The Problem with Girl Meets World

As someone who grew up in the era of ABC’s TGIF, Friday night was a time to sit down with my family and watch family oriented sitcoms while eating supper in on the couch. Like many of my age group, I remember watching and enjoying Boy Meets World. As the years passed, Cory Matthews grew up and the show grew up with him and I remained a fan.

Now, Disney has released a sequel series based around Cory and Topanga’s daughter Riley and in many ways it resembles Boy Meets World as it originally premiered all of those years ago with one distinct and disappointing exception; there is no Mr. Feeny. What’s worse is that the character who’s supposed to be filling Mr. Feeny’s larger than life shoes, none other than Cory Matthews himself, is portrayed as a childish goof off. He is often worked into the script as additional comic relief instead of the comedic straight-man and voice of reason represented by his former mentor.

So there you have it, the irony that the main star from Boy Meets World is the biggest detriment to Girl Meets World. The thing is, I actually really like the actress that plays Riley as she seems very talented and hits the mark for her character perfectly. I also think that they did a good job casting the other middle schoolers and while I can get over the occasionally outrageousness and obviously Disney-fied plots, I can’t get passed the fact that Cory just needs to act a bit more like Feeny and a bit less like Bozo the Clown.

I don’t know if this is just another example of the Moron Dad Syndrome that affects so many family sitcoms these days or if Disney thinks that somehow their demographic won’t respond well to a reasonable and mature authority figure being a part of the show. In the case of the latter, I think that children, especially adolescents, secretly want some authority in their lives and wouldn’t at all mind a little adult seriousness mixed in their youthful fun.

On the bright side, I have seen a glimmer of promise in a few of the episodes it’s obvious this series is still in the phase of finding it’s own identity so I am still hopeful that things will get better as it matures. In the end, I’m still pulling for the show. I like the premise, I like the nostalgia, and I like the energy and vibrance exuded from the show’s young cast. All of that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.