Danielle Fishel says she worried her“ Boy Meets World” podcast would 'ruin the show' for fans

Danielle Fishel has revealed the biggest concern she had about developing a Boy Meets World rewatch podcast with her former costars Rider Strong and Will Friedle.

The actress, who played the quick-witted Topanga on the series, says the trio were all hesitant about launching Pod Meets World out of fear that it would shatter the childhood nostalgia the ABC sitcom holds in their and fans' hearts.

"We were worried we might ruin the show," Fishel told PEOPLE in a new interview. "We don't want our criticisms or our critiques or our experiences to in any way change what your opinion of the show is. They're just our honest opinions, and we can't do it if we're not going to be honest."

Greg Doherty/Getty Danielle Fishel

Boy Meets World — which also starred Ben Savage and William Daniels — aired from 1993 until 2000. More than two decades down the line, Fishel acknowledged that hosting the podcast has not only jogged her memory on some of the series' finer plot points, but also reminded her what a special time it was in her life.

"I was just left with one overarching feeling about the whole experience as opposed to the show and what its values were, or what its key points were, or how good it was," she recalled. "And so now, getting to watch it, I'm like, 'Man, it's a really good show, and what a great experience we had.'"

Strong, who played the rebellious Shawn, also noted that it was important that the trio not attempt to sugarcoat their thoughts on any of the series' episodes in order to appease fans.

"Ultimately we settled on it as a sort of journey, rather than just watching the show and talking about how great it is, which we all agree, it is actually great," he said of the podcast. "We wanted it to be more of a personal journey for us, and to just be honest."

Since the rewatch show's launch in June 2022, Fishel, Strong, and Friedle have openly discussed both the good and the bad of Boy Meets World, including how Strong and Savage became friends, Friedle's failed Los Angeles–based spinoff, and a decades-long standoff between Strong and Adam Scott. They even conducted an interview with the woman who was originally cast as Topanga.

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