Sitcom continues from Boy Meets World with Ben Savage now parenting adult
Danielle Fishel reprises Topanga role and is Riley's mom; Cory's wife
By Mark Schadenberg
The Savage brothers are a great tag
team in TV history.
For fans of the squared-circle you
might think I'm talking about Randy and Lanny, but I'm referring to
Fred and Ben.
I watched Ben Savage and his character
Cory Matthews and admired the TV program Boy Meets World as it first
aired 1993-2000 on ABC. Cory was a Phillies fan who admired a
classmate named Topanga (Danielle Fishel), and always had a way to
mildly push the limits in a comedic fashion. The Matthews family had
three kids and the show began when Cory was just in Grade 6 with
neighbour George Fenny (William Daniels) as his teacher.
The main reason I followed the series
was it represented – to me anyway – as a somewhat follow-up to
the Fred Savage gem called The Wonder Years. Fred Savage was also an
astounding child actor in the fairytale movie A Princess Bride.
Today, Ben Savage is still evolving the
role of Cory Matthews, but he's now married to Topanga and they have
two of their own kids (Riley and August), live now in New York City,
and Cory has become a Grade 6 teacher with his daughter among the
students. The Disney Channel (Family Channel) show is called Girl
Meets World as the focus is really Riley and not Cory.
It truly is a great father-daughter
time – as in Cory and daughter Riley, and Mark (me) and daughter
Maeghan.
I recall and therefore fully realize
that Boy Meets World gradually became quite a serious sitcom and
always with a 'moral to the story', but currently our household is
enjoying Season 1 (All main characters are pre-teen) as we discovered
the 3-DVD set at a used store.
Meantime, the first two seasons of Girl
Meets World is already presenting moments which can provide later
discussion (with Grade 4 student Maeghan and I) as the youth
characters are already in about Grade 8 and plotlines do include
topics such as dating, but also the importance of schooling and
different forms (structures) of family.
Savage, Fishel and Rider Strong
(reprising pal Shawn Hunter part) are main characters, while the
spotlight is now on Riley growing up and her friend Maya.
The original show's parents, William
Russ and Betsy Randle, have both appeared in the new program just
once, while Will Friedle (Cory's older brother Eric) and William
Daniels (now 88 in real life) have both been seen in three episodes.
Nicely told life lessons was the
backbone to Boy Meets World. Today – and with Fishel and Savage
often listed as either directors or co-producers – it's easy to see
how they maintained the pacing and atmosphere of the original.
It's A Laugh Productions is also
responsible for other smart family fare such as KC Undercover, Good
Luck Charlie, Wizards Of Waverly Place (Yes, I realize it's a Selena
Gomez show), I Didn't Do It, and Dog With A Blog. In my opinion, and
keeping in mind the target audience of 8 - 15, some shows from that
factory are not quite as good, including Jessie, ANT Farm, Shake It
Up, Suite Life On Deck, and Austin & Ally.
I could add a few more chapters here,
but I must sprint away from the keyboard as I hear Maeghan giggling
about a scene in Boy Meet World, which certainly stands the test of
time as the episodes we're watching were filmed back in 1993.
LINKS:
Mark
Schadenberg, Sales
Representative
Senior
Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal
LePage Triland Realty
757
Dundas St, Woodstock
www.royallepagetriland.com
(519)
537-1553, cell or text
Email:
mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter:
markroyallepage
Facebook:
Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland
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