decide to go with them, and Girl Meets World later finds Cory and Topanga still there, raising their children in the city.

31

On Boy Meets World, where do Cory and his friends hang out during their high-school years?

Chubbie's. Near the end of high school Cory finds the restaurant reborn as Peg-Leg Pete's, one of the changes that convince him his whole world is shifting.

32

In Girl Meets World, which office does Eric Matthews end up winning?

U.S. senator. By then he is already mayor of a tiny community on the Canadian border whose name is spelled St. Upidtown, and from there he goes on to win a seat in the Senate.

33

The actor who plays Cory on Boy Meets World has an older brother who starred in which earlier coming-of-age series?

The Wonder Years. Its star later crossed over to his brother's sitcom, playing a college professor who makes a pass at Topanga and gets shoved by Cory, then came back to direct two episodes.

34

The actor who plays Mr. Feeny won two Emmys as a surgeon on which 1980s hospital drama?

St. Elsewhere. After six years there as the acid-tongued Dr. Mark Craig he doubted he wanted a half-hour sitcom at all, one reason he first said no to playing Mr. Feeny.

35

Which famous TV character was voiced by the actor who plays Mr. Feeny on Boy Meets World?

KITT on Knight Rider. He was starring in a prestige drama at the same time and asked that his name be kept off the credits for the car's voice.

36

Which Founding Father, played by Mr. Feeny's actor in the musical 1776, lends his name to Cory's high school?

John Adams. The sequel kept the family going: in Girl Meets World Riley attends John Quincy Adams Middle School and then Abigail Adams High.

37

The actor who plays Eric on Boy Meets World voiced which animated superhero from 1999 to 2001?

Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond. It was his first voice-over job, taken while the sitcom was still on the air, and he kept returning to the future Batman in other DC cartoons for years afterwards.

38

The actor who plays Shawn on Boy Meets World starred in which horror film soon after the sitcom ended?

Cabin Fever. He plays Paul, one of a group of students at a remote cabin struck by a flesh-eating illness, which director Eli Roth based on a skin infection he had picked up on a farm in Iceland.

39

The Boy Meets World episode 'And Then There Was Shawn' traps the gang in detention to spoof which slasher film?

Scream. A killer picks off the class one by one, and among the victims is guest star Jennifer Love Hewitt, sending herself up as a new girl named Jennifer Love Fefferman.

40

Girl Meets World, the sequel to Boy Meets World, premiered in 2014 on which network?

Disney Channel. The network dropped the sequel after three seasons, and viewers heard it first from the show's writers, who announced the call on their own Twitter account.

41

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

History teacher. His daughter Riley and her friends sit in his class, and when they move up from middle school to high school he moves with them, much as Mr. Feeny once followed him.

42

Who plays Riley Matthews in Girl Meets World?

Rowan Blanchard. She was 12 when the sequel began, and as well as playing Cory and Topanga's daughter she sings its theme song as a duet with the actress who plays her best friend.

43

What are the names of Cory and Topanga's two children in Girl Meets World?

Riley and Auggie. Their honorary uncle Shawn spent the years between the two series on the road, working as a travel writer and photographer.

44

In Girl Meets World, which friend of Riley's is the son of Stuart Minkus from Boy Meets World?

Farkle. His father turns up in the sequel as a wealthy businessman who cannot stop telling Cory and Topanga that he now owns a helicopter.

45

Which three Boy Meets World cast members launched the rewatch podcast Pod Meets World in 2022?

Fishel, Friedle and Strong. They asked the sitcom's lead to make it four and, after a few meetings, he bowed out, telling them that a weekly rewatch was not his thing.

46

Which Boy Meets World actor performs the 'Feeny call', the drawn-out shout over the garden fence?

Will Friedle. He has said the script only told Eric to go to the fence and say 'Mr. Feeny' twice, and that he stretched it into the full yodel himself, partly to make his co-star crack up.

47

Which 1990s look did Eric and Shawn both sport on Boy Meets World?

Curtained hair. The actor behind Shawn has said he hated the centre-parted look even then: his own hair is wavy, so by his account the famous style was always a lie.

48

What is Mr. Feeny's first name on Boy Meets World?

George. He starts as Cory's sixth-grade teacher, becomes his high-school principal and ends up his college professor, so Cory never once gets out from under him.

49

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

TGIF. A studio executive showed creator Michael Jacobs charts of how much 12-to-14-year-olds were spending and asked for a comedy aimed squarely at them.

50

Which streaming service had Boy Meets World in its library on the day the service launched?

Disney+. The sitcom was made by Disney's own Touchstone Television, so after reaching Hulu in 2017 it was part of the company's new service from its first day in November 2019.

51

Boy Meets World's creator made Cory a middle child because he saw other family sitcoms focusing on which child?

The oldest. Michael Jacobs saw the hit family sitcoms build their big episodes around the eldest's milestones, such as a first date, so his pilot showed that same date through the kid brother's eyes, as a betrayal.

52

At the end of Boy Meets World, what kind of internship does Topanga land that prompts the big move?

At a law firm. It sets her on the way to the successful legal career she has in Girl Meets World, while other friends scatter too: Jack joins the Peace Corps and Angela has left for Europe.

53

Which future pop star played Riley's best friend Maya in Girl Meets World?

Sabrina Carpenter. Her Maya ends the sequel with a father from the original cast: Shawn marries her mother and, in the finale, hands Maya adoption papers.

54

On Boy Meets World, what is the name of the Matthews baby born prematurely in season six?

Joshua. A lung infection leaves the family unsure he will survive his first days, but he pulls through and turns up in Girl Meets World as a teenage uncle to Cory's children.

55

Which actress plays Cory's mother, Amy Matthews, on Boy Meets World?

Betsy Randle. When her screen husband quits his job without consulting her, her Amy answers with a unilateral decision of her own and buys the outdoor store he ends up running.

56

Before Boy Meets World, creator Michael Jacobs produced which other sitcom for the same programming block?

Dinosaurs was his puppet sitcom made with Jim Henson's company, and its finale doomed the whole cast: the dinosaurs' own carelessness sets off an ice age that leads to their extinction.

57

Which other sitcom from the same programming block was renewed alongside Boy Meets World in April 1998?

Sabrina the Teenage Witch was the only other survivor of a line-up whose ratings had fallen 17%; both newcomers were pulled early, and Sabrina itself later jumped to the WB.

58

In season four of Boy Meets World, Topanga's family moves her away from Cory to which city?

Pittsburgh is where she is taken, but Topanga soon turns up back at Cory's door, and the pair must convince their families that their love is real if she is to stay.

59

In the Boy Meets World pilot, which Shakespeare play is Mr. Feeny teaching when he gives Cory detention?

Romeo and Juliet is the lesson Cory ignores to listen to a baseball game, which earns him the detention; Feeny is using the play to teach the class the value of love.

60

In season three of Boy Meets World, which abandoned animal does Shawn decide to keep as a pet?

A pig is what Shawn brings home, and it splits the trio: Topanga insists an apartment is no place for a hog, leaving Cory caught between his best friend and his girlfriend.

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