Well, it sounds like we will have another TGIF alum coming to GMW. Reginald VelJohnson, better known as legendary TV dad Carl Winslow from Family Matters will be guest starring in Season 3. I just stuck this news here so you guys can read it.
I gave it some thought guys and I have some things to say about this show. It's pretty long-winded, but I'd like to get it off my chest.
As of right now, "Girl Meets World" is not a particularly good show. But I would say it still has potential. There is a really good show, maybe even a great show here. A diamond in the rough, but there is quite a bit of rough. It only seems fair that I articulate to the best of my ability what I like about this show, and what I do not like about this show.
THE LESSONS
It goes without saying that one of the best things about Boy Meets World, the original show, was its life lessons, taught primarily by Mr. George Feeny, but also by Alan Matthews and Jonathan Turner.
At the moment, "Girl Meets World" has a mixed record on delivering messages. It usually has its heart in the right place; even mediocre episodes usually have a halfway-decent message.
That being said, there have been a fair few times I've disagreed with the message, so it wouldn't be a good idea to ignore it all together.
Ordinarily, I would say that we are more inclined to like what we already agree with, or else be more forgiving of something that is objectively of poor quality but we can appreciate the message. I still think this is true in many cases--I like the faith-based films "Courageous" and "The Ultimate Gift," even though I can recognize they aren't very good.
But with "Girl Meets World," I've come to the conclusion that there are several episodes that are just not good and that the messages they are trying to tell cannot be effectively communicated. "Commonism" is the most notable of these--I can appreciate and agree with the notion that individualism is an important part of a free society, but the episode is just not good.
There have also been a fair few times, though not particularly often, where I disagreed with the message entirely. Sometimes, the episode was just bad which did the message no favors, "Crazy Hat" for example. But there were two episodes in particular, one from each season, that have set me on edge.
"Popular" has cultural appropriation as the means by which the message "Be Yourself" is told and I have to say...I didn't like the message. If Cory was Fox News in "Commonism," then he was MSNBC here. Usually, when a kid's show has a character change in order to be popular, then they start behaving badly towards their friends. Riley acted...eccentric, but I don't remember her actually ignoring Maya. If anything, she probably felt closer to her bubbly ray of sunshine in this episode than anywhere else early in Season One. And Cory was definitely out of bounds in how he humiliated her to make his point during the Spelling Bee--that's something I agreed with Christian about in his review...which was actually the very first episode review he posted. It just feels...wrong.
I also wasn't particularly fond of "Rules." It's not that I don't think that moderation and balance aren't generally good ideas, but this...schism, for severe want of a better word, has to do with behavior rather than actual habits. Too much studywork or too much leisure might have been better, or perhaps acknowledging that sometimes the right thing to do is to break rules, if they prevent someone from doing something good. Instead we just get Maya leading the class like a pack of wild animals, and it's a bad thing because....well, no real reason is given.
What it boils down to, I suppose is delivery. How can somebody effectively convey a message. I made this same point back in "Bay Window," that the show often paints with too broad a brush
That's the problem with the Lessons as far as I'm concerned, but there have been a few really good lessons. I gave "Meets Farkle" some more thought. I actually think the episode is the best of the "Afterschool Special Episodes" that started after "Yearbook" because of how pointed its message is. Farkle and Isadora are both preoccupied by the labels they're given: "Genius" and "Autistic." Cory Matthews destroys this way of thinking, telling his class that all of them are human, labels or not, and as such are all entitled to the basic level of human dignity. In a time when labels are nearly omniscient, I actually adore that message--human dignity.
Moving on to characters then. I think it may be a good idea to talk about each character individually.
CHARACTERS--THE KIDS
Riley Matthews:
The star of the show, and sadly, one of the least developed. This is particularly frustrating. Cory, by himself, was never the most interesting of blokes in the early seasons of Boy Meets World. What mattered was that he had a unique relationship with each of the other main cast members. While it isn't entirely fair to say that Riley has the exact same relationship with each of her friends, the dynamics are a bit more homogeneous, which weakens the show somewhat. It doesn't help matters that thy operate as a quartet or a quintet. Too large a group dilutes the character interactions--we saw this firsthand in the latter seasons of BMW.
Moving on to Riley proper, I actually think the writers really blew it with making Riley's most defining characteristic her crush on Lucas. I have words to say about Lucas but all in good time.
So, what is Riley's second most-defining trait? She wants people to be happy, and more to the point, she wants people to be the best that they can be at what makes them happy. This has been one of her traits since as far back as "Meets the Truth."
And that's actually a great thing to have, if Riley's most defining trait had been her desire to make the people she cares about be their best person, then we could have had a show that wasn't only a sequel to BMW, but it could have harkened back to the best animated show from the 90s, "Hey Arnold!"
Not that long ago, somebody proposed that Riley and Maya are not actually all that different, and that the notion that they are "day and night" has become yet another case of "Show, don't tell." I must disagree. Maya is a fundamentally different person than Riley in several ways, the most notable of which is in how they interact with their friends. Unlike Riley, Maya has not, to my recollection, ever encouraged any of her friends to actually try to better themselves. Or try anything new at all, really. Maya has resisted the possibility of her friends changing every single time it's been a plot point.
Sometimes I've agreed with her--however beneficial it's been for Farkle to settle down in "Yearbook", Maya had every right to be hostile to the idea that her friends had been treated so badly that they wanted to completely reinvent who they were. And I was somewhat sympathetic to her concerns in "Texas." S
Sometimes, I have disagreed with her hostility to change--"Bay Window," for example, and also, maybe even especially, "Popular." Say what you will about the episode in itself (I liked the first half a lot, but the second half is just plain terrible), it doesn't take much for me to conclude that one of the reasons Riley doesn't have many hobbies is because Maya didn't share them and pressured her to quit, whether it was a new book series or a tv show or a club.
You can boil it all down to a defense mechanism, and that Maya responds with hostility to change due to her father's abandonment, but it is something that needs to be addressed.
Moving on, I can say that I'm not quite as engaged in Maya's story as I was in Shawn's, for the very important reason that she isn't nearly as sympathetic. While everyone responds to conflict in different ways, and as such I'm not sure it'd be fair to compare Maya's home life to Shawn's, there's no question that Maya has significantly more outside help. Mr. Feeny and Mr. Turner were willingly to help as far as their professional distance would allow, and it was only when things got dire that Jonathan Turner took Shawn in.
Cory and Topanga have been in Maya's corner from the very beginning, with Cory giving her far too much leeway in his classroom. And Riley bends over backwards for Maya, almost always doing whatever she says.
Maya's also objectively a worse person than Shawn. She's perfectly comfortable with stealing, which is something we never saw Shawn do, and I honestly cannot imagine him doing it, if only for fear of the authorities, but also a respect for boundaries.
Maya also encourages her friends to partake with her bad behavior--"Rules" and "Commonism" come readily to mind. And unlike Cory and Shawn's mischief, which was mostly of the Fred-and-George nature of tomfoolery (For context, Milestones, you'd have to read Harry Potter), Maya's actions are more along the lines of a disregard for anything that she finds inconvenient, and she doesn't seem to care if anyone else gets hurt because of it--suppose someone had gotten hurt in "Rules" because Maya was leading the class like a pack of wild animals.
How can I root for someone who refuses to do anything she finds inconvenient, when doing the right thing IS what's inconvenient, and the only way to GROW as a person is to face inconvenient things and conquer them?
Topanga called Maya the "strongest" of Riley's group of friends in "Legacy." I honestly can't comprehend that.
Mind you, I don't hate Maya Hart. I LIKE that there's a character whose ACTIONS provoke emotion in me. But this does need to be addressed.
I hate Lucas Friar. He is the physical manifestation of everything wrong with this show. He is a piece of plastic. I have never disliked a main character on any show I've ever watched more than I dislike Lucas Friar. The end.
Okay, okay. I have to at least attempt some objectivity.
I do not like the fact that I enjoy Lucas most when he's throwing a tantrum over not having a clue what to do in the love triangle (However funny it was, the fact remains that I enjoy Riley and Maya least when they're stuck in the triangle. The same cannot be said for Friar). I'm not sure when I started to really dislike Lucas as a character. Maybe it was "Yearbook," or at least reflecting on "Yearbook." However touching his concern for Farkle was, Lucas's superlative was "Most Likely to Be Okay With Whatever Happens to Him." While there's definitely something to be said for making the best of whatever hand you're dealt, Lucas has by far the fewest challenges of any of the cast, and therefore, he's even harder to root for than Maya.
I've made no secret of my disregard for characters that are introduced immediately to be love interests. Lucas was on the show for approximately eleven seconds before he became Riley's love interest. And on that note, I have NEVER been convinced that Lucas has romantic feelings for Riley.
If nothing else, Lucas was aware that Riley liked him back in "Sneak Attack." It is a near certainty that he did not like her back, and he never told Riley this directly. I do not know when Lucas started to apparently have romantic feelings for Riley, but in my book, that's actually pretty telling.
Charlie Gardner said that not asking Riley to the Semi-formal for ten months was a bit disrespectful, and I completely agree.
Romance aside, and I am loath to think I devoted so much space to romance when it is my least favorite aspect of the show, Lucas doesn't really do much.
He almost always sides with Cory the Teacher when there's some sort of really moralistic lesson being taught. Albeit, in high school, I tended to side with the teachers, so I can actually sympathize with him in that regard, but the nature of the lessons do not necessarily make this interesting. Stuart Minkus sided with Feeny all the time, but it was interesting, because he revered his teacher.
I should also bring up that to my recollection, Lucas tends to be the last one to get involved when his friends are in trouble and for all his talk about how his friends changed him, I don't buy it. Riley attached herself to him like glue for a YEAR and he had NO idea that she was a rabid Knicks fan. How oblivious to his friends is he?
Actually smiled at getting the Fred and George reference before reading that it's from HP. :)
I agree about Maya. I kinda like her(I think mostly thanks to the actress), but it's very kinda, nowhere near Shawn. I think it would help a lot if they addressed the issues you put forward, like her aversion to change, make her face her flaws, not just blame everything on being poor(ish) and fatherless(ish). This also reminds me that I'd like for the lessons to be more personal to the characters. For the most part they seem brought in artificially by Cory. I thought that Riley's primary characteristic was being a goofy ray of sunshine =P Lucas... at least getting funnier.
And I completely agree about the lack of connection between the characters. Everything feels kinda shallow, apart from the occasional worry for each other. I also think that they often talk too fast, which feels unnatural.
I'm interested in your thoughts on Farkle and the parents. I somehow dislike how Cory and Topanga seem way too positive and carefree for two hardworking adults. The Topanga I remember had something more in her. She could definitely deliver more lessons/advice to Riley.
I should clarify: I like that Maya's actions make me angry. I like that she provokes a reaction. I like Maya, to a point, because she actually feels like a character. We can't overlook environment; Shawn was lower-middle class with a semi-upper middle class friend. Maya is lower-middle class, and has two upper-class friends. I actually did like that scene in "Money," where Maya resolves not to complain about her lot in life. It's a near certainty she won't keep that promise, but as Christian said, that's actually a lesson that WE will always forget ourselves.
Farkle Minkus: Let's give credit where credit is due, folks. For all my complaints, I still have IMMENSE respect for Michael Jacobs allowing Farkle Minkus to have an arc. Literally every other show, and every other show-runner, would have kept him as the comic relief for the entire run. Michael Jacobs also said that he wanted to develop Stuart, all those years ago, but that the studio wanted him to be the "Urkel."
Personally, I think Farkle may be the most engaging of the main cast. He's had an arc, that albeit weakened by the erratic airing of the episodes, that's actually noticeable. He's come to the conclusion that his classroom antics are not as enjoyable as he thought they were and has toned it down. He rarely acts out in class, and he actually contributes relevant information when prompted to speak. I find his relationship with Isadora very sweet, and I look forward to seeing them confront any issues that might come up. Suppose they find balancing schoolwork and a relationship harder in high school.
I like his friendship with Riley. It feels a lot more genuine. Unlike Maya, who's resistant to change, or Lucas, who is fairly oblivious and rather passive, Farkle encourages Riley to grow. He's apparently defected from the Riley Committee, for which he deserves a lot of credit. As Farkle says in "Yearbook", an organism can only thrive if it's allowed to change and grow. And of Riley's friends, he's the most willing to let her grow.
Farkle has his faults, sure. He's stubborn and has a bit of an ego, but there have been episodes where he confronts this. His nature as a report hog is confronted in "STEM."
He's a main cast member people, so I can't exactly ignore him.
First, let me say that I like Riley and Auggie's relationship. There's not many sibling relationships that are this amicable on Disney Channel, aside from the sets of twins. And twins, by our nature, tend to be special cases. So I like Riley and Auggie's interactions a lot. It's actually one of my favorite aspects of the show. I just wish that we could see more of it.
I know that Auggie storylines tend to be a bit thinner (But after rewatching some Full House a couple months back, I am NEVER going to complain about Auggie's actor again). But sometimes, simple is good. "Girl Meets Brother" remains one of my very favorite episodes for a reason: It's simple.
That said, I'd like to see a bit of challenge to the Riley-Auggie relationship. I still think there's a lot of value in a "Girl Meets Scapegoat" episode, where Riley takes the blame for something Auggie does, maybe breaking a prized possession of Cory and Topanga's, incurring the wrath of her parents. Alternatively, maybe a sequel to "Girl Meets Brother," where Riley (and Josh) agree to baby-sit Auggie for a longer period of time for Cory and Topanga to get a weekend to themselves, only to realize it really isn't as easy as it looks. It could also harken back to "Uncle Daddy." Go for broke, let there be an episode where, during a tantrum, Auggie snaps that he hates Riley, and it actually really hurts her feelings.
Good Lord, if there was anything that could convince me that Disney Channel is pulling strings with how this show is structured, it's with Cory and Topanga. God knows I hate the love triangle, but I don't think the network has that big an effect there.
Where they almost certainly have an effect, is with the portrayal of parents. Disney Channel, along with the other child-centric cable networks, is not exactly the place to look for great parents.
Part of my irritation is due to the fact that Alan Matthews is one of my very, very favorite television fathers in history. He commanded respect, but was still approachable. He had his share of flaws, but he worked to better himself. He was never a buffoon. I salute Alan Matthews.
Moving on to what we have here:
Topanga Lawrence: It actually makes me very sad that Riley has so little interaction with her mother. They don't have much of a rapport; they don't have any inside jokes; they don't do mother-daughter things together.
Riley calls Topanga "Mommy," which suggests a level of deep affection, but I can count on one hand the number of times I've felt touched watching Topanga interact with her daughter. (To that point, it's one of the reasons I like "Maya's Mother" so much. Topanga putting her arm around Riley's shoulder and saying "It's OUR silly, little weirdo" was very nice. She was saying that Riley was HERS and I like that very much).
I haven't been impressed that Riley doesn't go to her mother for advice very often, though to be fair, since Riley does appear to listen to her parents more often than Cory did at her age, it's entirely possible Topanga would tell her the exact solution to her problem and then there's no episode.
Having said that, I still can't help but think that this is GIRL Meets World. And I really think that the most influential person in a young girl's life, should be her mother. Alan Matthews was instrumental in helping his sons meet the world. Topanga should be instrumental in helping her daughter meet the world.
And for the love of everything holy, drop the Ava storylines. They take up WAY too much time.
Cryptid, my friend, so much to thinking about here, and my after-work brain will be mush for another two weeks plus. I will come back to this. In the interim, thanks.
I would love to see an episode where Riley takes the blame for Auggie.
I like your idea of leaving the kids alone so Cory and Topanga can have a weekend together. I would make the episode about how Riley is growing up and asking Josh questions that he isn't ready to answer/surprised she is asking.
I think that it's important to separate Cory the Teacher from Cory the Father.
Cory the Teacher: Full disclosure. I had a fantastic seventh grade history teacher and a dreadful eight grade history teacher.
Once again, it wouldn't surprise me that Disney Channel has had a hand in preventing Cory from being a serious role model. The vast majority of children's television does not show teachers in a respectful light. That's not really a criticism of Disney, it's more of a complaint against the entire medium. The one teacher who is consistently shown respect on a show aimed at children, to my knowledge, is Mr. Ratburn.
While Cory could never be Feeny, the fact remains that in the pilot, Cory was clearly being written as an authority figure. He was furious with Riley and Maya for their behavior, and they were genuinely devastated that they had let him down. But now, they're only a notch less disruptive than they were in the pilot, and they don't even give it a second thought.
And it has been acknowledged that in the year between the pilot and the remainder of the first season, the show underwent "creative changes."
I bring this up because if there is one thing that Michael Jacobs consistently got right, it was in the importance of education.
Cory the Teacher: This might even be worse than the damned love triangle, and it is one of the aspects of the show that has gotten much worse as the show has gone on. Cory doesn't even try to teach the class anymore, it's all on his daughter and her life.
Cory acting as a father in the classroom can probably be traced back as early as "Popular," if not "Father." In any event, it does not work. They stretch the limits of his role as a history teacher with what h actually teaches--which was certainly a thing with Feeny, but that was part of the joke. Here, we're meant to take this as part of the curriculum.
How much do the kids, apart from Farkle, actually know about history? Do they know the names of Founding Fathers who aren't on a unit of currency? Do they know which Presidents led us in war? DO they know the basic way our government works?
On the whole, I think I gave up on Cory being an effective teacher in "Cory & Topanga." I didn't mind the way Cory set up the lesson; I minded the way he hugged his daughter in a completely inappropriate way given that class was still going on. There was no longer a semblance of professional distance.
One last note on Cory the Teacher. I know I've brought it up before, but I'd be a lot more forgiving of Teacher Cory if he were the English teacher and was trying to tell his daughter what she "needed" to know through various books or short stories. Off the top of my head, "Rules" could have been structured around "Lord of the Flies" or "The Lottery." And "Gravity" already brought up "Our Town." "Hurricane" could be stretched to incorporate "Great Expectations."
The issues with Cory being too involved with his daughter would still be there, but at least I could pretend that Riley's classmates didn't have their education neglected and halfway believe it.
Why isn't this funny? It actually could have been really funny. The entire joke of Feeny being Cory's next-door neighbor was that School followed him home. With the structure they have now, Home follows Riley to school.
Imagine if Cory being a teacher had actually been a source of stress for Riley. Suppose in an early Season One episode, Cory is handing back tests, and Riley did an excellent job, and congratulating her, Cory accidentally calls Riley by a babyish nickname.
Cory the Dad: Outside of the classroom, and when it's not tied into a lesson, I actually don't have much of anything to complain about Cory the Dad. As Christian said, way back in "Girl Meets Popular," Cory's at his best when he's a dorky, overprotective dad. And while we don't see that as much as I'd like, I have no problem with Cory just being Dad.
Cory Dad is awesome and funny. And that's all I have to say about that.
Riley's uncle! Cory's baby brother! An interesting, if under-used character.
We're getting more of him in Season 3. I welcome it with open arms.
Okay, speaking critically, I don't know if we haven't seen Josh enough, as far as Riley's story is concerned, but I do think I would have enjoyed seeing him more. He's part of the family, and more to the point, he isn't up to his eyeballs in horrible classroom antics or this *insert curse word of your choice* love triangle.
Joshua Matthews allows for a fresher dynamic--somebody who's only a few years older than Riley and although well-liked is not an authority figure. He loves his niece and I would like to see this explored--do they have any common interests? Did Josh introduce Riley to his favorite books or movies? I'd settle for Riley's favorite color being purple because it's Josh's favorite too.
I'd also like to see Josh and Riley butt heads. Have Josh take an active dislike to Lucas--the overprotective big brother/cousin/young uncle trope may be old, but darn it, it works. Or maybe throw Josh some responsibility he isn't ready for: it's one thing to walk Riley and Maya home from a party, it'd be quite another if he has to play nurse maid for a (moderately) seriously ill Riley or Auggie.
I want to be clear that I do not hate Zay, but I cannot honestly say that he is a good character. Or even an okay character.
He contributes very little to the plot. Seriously, has he even had a plot-significant conversation with Riley since his introduction?
Zay is almost entirely comic relief, and he didn't get funny until Texas--and he actually was quite funny then, so credit where credit is due. His actor has improved.
Five main students is too bloated--heck, I still think four is too many. BMW succeeded in no small part because it had a Power Trio with Cory, Shawn, and Topanga, and a Duo with Eric and Jason or Jack or Feeny.
So, yeah. I don't really have much to say on Zay. He isn't around enough to get attached to him--for someone who is supposed to be prominent, I have never actually missed him beyond noting his unexplained absence.
Good read Cryptid. One interesting note - they have filmed 10 episodes of season 3 so far - and Josh has not been in any of them. They made a big deal about how he would be back and used more this season, but so far he hasn't been used at all. Now having said that, we don't know if production is in story order, so except for Meets High School things might be subject to showing in an order that gives us some Josh earlier than we might expect based on what we know so far. It is possible that guest star availability may be driving some film dates. It has in the past.
Yeah, I heard that Josh hadn't been in the first few episodes, but with a thirty-episode season, there's still plenty of room. But I do want to see him. And see him interact with Riley.
Having said that, I do think that I would have made an effort to put Josh in the main cast for Season 3--having moved in with Cory and Topanga to go to school. Seriously, he's going to NYU for college: the room and board for that is $25,000 a year.
Setting that aside, so long as the show airs in proper story-telling order, and doesn't stretch the school year to put a virtually impossible amount of stories into a set time frame, I won't complain.
Well I'm sure Alan and Amy can afford Josh's college bills, so having a dorm room would certainly be the option a new college freshman would choose.
As for the school year thing - the issue with GMW is that the seasons start airing in late spring every year but the story starts with the September school year. Let's face it 10 episodes in they should have already passed Halloween as far as story time passes but because that episode won't air until October (and because of what Disney did last year with all the crossovers) it probably will not even be written for several months. Sadly we will undoubtedly have the kids cramming 2/3 of the season before Halloween including the ski lodge episode (which will make no sense because no one skis in New York before November) then have a holiday season episode then at best 4 or 5 episodes after that to conclude the school year. They really should give us some summer episodes to start a season, but then that would really limit the realistic use of the teachers and kids they only see in school.
Eh, I lived at home when I was in college and saved a bunch of money. I would think Josh would consider doing the same--but then again, Eric lived in Jack's Apartment and Cory lived on campus.
It was more a desire to have Josh in more episodes--I want Riley to interact with someone who doesn't have a stake in this damn triangle.
And I am terrified of the school year scenario. This has been an issue in quite a few episodes. The World of Terror episodes...the first one is about as filler as you can get, so it doesn't matter that much when it airs. It can fairly be considered a timepiece.
The mega-crossover is not canon, you hear me?! That abomination is not canon! I would rather watch a recording of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, in which your Mets made my Red Sox a laughing stock, every day for a month, than have "World of Terror 2" be canon.
There are definite issues with continuity and I think Season 2 is worse--Belief, and especially Commonism, aired months after they should have. And I don't think we'd be as disgruntled with this triangle if Texas had aired near the end of the season, rather than having a half dozen episodes that precede it in the storyline air after it.
"New Year" is its own beast, and it wasn't a good idea to have it be plot-significant. If it were just simple filler, then I could write it off.
I'm fond of Isadora, so much so that I will from this point on refer to her by her given name. And I dislike Lucas with such intensity that henceforth I will refer to him by his surname.
What does it say about your show that a character who can barely be called recurring and was little more than a prop in her first two appearances, has a more tangible arc than your lead character and is consistently funnier than the more commonly recurring comic relief?
I like Isadora a /lot/ and I have enjoyed seeing her grow. From her first appearance, in which she was nothing more than Farkle's rival, we have seen her make conscious efforts to make friends with the main cast, and it's worked! One of my favorite moments in "New Year" was when Farkle and Isadora showed up to the party--Isadora warmly greeted Riley with a hug, initiating the physical affection.
And Isadora is also one of the parties to the most consistently funny running gag in this show. I always get at least a chuckle out of her outright refusal to allow Friar to have any romantic feelings, however imagined they are, towards her.
I want to see more from Isadora Smackle in Season 3. I'll get into specifics in due time.
Hi Cryptid, finally have the time to reflect upon and comment on your fascinating thoughts about GMW.
What you said about the show’s potential is interesting. I do think GMW has occasionally lived up to its potential and given us a handful of episode that are great or near-great. But, yeah, there has been lots of terrible stuff. BMW has been pretty uneven too, if not as wildly so.
I don’t usually complain, and it always feels weird to when it is weird enough that I am a viewer. I would still feel very optimistic about GMW but for Money, which they broadcast after a long layoff, then left it in air to linger for a few weeks before following it up with Commonism. I know that these were earlier, out-of-sequence efforts, and if they had been tightly sandwiched between better episodes I would feel differently. But that was quite the one-two punch to suffer through, the opposite of Yearbook and Semi-Formal.
I didn’t grow up with BMW—there weren’t shows like BMW or GMW when I was a kid. At my age I’m not looking for lessons and don’t have much to say about the series on that score, though I appreciate your thoughts. I was especially intrigued by your comments on Poplar. It ‘s not an episode I’ve been back to for a while, but I remember being of two minds about Cory’s Harajuku riff, and I don't think I was familiar with the term "cultural appropriation" then. It seemed like the strongest character moment I had seen from him at that point in time. But, I was also glad he wasn’t hanging around Memphis or Liverpool in the 50s.
I’m with you about Cory’s treatment of Riley in that episode. I saw it too in the scene in the hallway outside the apartment (Farkle’s? Before they decided he was rich?) where the geek party was taking place, when both he and Maya were gleefully anticipating what that had to understand would be a crushing moment for Riley. It seemed all wrong.
I watch GMW pretty much exclusively for the characters. Following your example, I will take a break and come back to that later. Maybe.
Ah Milestones! I've been looking forward to your response for some time now! Lovely to hear from you again, my friend.
I see a lot of potential in GMW, due mostly to Riley, Farkle, and Maya. These characters have flaws, I still want to see them grow up. Lucas, on the other hand, I want to see get eaten by a tyrannosaurus. Or stepped on by a three-hundred-story fighting robot.
Boy Meets World had its fair share of misses, but it had plenty of hits--I think this is due in no small part to Bill Daniels insisting that George Feeny be treated with respect. I shudder to think of what Feeny would say if he saw Cory's classroom--Cory would be in Big-Boy Detention for the rest of his life.
On Popular, I'm definitely in two minds--now, I didn't have a problem with Cory teasing Riley in the hallway. She gloated about being invited to what she thought was the Cool Party, and she made jokes at her father's expense. And then it blew up in her face. So it made sense to me--there were plenty of times when Alan and Amy let Cory get his just deserts.
But when Cory started scolding her on cultural appropriation, it gave me pause. I didn't know very much about the issue when the episode first aired, but I am a bit more familiar with it now. And I've grown to hate the very idea of getting outraged over "cultural appropriation" in the first place.
My initial reservations were along the lines of "Cory, shouldn't you wait until you get home? And wait a second, didn't you notice how Riley was dressed in the first place?"
When Cory embarrassed Riley at the Spelling Bee, it left me a little uneasy. Cory and Maya object to her wardrobe, but that was basically all Riley changed. She acted a bit geekier and a little more obnoxious, but she didn't do anything else Japanese--didn't speak any words, didn't eat any Japanese foods, didn't follow any other customs.
And then there's the notion that Riley would have looked exactly the same in that outfit if she were mimicking the style of a character from an anime she watched at the Geek Party.
Notably, Cory didn't say a darned thing to Topanga, and one could easily make the argument that Topanga appropriated from Native Americans and Buddhists and who knows what else to a far greater degree than Riley ever did.
It gets worse, the more you look into the rabbit hole when people trumpet the evils of cultural appropriation--something I do NOT recommend.
Part of it might also has to do with my worldview. I have always loved that America is a melting pot.
I borrowed this comment from a related thread on the blog of my favorite author. It sums of my feelings nicely:
Here in the [United States and Canada] we have a government from the Greeks by way of the Romans by way of the British. We speak that b*st*ard tongue of all languafes, English. Our religion is Jewish by way of the Romans with a Reformation from the Germans. Our provinces and states have names taken from the Native Americans. We don’t care who your ancestors were. We’re bound by ideas instead of blood. Cultural appropriation? How could we *not* be?
So, yeah. I'm fine with having my point-of-view challenged, but I would prefer to be treated as an adult. GMW did not do so in that regard, and ironically, I am now far more inclined against the message of "Popular" than I would have ever been had it never aired.
One of the themes of Girl Meets World appears to be "When being right is more important than being friends, then that's the end of being friends."
That was first stated by Maya in "Meets Mr. Squirrels" and while it has never been mentioned verbatim, there are several episodes where it seems to be a factor. The irony of Maya being the one who states it, and then consistently being the one to threaten to sever the friendship when she doesn't get her way is not lost on me.
Interestingly, I think this blog has done a better job at that idea than the show itself.
We've all disagreed plenty of times, on the merits of episodes' morals, on the objective quality of the episodes themselves, on the character dynamics, but we've managed to keep things quite civil.
Personally, I feel quite enriched by the friendships that I've developed here. For that, if nothing else, I am grateful for GMW.
Cryptid, my friend, it is so good to be conversing with you again. I wish it were about a topic on which I had a firmer grasp and episode I remembered better.
When I was in kindergarten—there is a picture of this, I have no reliable memory—we made costumes that were cartoonish representations of the traditional attire of those we now call indigenous people. It wouldn’t happen now, not in a public classroom, and I don’t think that is a bad thing. But, I don’t look back at that with any sense of shame or outrage. I’m usually not a big fan of outrage.
I first encountered the term “cultural appropriation” about six months ago, when there was a kerfuffle up here over the cancellation of a yoga class at a university. It seemed silly, was resolved quickly, and I didn’t think too much about it after. I might have connected it to Cory’s brief speech in Popular, but maybe not.
I liked the speech because it seemed real and heartfelt, even if aspects of its wisdom were debatable. I thought Riley’s lack of understanding of the significance of her attire was the issue. I assumed Cory was providing correct information about that. After greater exposure to his classroom scenes, that’s not an assumption I would make now. I’m bad at the internet and when trying to find out for myself came up mostly with Gwen Stefani (maybe that’s what they are on about with this).
I liked what you said about the civility of this blog. I don’t really have an interest in delving much deeper into this topic. If it happened anyway, there would be probably some differences in our thinking that opened up (cultural differences maybe, but that would make my head spin). But we would handle it just fine.
This place makes my life better. Christian and Sean make my life better. The people here make my life better. Cryptid, personally, you make my life better. Thanks.
Oh yeah, characters. Maybe tomorrow, or on the weekend.
Likewise, Milestones. I am proud to call you my friend.
The thing with Popular, I think, is that it was the first episode that really dropped the ball in its third act. You're right, there's really nothing more to say on that episode specifically, but it does point to a larger problem overall.
There are several episodes that start out promising but I find the ending unsatisfactory--"Demolition" is probably the most noteworthy, or "Creativity" for that matter. Good ideas bogged down for whatever reason.
I'm fine with an episode that starts weak, and ends strong--"Meets Mr. Squirrels" comes to mind; Topanga knocked it out of the park with the whole Amazon Warrior/Short Stack of Pancakes bit. I'm happy with an episode that has only one weak link throughout when everything else is fine--"Brother" is a little cheesy, but darn it, I love it anyway. "Me and Mr. Joad" from the original show is similar--when Cory and Shawn do their little protest, it's pretty cringe-inducing, but Mr. Turner and Alan and Amy and Mr. Feeny squash the protest like a bug, so I like the episode quite a bit.
I gotta get to work, but rest assured, I'll be back.
To get the full experience, then yes, I would say so.
"Civil War" is the thirteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise (Seriously, they'll be talking about these movies for a century--they have films planned till 2029). Of the films I would say are necessary to see before "Civil War"? Hmmm...that would be Captain America: The First Avenger, Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Avengers: Age of Ultron. Nothing else is vital, in my opinion.
And let me say, that film was AWESOME! I'M SHOUTING AGAIN AND I DON'T CARE! TEAM CAP! TEAM CAP! TEAM CAP!
I gave my thoughts on Zay, and since Ava has appeared in at leas as many episodes, I can't exactly ignore her.
Next to Friar, I think Morgenstern may be my least favorite character.
They attempted to make Auggie's friendship with Ava be a mini-Cory-and-Topanga.
It. Did. Not. Work.
Ava exists as a character that gives Topanga something to do. And I don't think it does Topanga's character justice--we rarely see Topanga interact with her daughter (granted, if Riley went to Topanga for help more often, she'd likely end up at a reasonable solution to her problem much more quickly) but we've seen Ava probably a dozen times.
If we have to deal with Ava, why can't she serve as a migraine for Riley? Riley adores her little brother. That's a perfect set-up.
More to the point, and possibly more importantly, I do not like Ava because I do not like the way she treats Auggie. They're supposed to be a little couple and it's supposed to be cute. But it isn't. The friendship is almost entirely one-sided, with Ava being a royal brat and Auggie doing everything she says. And Ava is downright mean to Auggie.
Some parts of the fanbase claim that Auggie and Ava are like an old married couple. Fiddlesticks. Ava's entirely mean-spirited. There is no good-natured ribbing or mother-henning in the Auggie/Ava relationship. If anything, the set of friends that bicker like an old married couple are Riley and Maya, and to some degree, especially after "Yearbook," Riley and Farkle.
So if they ever decide to have Auggie break up with Ava, I will be very happy.
My all-time favorite from the entire Feeny-verse. I love Senator Eric Matthews.
What can I say that has already been said a thousand times over? Not that much, at least not as far as Eric is concerned. He's content in his personal life; he's close to his brother, and presumably the rest of his family; he's making a real difference in the world.
I'd love to see more of Eric, but that will boil down to how much Will wants to be on camera. I'd love to see Eric interact with Riley and Auggie. I want to see him be Silly Uncle Eric.
I also think it may be interesting to see a bit of Eric trying to save the world, but I'll get into a few more details soon.
Once again, everything I can think of to say on this character has already been said. Much of my commentary on Shawn mirrors Sean and Christian's, so there's not much to add.
Shawn's awesome. I miss him. Where is he? Has Cory booked a chapel early for Shawn and Katy to get married?
In all seriousness, I do want more from Shawn. I want Shawn to play with Cory and Topanga again. I want Shawn to meet Jonathan Turner again. I want Shawn to meet Stuart Minkus and promptly revert to an eleven-year-old. I want Shawn to reunite with Jack, but for things not to go so smoothly--I got an idea for that one; it won't happen, of course, but it's fun to speculate. And I want to see Shawn grow in his relationship with Katy.
Cryptid - I agree with your assessment of Katy, but I think you are too hard on Ava, as you are on Lucas.
While Ava in season 1 was certainly just as you described her, in season 2 Ava has started to change. She has done some things to help Auggie that do not serve her agenda at all, showing that she does indeed value him as a friend (disguising him from the bully in Commonism, helping him get better at soccer). I'm sure that her character was initially written that way for shock value, but also to the extreme so the audience can see her change over time (people change people - the next generation). I do agree though that the Ava and Topanga relationship is much like Maya/Topanga in that both those girls get more meaningful mothering on screen than Riley. Perhaps though it's because they need it more. Maya because her mom is always working and Ava because her mom Judy is a shrew. I believe I read somewhere that Ava's dad leaves so she will probably need more parenting from the Matthews as time goes on.
Concerning Shawn - I believe so far he has appeared in "Upstate", where they go to his cabin and in the recently completed "I Do". Hopefully we will see more of him in season 3 than we did in the first two seasons, but most of this is due to Rider not wanting to appear on camera. Jacobs has repeatedly said they would use him more if he wanted to appear.
As for Shawn and Katy - here is a picture from the recent filming of "Girl Meets I Do" https://www.instagram.com/p/BFC5jjiiNat/?taken-by=makeluck - not sure if it means what we might want it to mean, but people at the taping said there was a wedding. I have seen conflicting reports however concerning who is getting married.
Also Jacobs has said that Shawn and Turner will reunite, though he didn't say what season it will happen in.
Ah, 1960, lovely to hear from you again, friend. It's been quite a while.
Perhaps you are right in that I was too harsh on Ava, but the fact remains that she remains a fairly prominent recurring character, and contributes very little to the story beyond giving Topanga something to do, and that eats up valuable time that Riley could interact with her mother.
As for Friar, I might have channeled my frustrations about the show in general onto him. Whether it was fair or not, the fact remains that I have zero interest in watching Friar grow, I dislike him intensely for his role in the Love Triangle--however frustrated I am with Riley and Maya for behaving the way they do, Friar could and should have nipped this in the bud. And then there's the notion that he claims his friends have changed him, when we see literally nothing supporting this--Friar's development this season has largely been due to Zay, and from my point of view, that basically means we're just seeing Old Texas Friar.
As for Shawn, I acknowledge that Rider is not particularly fond of being on camera--possibly because he doesn't want to be type-casted--but the fact remains that the show is generally on a high note whenever Shawn's around. And I would like to see Shawn have at least one episode independent of developing his relationship with Katy.
I am glad to hear your thoughts though. And congrats, Mr. Mets fan--Bartolo Colon, one of the Mets pitchers hit a home run the other night. I despise the Mets (Red Sox fan. 1986 still hurts), but credit where credit is due, that's something you don't see every day.
Hey Cryptid, I never developed much animosity towards Lucas either. A good part of that would be due to jumping into GMW during Season 2. New World and Secret of Life were early episodes for me after Pluto, either in repeat or because our Family Channel would further jumble airing order, and they gave the character at least some interest. (Seeing 1961 in close proximity to Secret of Life added a bit to that, while also giving a probably wrong read on how much ideas and events in one episode would be informing future episodes.)
Beginning GMW from the beginning certainly would have resulted in a much different first impression of Lucas. Except, in that case, I might have fled at the introduction of the Farkle character.
I liked your thoughts on Farkle, and think he is easily the most improved character. I wouldn’t watch the show for just for him though, and will always be principally interested in Riley and Maya. It’s too hard for me to be objective with those two.
About Maya, I did want to say that for me her negative/darker characteristics make her more intriguing—I mean, if I can “like” Tony Soprano or even Dexter Morgan, it shouldn’t be hard to like Maya Hart. Mostly though, I just like her. I was interested in your contrast with Shawn. What I got out of BMW, only having seen one episode more than once, was that Shawn at some point may have had some involvement in and certainly had knowledge of his family’s criminal activity. I may get a different read on a second viewing.
A whole lot of agreeing about Shawn and Katy.
As far as Ava and Auggie go, they work best in small doses and not with each other. I kind of like Ava, but not with Auggie, and when I have liked Auggie he had been interacting with Riley. The problem is they almost always devote a B story to them together, so not only are they going to suck, they are going to chew up a fair bit of screen time sucking.
Oh, I don't think Maya's a bad character at all, really. Farkle may have had the most pronounced arc, but Maya's probably the most well-developed character. Simply put, it's a lot easier for me to think of things Maya likes and dislikes than Riley or Friar...okay, okay, I give. Lucas can have his name back.
On that note, I didn't become particularly disenchanted with Maya until this whole Love Triangle mess. Before Texas, we had Hurricane and Creativity and technically speaking Forgiveness, which was set before--while I wasn't overly fond of Creativity (In what world would Jonathan Turner allow students to show such disrespect to authority figures?), it was very nice to see Maya further develop her passion. And Hurricane allows Maya to develop her dour worldview into a more optimistic one--though I do agree that the big YAY didn't do much. And well, we all said our bit on Forgiveness.
It's not that I dislike Maya, it's more that I find that she restricts the plot, with her resistance to change, just as often as she advances it. And while Cory and Topanga are to be lauded for reaching out to help Maya, it does make Maya harder to root for--Shawn had a lot further to reach and up until he went to live with Mr. Turner, a fraction of the support.
And now Maya's stuck in this Triangle, which takes away valuable time from the entire show's story.
Harley appeared in only four episodes (Ava's been in at least a dozen), and while I enjoyed him immensely, what more is there to say? He's done his bit, and while he definitely left an impact, I don't know what I can say about him. Cory's old bully reformed, Cory got him a custodial position (which raises the question of how long Cory's been a teacher), and he's a fierce supporter of the Fine Art electives.
I suppose you could argue Harley works for the whole "People Change People" bit, but that doesn't work very well, since most of Harley's change was off-screen. For comparison's sake, look at Frankie Stechino. He went from thug, to reluctant muscle, to a poet, to somebody close enough to Cory that they broke bread together at Thanksgiving. People change people indeed.
While Harley could conceivably return in Season 3 (It's the same district, so it's hardly a stretch to imagine Harley pulling a shift at the High School), I have no real reason for him to return.
That's not to say I didn't enjoy every minute Harley was on-screen, Sean. Perish the thought, I love Janitor Harley. But his story is over.
Okay, I've left my take on just about every character. Have I forgotten anyone?
Riley's grandparents:
They're awesome. Where are they? I miss them.
Yeah, that pretty much sums up everything remotely related to characters on an individual basis at least.
I guess I might as well move on. I have some more stuff to say, more specifically things I would like to see. We've thrown around ideas before, and with Season 3 looming on the horizon, things do seem to becoming to a head.
So what would I like to see? The same question was posted to Reddit a few weeks ago.
Girl Meets Scapegoat:
I've had this idea since "Girl Meets Fish."
When Auggie takes Topanga's necklace to school and then loses it, Riley covers for him, incurring the wrath of her parents. Topanga is livid and behaves very coldly towards Riley. Riley's sick with guilt from lying to her parents.
Girl Meets Responsibility:
As an anniversary present to Cory and Topanga, Riley and Josh offer to baby-sit Auggie for an entire weekend, only to discover that parenting is not nearly as easy as it looks. I had "Uncle Daddy" in mind when this idea came to me--God I love that episode; I think it may have been the first one I watched that made me realize that Eric Matthews was someone special to watch.
Girl Meets Mother:
It's Take-Your-Daughter-to-Work Day, and Riley follows Topanga around the law firm and sits in at a trial, where Topanga leads the case. Opposing her is Jack Hunter, who is defending the company he represented back in "Semi-formal." Riley learns that Jack is Shawn's half-brother and Jack is terrified to be facing Topanga.
Girl Meets Master Plan 2:
In an attempt to get Uncle Shawn to reconcile with his half-brother, Jack Hunter, Riley enlists her Uncle Eric's help. Jack is wiling to make amends but an outraged Shawn tears into Riley, fracturing their relationship. The consequences are long-term.
Girl Meets Baby:
The classic Take-Care-Of-The-Baby Project. Riley is paired with Farkle and their baby malfunctions and is unable to stop crying. Maya is outraged when Lucas loses their baby on the subway.
Hey Cryptid, catching up a bit here. I don’t think the Triangle has done any of the characters any favours, and I won’t miss it when it goes (or is revealed to be a Tesseract or something). But, and I’m sure I’ve said this before, I’ve liked the Triangle episodes just fine—Legacy being the exception.
It’s stuff like Money and Communism that have undercut my enthusiasm for GMW. Every show has its bad episodes, but they need to make fewer of them and make them not quite so bad. If they have a decent episode going, they need to stop doing stuff like having the kids put on a show or allowing Yogi to choose the manner of his own death. Of course, what I want out of GMW wouldn’t and shouldn’t be of any concern to them.
I get entirely what you are saying about how these episodes end. A little less stumbling off the stage would help.
It’s been about a year since I was roped into GMW by Pluto and about six months since I saw an episode I thought was great. The pickings have been slim in 2016. I came around eventually on STEM and found a way, against all odds, to like Bay Window. New Year was the last episode I just flat-out enjoyed. But I’m hopeful about Season 3, though, and remain a sensationally unlikely fan of the show.
So I finished BMW. Season 7 was my least favourite of the series, immediacy bias probably being at play there. A finale that seemed mostly to be a two-part clip-episode probably would have worked better if I had watched the series of over seven years, or however long it took to cycle through on Saturday mornings. But damn if they didn’t get me by the throat right at end.
Milestones! It has been almost a year, hasn't it? And you've finally finished BMW. Season 7, your least favorite? That's a commonly held opinion around these parts. Sean, Christian, Shipping, myself...we could go on for some time here.
Tesseract? I thought you mentioned that you hadn't seen of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.
It really does go down to endings a lot of the time.
I like Money, in spite of Mark Cuban's nonsense. But better him, or Stuart for that matter, than them than Evelyn Rand, the random billionaire.
The Triangle has its share of issues in itself: three out of four of the leads are invested in it in a romantic sense. If Riley were in a Triangle with Lucas and Charlie (Or any other non-main male character really, what matters is that Male Y isn't part of the regular Group), I don't think any of us would be opposed.
I still maintain hope. There is a very good show nestled somewhere deep inside GMW. "Yearbook," "Pluto," and "Semi-formal" are proof of that. If they can find that magic again, and maintain it, I will be very happy.
Anything specific you'd like to see happen this year, friend? I want to see more of Riley just being with her family--which is what I had in mind with "Meets Responsibility" and "Meets Mother."
And about that time capsule...I inclined to think that it was actually buried shortly after their high school graduation. I just can't see Topanga putting in the Lauren Letter in a capsule after their wedding.
Milestones, you mentioned a while back that you were here for the characters, rather than the lessons.
An interesting position, since I'm not sure it's possible, at least in this show, to separate them.
With that in mind, I would like to see the characters butt heads more often. I like arguments and I like reconciliation.
That's one of the things so frustrating--when these kids fight, it often seems really petty. While Cory and friends had their share of petty squabbles, there was also a fair number of really hurtful actions. With GMW, it's along the lines of "You guys are friends, why are you fighting?" With BMW, every so often it was "You guys are friends--why did you do this?"
One of the best episodes of BMW in this regard is "Wake Up, Little Cory." Cory and Topanga's feud was a deep wound--I personally wouldn't have held it against Topanga if she refused to speak to Cory again--and it makes their reconciliation at the end of the episode that much sweeter.
Compare that to STEM--it was the most recent episode with a fight between the kids, so it's the freshest in my memory. I've warmed to the episode somewhat, but it's still far from my favorite. The schism is much wider, dividing the entire class in two, and thus it doesn't feel nearly as personal, so it's harder to get invested. It doesn't help matters that Riley doesn't actually say the words "I'm sorry" to Farkle.
That being said, aside from the Yogi-Sacrifice bit "STEM" is head and shoulders above an episode like "Friendship" where the fight between the kids is boring or "Crazy Hat," where it is cartoonishly over-the-top.
So let interpersonal dynamics be explored. Let there be a fight that's real, but allows for genuine reconciliation.
Hmm. Been reading for a while, finally felt the urge to respond. The time capsule is messed up. I have problems seeing Topanga keeping a letter from Lauren to Cory at all, keeping right throughout their break-up, holding on to it after then until the time capsule. But it can't be just after Graduation, as Shawn states that it was -after- Angela left him, which didn't happen till very late in Season 7. Why would Topanga keep a letter that broke them up about 2 years after they got back together? Dunno, but that seems to be the only way it makes sense.
I don't believe we've met, Will von Roekel. How ya doin'?
Oh yeah, after Angela left him--so it definitely can't be Season 6, since Shawn left Angela when they started college.
It was Topanga's idea for Riley to put some of her possessions (Beary the Bear Bear and Lucas' stupid shoe that her parents really should have made her return by now) into a memory box. It wouldn't surprise me if Topanga put the letter into a box right after she broke up with Cory as a reminder not to get back together with him. Why she kept it after they got back together, I have no idea, but the same logic applies with the Lawrence Divorce Love is Dead arc.
Also, why the hell did they bury that capsule in Feeny's yard? And why the hell didn't Eric put anything in?
Naah, we haven't met. As I said, I've been reading her for a while, finally made a comment.
I guess. I dunno, do you really want to hold on to past mementoes of a love that you thought was the one, when they betrayed you? And if that was the case, why wasn't she pulling it out when at the art gallery and being all tormented about whether to go on that date with a new guy? Unfortunately, it's why individual episodes of their romance really work for me, but some episodes I have to just ignore if I'm to buy into it (which I need to for the purposes of GMW). Logically, she should have burned that letter the moment they were back together. Unless we're meant to believe she wasn't really sure yet? And she proposed whilst not sure? I get the symbolism, but that seems like something to have done before their marriage.
Cryptid—you are correct about the characters and the lessons being intertwined on GMW. I just respond far more to the one thread.
Rules was an episode I think I liked better than you did, but probably not by that much. The beginning was fun, with the ring-power call back and the two of them spraying the class with plastic balls. The moment near the end, with Riley outside the door and Maya knowing she would be, might be my favourite of the series. It deserved to be in a better episode, and deserved to be the way an episode ended. In between, the display of the differences between Riley and Maya was not without interest, and I liked some of the exchanges in the hallway. The lesson? People don’t change people? People change people, but the change won’t stick if you aren’t standing side by side? I suppose the lesson is identified in the title. The things I liked about the episode may have been connected to that lesson, but that connection was incidental to my enjoyment of them.
There were some things I liked about Tell-Tale Tot, with Riley in the dorm hallway being a whole lot of fun. The lesson? Never keep your mouth shut and always rat on your friends? Maya is Pinocchio? Always listen to the giant talking tatter tot sitting on your shoulder? I suppose it was simpler than that.
While I’m thinking about Tot, I did want to mention that business with Maya’s feelings about Josh. At the time, when she was “proving” that it wasn’t just a crush, I thought she had just pulled a couple of things out of her ass that she, and we, had seen earlier in the episode, and then forced his hand with a prediction of an escort home. And I thought that impression was deliberate. I’m now more inclined to think it was the writers pulling things out their asses and that they forgot, or ignored, the fact they, just a few lines before, had Josh say that he was staying and the girls were leaving.
Anyway, Cryptid my friend, I think I will break here and come back to your observations and questions a bit later.
It's not that I dislike Rules, per say. It's more that I find its A-plot a little perplexing. Setting aside Cory Puppetmaster nonsense, it doesn't really do much to help its lesson. You need good kids and bad kids to balance each other out? Maya and Riley keep each other relatively centered? I don't get it. Why is it wrong for somebody to abide by the Rules? You'll be bored? Or if you break rules for no other reason than the thrill, you'll get bored? That's not a sufficient reason, not from my point of view.
If they wanted to emphasize balance, with regard to rule-abiding, then they need to be tangible reasons. Why not have Riley confront the idea that sometimes the RIGHT thing to do is to break the rules?
As for Tell-Tale Tot, I agree the message is weak. Riley had the time of her life, and can't tell her parents because she'll get in trouble. That she actually disobeyed them doesn't seem to be as big a factor. As for Maya and Josh, I think your first impression is closer--Josh is a Matthews Man; like Alan, Eric, and Cory before him, he will do what can fairly be called the right thing.
For a hoot, while you're waiting for new episodes, why don't you guys review Nickelodeon's new "School of Rock" series, based on the classic Jack Black movie?
I also wouldn't say, necessarily, that you'd be desecrating the memory of "Boy Meets World" with this blog. "Full House Reviewed!" desecrates the memory of its show. But you and Christian have tried to be fair here, and you've only really turned against GMW when it came to this love triangle which, as a plot point, a lot of people hate on principle.
You should give "School of Rock" a try. It's not as bad as Cryptid456 is saying. I'll let you in on a secret-- it's funnier and more entertaining than the second half of GMW season 2.
My one main critique of the show, is I think they should have considered casting Nickelodeon veteran Jerry Trainer in the Jack Black role instead of the guy they got.
Guys?! Did you see? " Issues like drugs, sex or drinking would be handled by the girls ". <--- Said in interview. BUT, it goes on to say " ... but at the same time, it would also stay within the parameters set by the channel. "
If they talk about sex, I will eat my hat. I could see them do something like caffeine pills if they ever get us the fuck out of this fucking love triangle.
I don't think any of that is likely. Even if this were on ABC, I'd doubt it. Boy Meets World has a shaky record on the darker subject matter, and that's being friendly.
I'd say, just let the kids grow up.
There's plenty to do in a high school environment, I think. Riley and Farkle could be drawn towards honors classes, alienating Maya. Or let there be a teacher who's actually a real jerk. I had a couple of jerk teachers in high school, and damn it if I didn't learn more from them than any of my professors in college.
Your prayer maybe answered as this article states that in season 3 Josh will return while dating in high school will be a central theme. Hopefully they make the dating all dramatic like they've done in Season 2. ‘Girl Meets World' Season 3 Update: Uriah Shelton Is Returning; Plus, Dating Will Be Central Theme - The Bitbag http://www.thebitbag.com/girl-meets-world-season-3-update-uriah-shelton-returning-plus-dating-will-central-theme/146924
It would be kinda funny if the triangle was resolved by Maya getting with Josh and Riley falling for Charley or some new guy, leaving Lucas single and either drowning in attention from random girls in school or getting sulky because girls kinda ignore him and he's not used to it =P
Semi-semi GMW-related, guys, but it is certainly interesting.
Apparently, in an effort to promote the newest Disney Channel Original Movie, "Further Adventures in Baby-sitting," starring Sabrina Carpenter as the lead role, Disney Channel is airing a marathon of its DCOMs, including some of the more obscure titles over Memorial Day Weekend.
Cryptid - the first 10 minutes of Adventures in Babysitting will air Friday night June 3rd - after the season premiere for GMW season 3. Meets High School part 2 should be airing Sunday night June 5th. Then I believe we get new episodes on June 10th and June 17th. On June 24 Adventures in Babysitting premiers followed by Disney's newest show Bizaardvark.
And after the top 51 DCOMs air over Memorial Day weekend the other 48 will be aired between then and the Adventures in Babysitting premiere (Adventures in Babysitting is the 100th DCOM. Disney is ranking them and showing them all in celebration). So if you want to catch any DCOM ever, it will be shown at least once in that 5 week period, some several times.
Oh, my God. I loved Tru Confessions. Back when Disney Channel movies actually focused on real life issues and subject matter. Also, The Color of Friendship was another one I particularly liked.
That was quite a promo...I'm wondering if they gave away too much.
On the one hand, I am delighted to see Isadora. But the group has grown to six members, and once the ensemble gets that large, it really starts to stretch itself thin.
The "Getting Lost in the Crowd of New Students" is an old joke, but there's a reason it's stuck around for the better part of three decades. It's pretty darn funny.
Unfortunately, there's a helluva lot of Triangle stuff, from the looks of it.
And the Wham! bit at the end...considering I never bought this love story, and have grown to intensely hate Friar, I am looking forward to seeing it be addressed.
The opening where Riley and Maya open the doors and hit the other freshmen is a direct replaying of how Cory and Shawn did it in the season 2 opener of BMW.
First tweet in 6 weeks - Girl Meets Writers @GMWWriters · 4 hours ago
Working hard. Half the season ready. Very proud. Back next week to start two-part ski lodge. Oh, 'member how the show begins? That's over.
So looks like they are saying the intro will change. I had read that the cast all went to a secret LA location Easter week to shoot it. Might be something akin to BMW season 5-7.
Maybe it'll be shorter. A long time ago, Sean looked into the lengths of the episodes and he noticed that the Seasons 2-4 episodes were slightly longer, due to their abbreviated intro. Sean also suggested that the extra thirty-to-sixty seconds added to the show, by virtue of the shorter intro, allowed for a little wiggle room in the delivery of the messages.
Whether this will mean anything in the long run is up for debate, but in a 22-minute show, every second counts.
While waiting for the new season of GMW to start, I thought I'd entertain you with my ranking of the current Disney & Nick sitcoms. I enjoy all these shows. I find most prime time broadcast network sitcoms are filthy and perverted, so the only shows I watch are "Last Man Standing", "Dr Ken", "Big Bang Theory" and "Undateable". The rest for me are the Disney & Nick shows. I started to watch the new show "Crowded", since it features Nick alum Miranda Cosgrove, but I was disappointed to find it has the same sex jokes as other sitcoms, most likely plagiarized from porn films.
So, on to the ranking, counting down, with #1 being the best currently in production and on the air.
14- Game Shakers (Nick) - Weak attempt by Nick to recreate their bygone super-hit iCarly, and fails.
13- KC Undercover (Disney Channel)- An attempt to create an epic spy-comedy that more often than not fails under its own weight.
12- Nicky, Ricky Dicky and Dawn (Nick) - Kind of cute sitcom about quints that look nothing alike (one looks like a different ethnicity). Might be at the end of its run, as Dawn is starting to out mature the 3 boys.
11- BUNK'D (Disney Channel)- sequel to Jessie, I hated this show early on, but it's starting to grow on me... hopefully not like a wart.
10- Lab Rats Elite Force (DIsney XD) -the combined sequel to Lab Rats and Mighty Med. Not as good as either of it's predicessors, but it does have two of the hottest Disney girls, Kelli Berglund and Paris Berloc, making it worth watching.
9- Gamers Guide to Pretty Much Everything (DIsney XD) - Similar yet different premise to Game Shakers, but Disney scores much better with thier version.
8- Liv and Maddie (DIsney Channel) - IMO, an average sitcom. Not a disaster, but nothing special either.
7- The Thundermans (NIck)- Nick's attempt to recreate Wizards of Waverly Place. A strong cast and decent scripts make it work.
6- Girl Meets World (Disney Channel) - If this were season 1 or the first half of season 2, this show would be #1 or 2. But it crashed and burned badly in the second half of season 2. Maybe season 3 can recover, but I'm not holding my breath. Advance word is that it will continue down the path of "dramedy", which was one of the problems of the second half of season 2.
5- Best Friends Whenever (Disney Channel)- a fun gimmick show that started out strong, but, like KC Undercover, is starting to give itself too much weight. The two girls are really cute, though, and are great performers. The girl who plays Shelby looks like a teenage Margot Robbie.
4- Stuck in the Middle (Disney Channel) - Disney's newest show is a multi-camera shoot, and so far has shown high quality. Could be the show that kills GMW if the latter can't recover in season 3.
3- Bella and the Bulldogs (Nick)- fun show about a girl on the football team.
2- School of Rock (Nick) - many fans of the movie hate this show because it's different from the movie, but I think it's still very funny and entertaining. Tomika the young bass player, Breanna Yde, has got a real voice on her.
1- Henry Danger (Nick) - A superhero spoof that is perhaps the funniest sitcom on either Disney or Nick at the moment.
Honorable mention to I Didn't Do It, one of the better shows on Disney that didn't catch on and was cancelled prematurely. Had it not been cancelled, it would be in the top 3.
On a tangent, since the Monkees appeared on BMW, just thought I'd mention, in case you were unaware, the Monkees have released a new single in honor of their 50th Anniversary. A new album will drop in June.
"She Makes Me Laugh" is a sweet song about a father and daughter. Would have been perfect for GMW season 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpp-Ry2ZNhY
"You Bring the Summer", as the title suggests, is a Summer hummer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_D6XNpYxdU
Cool list Dan as for most I feel the same about these shows. Quite frankly I think that if the show was more like the Famous Jett Jackson the show would be able to do more action scenes outside in more locations because the green screens are very noticable on today's Hi Def TVs. Also I'm totally with you on the I Didn't Do It situation. I personally thought season 1 was very corny and I was automatically turned off. But then last year after watching a recording of KC Undercover I saw about a couple of minutes of the season 2 premier and in those 2 mins I was throughly interested to know more about the show. Season 2 brought in new writers who wrote for Good Luck Charlie and a new character Betty Lebow. I loved the new direction the show was in as Betty and Garrett's scenes together was pure comedy as I actually laughed at a Disney Channel show in like a long time before then. But sadly it last mainly the name didn't fit what the show was about and some episodes were kinda of boring and having too many dog central episodes(imo). I guess the show didn't appeal to the very young audience and the low ratings lead to cancellation.
I'm not a big Twitter fan--the 140-character thing never really appealed to me. And if several people are commenting at once, it can be hard to follow a conversation.
And yeah, Texas wasn't nearly a big enough game-changer for them to promote it the way they did.
And it's a safe bet that they'll answer Ski Lodge to everything too, if only for the character limits. With that in mind, Ski Lodge had better be on par with Yearbook.
2 more new tweets today. Jacobs is getting chatty after 6 weeks of silence:
Girl Meets Writers @GMWWriters · 4 hours ago
Season 3: 4 episodes adjust to high school, 4 episodes resolve the not triangle, 4 episodes adjust to each other. People will change people.
Girl Meets Writers @GMWWriters · 4 hours ago
Today we begin the second half of what we think is our best season so far. Can't wait until you see it. And a surprise beginning.
Since they have only shot 12 episodes so far I'm assuming that his comment of half a season is just rounding as they said they are doing 30 episodes. And they did already talk about the new opening. And of course he says its their best season so far. I mean what was he supposed to say - "I think this is slightly below season 1"
That's fair, I suppose. Give some time to get used to the new environment. Only question is if they count "High School" as two episodes, or one big episode like "Texas."
4 episodes to resolve the not triangle.
Dear God, that's going to take forever. But if that means there's twenty two episodes without this bullshit triangle, then I'm game. For context, the eighth episode in Season 2 was "Hurricane." Which feels like forever ago.
4 episodes adjust to each other.
Not sure what that means. New dynamics explored? Maybe see some interactions we don't get enough of? That could be nice.
People change people.
This had better start happening again. That's all I can say. Riley hasn't changed all that much since the show began. Maya's arc has been stunted for quite a while. Farkle...is moving along nicely, all things considered.
Full steam ahead, guys. We're only three weeks out.
The June schedule has been released by Disney on twitter:
Disney Channel Promo @disney_promo · 7 hours ago
Girl Meets World - June 2016 • 6/03 - Girl Meets High School • 6/05 - Girl Meets High School • 6/10 - Girl Meets Permanent Record • 6/17 - Girl Meets Jexica • 6/24 - Girl Meets Triangle
I would imagine that GMW on the 24th might be late after the Bizaardvark premiere to try and keep the audience from Adventures in Babysitting to watch the new show as they stay to then watch GMW.
And here is today's tweet, hot off the presses as it were:
Girl Meets Writers @GMWWriters · 3 hours ago
Ski Lodge is this year's Texas. Every episode so far is good. Upstate is real good. Riley, Maya, Lucas all find a relationship. We grow up.
Aren't you just waiting for Jacobs to say even once "Well, you know (insert episode name) sucked so we'll probably hold it back till you are all pissed about something else we did then show it to you so you don't realize how bad it is, but we had to do 30 episodes so you are going to get a few stinkers". Otherwise I guess he is trying to get the groundswell of excitement going for season 3.
We were all so happy then. Seriously, look at those reviews. We were all so full of hope. If the writers can re-ignite that magic, I will be really happy.
Texas Part 2 and Part 3 got mixed reviews, for various reasons but I enjoyed them when they first aired.
But there is so much more to life than romance. So much more. Why can't Maya's arc be developing her artistic skills and finding a practical way to apply them? Why can't Riley get behind a cause--maybe bond with her Uncle Eric and politics?
I would love for Maya to have an arc about art vs. commerce. What can you do with a career in art? Where is the line between staying true to yourself as an artist and selling out? What exactly is selling out? Those would be fantastic issues to explore. The set-up would be someone asks her to create something for money (a sign or mural for a store, a poster for an event).
An interesting premise, Kit, but Maya has repeatedly shown that she has relatively few scruples, especially with regards to money or material possessions.
That's not necessarily a dig, mind you; as I said before, I like that there is a character who has flaws we've seen in-universe.
I was more referring to what practical uses Maya's artistic skill could have in a career setting. I'd like to see her look beyond the "Starving Artist" bit.
For comparison, Shawn wasn't the best with numbers, but he had excellent people skills, which made him a natural talent at marketing (How to Succeed in Business) and management (Episode Whose Name I forget, but Shawn used Feeny's house as a bed-and-breakfast).
Well I guess having delurked, I should state what I would like for season 3, in an ideal world. Which this won't be. Less Ava. I wouldn't mind if I thought she was going to change due to exposure to Auggie and his parents but... she won't. When doing BMW references, make them not be just thrown in for the sake of it. I'm thinking Minkus' wife in particular here, but also Tommy to a certain extent. I know this is Riley's story, but could we actually have a bit of being -shown- Cory and Topanga belong together, rather than just being told, frequently? Also, less Cory/Topanga teaching about relationships, because they don't know what makes most relationships work. More Riley and Maya being best friends, and doing what best friends do. Remembering that Topanga actually has a job, and is pretty full-on, so she shouldn't be the one dealing with all the home stuff? Classroom scenes that don't seem to have no idea about history. I think that's it. For now.
I have such a big problem with Ava. Not only is she annoying, but she is uncomfortably close to certain stereotypes. The Ava/Auggie storylines don't work. As an adult, I don't like them. I can't envision any younger siblings watching with older siblings relating to the Ava/Auggie storylines.
I've heard people state it's meant to be similar to Cory/Topanga before they got together. But even at their most bitter; they were never as totally thoughtless as Ava can be. (And usually is).
I have no clue what this means. I haven't seen anyone that knows what surprise is in store.
In other news Uncle Josh showed up for the taping of Girl Meets Ski Lodge and there is a clip of him saying that he is indeed back to the show, though he said that he wouldn't reveal what his return means to the show's dynamics.
So, what will Uncle Josh mean to the dynamics of the show?
I'd like to see him interact with his family a bit more--I don't think the relationship he has with Cory has been explored enough. I'd also like to see him interact with Riley one-on-one. He's known her since she was a baby, and he likely can't remember life without her, so this could actually be very sweet.
Little Cory would be, I hate to say it, the exact kind of callback which I don't think adds to the show.
I do agree that Josh should interact with his family more if he's returning though. He's spent more time interacting with Maya (and please, please take that potential relationship away. Until recently, Maya's been closer to Cory and Topanga than her own mother; that feels icky) than anyone else. He probably has flashes of a life without Riley; but nothing concrete. I remember the occasional thing from when I was 2-3, but only realise it when someone else says "Oh you would have been about 3 then."
Cryptid456-I love the idea of making the reference to Little Cory a Noodle Incident. The two of us, and other people who comment on this blog need to find a way to crash the writers' room for "Girl Meets World." We would be able to give them fantastic ideas for episodes, as well as plotlines/storyarcs.
If I had confidence that they'd do that, I'd have no problem. But I find that whilst there are some very well done references (most of Girl Meets Pluto), they also have their fair share of 'shout-outs just for the sake of it'.
You mentioned that some of the shout-out seem to be for the sake of it.
Jennifer Bssett comes to mind as a shout-out for the sake of it, being a relatively obscure former girlfriend of Shawn's, but if the Minkii end up divorcing, this may end up being rather significant.
Turner worked (mostly) in "New Teacher," and didn't really work in "Creativity." But I love Anthony Quinn and will watch him no matter what.
Jack Hunter brought an extra layer of good to "Yearbook," though I do think I would have liked to see him offer Riley advice on the Charlie-Lucas bit, without realizing she's Cory and Topanga's daughter. Helping a stranger and getting nothing out of it is a very noble thing to do.
I can't think of any other shout-outs that felt like they were there for the sake of it.
You got most of them. 'THey want you to take the rolls' verged on it as well; and Tommy just about was. TOmmy was saved because it was an Eric storyline. If someone who'd had about as much to do with Cory or Topanga as Tommy had to do with Eric had turned up, it would have felt like that.
Minkus' creepy obsession with Topanga (creepy now; I was fine with it when he was 11) verged on it as well, but again if the Minkii divorce that would put a different spin on it.
If you're talking about "Maya's Mother," that appeared to be more of a long-running joke, though Farkle's throwaway comment "My father says she should have been my mother" raises questions. Personally, I don't want to see the Minkii divorce, in favor of counseling (which they appear to have, considering they seem to get along fine in "Farkle"). That being said, a divorce when you're a teenager rather than five years old is a very different ballgame.
I had forgotten Tommy, but then again, it's Eric. Eric storylines are supreme. Eric could do anything as a callback and I'd buy it. He could see Cory do something stupid, pull out his cell phone and tattle on him to their parents (or Feeny) and I'd buy it.
Yeah it does but... even at Graduation, Minkus didn't really still seem to be thinking of her in that way. I guess if they went to counselling; and that was in the middle of a particularly bad time, it makes sense.
Yeah, I acknowledge that Eric saves Tommy from being bad. And maybe I wouldn't be so disgruntled about some of these if Morgan had even been -mentioned-. Feels Josh should; she's the only sibling he would really have any memories growing up with. Even a 'our sister sends her love' would be nice.
Will van Roekel-That's a fascinating point about Morgan. He grew up with Morgan, but I doubt they were friends or that close to each other. The age difference between Morgan and Josh is around 10 years. That means for most of their lives they were in totally different places developmentally. The difference between 4 and 14 is massive. He was around 8 when she left for college, so for a good part of his life, he was almost like an only child. I agree she should be mentioned, even if she doesn't appear.
I'd like to see Morgan again, since she's a Matthews. I'd like to see all the Matthews siblings together again, in the same room.
I'm actually curious if there's a reason in-universe Morgan hasn't been around. I can buy Shawn and Jack having a massive falling-out (and would enjoy seeing Riley try to Master Plan a reconciliation), but Cory and Morgan, while most likely not close, are almost certainly cordial.
I would have expected JOsh to be at least as close to Morgan as to Cory. He never would have seen Cory except on planned trips by either his parents, or Cory. What's more, if you think Cory was bad at the beginning of Season 1 of BMW in regards to Eric and dates; for his entire life (almost) Cory has had a wife. For most of his life he's had a daughter.
As to Cory and Morgan? There could be a similar thing at play. She was finally getting old enough to talk to Cory as an equal; then he's whisked off to New York. They probably didn't even visit until after Riley was born. My sister is 7 years older than me; and there was some similar stuff at play when she moved in with her partner; but we at least still lived in the same city. My brother's moved country, and we spend more time arguing than anything when he visits.
Now I do kind of like that we don't get any micro-clips in the opening credits. That will allow for surprises, such that they are, throughout the season. Here me out, in Season One, we knew that Topanga was going to visit her old self and we all looked forward to it. It wound up being just okay. And I was looking forward to Riley and Maya's riding the conveyor belt in those costumes and it wound up not happening. So, yeah. We're going in virtually blind, and it may end up being better for it.
It seems like these kids are actually having fun and just being kids for once, so that's actually really nice. Damn near miraculous as far as Lucas is concerned. They look like they're just being themselves. Also, the colors are a lot more muted than usual. No Disney neon here. So in some respect, it's a bit more immersive. That being said, just goofing around doesn't really match the lyrics now. "Take on the world" is not the impression I'm getting. Boy Meets World picked up an actual theme song when they had this similar sequence--"It's good to know I have friends who will always stand by me."
It's not that I mind it really, since he's far from my favorite character, but I thought that Zay was joining the main cast this season. He isn't? Oh, well. Five is too many, and heck, four kids in the same class is probably too many. That said, if Josh were elevated to a starring role, and we saw him Meet the World co-currently with Riley this season, and thus in the main credits, I'd have been happy.
But I don't think I like the multi-cheek kissing, since even if we take it as platonic, it hardly seems like the kind of thing the characters, except maybe Riley, would do casually. Physical intimacy between close friends should be celebrated. so long as the lines are clear. The lines aren't that clear here. As it is, this show has more than its fair share of romantic subtext. I do not want any more Triangle. I want Lucas to be stepped on by a three-hundred-story-tall fighting robot. Or thrown into the stratosphere. Or beaten up by an anthropomorphic platypus.
Auggie stealing Cory's donut when he wasn't paying attention is funny, and could have been a running gag with Auggie swiping deserts when nobody is looking. But Cory and Topanga seem to have completely abandoned their roles as authority figures. They seem a lot more casual with the kids. And why the actual, literal Hell didn't Riley kiss her mother?!
Buckle up, my friends. We're only eleven days out.
No specific ideas. But no Maya/Josh in a relationship; less to do with the age gap, more to do with the fact she's basically been brought up for a lot of her life by Cory/Topanga more than her mother. I'd like to see Morgan.
Call backs are strange. Some you think are going to be great; aren't. Some seem like they really won't work, do. For example, if you'd told me at the end of season 1 that Lauren's letter would turn up, I would say "Why the hell would they want to remember a particularly painful period in their life." But it worked. Mostly.
I kinda wouldn't mind seeing at least one episode focused on the adults. BMW had a couple of those. And not Riley and Maya manipulating them. THe adults actually being adults.
Also, if we're going to believe that Cory had all the parents of his students sign a petition to keep him as their teacher; he needs to show being a good teacher.
Okay. I've been thinking about this; given my partner is working through BMW with me at the moment. Keeping the letter can make sense; as long as we can get rid of the 'soulmates since we were in strollers' idea.
Because yes, if you go with 'we've always destined to be together', she gets rid of the letter as soon as they're back together. However, if we go back to 'friends who fell in love' it can work.
She may not have been entirely sure; so she kept the letter, to remind herself she can't take anything for granted. It kind of gets lost along the way in her stuff somewhere, goes from box to box. Then when they move to NY, they would thoroughly examine all their stuff as to what they could get rid of. Given my rationale as to the time capsule is after they've decided to go to NY for certain, she buries it in there. Even in the episode she states something along the lines of "I -hoped- you'd be here alongside me, so I could go.."
Given I was generally a fan; but wanted to remove the "in love our entire lives" aspect; that's what I'm going with.
With respect to callbacks, they can do pretty much whatever they want--it is New York after all--so long as it helps advance the story.
Bassett as Farkle's mother? Not what I would have done, but she could serve as a foil to Topanga, and how they treat their children.
Turner as Superintendent? It's probably how Cory got the job, so it works.
Harley as janitor? He's done his job, but I think an opportunity or two was missed, especially considering we didn't see him grow as a person. And I still think there was merit in Riley taking the blame for something Auggie did, Cory harshly lecturing her, and Harley figuring out what happened in three seconds.
With regard to Cory as a teacher, I actually wonder whether or not JQA Middle School was loosely modeled on what's called a "democratic school." In democratic schools, students and teachers get equal votes in what happens in the curriculum. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_education
Yep. They can do anything they want. I probably won't like all of them; but I'll judge each one based off what I see, rather than what I fear.
Harley, was disappointing. Cory was never his 'good kid'. It was clear though that it was being pointed out Maya might have just as much, or more, in common with him than with Shawn.
Cory as a teacher has two problems. I don't actually have problems thinking he could be a good teacher. I just want to see it. And there is no way, at all, he should be teaching his daughter. My mother wouldn't even let me go to the same school as she taught at; or had taught at in the recent past. How can he possibly be expected to show no signs of favouritism?
I want to know what Morgan is doing, even if she doesn't appear. "Oh isn't a shame couldn't be here she's busy ______"
I would love to see the family divided by gender for an episode. Corey and Auggie do something together, while Riley and Topanga do something together in a different location. One group stays home and the other does something outside the apartment, or both groups do things outside the apartment.
I'd love a multi-part episode in DC with Eric.
I hope Feeny is in at least one episode this season.
I want to see inter-personal conflicts. I want to see these characters fight with one another one-on-one.
Take "STEM" for comparison. I've brought it up a lot recently, but it was more recent, and it's easier to compare to BMW than many of its predecessors. It's hard to get invested in the feud, because it becomes too large--instead of Riley vs. Farkle, it's Girls vs. Boys. With BMW, the conflicts were personal. "Wake Up Little Cory" had a deep wound between Cory and Topanga and it made their reconciliation that much sweeter.
With regard to Eric, I'd love to see something a little different. I want to see him sponsor legislation that is actually UNPOPULAR with Riley and her friends, but he is firm on his position and is able to defend it. Let the kids learn that sometimes, a politician can disagree with you, but that does not inherently make them a bad person. And that sometimes, their idea may indeed be better than yours. That's a lesson the entire country needs very, /very/ badly.
I also want to see a little more Silly Uncle Eric this season. Silly, not stupid.
Hey Cryptid, I do want to respond to your thoughts/questions above and further above, at probably excessive length. But for now, with regards to Eric, I would be even more eager to see Will Friedle pen, at least be involved in the penning, of another script. Semi-Formal was something special.
I'd actually like to see other old cast members write episodes where their character has a significant role--good as "Semi-Formal" is, I'm not sure anybody else could have nailed the Jack-Eric scenes as well as Friedle did.
I'd love to see an episode focusing on Riley's relationship with Topanga that was written by Danielle Fischel. That could be interesting indeed.
Given Danielle Fischel has always claimed that Topanga is like a part of her; and that one of the complaints of the series has been that Topanga, outside of some of the Cory/Topanga stuff, hasn't seemed like 'Topanga', this might be a very good idea.
What about tackling more serious issues? We've all made a case that this show hasn't done that good a job with that, and in some cases really, really bad jobs, but it's not like this is going to go away.
I heard a few rumors about there being an episode called "Girl Meets Our Lady of New York." If memory serves, that's a more obscure nickname for the Statue of Liberty. If there's an episode centered on the history of immigration and Ellis Island, it might be interesting.
Cryptid - the episode's actual name is Girl Meets the Great Lady of New York. They learn about their family histories, as I'm sure there is an immigration theme there. Apparently Farkle learns something important about his family.
Oops. Ah, well an immigration episode with respect to family history could be pretty good. I remember reading that "Minkus" is actually a relatively uncommon Jewish surname.
Oh God...they wouldn't...
Only one more week guys. The episode is on the Disney App, and I think Disney Channel Canada has it on its website.
Hey Cryptid. Thanks for the info. Even if I could figure the technology out, I would always wait for the episode to air anyway.
Between the time I started watching GMW and first posted a comment on this blog, Pluto, Hurricane, Yearbook, and Semi-Formal aired. I trusted the show and continued to trust it to the end of the year. Since the start of 2016, trust has been replaced by hope. I am hopeful about Season 3.
I trusted the show but didn’t trust my reaction to it, if that makes any sense. Hitting the internet in search of some discussion of GMW, what I first found was either inane or deeply, deeply disturbing. GMWR didn’t really give me what I was looking for either: reassurance that my esteem for and rapid attachment to the show didn’t signify an age-related change in mental status. But it was highly enjoyable and engendered fascinating discussions. I’m looking forward to that returning as much as the show itself. (I will probably make another attempt to reduce my profile here. It can’t be good for business to have an old guy creeping around a blog covering a kids’ show about teenage girls.)
How did you find your way here, Cryptid? Was it via Sean’s BMW blog? I started to read that, but quickly realized how little memory I retained about the specifics of individual episodes, with Season 1 being especially hazy. Another go-round may be in order first.
For that reason, it’s hard for me to chime in on desirable BMW call backs for GMW. I just hope now to recognize them when I see them. I’ve been re-watching Season 2, abridged, and the BMW stuff has all felt way different, especially with respect to Eric. I remember basically despising the Washington episode, but now I like it. And if I still don’t entirely get the Mr. Squirrels thing, I am no longer befuddled by it.
Glad you mentioned Wake Up Little Cory, above, the first BMW episode that really grabbed me. What I remember most clearly, after a single viewing quite a few months back, and reacted to most strongly, is a handheld camera catching a distraught Topanga in the background. Likewise, at the end of the series, even with the understanding that Shawn’s parting words were the most important, it was Topanga’s farewell that had the biggest impact. (It didn’t help that I had, less than a week earlier, said goodbye to a group of university kids. I’ve been doing this for 10 years, and I was their boss for 4 months, not their teacher/mentor for 7 years. But this time, with a larger crew than I have ever had to look after before, and almost all girls, it was emotional to an unprecedented degree, and I all but lost it too. So maybe this all is an age thing, the sappy part of my brain enlarging as I get older.) That stuff stands out probably for the same reasons GMW keeps its hold.
Maybe it’s odd then, but Morgan made very little impression on me. By the time Morgan II showed up, I had completely forgotten that there had been a Morgan I. Outside of a dust up in one episode over her choice of clothes, I can’t recall anything she did or said. So it doesn’t matter to me if Aunt Morgan makes an appearance of even is mentioned.
I like your idea of more conflict in the group but wonder if would cut against a central appeal of the show. I seem to like the best when the kids are looking out for each other.
And just to answer your question way about from a week or two ago. I saw one of the Iron Man movies, and the first Avengers movie, but don’t ask me what happened in either. I also read Marvel comics circa 1970. Tesseract was just a term to indicate more complex geometry. I didn’t know of, or had forgotten, any Marvel associations.
Oh, Milestones. Your contributions are great. if you didn't come around as much, I would miss you. Only a couple of the regulars are actually in the demographic for this show.
I'm glad to hear your comments on this.
Interesting point on Topanga, because at the moment, I'm blanking on any one-on-one scenes she had with Feeny. She had a few nice scenes when the Power Trio learned a lesson, and if my memory serves me well, there was "This Little Piggy" when Mr. Turner called her out for calling Animal Control on Shawn and Little Cory.
I made my way here through Sean's blog, seeing as when GMW started, BMWR was still ongoing. Sean went by the handle "ConfidenceKBM" back then.
I didn't start commenting until "Girl Meets Fish." That's when the Anonymous comments were introduced, and I decided to just give myself a name.
Oh, and I don't really read comments. I just watch the movies and look up the characters on Wikipedia to fill in the blanks. And I am currently foaming at the mouth at what they did to Steve Rogers in the comics.
Sorry to interrupt between you two; but I think the issue with Topanga, was the same issue that a lot of female 'role-models' faced in the '90s; especially for teens. She was there, primarily, as a love interest.
She undeniably has more depth than Lucas who also falls into that; but there is no doubt that the majority of the time when they explored her character, it is how she related to others through Cory. Only ones that escaped that were her relations with Feeny, and, kinda, Turner.
In GMW it's more that she just fills in as the mother-figure role; and we don't see much beyond that; except occasionally as the wife.
A fair point, Will, but I always remember liking Topanga. She was weirdly engaging when first introduced, a foil to Cory, and had her own wants and interests.
By comparison, I was never overly fond of Lucas, and it's only gotten worse, because now he's the love interest for both Riley and Maya and due to his being a main cast member, he ties up their arcs.
Furthermore, Cory and Topanga always had at least something resembling a thing early on, and a surprising amount of chemistry for their age. And their feelings were mutual, even if they weren't exclusive. Cory "dated" Wendy and T.K. and Topanga...well, if nothing else, Hippie Topanga at least played along with Stuart Minkus in Season One. The same cannot be said for Lucas and Riley.
As for what we have now, it's Disney Channel. I'm not even talking about the kids getting away with murder and the desperate need for discipline. It's not very often that the audience sees much of the lives of the parents. And with five kids in the main cast (six if you count Zay), this is even more the case.
This is particularly why I want at least two, preferably three or four but I'm open to more, episodes that focus on Topanga and Riley. I want Riley to shadow Topanga at work. I want Topanga to give Riley the relationship advice that should have been given two years ago--"Unless Lucas makes his feelings very clear, you shouldn't date him. And he obviously doesn't, and hasn't respected you enough to tell you this himself."
I'm not even denying that. Lucas is a horrible love interest. Topanga was clearly the love interest from about season 2; but she wasn't -just- that I guess.
I actually do agree with a lot of what you say. I went back and read all your comments about season 2 posted earlier in this thread; but decided against commenting on them as we're so close to season 3, where hopefully those characters might evolve. Lucas, Zay and Ava need to evolve if they're to stay a regular part of the show. (With Lucas that's a given; but maybe not the other two).
I've been kinda suspecting they would since I first heard of that episode. Whether I consider it one really depends on what they do. Just looking the same probably doesn't count; any direct reference to "doesn't this look like the ski lodge where..." would. We'll see what they do!
So, they filmed Ski Lodge part 2 today. Here is a picture of the set: http://girlmeetsworld.wikia.com/wiki/File:Mt_Sun_Lodge.jpg
It is the same place as in Heartbreak Cory. I just went back and looked for myself to be sure. This might lead me to think the twist that they talked about and hid in part 1 (which was filmed without an audience) is that Lauren could be in the episode. That could lead to all sorts of interesting stuff. Having said that, this is all speculation and I have no real spoilers. I'm just thinking out loud here. Having Riley and the gang meet the person that almost put an end to Corpanga would be an interesting twist, especially if Cory is chaperoning a school trip and he runs into Lauren himself.
If Lauren has moved on with her life, and she gets to keep the very strong personality, this could be awesome. Riley confronting the concept that her parents weren't together because of some 'fated love'; and that they had obstacles like normal couples; and overcame them because they'd fallen in love? Well, that's a lesson that all the current generation of Matthews needs to learn at some point.
Not to say Riley can't hate Lauren. Actually Riley/Maya treating Lauren badly and forcing Cory to point out that Lauren wasn't a witch, as it were could be good, if done well.
Just how much of this season is going to be based on romance? There's supposedly a rather large plot twist in Ski Lodge. We all thought a large plot twist would happen in Texas and that didn't really pan out.
Now it would be nice to see Cory and Topanga's grand love story be deconstructed, but I would have preferred that happened by now. I actually think the show's been weakened by not having Cory and Topanga make it clear to their daughter that they were the exception. Topanga already told Auggie this back in "Meets Smackle." Why hasn't she told Riley this?
More to the point, Corpanga's obstacles were along the lines of "Could there be somebody else?" and "Is love really worth it?" while the obstacles surrounding Riley's relationship with Lucas is "I've all but thrown myself at him for two years. I have virtually no other arcs in this show."
I'd like to see this entire Triangle be put to bed for good. And I'd rather not see Riley get another love interest in Ski Lodge. Let Lucas "cheat" on her (if they're still together at this point) and have Riley dump him for good, and actually have a few episodes of self-discovery.
But that would be a good idea, to see Riley and Maya act coldly to Lauren and Cory has to reprimand them.
And YES. Please. I like Corpanga a lot; but please let them be honest about how they're the exceptions. Topanga is usually good about this to be fair; but Cory still seems to slip into the "Everyone should be like us" habit. Which is probably why Auggie has found out that having only one love isn't common, and Riley still seems to need to learn this. Because Auggie spends time with Topanga, and Riley seems to spend all her time with Cory. I know it -could- be fixed by just having Topanga talk to Riley; but I'd actually prefer it was fixed by Topanga confronting Cory on it. "You need to accept that most couples aren't like us. And you need to tell Riley as well; because she's starting to develop unrealistic views on love."
Maya at least has her mother, as well as Shawn, to point out that Cory and Topanga are freaks.
The one thing about the Triangle is though, it's the one thing Cory and Topanga can't draw on their life experience to even pretend to help with. Which is why I might be okay with it except that it involves both Riley and Maya - I am having some problems seeing how both Riley and Maya can stay friends at all unless neither gets Lucas. At least then they can band together and hate Lucas together.
I kind of get the impression that Cory knows he and Topanga are the exception, but doesn't really care. If he could go back and do it all over again, I doubt he'd change anything beyond staying far, far away from Lauren. He had his grand love story.
Cory pressured Shawn and Angela to act more like he and Topanga, but a huge part of that was that Shawn was allergic to commitment (Remember the Two-Week Rule?). So, one extreme to the other, and all that.
But I think, at the end of the day, he does accept that very few are Cory and Topanga. But he does want everyone to find love, and if that happens sooner rather than later, then power to it.
That being said, I do agree that Cory should have spoken to his daughter about Lucas. Riley's infatuation with Lucas transcends even "Cory and Topanga." If anything, it reminds me of Wendy, Cory's "girlfriend" from early Season 2. But Cory realized he didn't return Wendy's degree of affection relatively quickly; however confused he is now, Lucas knew for a /very/ long time, throughout at least half of the first season, that he did not return Riley's feelings.
I agree--despite my general dislike of Lucas being a very big factor--that the biggest problem with this particular Triangle (I tend to hold a dim view of love triangles in the first place) is that it involves three out of four of the main cast. Like I said before, if Riley were in a Triangle with Lucas and somebody not in the main cast, maybe Charming Charlie, then it'd be more interesting.
But personally, I don't think I would have done a Triangle. I'd have had Riley be boy-crazy. Not Lucas-crazy, but boy-crazy. If Riley had five or six boyfriends and learned one or two things significant about relationships from each, then I'd be very happy.
Oh wow. You're totally right. She is a lot like Wendy. If this story were being told from Lucas' POV; we'd be telling him to run far, far away. Because it's told from Riley's, and she's Cory and Topanga's kid; we (as in the general audience, not necessarily anyone here) may have given her a free pass.
I also would prefer Riley being boy-crazy. I'd prefer GMW doesn't just tell the same story but from a girl's perspective; which is all that Riley/Lucas ending up together would be.That, and I think the chemistry between Riley/Lucas is terrible. Shawn and Topanga had more chemistry in their 'date to get Cory to do something' date than Riley and Lucas did on their date.)
Deck the Halls https://twitter.com/BenSavage/status/737820023541006336
From what I've heard, the episodes filmed so far should go in a proper order. They filmed four episodes before the Ski Lodge two-parter that take place after but you can easily attribute that to building sets.
Only halfway through at we're at Christmas? Hmmm, we're doing much better than the last two seasons then. Sixteen episodes for the second half of the school year is perfectly reasonable.
Ski Lodge still remains a question of "When" but it can't be as bad as "Texas," which was clearly set very near the end of the school year, and it poofed back to the beginning.
With respect to other holiday episodes, I thought I read that the Halloween episode had only just been filmed. Of course, if that episode takes place in a vacuum with no contribution to the main story other than Halloween (like the first "World of Terror," as underwhelming as the episode is), then it doesn't particularly matter.
Cryptid, you know it isn't going to work that way.
I'm guessing they are filming a Christmas episode so early due to a guest star's availability, as they haven't done this before. And you know it won't be shown until the first week of December, just like Disney does each year. Since we are getting 5 episodes in June if this episode is being filmed where it falls into the storyline that would mean we would be getting only 12 episodes over the course of the next 5 months, and you also know that isn't happening either.
Once again I'm sure we will have only a few episodes in the second half of the school year because of when this show starts filming and showing. It would really help to change the airing schedule to coincide with the actual school year.
And they haven't filmed the Halloween episode yet.
I can at least hope 1960. But who could the guest star be? Rider Strong is on the set all the time. I can't imagine Katy's actress or William Russ are that busy either.
Who's stupid idea was it to have Girl Meets World premiere at the start of summer, anyhow? I wouldn't be complaining if we got some summer episodes--which apparently Jacobs has expressed interest in--but we haven't.
It's not as if Disney hasn't had their shows coordinate with a school year before--just a couple years ago, Dog With A Blog aired its third season beginning in September at the start of the school year.
It's probably pretty rare for them to co-incide with the school year though. I'm in Australia so it's a bit confusing for me, but I'm guessing the school year is about six months out from ours, so about July/August? That's not really a great time for starting shows.
Of course, if any station was going to do it, you'd think a primarily kid-friendly one would.
Well, in the United States, we run our school system as beginning in late August or VERY early September and going through the first two weeks of June.
The vast majority of television stations start what they think will be a winner in ratings in autumn. Summer, when people are actually staying out later and doing things, is usually reserved for reality shows like "America's Got Talent" or sporty shows like "American Ninja Warrior."
Here in Canada (at least in my area) we always started the day after Labor Day. Elementary schools went til the end of June and high school exams ended a week or two before then.
I'm back!! And I still hate the writers Twitter account.
Boy Meets Writers @BMWWriters 5m5 minutes ago Tonight: A ski lodge, a kiss, and reading the Bible. You might not like what Cory does, but stick with us. It’s all part of the plan.
Okay, so not liking what Cory does? Is that in general or just his teaching methods? Because I don't really have a problem with Dad Cory outside of the classroom.
Honestly, at this point, if Cory does something drastic--say push whomever Riley kisses outside into the snow and then forbid Riley from ever dating anybody ever again, thereby putting an end to all romantic storylines now and forever, I'm not sure I won't like it.
So pwfan, that isn't the account that Jacobs uses for the GMW tweets.
In fact it says specifically "what would have been like if the BMW writers had twitter in the 90's." It isn't telling us what is coming on GMW, it's making up tweets they would have given us 20 years ago.
Oh trust me Sean I'm no fan of this show either, I just wanted to make sure you guys were still posting so I can have a reason to watch this besides the occasional BMW cameo
The premier is on right now, Sean and Christan when is that review coming? I got my hands rubbing together waiting for you guys to eat this episode alive😆
Well, it sounds like we will have another TGIF alum coming to GMW. Reginald VelJohnson, better known as legendary TV dad Carl Winslow from Family Matters will be guest starring in Season 3. I just stuck this news here so you guys can read it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.eonline.com/news/753301/girl-meets-world-stages-epic-tgif-reunion-with-family-matters-favorite
I hope you find some enjoyment soon, Christian. I know it's been a rough road, but there's always hope.
Christian, my man, you forgot to drop your Mic on the way out.
ReplyDeleteThis guy is an idiot, Girl Meets World is my favorite show.
ReplyDeletekindly shut your trap.
DeleteI gave it some thought guys and I have some things to say about this show. It's pretty long-winded, but I'd like to get it off my chest.
ReplyDeleteAs of right now, "Girl Meets World" is not a particularly good show. But I would say it still has potential. There is a really good show, maybe even a great show here. A diamond in the rough, but there is quite a bit of rough. It only seems fair that I articulate to the best of my ability what I like about this show, and what I do not like about this show.
THE LESSONS
It goes without saying that one of the best things about Boy Meets World, the original show, was its life lessons, taught primarily by Mr. George Feeny, but also by Alan Matthews and Jonathan Turner.
At the moment, "Girl Meets World" has a mixed record on delivering messages. It usually has its heart in the right place; even mediocre episodes usually have a halfway-decent message.
That being said, there have been a fair few times I've disagreed with the message, so it wouldn't be a good idea to ignore it all together.
Ordinarily, I would say that we are more inclined to like what we already agree with, or else be more forgiving of something that is objectively of poor quality but we can appreciate the message. I still think this is true in many cases--I like the faith-based films "Courageous" and "The Ultimate Gift," even though I can recognize they aren't very good.
But with "Girl Meets World," I've come to the conclusion that there are several episodes that are just not good and that the messages they are trying to tell cannot be effectively communicated. "Commonism" is the most notable of these--I can appreciate and agree with the notion that individualism is an important part of a free society, but the episode is just not good.
There have also been a fair few times, though not particularly often, where I disagreed with the message entirely. Sometimes, the episode was just bad which did the message no favors, "Crazy Hat" for example. But there were two episodes in particular, one from each season, that have set me on edge.
"Popular" has cultural appropriation as the means by which the message "Be Yourself" is told and I have to say...I didn't like the message. If Cory was Fox News in "Commonism," then he was MSNBC here. Usually, when a kid's show has a character change in order to be popular, then they start behaving badly towards their friends. Riley acted...eccentric, but I don't remember her actually ignoring Maya. If anything, she probably felt closer to her bubbly ray of sunshine in this episode than anywhere else early in Season One.
And Cory was definitely out of bounds in how he humiliated her to make his point during the Spelling Bee--that's something I agreed with Christian about in his review...which was actually the very first episode review he posted. It just feels...wrong.
I also wasn't particularly fond of "Rules." It's not that I don't think that moderation and balance aren't generally good ideas, but this...schism, for severe want of a better word, has to do with behavior rather than actual habits. Too much studywork or too much leisure might have been better, or perhaps acknowledging that sometimes the right thing to do is to break rules, if they prevent someone from doing something good. Instead we just get Maya leading the class like a pack of wild animals, and it's a bad thing because....well, no real reason is given.
DeleteWhat it boils down to, I suppose is delivery. How can somebody effectively convey a message. I made this same point back in "Bay Window," that the show often paints with too broad a brush
That's the problem with the Lessons as far as I'm concerned, but there have been a few really good lessons. I gave "Meets Farkle" some more thought. I actually think the episode is the best of the "Afterschool Special Episodes" that started after "Yearbook" because of how pointed its message is. Farkle and Isadora are both preoccupied by the labels they're given: "Genius" and "Autistic." Cory Matthews destroys this way of thinking, telling his class that all of them are human, labels or not, and as such are all entitled to the basic level of human dignity. In a time when labels are nearly omniscient, I actually adore that message--human dignity.
I have some more to say about the show, but I'm a little tired from typing all that, so I'll be back again tomorrow to further elaborate my points.
DeleteType away when you can, Cryptid. I'm looking forward to your further elaborations.
DeleteMoving on to characters then. I think it may be a good idea to talk about each character individually.
DeleteCHARACTERS--THE KIDS
Riley Matthews:
The star of the show, and sadly, one of the least developed. This is particularly frustrating. Cory, by himself, was never the most interesting of blokes in the early seasons of Boy Meets World. What mattered was that he had a unique relationship with each of the other main cast members. While it isn't entirely fair to say that Riley has the exact same relationship with each of her friends, the dynamics are a bit more homogeneous, which weakens the show somewhat. It doesn't help matters that thy operate as a quartet or a quintet. Too large a group dilutes the character interactions--we saw this firsthand in the latter seasons of BMW.
Moving on to Riley proper, I actually think the writers really blew it with making Riley's most defining characteristic her crush on Lucas. I have words to say about Lucas but all in good time.
So, what is Riley's second most-defining trait? She wants people to be happy, and more to the point, she wants people to be the best that they can be at what makes them happy. This has been one of her traits since as far back as "Meets the Truth."
And that's actually a great thing to have, if Riley's most defining trait had been her desire to make the people she cares about be their best person, then we could have had a show that wasn't only a sequel to BMW, but it could have harkened back to the best animated show from the 90s, "Hey Arnold!"
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DeleteMaya Hart:
DeleteNot that long ago, somebody proposed that Riley and Maya are not actually all that different, and that the notion that they are "day and night" has become yet another case of "Show, don't tell."
I must disagree. Maya is a fundamentally different person than Riley in several ways, the most notable of which is in how they interact with their friends. Unlike Riley, Maya has not, to my recollection, ever encouraged any of her friends to actually try to better themselves. Or try anything new at all, really. Maya has resisted the possibility of her friends changing every single time it's been a plot point.
Sometimes I've agreed with her--however beneficial it's been for Farkle to settle down in "Yearbook", Maya had every right to be hostile to the idea that her friends had been treated so badly that they wanted to completely reinvent who they were. And I was somewhat sympathetic to her concerns in "Texas." S
Sometimes, I have disagreed with her hostility to change--"Bay Window," for example, and also, maybe even especially, "Popular." Say what you will about the episode in itself (I liked the first half a lot, but the second half is just plain terrible), it doesn't take much for me to conclude that one of the reasons Riley doesn't have many hobbies is because Maya didn't share them and pressured her to quit, whether it was a new book series or a tv show or a club.
You can boil it all down to a defense mechanism, and that Maya responds with hostility to change due to her father's abandonment, but it is something that needs to be addressed.
Moving on, I can say that I'm not quite as engaged in Maya's story as I was in Shawn's, for the very important reason that she isn't nearly as sympathetic. While everyone responds to conflict in different ways, and as such I'm not sure it'd be fair to compare Maya's home life to Shawn's, there's no question that Maya has significantly more outside help. Mr. Feeny and Mr. Turner were willingly to help as far as their professional distance would allow, and it was only when things got dire that Jonathan Turner took Shawn in.
Cory and Topanga have been in Maya's corner from the very beginning, with Cory giving her far too much leeway in his classroom. And Riley bends over backwards for Maya, almost always doing whatever she says.
Maya's also objectively a worse person than Shawn. She's perfectly comfortable with stealing, which is something we never saw Shawn do, and I honestly cannot imagine him doing it, if only for fear of the authorities, but also a respect for boundaries.
Maya also encourages her friends to partake with her bad behavior--"Rules" and "Commonism" come readily to mind. And unlike Cory and Shawn's mischief, which was mostly of the Fred-and-George nature of tomfoolery (For context, Milestones, you'd have to read Harry Potter), Maya's actions are more along the lines of a disregard for anything that she finds inconvenient, and she doesn't seem to care if anyone else gets hurt because of it--suppose someone had gotten hurt in "Rules" because Maya was leading the class like a pack of wild animals.
How can I root for someone who refuses to do anything she finds inconvenient, when doing the right thing IS what's inconvenient, and the only way to GROW as a person is to face inconvenient things and conquer them?
Topanga called Maya the "strongest" of Riley's group of friends in "Legacy." I honestly can't comprehend that.
Mind you, I don't hate Maya Hart. I LIKE that there's a character whose ACTIONS provoke emotion in me. But this does need to be addressed.
CHARACTERS CONTINUED:
DeleteLucas Friar:
I hate Lucas Friar. He is the physical manifestation of everything wrong with this show. He is a piece of plastic. I have never disliked a main character on any show I've ever watched more than I dislike Lucas Friar. The end.
Okay, okay. I have to at least attempt some objectivity.
I do not like the fact that I enjoy Lucas most when he's throwing a tantrum over not having a clue what to do in the love triangle (However funny it was, the fact remains that I enjoy Riley and Maya least when they're stuck in the triangle. The same cannot be said for Friar).
I'm not sure when I started to really dislike Lucas as a character. Maybe it was "Yearbook," or at least reflecting on "Yearbook." However touching his concern for Farkle was, Lucas's superlative was "Most Likely to Be Okay With Whatever Happens to Him." While there's definitely something to be said for making the best of whatever hand you're dealt, Lucas has by far the fewest challenges of any of the cast, and therefore, he's even harder to root for than Maya.
I've made no secret of my disregard for characters that are introduced immediately to be love interests. Lucas was on the show for approximately eleven seconds before he became Riley's love interest. And on that note, I have NEVER been convinced that Lucas has romantic feelings for Riley.
If nothing else, Lucas was aware that Riley liked him back in "Sneak Attack." It is a near certainty that he did not like her back, and he never told Riley this directly. I do not know when Lucas started to apparently have romantic feelings for Riley, but in my book, that's actually pretty telling.
Charlie Gardner said that not asking Riley to the Semi-formal for ten months was a bit disrespectful, and I completely agree.
Romance aside, and I am loath to think I devoted so much space to romance when it is my least favorite aspect of the show, Lucas doesn't really do much.
He almost always sides with Cory the Teacher when there's some sort of really moralistic lesson being taught. Albeit, in high school, I tended to side with the teachers, so I can actually sympathize with him in that regard, but the nature of the lessons do not necessarily make this interesting.
Stuart Minkus sided with Feeny all the time, but it was interesting, because he revered his teacher.
I should also bring up that to my recollection, Lucas tends to be the last one to get involved when his friends are in trouble and for all his talk about how his friends changed him, I don't buy it. Riley attached herself to him like glue for a YEAR and he had NO idea that she was a rabid Knicks fan. How oblivious to his friends is he?
Actually smiled at getting the Fred and George reference before reading that it's from HP. :)
DeleteI agree about Maya. I kinda like her(I think mostly thanks to the actress), but it's very kinda, nowhere near Shawn. I think it would help a lot if they addressed the issues you put forward, like her aversion to change, make her face her flaws, not just blame everything on being poor(ish) and fatherless(ish). This also reminds me that I'd like for the lessons to be more personal to the characters. For the most part they seem brought in artificially by Cory.
I thought that Riley's primary characteristic was being a goofy ray of sunshine =P
Lucas... at least getting funnier.
And I completely agree about the lack of connection between the characters. Everything feels kinda shallow, apart from the occasional worry for each other. I also think that they often talk too fast, which feels unnatural.
I'm interested in your thoughts on Farkle and the parents. I somehow dislike how Cory and Topanga seem way too positive and carefree for two hardworking adults. The Topanga I remember had something more in her. She could definitely deliver more lessons/advice to Riley.
I should clarify: I like that Maya's actions make me angry. I like that she provokes a reaction. I like Maya, to a point, because she actually feels like a character. We can't overlook environment; Shawn was lower-middle class with a semi-upper middle class friend. Maya is lower-middle class, and has two upper-class friends. I actually did like that scene in "Money," where Maya resolves not to complain about her lot in life. It's a near certainty she won't keep that promise, but as Christian said, that's actually a lesson that WE will always forget ourselves.
DeleteFarkle Minkus:
Let's give credit where credit is due, folks. For all my complaints, I still have IMMENSE respect for Michael Jacobs allowing Farkle Minkus to have an arc. Literally every other show, and every other show-runner, would have kept him as the comic relief for the entire run.
Michael Jacobs also said that he wanted to develop Stuart, all those years ago, but that the studio wanted him to be the "Urkel."
Personally, I think Farkle may be the most engaging of the main cast. He's had an arc, that albeit weakened by the erratic airing of the episodes, that's actually noticeable.
He's come to the conclusion that his classroom antics are not as enjoyable as he thought they were and has toned it down. He rarely acts out in class, and he actually contributes relevant information when prompted to speak.
I find his relationship with Isadora very sweet, and I look forward to seeing them confront any issues that might come up. Suppose they find balancing schoolwork and a relationship harder in high school.
I like his friendship with Riley. It feels a lot more genuine. Unlike Maya, who's resistant to change, or Lucas, who is fairly oblivious and rather passive, Farkle encourages Riley to grow. He's apparently defected from the Riley Committee, for which he deserves a lot of credit. As Farkle says in "Yearbook", an organism can only thrive if it's allowed to change and grow. And of Riley's friends, he's the most willing to let her grow.
Farkle has his faults, sure. He's stubborn and has a bit of an ego, but there have been episodes where he confronts this. His nature as a report hog is confronted in "STEM."
So, I look forward to seeing Farkle next season.
Auggie Matthews:
DeleteHe's a main cast member people, so I can't exactly ignore him.
First, let me say that I like Riley and Auggie's relationship. There's not many sibling relationships that are this amicable on Disney Channel, aside from the sets of twins. And twins, by our nature, tend to be special cases.
So I like Riley and Auggie's interactions a lot. It's actually one of my favorite aspects of the show. I just wish that we could see more of it.
I know that Auggie storylines tend to be a bit thinner (But after rewatching some Full House a couple months back, I am NEVER going to complain about Auggie's actor again). But sometimes, simple is good. "Girl Meets Brother" remains one of my very favorite episodes for a reason: It's simple.
That said, I'd like to see a bit of challenge to the Riley-Auggie relationship.
I still think there's a lot of value in a "Girl Meets Scapegoat" episode, where Riley takes the blame for something Auggie does, maybe breaking a prized possession of Cory and Topanga's, incurring the wrath of her parents.
Alternatively, maybe a sequel to "Girl Meets Brother," where Riley (and Josh) agree to baby-sit Auggie for a longer period of time for Cory and Topanga to get a weekend to themselves, only to realize it really isn't as easy as it looks. It could also harken back to "Uncle Daddy."
Go for broke, let there be an episode where, during a tantrum, Auggie snaps that he hates Riley, and it actually really hurts her feelings.
CHARACTERS: THE PARENTS
DeleteGood Lord, if there was anything that could convince me that Disney Channel is pulling strings with how this show is structured, it's with Cory and Topanga. God knows I hate the love triangle, but I don't think the network has that big an effect there.
Where they almost certainly have an effect, is with the portrayal of parents. Disney Channel, along with the other child-centric cable networks, is not exactly the place to look for great parents.
Part of my irritation is due to the fact that Alan Matthews is one of my very, very favorite television fathers in history. He commanded respect, but was still approachable. He had his share of flaws, but he worked to better himself. He was never a buffoon. I salute Alan Matthews.
Moving on to what we have here:
Topanga Lawrence:
It actually makes me very sad that Riley has so little interaction with her mother. They don't have much of a rapport; they don't have any inside jokes; they don't do mother-daughter things together.
Riley calls Topanga "Mommy," which suggests a level of deep affection, but I can count on one hand the number of times I've felt touched watching Topanga interact with her daughter.
(To that point, it's one of the reasons I like "Maya's Mother" so much. Topanga putting her arm around Riley's shoulder and saying "It's OUR silly, little weirdo" was very nice. She was saying that Riley was HERS and I like that very much).
I haven't been impressed that Riley doesn't go to her mother for advice very often, though to be fair, since Riley does appear to listen to her parents more often than Cory did at her age, it's entirely possible Topanga would tell her the exact solution to her problem and then there's no episode.
Having said that, I still can't help but think that this is GIRL Meets World. And I really think that the most influential person in a young girl's life, should be her mother. Alan Matthews was instrumental in helping his sons meet the world. Topanga should be instrumental in helping her daughter meet the world.
And for the love of everything holy, drop the Ava storylines. They take up WAY too much time.
Cryptid, my friend, so much to thinking about here, and my after-work brain will be mush for another two weeks plus. I will come back to this. In the interim, thanks.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI would love to see an episode where Riley takes the blame for Auggie.
DeleteI like your idea of leaving the kids alone so Cory and Topanga can have a weekend together. I would make the episode about how Riley is growing up and asking Josh questions that he isn't ready to answer/surprised she is asking.
I think that it's important to separate Cory the Teacher from Cory the Father.
DeleteCory the Teacher:
Full disclosure. I had a fantastic seventh grade history teacher and a dreadful eight grade history teacher.
Once again, it wouldn't surprise me that Disney Channel has had a hand in preventing Cory from being a serious role model. The vast majority of children's television does not show teachers in a respectful light. That's not really a criticism of Disney, it's more of a complaint against the entire medium. The one teacher who is consistently shown respect on a show aimed at children, to my knowledge, is Mr. Ratburn.
While Cory could never be Feeny, the fact remains that in the pilot, Cory was clearly being written as an authority figure. He was furious with Riley and Maya for their behavior, and they were genuinely devastated that they had let him down. But now, they're only a notch less disruptive than they were in the pilot, and they don't even give it a second thought.
And it has been acknowledged that in the year between the pilot and the remainder of the first season, the show underwent "creative changes."
I bring this up because if there is one thing that Michael Jacobs consistently got right, it was in the importance of education.
Cory the Teacher:
This might even be worse than the damned love triangle, and it is one of the aspects of the show that has gotten much worse as the show has gone on. Cory doesn't even try to teach the class anymore, it's all on his daughter and her life.
Cory acting as a father in the classroom can probably be traced back as early as "Popular," if not "Father." In any event, it does not work. They stretch the limits of his role as a history teacher with what h actually teaches--which was certainly a thing with Feeny, but that was part of the joke. Here, we're meant to take this as part of the curriculum.
How much do the kids, apart from Farkle, actually know about history? Do they know the names of Founding Fathers who aren't on a unit of currency? Do they know which Presidents led us in war? DO they know the basic way our government works?
On the whole, I think I gave up on Cory being an effective teacher in "Cory & Topanga." I didn't mind the way Cory set up the lesson; I minded the way he hugged his daughter in a completely inappropriate way given that class was still going on. There was no longer a semblance of professional distance.
One last note on Cory the Teacher. I know I've brought it up before, but I'd be a lot more forgiving of Teacher Cory if he were the English teacher and was trying to tell his daughter what she "needed" to know through various books or short stories. Off the top of my head, "Rules" could have been structured around "Lord of the Flies" or "The Lottery." And "Gravity" already brought up "Our Town." "Hurricane" could be stretched to incorporate "Great Expectations."
The issues with Cory being too involved with his daughter would still be there, but at least I could pretend that Riley's classmates didn't have their education neglected and halfway believe it.
A side-note about Cory the Teacher:
DeleteWhy isn't this funny? It actually could have been really funny. The entire joke of Feeny being Cory's next-door neighbor was that School followed him home. With the structure they have now, Home follows Riley to school.
Imagine if Cory being a teacher had actually been a source of stress for Riley. Suppose in an early Season One episode, Cory is handing back tests, and Riley did an excellent job, and congratulating her, Cory accidentally calls Riley by a babyish nickname.
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DeleteCory the Dad:
DeleteOutside of the classroom, and when it's not tied into a lesson, I actually don't have much of anything to complain about Cory the Dad. As Christian said, way back in "Girl Meets Popular," Cory's at his best when he's a dorky, overprotective dad. And while we don't see that as much as I'd like, I have no problem with Cory just being Dad.
Cory Dad is awesome and funny. And that's all I have to say about that.
I have some more stuff to say.
DeleteMORE CHARACTERS WHO AREN'T IN THE MAIN CAST
Josh Matthews:
Riley's uncle! Cory's baby brother! An interesting, if under-used character.
We're getting more of him in Season 3. I welcome it with open arms.
Okay, speaking critically, I don't know if we haven't seen Josh enough, as far as Riley's story is concerned, but I do think I would have enjoyed seeing him more. He's part of the family, and more to the point, he isn't up to his eyeballs in horrible classroom antics or this *insert curse word of your choice* love triangle.
Joshua Matthews allows for a fresher dynamic--somebody who's only a few years older than Riley and although well-liked is not an authority figure. He loves his niece and I would like to see this explored--do they have any common interests? Did Josh introduce Riley to his favorite books or movies? I'd settle for Riley's favorite color being purple because it's Josh's favorite too.
I'd also like to see Josh and Riley butt heads. Have Josh take an active dislike to Lucas--the overprotective big brother/cousin/young uncle trope may be old, but darn it, it works. Or maybe throw Josh some responsibility he isn't ready for: it's one thing to walk Riley and Maya home from a party, it'd be quite another if he has to play nurse maid for a (moderately) seriously ill Riley or Auggie.
Just don't have him fall in love with Maya.
Zay Babineux.
DeleteI want to be clear that I do not hate Zay, but I cannot honestly say that he is a good character. Or even an okay character.
He contributes very little to the plot. Seriously, has he even had a plot-significant conversation with Riley since his introduction?
Zay is almost entirely comic relief, and he didn't get funny until Texas--and he actually was quite funny then, so credit where credit is due. His actor has improved.
Five main students is too bloated--heck, I still think four is too many. BMW succeeded in no small part because it had a Power Trio with Cory, Shawn, and Topanga, and a Duo with Eric and Jason or Jack or Feeny.
So, yeah. I don't really have much to say on Zay. He isn't around enough to get attached to him--for someone who is supposed to be prominent, I have never actually missed him beyond noting his unexplained absence.
Good read Cryptid. One interesting note - they have filmed 10 episodes of season 3 so far - and Josh has not been in any of them. They made a big deal about how he would be back and used more this season, but so far he hasn't been used at all. Now having said that, we don't know if production is in story order, so except for Meets High School things might be subject to showing in an order that gives us some Josh earlier than we might expect based on what we know so far. It is possible that guest star availability may be driving some film dates. It has in the past.
DeleteOh, hi 1960, it's been quite a while.
DeleteYeah, I heard that Josh hadn't been in the first few episodes, but with a thirty-episode season, there's still plenty of room. But I do want to see him. And see him interact with Riley.
Having said that, I do think that I would have made an effort to put Josh in the main cast for Season 3--having moved in with Cory and Topanga to go to school. Seriously, he's going to NYU for college: the room and board for that is $25,000 a year.
Setting that aside, so long as the show airs in proper story-telling order, and doesn't stretch the school year to put a virtually impossible amount of stories into a set time frame, I won't complain.
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DeleteWell I'm sure Alan and Amy can afford Josh's college bills, so having a dorm room would certainly be the option a new college freshman would choose.
DeleteAs for the school year thing - the issue with GMW is that the seasons start airing in late spring every year but the story starts with the September school year. Let's face it 10 episodes in they should have already passed Halloween as far as story time passes but because that episode won't air until October (and because of what Disney did last year with all the crossovers) it probably will not even be written for several months. Sadly we will undoubtedly have the kids cramming 2/3 of the season before Halloween including the ski lodge episode (which will make no sense because no one skis in New York before November) then have a holiday season episode then at best 4 or 5 episodes after that to conclude the school year. They really should give us some summer episodes to start a season, but then that would really limit the realistic use of the teachers and kids they only see in school.
Eh, I lived at home when I was in college and saved a bunch of money. I would think Josh would consider doing the same--but then again, Eric lived in Jack's Apartment and Cory lived on campus.
DeleteIt was more a desire to have Josh in more episodes--I want Riley to interact with someone who doesn't have a stake in this damn triangle.
And I am terrified of the school year scenario. This has been an issue in quite a few episodes. The World of Terror episodes...the first one is about as filler as you can get, so it doesn't matter that much when it airs. It can fairly be considered a timepiece.
The mega-crossover is not canon, you hear me?! That abomination is not canon! I would rather watch a recording of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, in which your Mets made my Red Sox a laughing stock, every day for a month, than have "World of Terror 2" be canon.
There are definite issues with continuity and I think Season 2 is worse--Belief, and especially Commonism, aired months after they should have. And I don't think we'd be as disgruntled with this triangle if Texas had aired near the end of the season, rather than having a half dozen episodes that precede it in the storyline air after it.
"New Year" is its own beast, and it wasn't a good idea to have it be plot-significant. If it were just simple filler, then I could write it off.
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DeleteStill more Character Thoughts:
DeleteIsadora Smackle:
I'm fond of Isadora, so much so that I will from this point on refer to her by her given name. And I dislike Lucas with such intensity that henceforth I will refer to him by his surname.
What does it say about your show that a character who can barely be called recurring and was little more than a prop in her first two appearances, has a more tangible arc than your lead character and is consistently funnier than the more commonly recurring comic relief?
I like Isadora a /lot/ and I have enjoyed seeing her grow. From her first appearance, in which she was nothing more than Farkle's rival, we have seen her make conscious efforts to make friends with the main cast, and it's worked! One of my favorite moments in "New Year" was when Farkle and Isadora showed up to the party--Isadora warmly greeted Riley with a hug, initiating the physical affection.
And Isadora is also one of the parties to the most consistently funny running gag in this show. I always get at least a chuckle out of her outright refusal to allow Friar to have any romantic feelings, however imagined they are, towards her.
I want to see more from Isadora Smackle in Season 3. I'll get into specifics in due time.
Hi Cryptid, finally have the time to reflect upon and comment on your fascinating thoughts about GMW.
DeleteWhat you said about the show’s potential is interesting. I do think GMW has occasionally lived up to its potential and given us a handful of episode that are great or near-great. But, yeah, there has been lots of terrible stuff. BMW has been pretty uneven too, if not as wildly so.
I don’t usually complain, and it always feels weird to when it is weird enough that I am a viewer. I would still feel very optimistic about GMW but for Money, which they broadcast after a long layoff, then left it in air to linger for a few weeks before following it up with Commonism. I know that these were earlier, out-of-sequence efforts, and if they had been tightly sandwiched between better episodes I would feel differently. But that was quite the one-two punch to suffer through, the opposite of Yearbook and Semi-Formal.
I didn’t grow up with BMW—there weren’t shows like BMW or GMW when I was a kid. At my age I’m not looking for lessons and don’t have much to say about the series on that score, though I appreciate your thoughts. I was especially intrigued by your comments on Poplar. It ‘s not an episode I’ve been back to for a while, but I remember being of two minds about Cory’s Harajuku riff, and I don't think I was familiar with the term "cultural appropriation" then. It seemed like the strongest character moment I had seen from him at that point in time. But, I was also glad he wasn’t hanging around Memphis or Liverpool in the 50s.
I’m with you about Cory’s treatment of Riley in that episode. I saw it too in the scene in the hallway outside the apartment (Farkle’s? Before they decided he was rich?) where the geek party was taking place, when both he and Maya were gleefully anticipating what that had to understand would be a crushing moment for Riley. It seemed all wrong.
I watch GMW pretty much exclusively for the characters. Following your example, I will take a break and come back to that later. Maybe.
Ah Milestones! I've been looking forward to your response for some time now! Lovely to hear from you again, my friend.
DeleteI see a lot of potential in GMW, due mostly to Riley, Farkle, and Maya. These characters have flaws, I still want to see them grow up. Lucas, on the other hand, I want to see get eaten by a tyrannosaurus. Or stepped on by a three-hundred-story fighting robot.
Boy Meets World had its fair share of misses, but it had plenty of hits--I think this is due in no small part to Bill Daniels insisting that George Feeny be treated with respect. I shudder to think of what Feeny would say if he saw Cory's classroom--Cory would be in Big-Boy Detention for the rest of his life.
On Popular, I'm definitely in two minds--now, I didn't have a problem with Cory teasing Riley in the hallway. She gloated about being invited to what she thought was the Cool Party, and she made jokes at her father's expense. And then it blew up in her face. So it made sense to me--there were plenty of times when Alan and Amy let Cory get his just deserts.
But when Cory started scolding her on cultural appropriation, it gave me pause. I didn't know very much about the issue when the episode first aired, but I am a bit more familiar with it now. And I've grown to hate the very idea of getting outraged over "cultural appropriation" in the first place.
My initial reservations were along the lines of "Cory, shouldn't you wait until you get home? And wait a second, didn't you notice how Riley was dressed in the first place?"
When Cory embarrassed Riley at the Spelling Bee, it left me a little uneasy. Cory and Maya object to her wardrobe, but that was basically all Riley changed. She acted a bit geekier and a little more obnoxious, but she didn't do anything else Japanese--didn't speak any words, didn't eat any Japanese foods, didn't follow any other customs.
And then there's the notion that Riley would have looked exactly the same in that outfit if she were mimicking the style of a character from an anime she watched at the Geek Party.
Notably, Cory didn't say a darned thing to Topanga, and one could easily make the argument that Topanga appropriated from Native Americans and Buddhists and who knows what else to a far greater degree than Riley ever did.
It gets worse, the more you look into the rabbit hole when people trumpet the evils of cultural appropriation--something I do NOT recommend.
Part of it might also has to do with my worldview. I have always loved that America is a melting pot.
I borrowed this comment from a related thread on the blog of my favorite author. It sums of my feelings nicely:
Here in the [United States and Canada] we have a government from the Greeks by way of the Romans by way of the British. We speak that b*st*ard tongue of all languafes, English. Our religion is Jewish by way of the Romans with a Reformation from the Germans. Our provinces and states have names taken from the Native Americans. We don’t care who your ancestors were. We’re bound by ideas instead of blood. Cultural appropriation? How could we *not* be?
So, yeah. I'm fine with having my point-of-view challenged, but I would prefer to be treated as an adult. GMW did not do so in that regard, and ironically, I am now far more inclined against the message of "Popular" than I would have ever been had it never aired.
Something to ponder:
DeleteOne of the themes of Girl Meets World appears to be "When being right is more important than being friends, then that's the end of being friends."
That was first stated by Maya in "Meets Mr. Squirrels" and while it has never been mentioned verbatim, there are several episodes where it seems to be a factor. The irony of Maya being the one who states it, and then consistently being the one to threaten to sever the friendship when she doesn't get her way is not lost on me.
Interestingly, I think this blog has done a better job at that idea than the show itself.
We've all disagreed plenty of times, on the merits of episodes' morals, on the objective quality of the episodes themselves, on the character dynamics, but we've managed to keep things quite civil.
Personally, I feel quite enriched by the friendships that I've developed here. For that, if nothing else, I am grateful for GMW.
Cryptid, my friend, it is so good to be conversing with you again. I wish it were about a topic on which I had a firmer grasp and episode I remembered better.
DeleteWhen I was in kindergarten—there is a picture of this, I have no reliable memory—we made costumes that were cartoonish representations of the traditional attire of those we now call indigenous people. It wouldn’t happen now, not in a public classroom, and I don’t think that is a bad thing. But, I don’t look back at that with any sense of shame or outrage. I’m usually not a big fan of outrage.
I first encountered the term “cultural appropriation” about six months ago, when there was a kerfuffle up here over the cancellation of a yoga class at a university. It seemed silly, was resolved quickly, and I didn’t think too much about it after. I might have connected it to Cory’s brief speech in Popular, but maybe not.
I liked the speech because it seemed real and heartfelt, even if aspects of its wisdom were debatable. I thought Riley’s lack of understanding of the significance of her attire was the issue. I assumed Cory was providing correct information about that. After greater exposure to his classroom scenes, that’s not an assumption I would make now. I’m bad at the internet and when trying to find out for myself came up mostly with Gwen Stefani (maybe that’s what they are on about with this).
I liked what you said about the civility of this blog. I don’t really have an interest in delving much deeper into this topic. If it happened anyway, there would be probably some differences in our thinking that opened up (cultural differences maybe, but that would make my head spin). But we would handle it just fine.
This place makes my life better. Christian and Sean make my life better. The people here make my life better. Cryptid, personally, you make my life better. Thanks.
Oh yeah, characters. Maybe tomorrow, or on the weekend.
Likewise, Milestones. I am proud to call you my friend.
DeleteThe thing with Popular, I think, is that it was the first episode that really dropped the ball in its third act. You're right, there's really nothing more to say on that episode specifically, but it does point to a larger problem overall.
There are several episodes that start out promising but I find the ending unsatisfactory--"Demolition" is probably the most noteworthy, or "Creativity" for that matter. Good ideas bogged down for whatever reason.
I'm fine with an episode that starts weak, and ends strong--"Meets Mr. Squirrels" comes to mind; Topanga knocked it out of the park with the whole Amazon Warrior/Short Stack of Pancakes bit. I'm happy with an episode that has only one weak link throughout when everything else is fine--"Brother" is a little cheesy, but darn it, I love it anyway. "Me and Mr. Joad" from the original show is similar--when Cory and Shawn do their little protest, it's pretty cringe-inducing, but Mr. Turner and Alan and Amy and Mr. Feeny squash the protest like a bug, so I like the episode quite a bit.
I gotta get to work, but rest assured, I'll be back.
SPEAKING OF BEING RIGHT INSTEAD OF BEING FRIENDS, MARVEL CIVIL WAR WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
DeleteDAMN RIGHT SEAN! JUST SAW THAT MOVIE LAST NIGHT! IT WAS FREAKING AWESOME!
DeleteWhy am I shouting?
Would I have to watch any of the other ones first?
DeleteTo get the full experience, then yes, I would say so.
Delete"Civil War" is the thirteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise (Seriously, they'll be talking about these movies for a century--they have films planned till 2029). Of the films I would say are necessary to see before "Civil War"? Hmmm...that would be Captain America: The First Avenger, Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Avengers: Age of Ultron. Nothing else is vital, in my opinion.
And let me say, that film was AWESOME! I'M SHOUTING AGAIN AND I DON'T CARE! TEAM CAP! TEAM CAP! TEAM CAP!
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DeleteMore Characters:
DeleteAva Morgenstern.
I gave my thoughts on Zay, and since Ava has appeared in at leas as many episodes, I can't exactly ignore her.
Next to Friar, I think Morgenstern may be my least favorite character.
They attempted to make Auggie's friendship with Ava be a mini-Cory-and-Topanga.
It. Did. Not. Work.
Ava exists as a character that gives Topanga something to do. And I don't think it does Topanga's character justice--we rarely see Topanga interact with her daughter (granted, if Riley went to Topanga for help more often, she'd likely end up at a reasonable solution to her problem much more quickly) but we've seen Ava probably a dozen times.
If we have to deal with Ava, why can't she serve as a migraine for Riley? Riley adores her little brother. That's a perfect set-up.
More to the point, and possibly more importantly, I do not like Ava because I do not like the way she treats Auggie. They're supposed to be a little couple and it's supposed to be cute. But it isn't. The friendship is almost entirely one-sided, with Ava being a royal brat and Auggie doing everything she says. And Ava is downright mean to Auggie.
Some parts of the fanbase claim that Auggie and Ava are like an old married couple. Fiddlesticks. Ava's entirely mean-spirited. There is no good-natured ribbing or mother-henning in the Auggie/Ava relationship. If anything, the set of friends that bicker like an old married couple are Riley and Maya, and to some degree, especially after "Yearbook," Riley and Farkle.
So if they ever decide to have Auggie break up with Ava, I will be very happy.
Eric Matthews.
DeleteMy all-time favorite from the entire Feeny-verse. I love Senator Eric Matthews.
What can I say that has already been said a thousand times over? Not that much, at least not as far as Eric is concerned. He's content in his personal life; he's close to his brother, and presumably the rest of his family; he's making a real difference in the world.
I'd love to see more of Eric, but that will boil down to how much Will wants to be on camera. I'd love to see Eric interact with Riley and Auggie. I want to see him be Silly Uncle Eric.
I also think it may be interesting to see a bit of Eric trying to save the world, but I'll get into a few more details soon.
Shawn Hunter.
DeleteWhy aren't you on more?
Once again, everything I can think of to say on this character has already been said. Much of my commentary on Shawn mirrors Sean and Christian's, so there's not much to add.
Shawn's awesome. I miss him. Where is he? Has Cory booked a chapel early for Shawn and Katy to get married?
In all seriousness, I do want more from Shawn. I want Shawn to play with Cory and Topanga again. I want Shawn to meet Jonathan Turner again. I want Shawn to meet Stuart Minkus and promptly revert to an eleven-year-old. I want Shawn to reunite with Jack, but for things not to go so smoothly--I got an idea for that one; it won't happen, of course, but it's fun to speculate. And I want to see Shawn grow in his relationship with Katy.
Speaking of which....
Character Analysis:
Katy Hart.
She's awesome. The end.
Cryptid - I agree with your assessment of Katy, but I think you are too hard on Ava, as you are on Lucas.
DeleteWhile Ava in season 1 was certainly just as you described her, in season 2 Ava has started to change. She has done some things to help Auggie that do not serve her agenda at all, showing that she does indeed value him as a friend (disguising him from the bully in Commonism, helping him get better at soccer). I'm sure that her character was initially written that way for shock value, but also to the extreme so the audience can see her change over time (people change people - the next generation). I do agree though that the Ava and Topanga relationship is much like Maya/Topanga in that both those girls get more meaningful mothering on screen than Riley. Perhaps though it's because they need it more. Maya because her mom is always working and Ava because her mom Judy is a shrew. I believe I read somewhere that Ava's dad leaves so she will probably need more parenting from the Matthews as time goes on.
Concerning Shawn - I believe so far he has appeared in "Upstate", where they go to his cabin and in the recently completed "I Do". Hopefully we will see more of him in season 3 than we did in the first two seasons, but most of this is due to Rider not wanting to appear on camera. Jacobs has repeatedly said they would use him more if he wanted to appear.
As for Shawn and Katy - here is a picture from the recent filming of "Girl Meets I Do" https://www.instagram.com/p/BFC5jjiiNat/?taken-by=makeluck - not sure if it means what we might want it to mean, but people at the taping said there was a wedding. I have seen conflicting reports however concerning who is getting married.
Also Jacobs has said that Shawn and Turner will reunite, though he didn't say what season it will happen in.
Ah, 1960, lovely to hear from you again, friend. It's been quite a while.
DeletePerhaps you are right in that I was too harsh on Ava, but the fact remains that she remains a fairly prominent recurring character, and contributes very little to the story beyond giving Topanga something to do, and that eats up valuable time that Riley could interact with her mother.
As for Friar, I might have channeled my frustrations about the show in general onto him. Whether it was fair or not, the fact remains that I have zero interest in watching Friar grow, I dislike him intensely for his role in the Love Triangle--however frustrated I am with Riley and Maya for behaving the way they do, Friar could and should have nipped this in the bud. And then there's the notion that he claims his friends have changed him, when we see literally nothing supporting this--Friar's development this season has largely been due to Zay, and from my point of view, that basically means we're just seeing Old Texas Friar.
As for Shawn, I acknowledge that Rider is not particularly fond of being on camera--possibly because he doesn't want to be type-casted--but the fact remains that the show is generally on a high note whenever Shawn's around.
And I would like to see Shawn have at least one episode independent of developing his relationship with Katy.
I am glad to hear your thoughts though. And congrats, Mr. Mets fan--Bartolo Colon, one of the Mets pitchers hit a home run the other night. I despise the Mets (Red Sox fan. 1986 still hurts), but credit where credit is due, that's something you don't see every day.
Hey Cryptid, I never developed much animosity towards Lucas either. A good part of that would be due to jumping into GMW during Season 2. New World and Secret of Life were early episodes for me after Pluto, either in repeat or because our Family Channel would further jumble airing order, and they gave the character at least some interest. (Seeing 1961 in close proximity to Secret of Life added a bit to that, while also giving a probably wrong read on how much ideas and events in one episode would be informing future episodes.)
DeleteBeginning GMW from the beginning certainly would have resulted in a much different first impression of Lucas. Except, in that case, I might have fled at the introduction of the Farkle character.
I liked your thoughts on Farkle, and think he is easily the most improved character. I wouldn’t watch the show for just for him though, and will always be principally interested in Riley and Maya. It’s too hard for me to be objective with those two.
About Maya, I did want to say that for me her negative/darker characteristics make her more intriguing—I mean, if I can “like” Tony Soprano or even Dexter Morgan, it shouldn’t be hard to like Maya Hart. Mostly though, I just like her. I was interested in your contrast with Shawn. What I got out of BMW, only having seen one episode more than once, was that Shawn at some point may have had some involvement in and certainly had knowledge of his family’s criminal activity. I may get a different read on a second viewing.
A whole lot of agreeing about Shawn and Katy.
As far as Ava and Auggie go, they work best in small doses and not with each other. I kind of like Ava, but not with Auggie, and when I have liked Auggie he had been interacting with Riley. The problem is they almost always devote a B story to them together, so not only are they going to suck, they are going to chew up a fair bit of screen time sucking.
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DeleteOh, I don't think Maya's a bad character at all, really. Farkle may have had the most pronounced arc, but Maya's probably the most well-developed character. Simply put, it's a lot easier for me to think of things Maya likes and dislikes than Riley or Friar...okay, okay, I give. Lucas can have his name back.
DeleteOn that note, I didn't become particularly disenchanted with Maya until this whole Love Triangle mess. Before Texas, we had Hurricane and Creativity and technically speaking Forgiveness, which was set before--while I wasn't overly fond of Creativity (In what world would Jonathan Turner allow students to show such disrespect to authority figures?), it was very nice to see Maya further develop her passion. And Hurricane allows Maya to develop her dour worldview into a more optimistic one--though I do agree that the big YAY didn't do much. And well, we all said our bit on Forgiveness.
It's not that I dislike Maya, it's more that I find that she restricts the plot, with her resistance to change, just as often as she advances it. And while Cory and Topanga are to be lauded for reaching out to help Maya, it does make Maya harder to root for--Shawn had a lot further to reach and up until he went to live with Mr. Turner, a fraction of the support.
And now Maya's stuck in this Triangle, which takes away valuable time from the entire show's story.
I'm surprised Ava got a writeup before Harley. You're always talking about Harley.
DeleteHarley appeared in only four episodes (Ava's been in at least a dozen), and while I enjoyed him immensely, what more is there to say? He's done his bit, and while he definitely left an impact, I don't know what I can say about him. Cory's old bully reformed, Cory got him a custodial position (which raises the question of how long Cory's been a teacher), and he's a fierce supporter of the Fine Art electives.
DeleteI suppose you could argue Harley works for the whole "People Change People" bit, but that doesn't work very well, since most of Harley's change was off-screen. For comparison's sake, look at Frankie Stechino. He went from thug, to reluctant muscle, to a poet, to somebody close enough to Cory that they broke bread together at Thanksgiving. People change people indeed.
While Harley could conceivably return in Season 3 (It's the same district, so it's hardly a stretch to imagine Harley pulling a shift at the High School), I have no real reason for him to return.
That's not to say I didn't enjoy every minute Harley was on-screen, Sean. Perish the thought, I love Janitor Harley. But his story is over.
Okay, I've left my take on just about every character. Have I forgotten anyone?
DeleteRiley's grandparents:
They're awesome. Where are they? I miss them.
Yeah, that pretty much sums up everything remotely related to characters on an individual basis at least.
I guess I might as well move on. I have some more stuff to say, more specifically things I would like to see. We've thrown around ideas before, and with Season 3 looming on the horizon, things do seem to becoming to a head.
So what would I like to see? The same question was posted to Reddit a few weeks ago.
Girl Meets Scapegoat:
I've had this idea since "Girl Meets Fish."
When Auggie takes Topanga's necklace to school and then loses it, Riley covers for him, incurring the wrath of her parents. Topanga is livid and behaves very coldly towards Riley. Riley's sick with guilt from lying to her parents.
Girl Meets Responsibility:
As an anniversary present to Cory and Topanga, Riley and Josh offer to baby-sit Auggie for an entire weekend, only to discover that parenting is not nearly as easy as it looks. I had "Uncle Daddy" in mind when this idea came to me--God I love that episode; I think it may have been the first one I watched that made me realize that Eric Matthews was someone special to watch.
Girl Meets Mother:
It's Take-Your-Daughter-to-Work Day, and Riley follows Topanga around the law firm and sits in at a trial, where Topanga leads the case. Opposing her is Jack Hunter, who is defending the company he represented back in "Semi-formal." Riley learns that Jack is Shawn's half-brother and Jack is terrified to be facing Topanga.
Girl Meets Master Plan 2:
In an attempt to get Uncle Shawn to reconcile with his half-brother, Jack Hunter, Riley enlists her Uncle Eric's help. Jack is wiling to make amends but an outraged Shawn tears into Riley, fracturing their relationship. The consequences are long-term.
Girl Meets Baby:
The classic Take-Care-Of-The-Baby Project. Riley is paired with Farkle and their baby malfunctions and is unable to stop crying. Maya is outraged when Lucas loses their baby on the subway.
Hey Cryptid, catching up a bit here. I don’t think the Triangle has done any of the characters any favours, and I won’t miss it when it goes (or is revealed to be a Tesseract or something). But, and I’m sure I’ve said this before, I’ve liked the Triangle episodes just fine—Legacy being the exception.
DeleteIt’s stuff like Money and Communism that have undercut my enthusiasm for GMW. Every show has its bad episodes, but they need to make fewer of them and make them not quite so bad. If they have a decent episode going, they need to stop doing stuff like having the kids put on a show or allowing Yogi to choose the manner of his own death. Of course, what I want out of GMW wouldn’t and shouldn’t be of any concern to them.
I get entirely what you are saying about how these episodes end. A little less stumbling off the stage would help.
It’s been about a year since I was roped into GMW by Pluto and about six months since I saw an episode I thought was great. The pickings have been slim in 2016. I came around eventually on STEM and found a way, against all odds, to like Bay Window. New Year was the last episode I just flat-out enjoyed. But I’m hopeful about Season 3, though, and remain a sensationally unlikely fan of the show.
So I finished BMW. Season 7 was my least favourite of the series, immediacy bias probably being at play there. A finale that seemed mostly to be a two-part clip-episode probably would have worked better if I had watched the series of over seven years, or however long it took to cycle through on Saturday mornings. But damn if they didn’t get me by the throat right at end.
There was no fucking time capsule.
Milestones! It has been almost a year, hasn't it? And you've finally finished BMW. Season 7, your least favorite? That's a commonly held opinion around these parts. Sean, Christian, Shipping, myself...we could go on for some time here.
DeleteTesseract? I thought you mentioned that you hadn't seen of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.
It really does go down to endings a lot of the time.
I like Money, in spite of Mark Cuban's nonsense. But better him, or Stuart for that matter, than them than Evelyn Rand, the random billionaire.
The Triangle has its share of issues in itself: three out of four of the leads are invested in it in a romantic sense. If Riley were in a Triangle with Lucas and Charlie (Or any other non-main male character really, what matters is that Male Y isn't part of the regular Group), I don't think any of us would be opposed.
I still maintain hope. There is a very good show nestled somewhere deep inside GMW. "Yearbook," "Pluto," and "Semi-formal" are proof of that. If they can find that magic again, and maintain it, I will be very happy.
Anything specific you'd like to see happen this year, friend? I want to see more of Riley just being with her family--which is what I had in mind with "Meets Responsibility" and "Meets Mother."
And about that time capsule...I inclined to think that it was actually buried shortly after their high school graduation. I just can't see Topanga putting in the Lauren Letter in a capsule after their wedding.
More considerations about this show.
DeleteMilestones, you mentioned a while back that you were here for the characters, rather than the lessons.
An interesting position, since I'm not sure it's possible, at least in this show, to separate them.
With that in mind, I would like to see the characters butt heads more often. I like arguments and I like reconciliation.
That's one of the things so frustrating--when these kids fight, it often seems really petty. While Cory and friends had their share of petty squabbles, there was also a fair number of really hurtful actions. With GMW, it's along the lines of "You guys are friends, why are you fighting?" With BMW, every so often it was "You guys are friends--why did you do this?"
One of the best episodes of BMW in this regard is "Wake Up, Little Cory." Cory and Topanga's feud was a deep wound--I personally wouldn't have held it against Topanga if she refused to speak to Cory again--and it makes their reconciliation at the end of the episode that much sweeter.
Compare that to STEM--it was the most recent episode with a fight between the kids, so it's the freshest in my memory. I've warmed to the episode somewhat, but it's still far from my favorite. The schism is much wider, dividing the entire class in two, and thus it doesn't feel nearly as personal, so it's harder to get invested. It doesn't help matters that Riley doesn't actually say the words "I'm sorry" to Farkle.
That being said, aside from the Yogi-Sacrifice bit "STEM" is head and shoulders above an episode like "Friendship" where the fight between the kids is boring or "Crazy Hat," where it is cartoonishly over-the-top.
So let interpersonal dynamics be explored. Let there be a fight that's real, but allows for genuine reconciliation.
Hmm. Been reading for a while, finally felt the urge to respond.
DeleteThe time capsule is messed up. I have problems seeing Topanga keeping a letter from Lauren to Cory at all, keeping right throughout their break-up, holding on to it after then until the time capsule. But it can't be just after Graduation, as Shawn states that it was -after- Angela left him, which didn't happen till very late in Season 7. Why would Topanga keep a letter that broke them up about 2 years after they got back together? Dunno, but that seems to be the only way it makes sense.
I don't believe we've met, Will von Roekel. How ya doin'?
DeleteOh yeah, after Angela left him--so it definitely can't be Season 6, since Shawn left Angela when they started college.
It was Topanga's idea for Riley to put some of her possessions (Beary the Bear Bear and Lucas' stupid shoe that her parents really should have made her return by now) into a memory box.
It wouldn't surprise me if Topanga put the letter into a box right after she broke up with Cory as a reminder not to get back together with him. Why she kept it after they got back together, I have no idea, but the same logic applies with the Lawrence Divorce Love is Dead arc.
Also, why the hell did they bury that capsule in Feeny's yard? And why the hell didn't Eric put anything in?
Naah, we haven't met. As I said, I've been reading her for a while, finally made a comment.
DeleteI guess. I dunno, do you really want to hold on to past mementoes of a love that you thought was the one, when they betrayed you? And if that was the case, why wasn't she pulling it out when at the art gallery and being all tormented about whether to go on that date with a new guy? Unfortunately, it's why individual episodes of their romance really work for me, but some episodes I have to just ignore if I'm to buy into it (which I need to for the purposes of GMW). Logically, she should have burned that letter the moment they were back together. Unless we're meant to believe she wasn't really sure yet? And she proposed whilst not sure? I get the symbolism, but that seems like something to have done before their marriage.
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DeleteCryptid—you are correct about the characters and the lessons being intertwined on GMW. I just respond far more to the one thread.
DeleteRules was an episode I think I liked better than you did, but probably not by that much. The beginning was fun, with the ring-power call back and the two of them spraying the class with plastic balls. The moment near the end, with Riley outside the door and Maya knowing she would be, might be my favourite of the series. It deserved to be in a better episode, and deserved to be the way an episode ended. In between, the display of the differences between Riley and Maya was not without interest, and I liked some of the exchanges in the hallway. The lesson? People don’t change people? People change people, but the change won’t stick if you aren’t standing side by side? I suppose the lesson is identified in the title. The things I liked about the episode may have been connected to that lesson, but that connection was incidental to my enjoyment of them.
There were some things I liked about Tell-Tale Tot, with Riley in the dorm hallway being a whole lot of fun. The lesson? Never keep your mouth shut and always rat on your friends? Maya is Pinocchio? Always listen to the giant talking tatter tot sitting on your shoulder? I suppose it was simpler than that.
While I’m thinking about Tot, I did want to mention that business with Maya’s feelings about Josh. At the time, when she was “proving” that it wasn’t just a crush, I thought she had just pulled a couple of things out of her ass that she, and we, had seen earlier in the episode, and then forced his hand with a prediction of an escort home. And I thought that impression was deliberate. I’m now more inclined to think it was the writers pulling things out their asses and that they forgot, or ignored, the fact they, just a few lines before, had Josh say that he was staying and the girls were leaving.
Anyway, Cryptid my friend, I think I will break here and come back to your observations and questions a bit later.
Interesting points, Milestones.
DeleteIt's not that I dislike Rules, per say. It's more that I find its A-plot a little perplexing. Setting aside Cory Puppetmaster nonsense, it doesn't really do much to help its lesson.
You need good kids and bad kids to balance each other out? Maya and Riley keep each other relatively centered?
I don't get it. Why is it wrong for somebody to abide by the Rules? You'll be bored? Or if you break rules for no other reason than the thrill, you'll get bored? That's not a sufficient reason, not from my point of view.
If they wanted to emphasize balance, with regard to rule-abiding, then they need to be tangible reasons. Why not have Riley confront the idea that sometimes the RIGHT thing to do is to break the rules?
As for Tell-Tale Tot, I agree the message is weak. Riley had the time of her life, and can't tell her parents because she'll get in trouble. That she actually disobeyed them doesn't seem to be as big a factor. As for Maya and Josh, I think your first impression is closer--Josh is a Matthews Man; like Alan, Eric, and Cory before him, he will do what can fairly be called the right thing.
I have to say that this was disappointing. I was looking forward to an actual post..
ReplyDeleteFor a hoot, while you're waiting for new episodes, why don't you guys review Nickelodeon's new "School of Rock" series, based on the classic Jack Black movie?
ReplyDeleteYikes. I actually love that movie, so I don't want to desecrate its memory. Shit, that sounds like I'm describing this blog
DeleteSean! Run for your life! The show is terrible! I never saw the film myself, but that show doesn't even have the kids play rock music.
DeleteI also wouldn't say, necessarily, that you'd be desecrating the memory of "Boy Meets World" with this blog.
Delete"Full House Reviewed!" desecrates the memory of its show.
But you and Christian have tried to be fair here, and you've only really turned against GMW when it came to this love triangle which, as a plot point, a lot of people hate on principle.
You should give "School of Rock" a try. It's not as bad as Cryptid456 is saying. I'll let you in on a secret-- it's funnier and more entertaining than the second half of GMW season 2.
DeleteHere are a couple "pro" reviews that are kind to it:
http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/nicks-school-rock-innocuous-enough-provided-you-ja-233380
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/school-rock-tv-review-874256
My one main critique of the show, is I think they should have considered casting Nickelodeon veteran Jerry Trainer in the Jack Black role instead of the guy they got.
DeleteI will watch "School of Rock" on the condition that Jack Black and/or Joan Cusack is in it.
DeleteWatched a bit. I'll give the guy playing Dewey one thing, he's doing a pretty spot-on Jack Black impression.
DeleteHey Sean and Christean, to hold us over maybe one of you guys can review the new Disney Channel show Stuck in the Middle
ReplyDeleteOr Liv and Maddie. They're older than the Stuck kids
DeleteWe did Liv and Maddie :D I thoroughly enjoyed it http://girlmeetsworldreviewed.blogspot.com/2015/07/liv-and-maddie-reviewed-cook-rooney-216.html
DeleteGuys?! Did you see? " Issues like drugs, sex or drinking would be handled by the girls ". <--- Said in interview. BUT, it goes on to say " ... but at the same time, it would also stay within the parameters set by the channel. "
ReplyDeleteIf they talk about sex, I will eat my hat. I could see them do something like caffeine pills if they ever get us the fuck out of this fucking love triangle.
DeleteI want to get my hopes up, but I've been hurt too many times.
DeleteI don't think any of that is likely. Even if this were on ABC, I'd doubt it. Boy Meets World has a shaky record on the darker subject matter, and that's being friendly.
DeleteI'd say, just let the kids grow up.
There's plenty to do in a high school environment, I think. Riley and Farkle could be drawn towards honors classes, alienating Maya. Or let there be a teacher who's actually a real jerk. I had a couple of jerk teachers in high school, and damn it if I didn't learn more from them than any of my professors in college.
And get rid of this *redacted* love triangle.
Your prayer maybe answered as this article states that in season 3 Josh will return while dating in high school will be a central theme. Hopefully they make the dating all dramatic like they've done in Season 2. ‘Girl Meets World' Season 3 Update: Uriah Shelton Is Returning; Plus, Dating Will Be Central Theme - The Bitbag
Deletehttp://www.thebitbag.com/girl-meets-world-season-3-update-uriah-shelton-returning-plus-dating-will-central-theme/146924
THAT is some seriously good news.
DeleteIt would be kinda funny if the triangle was resolved by Maya getting with Josh and Riley falling for Charley or some new guy, leaving Lucas single and either drowning in attention from random girls in school or getting sulky because girls kinda ignore him and he's not used to it =P
DeleteSemi-semi GMW-related, guys, but it is certainly interesting.
ReplyDeleteApparently, in an effort to promote the newest Disney Channel Original Movie, "Further Adventures in Baby-sitting," starring Sabrina Carpenter as the lead role, Disney Channel is airing a marathon of its DCOMs, including some of the more obscure titles over Memorial Day Weekend.
http://hypeline.org/disney-channel-is-airing-a-4-day-51-movie-dcom-marathon/
I haven't seen any promos for "Further Adventures in Baby-Sitting," but this still looks interesting.
Cryptid - the first 10 minutes of Adventures in Babysitting will air Friday night June 3rd - after the season premiere for GMW season 3. Meets High School part 2 should be airing Sunday night June 5th. Then I believe we get new episodes on June 10th and June 17th. On June 24 Adventures in Babysitting premiers followed by Disney's newest show Bizaardvark.
DeleteAnd after the top 51 DCOMs air over Memorial Day weekend the other 48 will be aired between then and the Adventures in Babysitting premiere (Adventures in Babysitting is the 100th DCOM. Disney is ranking them and showing them all in celebration). So if you want to catch any DCOM ever, it will be shown at least once in that 5 week period, some several times.
Trailer 2 here: http://www.slashfilm.com/adventures-in-babysitting-trailer-2/
All I know is that Johnny Tsunami will be on television for the first time in years!
DeleteAnd one of the best made-for-television films of all time, Tru Confessions!
Also, checked Wikipedia. I give Bizaardvark two seasons tops, and only because Disney is loath to cancel a show after just a single season.
Oh, my God. I loved Tru Confessions. Back when Disney Channel movies actually focused on real life issues and subject matter. Also, The Color of Friendship was another one I particularly liked.
DeleteJust checked Ben Savage's Twitter, guys.
ReplyDeleteLooks like they're up to Episode 11 in the production.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ChK6EnrUcAEZnCh.jpg
The link is directly from Ben's account.
First season 3 promo here. Girl Meets High School 2 part event
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOwSlrM4t-8
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DeleteThanks, Anonymous!
DeleteThat was quite a promo...I'm wondering if they gave away too much.
On the one hand, I am delighted to see Isadora. But the group has grown to six members, and once the ensemble gets that large, it really starts to stretch itself thin.
The "Getting Lost in the Crowd of New Students" is an old joke, but there's a reason it's stuck around for the better part of three decades. It's pretty darn funny.
Unfortunately, there's a helluva lot of Triangle stuff, from the looks of it.
And the Wham! bit at the end...considering I never bought this love story, and have grown to intensely hate Friar, I am looking forward to seeing it be addressed.
Not sure if I like the Older Triangle...
The opening where Riley and Maya open the doors and hit the other freshmen is a direct replaying of how Cory and Shawn did it in the season 2 opener of BMW.
DeleteFirst tweet in 6 weeks - Girl Meets Writers @GMWWriters · 4 hours ago
ReplyDeleteWorking hard. Half the season ready. Very proud. Back next week to start two-part ski lodge. Oh, 'member how the show begins? That's over.
So looks like they are saying the intro will change. I had read that the cast all went to a secret LA location Easter week to shoot it. Might be something akin to BMW season 5-7.
The intro will change?
DeleteMaybe it'll be shorter. A long time ago, Sean looked into the lengths of the episodes and he noticed that the Seasons 2-4 episodes were slightly longer, due to their abbreviated intro. Sean also suggested that the extra thirty-to-sixty seconds added to the show, by virtue of the shorter intro, allowed for a little wiggle room in the delivery of the messages.
Whether this will mean anything in the long run is up for debate, but in a 22-minute show, every second counts.
While waiting for the new season of GMW to start, I thought I'd entertain you with my ranking of the current Disney & Nick sitcoms. I enjoy all these shows. I find most prime time broadcast network sitcoms are filthy and perverted, so the only shows I watch are "Last Man Standing", "Dr Ken", "Big Bang Theory" and "Undateable". The rest for me are the Disney & Nick shows. I started to watch the new show "Crowded", since it features Nick alum Miranda Cosgrove, but I was disappointed to find it has the same sex jokes as other sitcoms, most likely plagiarized from porn films.
ReplyDeleteSo, on to the ranking, counting down, with #1 being the best currently in production and on the air.
14- Game Shakers (Nick) - Weak attempt by Nick to recreate their bygone super-hit iCarly, and fails.
13- KC Undercover (Disney Channel)- An attempt to create an epic spy-comedy that more often than not fails under its own weight.
12- Nicky, Ricky Dicky and Dawn (Nick) - Kind of cute sitcom about quints that look nothing alike (one looks like a different ethnicity). Might be at the end of its run, as Dawn is starting to out mature the 3 boys.
11- BUNK'D (Disney Channel)- sequel to Jessie, I hated this show early on, but it's starting to grow on me... hopefully not like a wart.
10- Lab Rats Elite Force (DIsney XD) -the combined sequel to Lab Rats and Mighty Med. Not as good as either of it's predicessors, but it does have two of the hottest Disney girls, Kelli Berglund and Paris Berloc, making it worth watching.
9- Gamers Guide to Pretty Much Everything (DIsney XD) - Similar yet different premise to Game Shakers, but Disney scores much better with thier version.
8- Liv and Maddie (DIsney Channel) - IMO, an average sitcom. Not a disaster, but nothing special either.
7- The Thundermans (NIck)- Nick's attempt to recreate Wizards of Waverly Place. A strong cast and decent scripts make it work.
6- Girl Meets World (Disney Channel) - If this were season 1 or the first half of season 2, this show would be #1 or 2. But it crashed and burned badly in the second half of season 2. Maybe season 3 can recover, but I'm not holding my breath. Advance word is that it will continue down the path of "dramedy", which was one of the problems of the second half of season 2.
5- Best Friends Whenever (Disney Channel)- a fun gimmick show that started out strong, but, like KC Undercover, is starting to give itself too much weight. The two girls are really cute, though, and are great performers. The girl who plays Shelby looks like a teenage Margot Robbie.
4- Stuck in the Middle (Disney Channel) - Disney's newest show is a multi-camera shoot, and so far has shown high quality. Could be the show that kills GMW if the latter can't recover in season 3.
3- Bella and the Bulldogs (Nick)- fun show about a girl on the football team.
2- School of Rock (Nick) - many fans of the movie hate this show because it's different from the movie, but I think it's still very funny and entertaining. Tomika the young bass player, Breanna Yde, has got a real voice on her.
1- Henry Danger (Nick) - A superhero spoof that is perhaps the funniest sitcom on either Disney or Nick at the moment.
Honorable mention to I Didn't Do It, one of the better shows on Disney that didn't catch on and was cancelled prematurely. Had it not been cancelled, it would be in the top 3.
On a tangent, since the Monkees appeared on BMW, just thought I'd mention, in case you were unaware, the Monkees have released a new single in honor of their 50th Anniversary. A new album will drop in June.
"She Makes Me Laugh" is a sweet song about a father and daughter. Would have been perfect for GMW season 1.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpp-Ry2ZNhY
"You Bring the Summer", as the title suggests, is a Summer hummer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_D6XNpYxdU
Cool list Dan as for most I feel the same about these shows. Quite frankly I think that if the show was more like the Famous Jett Jackson the show would be able to do more action scenes outside in more locations because the green screens are very noticable on today's Hi Def TVs. Also I'm totally with you on the I Didn't Do It situation. I personally thought season 1 was very corny and I was automatically turned off. But then last year after watching a recording of KC Undercover I saw about a couple of minutes of the season 2 premier and in those 2 mins I was throughly interested to know more about the show. Season 2 brought in new writers who wrote for Good Luck Charlie and a new character Betty Lebow. I loved the new direction the show was in as Betty and Garrett's scenes together was pure comedy as I actually laughed at a Disney Channel show in like a long time before then. But sadly it last mainly the name didn't fit what the show was about and some episodes were kinda of boring and having too many dog central episodes(imo). I guess the show didn't appeal to the very young audience and the low ratings lead to cancellation.
DeleteWhat I like about "School of Rock", is that even though Dewey has no idea what he's doing, he's still a better teacher than Corey.
DeleteNew tweet - the writers seem to be promising a Q&A when they get to 100k followers. - Girl Meets Writers @GMWWriters · 4 hours ago
ReplyDeleteQ&A100K
They did the last one at 75K and they answered "Texas" to way too many questions. This time it is sure to be "Ski Lodge", just watch.
DeleteI'm not a big Twitter fan--the 140-character thing never really appealed to me. And if several people are commenting at once, it can be hard to follow a conversation.
DeleteAnd yeah, Texas wasn't nearly a big enough game-changer for them to promote it the way they did.
And it's a safe bet that they'll answer Ski Lodge to everything too, if only for the character limits. With that in mind, Ski Lodge had better be on par with Yearbook.
2 more new tweets today. Jacobs is getting chatty after 6 weeks of silence:
ReplyDeleteGirl Meets Writers @GMWWriters · 4 hours ago
Season 3: 4 episodes adjust to high school, 4 episodes resolve the not triangle, 4 episodes adjust to each other. People will change people.
Girl Meets Writers @GMWWriters · 4 hours ago
Today we begin the second half of what we think is our best season so far. Can't wait until you see it. And a surprise beginning.
Since they have only shot 12 episodes so far I'm assuming that his comment of half a season is just rounding as they said they are doing 30 episodes. And they did already talk about the new opening. And of course he says its their best season so far. I mean what was he supposed to say - "I think this is slightly below season 1"
4 new episodes adjust to High School.
DeleteThat's fair, I suppose. Give some time to get used to the new environment. Only question is if they count "High School" as two episodes, or one big episode like "Texas."
4 episodes to resolve the not triangle.
Dear God, that's going to take forever. But if that means there's twenty two episodes without this bullshit triangle, then I'm game. For context, the eighth episode in Season 2 was "Hurricane." Which feels like forever ago.
4 episodes adjust to each other.
Not sure what that means. New dynamics explored? Maybe see some interactions we don't get enough of? That could be nice.
People change people.
This had better start happening again. That's all I can say. Riley hasn't changed all that much since the show began. Maya's arc has been stunted for quite a while. Farkle...is moving along nicely, all things considered.
Full steam ahead, guys. We're only three weeks out.
The June schedule has been released by Disney on twitter:
ReplyDeleteDisney Channel Promo @disney_promo · 7 hours ago
Girl Meets World - June 2016
• 6/03 - Girl Meets High School
• 6/05 - Girl Meets High School
• 6/10 - Girl Meets Permanent Record
• 6/17 - Girl Meets Jexica
• 6/24 - Girl Meets Triangle
I would imagine that GMW on the 24th might be late after the Bizaardvark premiere to try and keep the audience from Adventures in Babysitting to watch the new show as they stay to then watch GMW.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAnd here is today's tweet, hot off the presses as it were:
ReplyDeleteGirl Meets Writers @GMWWriters · 3 hours ago
Ski Lodge is this year's Texas.
Every episode so far is good.
Upstate is real good.
Riley, Maya, Lucas all find a relationship.
We grow up.
Aren't you just waiting for Jacobs to say even once "Well, you know (insert episode name) sucked so we'll probably hold it back till you are all pissed about something else we did then show it to you so you don't realize how bad it is, but we had to do 30 episodes so you are going to get a few stinkers". Otherwise I guess he is trying to get the groundswell of excitement going for season 3.
If you were curious they filmed Ski Lodge this week without a live audience
DeleteJesus. I hate that fucking Twitter. Three weeks to go guys.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSki Lodge is this season's Texas?
DeleteFine then, let's take a little look back to yesteryear.
Virtually everyone loved Texas Part One. It introduced new dynamics, a new environment, Pappy Joe, and demanded change in the characters.
http://girlmeetsworldreviewed.blogspot.com/2015/10/episode-review-girl-meets-texas-part-1.html
We were all so happy then. Seriously, look at those reviews. We were all so full of hope. If the writers can re-ignite that magic, I will be really happy.
Texas Part 2 and Part 3 got mixed reviews, for various reasons but I enjoyed them when they first aired.
But there is so much more to life than romance. So much more. Why can't Maya's arc be developing her artistic skills and finding a practical way to apply them? Why can't Riley get behind a cause--maybe bond with her Uncle Eric and politics?
I would love for Maya to have an arc about art vs. commerce. What can you do with a career in art? Where is the line between staying true to yourself as an artist and selling out? What exactly is selling out? Those would be fantastic issues to explore. The set-up would be someone asks her to create something for money (a sign or mural for a store, a poster for an event).
DeleteAn interesting premise, Kit, but Maya has repeatedly shown that she has relatively few scruples, especially with regards to money or material possessions.
DeleteThat's not necessarily a dig, mind you; as I said before, I like that there is a character who has flaws we've seen in-universe.
I was more referring to what practical uses Maya's artistic skill could have in a career setting. I'd like to see her look beyond the "Starving Artist" bit.
For comparison, Shawn wasn't the best with numbers, but he had excellent people skills, which made him a natural talent at marketing (How to Succeed in Business) and management (Episode Whose Name I forget, but Shawn used Feeny's house as a bed-and-breakfast).
Well I guess having delurked, I should state what I would like for season 3, in an ideal world. Which this won't be.
ReplyDeleteLess Ava. I wouldn't mind if I thought she was going to change due to exposure to Auggie and his parents but... she won't.
When doing BMW references, make them not be just thrown in for the sake of it. I'm thinking Minkus' wife in particular here, but also Tommy to a certain extent.
I know this is Riley's story, but could we actually have a bit of being -shown- Cory and Topanga belong together, rather than just being told, frequently?
Also, less Cory/Topanga teaching about relationships, because they don't know what makes most relationships work.
More Riley and Maya being best friends, and doing what best friends do.
Remembering that Topanga actually has a job, and is pretty full-on, so she shouldn't be the one dealing with all the home stuff?
Classroom scenes that don't seem to have no idea about history.
I think that's it. For now.
I have such a big problem with Ava. Not only is she annoying, but she is uncomfortably close to certain stereotypes. The Ava/Auggie storylines don't work. As an adult, I don't like them. I can't envision any younger siblings watching with older siblings relating to the Ava/Auggie storylines.
DeleteI've heard people state it's meant to be similar to Cory/Topanga before they got together. But even at their most bitter; they were never as totally thoughtless as Ava can be. (And usually is).
DeleteToday's tweet -
ReplyDeleteGirl Meets Writers @GMWWriters · 6 hours ago
Surprise!
Early next week.
I have no clue what this means. I haven't seen anyone that knows what surprise is in store.
In other news Uncle Josh showed up for the taping of Girl Meets Ski Lodge and there is a clip of him saying that he is indeed back to the show, though he said that he wouldn't reveal what his return means to the show's dynamics.
There was also a picture of a pig with Josh at the studio, so I wonder of Little Cory is making his way back into the story!
Deletehttps://www.instagram.com/p/BFR9wSwiNZw/?taken-by=makeluck
Little Cory!
DeleteSo, what will Uncle Josh mean to the dynamics of the show?
I'd like to see him interact with his family a bit more--I don't think the relationship he has with Cory has been explored enough. I'd also like to see him interact with Riley one-on-one. He's known her since she was a baby, and he likely can't remember life without her, so this could actually be very sweet.
Little Cory would be, I hate to say it, the exact kind of callback which I don't think adds to the show.
DeleteI do agree that Josh should interact with his family more if he's returning though. He's spent more time interacting with Maya (and please, please take that potential relationship away. Until recently, Maya's been closer to Cory and Topanga than her own mother; that feels icky) than anyone else. He probably has flashes of a life without Riley; but nothing concrete. I remember the occasional thing from when I was 2-3, but only realise it when someone else says "Oh you would have been about 3 then."
I don't disagree that the actual Little Cory would be an unnecessary call-back, but pot-bellied pigs make excellent pets.
DeleteSo, if they do bring in a pig, I'd enjoy a reference to Little Cory. Make it a Noodle Incident:
Cory: A pig?! A pig?! Josh!
Josh: What? You and Shawn had a pig.
Riley: What?! When was this?!
Cory: We don't speak of it...Little Cory was so young...
Cryptid456-I love the idea of making the reference to Little Cory a Noodle Incident. The two of us, and other people who comment on this blog need to find a way to crash the writers' room for "Girl Meets World." We would be able to give them fantastic ideas for episodes, as well as plotlines/storyarcs.
DeleteIf I had confidence that they'd do that, I'd have no problem. But I find that whilst there are some very well done references (most of Girl Meets Pluto), they also have their fair share of 'shout-outs just for the sake of it'.
DeleteYou mentioned that some of the shout-out seem to be for the sake of it.
DeleteJennifer Bssett comes to mind as a shout-out for the sake of it, being a relatively obscure former girlfriend of Shawn's, but if the Minkii end up divorcing, this may end up being rather significant.
Turner worked (mostly) in "New Teacher," and didn't really work in "Creativity." But I love Anthony Quinn and will watch him no matter what.
Jack Hunter brought an extra layer of good to "Yearbook," though I do think I would have liked to see him offer Riley advice on the Charlie-Lucas bit, without realizing she's Cory and Topanga's daughter. Helping a stranger and getting nothing out of it is a very noble thing to do.
I can't think of any other shout-outs that felt like they were there for the sake of it.
You got most of them. 'THey want you to take the rolls' verged on it as well; and Tommy just about was. TOmmy was saved because it was an Eric storyline. If someone who'd had about as much to do with Cory or Topanga as Tommy had to do with Eric had turned up, it would have felt like that.
DeleteMinkus' creepy obsession with Topanga (creepy now; I was fine with it when he was 11) verged on it as well, but again if the Minkii divorce that would put a different spin on it.
If you're talking about "Maya's Mother," that appeared to be more of a long-running joke, though Farkle's throwaway comment "My father says she should have been my mother" raises questions. Personally, I don't want to see the Minkii divorce, in favor of counseling (which they appear to have, considering they seem to get along fine in "Farkle"). That being said, a divorce when you're a teenager rather than five years old is a very different ballgame.
DeleteI had forgotten Tommy, but then again, it's Eric. Eric storylines are supreme. Eric could do anything as a callback and I'd buy it. He could see Cory do something stupid, pull out his cell phone and tattle on him to their parents (or Feeny) and I'd buy it.
Yeah it does but... even at Graduation, Minkus didn't really still seem to be thinking of her in that way. I guess if they went to counselling; and that was in the middle of a particularly bad time, it makes sense.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I acknowledge that Eric saves Tommy from being bad. And maybe I wouldn't be so disgruntled about some of these if Morgan had even been -mentioned-. Feels Josh should; she's the only sibling he would really have any memories growing up with. Even a 'our sister sends her love' would be nice.
Will van Roekel-That's a fascinating point about Morgan. He grew up with Morgan, but I doubt they were friends or that close to each other. The age difference between Morgan and Josh is around 10 years. That means for most of their lives they were in totally different places developmentally. The difference between 4 and 14 is massive. He was around 8 when she left for college, so for a good part of his life, he was almost like an only child. I agree she should be mentioned, even if she doesn't appear.
DeleteI'd like to see Morgan again, since she's a Matthews. I'd like to see all the Matthews siblings together again, in the same room.
DeleteI'm actually curious if there's a reason in-universe Morgan hasn't been around. I can buy Shawn and Jack having a massive falling-out (and would enjoy seeing Riley try to Master Plan a reconciliation), but Cory and Morgan, while most likely not close, are almost certainly cordial.
I would have expected JOsh to be at least as close to Morgan as to Cory. He never would have seen Cory except on planned trips by either his parents, or Cory. What's more, if you think Cory was bad at the beginning of Season 1 of BMW in regards to Eric and dates; for his entire life (almost) Cory has had a wife. For most of his life he's had a daughter.
ReplyDeleteAs to Cory and Morgan? There could be a similar thing at play. She was finally getting old enough to talk to Cory as an equal; then he's whisked off to New York. They probably didn't even visit until after Riley was born. My sister is 7 years older than me; and there was some similar stuff at play when she moved in with her partner; but we at least still lived in the same city. My brother's moved country, and we spend more time arguing than anything when he visits.
Season 3's opening credits are here:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.instagram.com/makeluck/
Now I do kind of like that we don't get any micro-clips in the opening credits. That will allow for surprises, such that they are, throughout the season.
DeleteHere me out, in Season One, we knew that Topanga was going to visit her old self and we all looked forward to it. It wound up being just okay. And I was looking forward to Riley and Maya's riding the conveyor belt in those costumes and it wound up not happening.
So, yeah. We're going in virtually blind, and it may end up being better for it.
It seems like these kids are actually having fun and just being kids for once, so that's actually really nice. Damn near miraculous as far as Lucas is concerned. They look like they're just being themselves. Also, the colors are a lot more muted than usual. No Disney neon here. So in some respect, it's a bit more immersive.
That being said, just goofing around doesn't really match the lyrics now. "Take on the world" is not the impression I'm getting. Boy Meets World picked up an actual theme song when they had this similar sequence--"It's good to know I have friends who will always stand by me."
It's not that I mind it really, since he's far from my favorite character, but I thought that Zay was joining the main cast this season. He isn't? Oh, well. Five is too many, and heck, four kids in the same class is probably too many. That said, if Josh were elevated to a starring role, and we saw him Meet the World co-currently with Riley this season, and thus in the main credits, I'd have been happy.
But I don't think I like the multi-cheek kissing, since even if we take it as platonic, it hardly seems like the kind of thing the characters, except maybe Riley, would do casually. Physical intimacy between close friends should be celebrated. so long as the lines are clear. The lines aren't that clear here. As it is, this show has more than its fair share of romantic subtext. I do not want any more Triangle. I want Lucas to be stepped on by a three-hundred-story-tall fighting robot. Or thrown into the stratosphere. Or beaten up by an anthropomorphic platypus.
Auggie stealing Cory's donut when he wasn't paying attention is funny, and could have been a running gag with Auggie swiping deserts when nobody is looking. But Cory and Topanga seem to have completely abandoned their roles as authority figures. They seem a lot more casual with the kids. And why the actual, literal Hell didn't Riley kiss her mother?!
Buckle up, my friends. We're only eleven days out.
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ReplyDeleteBeen a while guys, how ya doin'?
ReplyDeleteSo we're only eleven days from the Season 3 premiere. That raises the question, what are things you want to see?
Specific episode ideas? Call backs that are actually worthwhile? Feeny?
No specific ideas. But no Maya/Josh in a relationship; less to do with the age gap, more to do with the fact she's basically been brought up for a lot of her life by Cory/Topanga more than her mother.
DeleteI'd like to see Morgan.
Call backs are strange. Some you think are going to be great; aren't. Some seem like they really won't work, do. For example, if you'd told me at the end of season 1 that Lauren's letter would turn up, I would say "Why the hell would they want to remember a particularly painful period in their life." But it worked. Mostly.
I kinda wouldn't mind seeing at least one episode focused on the adults. BMW had a couple of those. And not Riley and Maya manipulating them. THe adults actually being adults.
Also, if we're going to believe that Cory had all the parents of his students sign a petition to keep him as their teacher; he needs to show being a good teacher.
Okay. I've been thinking about this; given my partner is working through BMW with me at the moment. Keeping the letter can make sense; as long as we can get rid of the 'soulmates since we were in strollers' idea.
DeleteBecause yes, if you go with 'we've always destined to be together', she gets rid of the letter as soon as they're back together. However, if we go back to 'friends who fell in love' it can work.
She may not have been entirely sure; so she kept the letter, to remind herself she can't take anything for granted. It kind of gets lost along the way in her stuff somewhere, goes from box to box. Then when they move to NY, they would thoroughly examine all their stuff as to what they could get rid of. Given my rationale as to the time capsule is after they've decided to go to NY for certain, she buries it in there. Even in the episode she states something along the lines of "I -hoped- you'd be here alongside me, so I could go.."
Given I was generally a fan; but wanted to remove the "in love our entire lives" aspect; that's what I'm going with.
Good point on the time capsule, Will.
DeleteWith respect to callbacks, they can do pretty much whatever they want--it is New York after all--so long as it helps advance the story.
Bassett as Farkle's mother? Not what I would have done, but she could serve as a foil to Topanga, and how they treat their children.
Turner as Superintendent? It's probably how Cory got the job, so it works.
Harley as janitor? He's done his job, but I think an opportunity or two was missed, especially considering we didn't see him grow as a person. And I still think there was merit in Riley taking the blame for something Auggie did, Cory harshly lecturing her, and Harley figuring out what happened in three seconds.
With regard to Cory as a teacher, I actually wonder whether or not JQA Middle School was loosely modeled on what's called a "democratic school." In democratic schools, students and teachers get equal votes in what happens in the curriculum.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_education
Yep. They can do anything they want. I probably won't like all of them; but I'll judge each one based off what I see, rather than what I fear.
DeleteHarley, was disappointing. Cory was never his 'good kid'. It was clear though that it was being pointed out Maya might have just as much, or more, in common with him than with Shawn.
Cory as a teacher has two problems. I don't actually have problems thinking he could be a good teacher. I just want to see it. And there is no way, at all, he should be teaching his daughter. My mother wouldn't even let me go to the same school as she taught at; or had taught at in the recent past. How can he possibly be expected to show no signs of favouritism?
Speaking of callbacks(if you consider this one) they're using the same ski lodge(at least close enough they have the same name).
DeleteSide by side pics here
http://67.media.tumblr.com/0bdfc2d22c6b3cb99c5611f6b16dfd46/tumblr_o7ppnlEFlO1ujw5wco1_1280.jpg
Rider and his bro are also filming the episode.
I want to know what Morgan is doing, even if she doesn't appear. "Oh isn't a shame couldn't be here she's busy ______"
DeleteI would love to see the family divided by gender for an episode. Corey and Auggie do something together, while Riley and Topanga do something together in a different location. One group stays home and the other does something outside the apartment, or both groups do things outside the apartment.
I'd love a multi-part episode in DC with Eric.
I hope Feeny is in at least one episode this season.
I want to see inter-personal conflicts. I want to see these characters fight with one another one-on-one.
DeleteTake "STEM" for comparison. I've brought it up a lot recently, but it was more recent, and it's easier to compare to BMW than many of its predecessors. It's hard to get invested in the feud, because it becomes too large--instead of Riley vs. Farkle, it's Girls vs. Boys.
With BMW, the conflicts were personal. "Wake Up Little Cory" had a deep wound between Cory and Topanga and it made their reconciliation that much sweeter.
With regard to Eric, I'd love to see something a little different. I want to see him sponsor legislation that is actually UNPOPULAR with Riley and her friends, but he is firm on his position and is able to defend it.
Let the kids learn that sometimes, a politician can disagree with you, but that does not inherently make them a bad person. And that sometimes, their idea may indeed be better than yours.
That's a lesson the entire country needs very, /very/ badly.
I also want to see a little more Silly Uncle Eric this season. Silly, not stupid.
Hey Cryptid, I do want to respond to your thoughts/questions above and further above, at probably excessive length. But for now, with regards to Eric, I would be even more eager to see Will Friedle pen, at least be involved in the penning, of another script. Semi-Formal was something special.
DeleteOh, absolutely Milestones.
DeleteI'd actually like to see other old cast members write episodes where their character has a significant role--good as "Semi-Formal" is, I'm not sure anybody else could have nailed the Jack-Eric scenes as well as Friedle did.
I'd love to see an episode focusing on Riley's relationship with Topanga that was written by Danielle Fischel. That could be interesting indeed.
Given Danielle Fischel has always claimed that Topanga is like a part of her; and that one of the complaints of the series has been that Topanga, outside of some of the Cory/Topanga stuff, hasn't seemed like 'Topanga', this might be a very good idea.
DeleteWhat about tackling more serious issues? We've all made a case that this show hasn't done that good a job with that, and in some cases really, really bad jobs, but it's not like this is going to go away.
DeleteI heard a few rumors about there being an episode called "Girl Meets Our Lady of New York." If memory serves, that's a more obscure nickname for the Statue of Liberty. If there's an episode centered on the history of immigration and Ellis Island, it might be interesting.
Cryptid - the episode's actual name is Girl Meets the Great Lady of New York. They learn about their family histories, as I'm sure there is an immigration theme there. Apparently Farkle learns something important about his family.
DeleteOops. Ah, well an immigration episode with respect to family history could be pretty good. I remember reading that "Minkus" is actually a relatively uncommon Jewish surname.
DeleteOh God...they wouldn't...
Only one more week guys. The episode is on the Disney App, and I think Disney Channel Canada has it on its website.
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DeleteHey Cryptid. Thanks for the info. Even if I could figure the technology out, I would always wait for the episode to air anyway.
DeleteBetween the time I started watching GMW and first posted a comment on this blog, Pluto, Hurricane, Yearbook, and Semi-Formal aired. I trusted the show and continued to trust it to the end of the year. Since the start of 2016, trust has been replaced by hope. I am hopeful about Season 3.
I trusted the show but didn’t trust my reaction to it, if that makes any sense. Hitting the internet in search of some discussion of GMW, what I first found was either inane or deeply, deeply disturbing. GMWR didn’t really give me what I was looking for either: reassurance that my esteem for and rapid attachment to the show didn’t signify an age-related change in mental status. But it was highly enjoyable and engendered fascinating discussions. I’m looking forward to that returning as much as the show itself. (I will probably make another attempt to reduce my profile here. It can’t be good for business to have an old guy creeping around a blog covering a kids’ show about teenage girls.)
How did you find your way here, Cryptid? Was it via Sean’s BMW blog? I started to read that, but quickly realized how little memory I retained about the specifics of individual episodes, with Season 1 being especially hazy. Another go-round may be in order first.
For that reason, it’s hard for me to chime in on desirable BMW call backs for GMW. I just hope now to recognize them when I see them. I’ve been re-watching Season 2, abridged, and the BMW stuff has all felt way different, especially with respect to Eric. I remember basically despising the Washington episode, but now I like it. And if I still don’t entirely get the Mr. Squirrels thing, I am no longer befuddled by it.
Glad you mentioned Wake Up Little Cory, above, the first BMW episode that really grabbed me. What I remember most clearly, after a single viewing quite a few months back, and reacted to most strongly, is a handheld camera catching a distraught Topanga in the background. Likewise, at the end of the series, even with the understanding that Shawn’s parting words were the most important, it was Topanga’s farewell that had the biggest impact. (It didn’t help that I had, less than a week earlier, said goodbye to a group of university kids. I’ve been doing this for 10 years, and I was their boss for 4 months, not their teacher/mentor for 7 years. But this time, with a larger crew than I have ever had to look after before, and almost all girls, it was emotional to an unprecedented degree, and I all but lost it too. So maybe this all is an age thing, the sappy part of my brain enlarging as I get older.) That stuff stands out probably for the same reasons GMW keeps its hold.
Maybe it’s odd then, but Morgan made very little impression on me. By the time Morgan II showed up, I had completely forgotten that there had been a Morgan I. Outside of a dust up in one episode over her choice of clothes, I can’t recall anything she did or said. So it doesn’t matter to me if Aunt Morgan makes an appearance of even is mentioned.
I like your idea of more conflict in the group but wonder if would cut against a central appeal of the show. I seem to like the best when the kids are looking out for each other.
And just to answer your question way about from a week or two ago. I saw one of the Iron Man movies, and the first Avengers movie, but don’t ask me what happened in either. I also read Marvel comics circa 1970. Tesseract was just a term to indicate more complex geometry. I didn’t know of, or had forgotten, any Marvel associations.
Oh, Milestones. Your contributions are great. if you didn't come around as much, I would miss you. Only a couple of the regulars are actually in the demographic for this show.
DeleteI'm glad to hear your comments on this.
Interesting point on Topanga, because at the moment, I'm blanking on any one-on-one scenes she had with Feeny. She had a few nice scenes when the Power Trio learned a lesson, and if my memory serves me well, there was "This Little Piggy" when Mr. Turner called her out for calling Animal Control on Shawn and Little Cory.
I made my way here through Sean's blog, seeing as when GMW started, BMWR was still ongoing. Sean went by the handle "ConfidenceKBM" back then.
I didn't start commenting until "Girl Meets Fish." That's when the Anonymous comments were introduced, and I decided to just give myself a name.
Oh, and I don't really read comments. I just watch the movies and look up the characters on Wikipedia to fill in the blanks. And I am currently foaming at the mouth at what they did to Steve Rogers in the comics.
Sorry to interrupt between you two; but I think the issue with Topanga, was the same issue that a lot of female 'role-models' faced in the '90s; especially for teens. She was there, primarily, as a love interest.
DeleteShe undeniably has more depth than Lucas who also falls into that; but there is no doubt that the majority of the time when they explored her character, it is how she related to others through Cory. Only ones that escaped that were her relations with Feeny, and, kinda, Turner.
In GMW it's more that she just fills in as the mother-figure role; and we don't see much beyond that; except occasionally as the wife.
A fair point, Will, but I always remember liking Topanga. She was weirdly engaging when first introduced, a foil to Cory, and had her own wants and interests.
DeleteBy comparison, I was never overly fond of Lucas, and it's only gotten worse, because now he's the love interest for both Riley and Maya and due to his being a main cast member, he ties up their arcs.
Furthermore, Cory and Topanga always had at least something resembling a thing early on, and a surprising amount of chemistry for their age. And their feelings were mutual, even if they weren't exclusive. Cory "dated" Wendy and T.K. and Topanga...well, if nothing else, Hippie Topanga at least played along with Stuart Minkus in Season One. The same cannot be said for Lucas and Riley.
As for what we have now, it's Disney Channel. I'm not even talking about the kids getting away with murder and the desperate need for discipline. It's not very often that the audience sees much of the lives of the parents. And with five kids in the main cast (six if you count Zay), this is even more the case.
This is particularly why I want at least two, preferably three or four but I'm open to more, episodes that focus on Topanga and Riley. I want Riley to shadow Topanga at work. I want Topanga to give Riley the relationship advice that should have been given two years ago--"Unless Lucas makes his feelings very clear, you shouldn't date him. And he obviously doesn't, and hasn't respected you enough to tell you this himself."
I'm not even denying that. Lucas is a horrible love interest. Topanga was clearly the love interest from about season 2; but she wasn't -just- that I guess.
DeleteI actually do agree with a lot of what you say. I went back and read all your comments about season 2 posted earlier in this thread; but decided against commenting on them as we're so close to season 3, where hopefully those characters might evolve. Lucas, Zay and Ava need to evolve if they're to stay a regular part of the show. (With Lucas that's a given; but maybe not the other two).
I've been kinda suspecting they would since I first heard of that episode. Whether I consider it one really depends on what they do. Just looking the same probably doesn't count; any direct reference to "doesn't this look like the ski lodge where..." would. We'll see what they do!
ReplyDeleteSo, they filmed Ski Lodge part 2 today. Here is a picture of the set: http://girlmeetsworld.wikia.com/wiki/File:Mt_Sun_Lodge.jpg
ReplyDeleteIt is the same place as in Heartbreak Cory. I just went back and looked for myself to be sure. This might lead me to think the twist that they talked about and hid in part 1 (which was filmed without an audience) is that Lauren could be in the episode. That could lead to all sorts of interesting stuff. Having said that, this is all speculation and I have no real spoilers. I'm just thinking out loud here. Having Riley and the gang meet the person that almost put an end to Corpanga would be an interesting twist, especially if Cory is chaperoning a school trip and he runs into Lauren himself.
If Lauren has moved on with her life, and she gets to keep the very strong personality, this could be awesome. Riley confronting the concept that her parents weren't together because of some 'fated love'; and that they had obstacles like normal couples; and overcame them because they'd fallen in love? Well, that's a lesson that all the current generation of Matthews needs to learn at some point.
DeleteNot to say Riley can't hate Lauren. Actually Riley/Maya treating Lauren badly and forcing Cory to point out that Lauren wasn't a witch, as it were could be good, if done well.
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DeleteI'm not sure if I like this or not...
DeleteJust how much of this season is going to be based on romance?
There's supposedly a rather large plot twist in Ski Lodge. We all thought a large plot twist would happen in Texas and that didn't really pan out.
Now it would be nice to see Cory and Topanga's grand love story be deconstructed, but I would have preferred that happened by now. I actually think the show's been weakened by not having Cory and Topanga make it clear to their daughter that they were the exception. Topanga already told Auggie this back in "Meets Smackle." Why hasn't she told Riley this?
More to the point, Corpanga's obstacles were along the lines of "Could there be somebody else?" and "Is love really worth it?" while the obstacles surrounding Riley's relationship with Lucas is "I've all but thrown myself at him for two years. I have virtually no other arcs in this show."
I'd like to see this entire Triangle be put to bed for good. And I'd rather not see Riley get another love interest in Ski Lodge. Let Lucas "cheat" on her (if they're still together at this point) and have Riley dump him for good, and actually have a few episodes of self-discovery.
But that would be a good idea, to see Riley and Maya act coldly to Lauren and Cory has to reprimand them.
And YES. Please. I like Corpanga a lot; but please let them be honest about how they're the exceptions. Topanga is usually good about this to be fair; but Cory still seems to slip into the "Everyone should be like us" habit. Which is probably why Auggie has found out that having only one love isn't common, and Riley still seems to need to learn this. Because Auggie spends time with Topanga, and Riley seems to spend all her time with Cory. I know it -could- be fixed by just having Topanga talk to Riley; but I'd actually prefer it was fixed by Topanga confronting Cory on it. "You need to accept that most couples aren't like us. And you need to tell Riley as well; because she's starting to develop unrealistic views on love."
DeleteMaya at least has her mother, as well as Shawn, to point out that Cory and Topanga are freaks.
The one thing about the Triangle is though, it's the one thing Cory and Topanga can't draw on their life experience to even pretend to help with. Which is why I might be okay with it except that it involves both Riley and Maya - I am having some problems seeing how both Riley and Maya can stay friends at all unless neither gets Lucas. At least then they can band together and hate Lucas together.
I kind of get the impression that Cory knows he and Topanga are the exception, but doesn't really care. If he could go back and do it all over again, I doubt he'd change anything beyond staying far, far away from Lauren. He had his grand love story.
DeleteCory pressured Shawn and Angela to act more like he and Topanga, but a huge part of that was that Shawn was allergic to commitment (Remember the Two-Week Rule?). So, one extreme to the other, and all that.
But I think, at the end of the day, he does accept that very few are Cory and Topanga. But he does want everyone to find love, and if that happens sooner rather than later, then power to it.
That being said, I do agree that Cory should have spoken to his daughter about Lucas. Riley's infatuation with Lucas transcends even "Cory and Topanga." If anything, it reminds me of Wendy, Cory's "girlfriend" from early Season 2. But Cory realized he didn't return Wendy's degree of affection relatively quickly; however confused he is now, Lucas knew for a /very/ long time, throughout at least half of the first season, that he did not return Riley's feelings.
I agree--despite my general dislike of Lucas being a very big factor--that the biggest problem with this particular Triangle (I tend to hold a dim view of love triangles in the first place) is that it involves three out of four of the main cast. Like I said before, if Riley were in a Triangle with Lucas and somebody not in the main cast, maybe Charming Charlie, then it'd be more interesting.
But personally, I don't think I would have done a Triangle. I'd have had Riley be boy-crazy. Not Lucas-crazy, but boy-crazy. If Riley had five or six boyfriends and learned one or two things significant about relationships from each, then I'd be very happy.
Oh wow. You're totally right. She is a lot like Wendy. If this story were being told from Lucas' POV; we'd be telling him to run far, far away. Because it's told from Riley's, and she's Cory and Topanga's kid; we (as in the general audience, not necessarily anyone here) may have given her a free pass.
DeleteI also would prefer Riley being boy-crazy. I'd prefer GMW doesn't just tell the same story but from a girl's perspective; which is all that Riley/Lucas ending up together would be.That, and I think the chemistry between Riley/Lucas is terrible. Shawn and Topanga had more chemistry in their 'date to get Cory to do something' date than Riley and Lucas did on their date.)
girl meets high school: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x28phd2_boy-meets-world-2x01-back-2-school_tv
ReplyDeletesorry wrong link here: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4czqm9
ReplyDeleteother link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V90XCTtJRRI
ReplyDeleteThanks Anonymous!
DeleteIt seems like every show on Disney is about boy-girl drama these days. No wonder I'm starting to prefer the Nick shows more.
ReplyDeleteWhat up folks?
ReplyDeleteNew tweet from our boy Ben.
Deck the Halls https://twitter.com/BenSavage/status/737820023541006336
From what I've heard, the episodes filmed so far should go in a proper order. They filmed four episodes before the Ski Lodge two-parter that take place after but you can easily attribute that to building sets.
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DeleteOnly halfway through at we're at Christmas? Hmmm, we're doing much better than the last two seasons then. Sixteen episodes for the second half of the school year is perfectly reasonable.
DeleteSki Lodge still remains a question of "When" but it can't be as bad as "Texas," which was clearly set very near the end of the school year, and it poofed back to the beginning.
With respect to other holiday episodes, I thought I read that the Halloween episode had only just been filmed. Of course, if that episode takes place in a vacuum with no contribution to the main story other than Halloween (like the first "World of Terror," as underwhelming as the episode is), then it doesn't particularly matter.
Cryptid, you know it isn't going to work that way.
DeleteI'm guessing they are filming a Christmas episode so early due to a guest star's availability, as they haven't done this before. And you know it won't be shown until the first week of December, just like Disney does each year. Since we are getting 5 episodes in June if this episode is being filmed where it falls into the storyline that would mean we would be getting only 12 episodes over the course of the next 5 months, and you also know that isn't happening either.
Once again I'm sure we will have only a few episodes in the second half of the school year because of when this show starts filming and showing. It would really help to change the airing schedule to coincide with the actual school year.
And they haven't filmed the Halloween episode yet.
None of us count the Halloween episodes as canon anyway.
DeleteI can at least hope 1960. But who could the guest star be? Rider Strong is on the set all the time. I can't imagine Katy's actress or William Russ are that busy either.
DeleteWho's stupid idea was it to have Girl Meets World premiere at the start of summer, anyhow? I wouldn't be complaining if we got some summer episodes--which apparently Jacobs has expressed interest in--but we haven't.
It's not as if Disney hasn't had their shows coordinate with a school year before--just a couple years ago, Dog With A Blog aired its third season beginning in September at the start of the school year.
It's probably pretty rare for them to co-incide with the school year though. I'm in Australia so it's a bit confusing for me, but I'm guessing the school year is about six months out from ours, so about July/August? That's not really a great time for starting shows.
DeleteOf course, if any station was going to do it, you'd think a primarily kid-friendly one would.
Australian? Neat.
DeleteWell, in the United States, we run our school system as beginning in late August or VERY early September and going through the first two weeks of June.
The vast majority of television stations start what they think will be a winner in ratings in autumn. Summer, when people are actually staying out later and doing things, is usually reserved for reality shows like "America's Got Talent" or sporty shows like "American Ninja Warrior."
Here in Canada (at least in my area) we always started the day after Labor Day. Elementary schools went til the end of June and high school exams ended a week or two before then.
DeleteI'm back!! And I still hate the writers Twitter account.
ReplyDeleteBoy Meets Writers @BMWWriters 5m5 minutes ago
Tonight: A ski lodge, a kiss, and reading the Bible. You might not like what Cory does, but stick with us. It’s all part of the plan.
Dear Writers,
DeleteFuck off.
Love,
Shipping Wars.
Welcome home, pwfan. You've been missed.
DeleteOkay, so not liking what Cory does? Is that in general or just his teaching methods? Because I don't really have a problem with Dad Cory outside of the classroom.
I think it relates to that specific episode talked about. A ski lodge, a kiss and reading the bible were all part of the original Lauren arc as well..
DeleteGut feeling; Riley has a kiss with -someone-, Cory over-reacts. Even for him. But we'll see.
That's true. It could be a throwaway joke.
DeleteHonestly, at this point, if Cory does something drastic--say push whomever Riley kisses outside into the snow and then forbid Riley from ever dating anybody ever again, thereby putting an end to all romantic storylines now and forever, I'm not sure I won't like it.
DeleteShipping Wars, you encapsulated my feelings exactly.
DeleteShipping Wars is my spirit animal.
DeleteSo pwfan, that isn't the account that Jacobs uses for the GMW tweets.
DeleteIn fact it says specifically "what would have been like if the BMW writers had twitter in the 90's." It isn't telling us what is coming on GMW, it's making up tweets they would have given us 20 years ago.
... well that makes a whole lot of sense.
Delete1960's right.
DeleteI just went back and checked and the GMW Twitter still has its last post about a retweet about the Buzzfeed article for their new opener.
Well, I feel kind of dopey.
This new information changes nothing.
DeleteYeah, my mistake. Still, my hatred for the GMW account remains intact. Simply because that tweet read exactly like something the real one would.
DeleteYo Sean? Christian? You dudes alive??? Season 3 starts tomorrow bros!
ReplyDeleteOne more day till the premiere and then the second half of the two-parter is on Sunday.
DeleteWe're alive. This show isn't very good though, so we're having a hard time getting excited. They really need to blow me away with this premiere.
DeleteIf that's the case Sean, as someone that's already seen the premiere, I think you are going to be disappointed. I was completely underwhelmed myself.
DeleteHuh. I actually really liked the first part of the premiere. May need a re-watch.
DeleteOh trust me Sean I'm no fan of this show either, I just wanted to make sure you guys were still posting so I can have a reason to watch this besides the occasional BMW cameo
DeleteI'm still not sure what to think. But I can say that it's the strongest season opener of GMW, for better or worse.
DeleteIf 1960 is underwhelmed, we may be in trouble.
Today's tweet - Girl Meets Writers @GMWWriters · 31 minutes ago
ReplyDeleteWelcome back. Put no faith in rumors. Put your faith in friendship. That's the story we've always been telling. That's the ship that sails.
I have trouble believing that, but whatever.
I think I'd like this show more if Michael Jacobs would never be allowed to tweet ever again.
DeleteAnd if we called in the Avengers.
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DeleteConsidering Riley knew Lucas for all of three seconds before she decided she wanted him to be her boyfriend, I have trouble believing it.
DeleteIf they wanted the show to be about friendship, then why isn't it? Riley's only arc has been trying to fulfill her feelings for Lucas.
link for high school part 2! https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0z8vU3IdeQnYXgwdzFMb2RWbjQ/view
ReplyDeleteI salute you, sir.
DeleteI love you
DeleteThe premier is on right now, Sean and Christan when is that review coming? I got my hands rubbing together waiting for you guys to eat this episode alive😆
ReplyDelete