Credit: @daniellefishel
With 2022 coming to an end, many people are busy thinking about what 2023 has to offer. What if we told you that 2023 is a landmark year in television history? What do we mean? We mean that 2023 is when many of our favorite 90s sitcoms – the ones we watched growing up – are turning 30—case in point is Boy Meets World. The hit show with Cory and Shawn, Topanga, and Mr. Turner aired for the first time on September 24, 1993. It isn’t easy to believe that much time has passed since we began watching the show, but we’re all old now. To make up for that, here are a few fun facts about the show you didn’t even know.
1. Topanga’s Family Was Replaceable
She was always at school and hanging out with Shawn and Cory, but we did meet her family. We met a sister in the first season, but she was an only child for the rest of the show. She did have parents, but five different sets of actors played her mom and dad. It was a revolving door of family members who didn’t stick around, but most people never noticed. Why? Because back then, you watched one television show at a time, a week apart, and no one binged watched things. If you didn’t see her mom and dad for six months, you didn’t even realize they weren’t the same people. The internet wasn’t around to check.
2. Topanga Thought She Was Fired
Danielle Fishel was not the first girl to play this role. Do you remember that? You didn’t. The showrunner did not like the first girl who played Topanga, so they hired Fishel. However, after her first day of work, the co-creator told her she was too peppy and upbeat, and he wanted the character to be calm and relaxed. He ran notes with her, and she was sure she was fired. She practiced so hard to get it all right that he told her she had exceeded her expectations the next day when she came in.
3. They Characters Did Schooling Together
They went to school together on the show, but did you know they went outside the show, too? They were not in an official school setting, but they were taught on set. They tried to do things on their own when they studied and did their school work at work, but it didn’t work. Inevitably, they all ended up working on their schoolwork in the same place together. It was a great few years for them.
Credit: @rider_strong
4. Rider Strong’s Haircut As Shawn Was an Accident He Hated
It turns out Rider Strong needed a haircut when he auditioned for the role of Shawn, but he didn’t have time. He had to audition, so he went with his long hair. The long hair he hated and wanted to get rid of. However, the show loved the hair he came with and refused to allow him to cut it. So he was saddled with a haircut he didn’t love for years while he played the role of Shawn. It was a lot, but he was a paid actor with a job, so he did it.
5. Rider Strong Played the Switching Game with His Shawn Jacket
We all remember Shawn wearing his leather jacket all the time. Rider Strong loved that jacket, and he wanted it. However, the network would not allow the cast to take things from the set. Even when the show ended, and everyone left for the final time, they told him no to taking the leather jacket. So, Rider brought one he purchased with him to work. He switched them, and no one was the wiser. Karma got him a few years later when someone stole his jacket from him. He did have a few good years with it, but it didn’t work out in the long run. They know now that he stole it – but only because he replaced it with another one – and everyone seems all right.
Credit: @bensavage
Boy Meets World was such a hit show that Cory and Topanga ended up married and starring in their show about raising their kids together more than two decades later. Girl Meets World was the spinoff no one saw coming, but it was cute. Of course, it didn’t touch the original – nothing ever does. But it was cute. The fans loved it, kids who didn’t grow up with this show loved it, and Boy Meets World made yet another mark on the world – and our hearts.
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