How Looking Back at ‘Boy Meets World’ Allowed Danielle Fishel, Will Friedle and Rider Strong to Move Forward
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Will Friedle isn’t the type of person to answer his phone while at a lunch — especially at a work lunch. In fact, he may have better manners than anyone I’ve ever met. But this was an exception.
We’d been sitting for about 10 minutes — Friedle, Danielle Fishel, Rider Strong and me — gathered around a corner booth in a Studio City restaurant.
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“Oh, my gosh, I’m sorry, I have to take this,” he says after pulling his iPhone out of his pocket. He quickly turns it around, showing the group the names that are scrolling across the screen: “Bill & Bonnie Daniels.”
It was just a check in from Mr. (and Mrs.) Feeny and no, it wasn’t a planned call. It was simply an example of how most (more on that later) of this cast is actually still close.
“As a blanket statement, ‘Boy Meets World’ is an overwhelmingly positive experience in all of our lives,” Strong says early on in the interview.
There’s no question that the actors who portrayed Topanga Lawrence, Shawn Hunter and Eric Matthews on “Boy Meets World” are grateful for the show. Their lives all changed nearly 30 years ago when the series, created by April Kelly and Michael Jacobs, debuted on ABC in September 1993. The family sitcom centered around Cory Matthews (Ben Savage), as he ventured through grade school, college and beyond. Along the way, his brother (Friedle’s Eric) was by his side, as was his best friend (Strong’s Shawn). By Season 3, he had fallen in love with the woman he’d marry (Fishel’s Topanga).
After seven seasons, “Boy Meets World” wrapped in 2000. But that wasn’t the end. Fourteen years later, Disney Channel’s “Girl Meets World” premiered, with almost the entire main cast appearing. That show ran for three seasons.
Just when it seemed as though the sun had set on the universe of “Boy Meets World,” in June 2022, the three actors launched “Pod Meets World,” a rewatch podcast in which they watch the sitcom for the first time (no, none of them had seen it before), recap each episode, bring guests on for interviews — and open up about what was going on behind-the-scenes.
In the first year, they got through 45 episodes — the first two seasons — of the TGIF staple. The experience has been cathartic, to say the least. “It’s a journey for the three of us, and we hope others are coming along with it, too,” Fishel says.
And fans have definitely come along. In the first year, the iHeartRadio podcast has had more than 17 million downloads. It’s turned into a lucrative business, as the group began selling merchandise and decided to go on tour. So far, they’ve done two live shows, one of which featured some of the series’ biggest stars — Betsy Randle, William Russ, Anthony Tyler Quinn and the bullies Ethan Suplee, Danny McNulty and Blake Sennett. Plus, they had a live performance by Lisa Loeb.
They’ve announced seven more dates of their “The Kids Wanna Jump” tour, with more being added soon. Philadelphia, where “Boy Meets World” was set, will be an upcoming stop, as will New York, Texas and Boston.
Although Strong has been vocal about being done with acting — he’s a college professor, and writes and directs — being back in front of an audience didn’t scare him, thanks to Friedle and Fishel. “We can’t really fail — they want us to be ourselves,” he says, before laughing and realizing the tone of his voice and his quote is similar to one of his character’s famous lines. Without missing a beat, he recites it: “They want you to take the rolls!”
When asked if any of this has made Strong interested in acting again, he takes a long pause before answering — something that Friedle is visibly shocked by, assuming Strong would immediately shoot down the idea.
“I wasn’t bad,” Strong says. “When I look back, I’ve had these weird moments of like, ‘Whoa, there were some instincts that I didn’t know I had.’ For some reason, I have it in my head that I just didn’t know what I was doing. Somewhere along the way, I decided I wasn’t good at something. So I don’t know. Maybe I should have nurtured this. And maybe it’s never too late.”
Friedle reminds Strong that he was the only one who took acting seriously during “Boy Meets World,” taking acting classes and performing in plays.
“In a weird way, that was to my detriment,” Strong responds. “I was a little more aware of what acting was. Somewhere I picked up this idea of what it meant to be an actor. And because I wasn’t in that or doing that, I was failing constantly. I always letting myself down into my early 20s. And that’s why I had to stop. But in retrospect, I should have just pushed through that, because then I probably would have really enjoyed being an actor. I was always feeling like I was doing crap — always failing.”
The podcast has welcomed a plethora of guests — from “Boy Meets World” alumni such as Trina McGee, Matthew Lawrence, Blake Clark and Adam Scott, to former child stars who grew up on TV at the same time as the group, like Jodie Sweetin and Marla Sokoloff. Many of the most memorable co-stars have already joined the show, in order to let listeners know that their favorites would be on. For example, Daniels and his wife and costar Bonnie Bartlett joined for the fifth episode.
There are still many on their dream list. “Boy Meets World” guest stars Will Estes and Keri Russell have said no. Mena Suvari, who appeared in two episodes, hasn’t worked out yet due to scheduling. Down the line, they’ll be asking others. Friedle dated Jennifer Love Hewitt, who appeared in one of the most popular episodes, “And Then There Was Shawn,” and while they haven’t asked her yet, he notes they’d “love to have her” if she’d do it. They’d also invite Andrew Keegan, who guest-starred on the series and was close to Fishel.
“He practically lived at my house. We were inseparable,” says Fishel. “Andrew taught me out how to drive stick in his little red convertible!”
Since they’re not only interviewing former castmates, but also those who grew up in the business, one obvious hope from fans is the retired and notoriously private Jonathan Taylor Thomas, whom Fishel dated while he filmed “Home Improvement” on the set next door.
“He’s such a private person. We still text. I haven’t asked him, because I’m very respectful of his private life,” she says. “I’ve been very hesitant because I know how private he is, but we would love to have Jonathan on — he would be a great guest. I will ask.”
One unlikely guest is the creator of the show, Michael Jacobs. Throughout the last year, actors, producers and directors who have come onto the podcast have shared many stories — some which are complimentary of him and others which are not.
During one episode, Fishel recounted being humiliated by Jacobs during her first day as Topanga, and having her job threatened. She stated at the time that she was more focused on making Jacobs happy than getting it right — something Strong also remembered feeling.
Now, one year into the podcast, they’re not sure he’d come on — or that they’d want him to. “When the first two episodes had aired, he sent us an email telling us that he was proud of us and loved the show,” Fishel says. “Since then, we have heard he’s upset.”
For Strong, he believes, “creatively, having Michael on would be a huge mistake.”
“He’s sort of like the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain,” he says. “The way Michael is, he would maintain an omniscience about the show, and how everything was planted. That defeats the whole purpose of us analyzing the show, looking back at it.”
Fishel thinks it could be a good idea to invite Jacobs for the final episode — if they all could have an honest conversation. But they’re unsure whether that would happen.
“The thing I like about using it as the last episode is it’s impossible for him to do what you’re saying, which is like, ‘All right, I’ve kept a track list. Let’s go through 100 episodes…'” she says, to which Strong chimes in, “You don’t think he will? I think he is listening to every episode. I think he is keeping a list.”
For Fishel, she still feels like she has a relationship with Jacobs, despite the fact that they don’t speak anymore.
“The relationship with him in my mind is one where, no matter how truthful or honest the thing is that I’ve said, and regardless of whether or not it is even just, ‘I felt this way,’ I know, instantly, he would try to explain to me how that’s wrong — or why I shouldn’t have felt that way,” she says. “He’d explain, ‘Here’s the reason I did what I did.’ And it would always be, no matter what, for some benevolent, ‘I was saving you’ reason. And it’s very hard to have a truly real relationship with someone who has a hard time acknowledging their own faults.”
Jacobs did not respond to Variety‘s request for comment.
After hearing some rocky experiences the cast had with Jacobs on “Boy Meets World,” fans may wonder why they ever returned for “Girl Meets World.” It’s the question I immediately ask. Strong’s answer is a surprising one: “We didn’t know.”
Fishel was a series regular, directed four episodes and cowrote one; Friedle appeared in four episodes and wrote one; and Strong starred on seven episodes and directed 18. Since they’d all begun “Boy” as such young children, it wasn’t until filming “Girl” that their perspectives shifted and they saw the troubling power dynamics at play within the show.
“I was like, ‘Oh, this is what’s really happening here,'” Strong says. “It was hard and horrible to go through. But ultimately, very healthy and healing to experience.”
“Certain people counted on us not talking to each other. When it was revealed that we were talking to each other, the curtain was pulled away,” Friedle says. “When we started comparing notes, it wasn’t great. So, I’m very glad that I had very limited involvement with ‘Girl.'”
Overall, the group agrees that if “Girl Meets World” hadn’t existed, they likely would never had recognized what had happened on “Boy Meets World.”
“We all would have walked around probably still ranting and raving in only the most positive of ways,” Fishel says, explaining that they became aware of people “playing both sides” and realized it had been happening for years.
“Your memories start coming back to you about when this happened and when that happened. You start to see it differently,” she continues. “Even being able to do that, that takes a certain amount of growing up and self-reflection to even recognize it happening. And I don’t think everybody recognized it happening.”
The group praised the young cast of “Girl Meets World” — Rowan Blanchard, Sabrina Carpenter and Peyton Meyer portrayed the main three characters — noting that any negativity they felt had nothing to do with the actors.
“‘Girl Meets World’ was completely hindered by the fact it was the cast and crew returning from ‘Boy Meets World.’ Honestly, the kids suffered for that. It should have been their show, it’s own thing with little moments here and there of tie-ins — and that’s what I was told it was going to be,” Fishel says. “I was under the impression from the very beginning. I was also told that you guys were all in on it.”
That hadn’t been the case, though: Strong learned about the spinoff in the trades, while Friedle found out when CNN called with a request to comment.
“Then my family called and said, ‘What’s with this new show?’ I said, ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,'” says Friedle. “Then we went to lunch with somebody who tried to justify why it happened that way, and then started yelling at Rider over the salad. It’s been a journey!”
Fishel also hadn’t been on a sitcom set since “Boy Meets World” ended. She was immediately reminded how inappropriate behavior can be on a set versus in an office.
“There’s a lot to be said for taking some normal work-place environment rules to Hollywood. Maybe, if this would never fly in any other professional environment, maybe some of those professional rules should apply on our sets. Maybe the things that would happen in your accountant’s office where someone would then call HR and it would come to an end, maybe we should participate in those things here,” she says. “And I think I was one of the people on that set who oftentimes would say, ‘Hi, what are we doing here? This is weird. And I know it’s normal for what we do, but I don’t think it should be normal and I think we should stop this from happening.'”
Friedle then notes, “Then you’re the problem.” She nods and responds, “Then I became the problem.”
During a recent episode of the podcast, the group talked about boundaries being crossed on sets, with Friedle noting that he’d been thrown when he noticed it on “Girl.”
“I got to come in and occasionally look at the entire thing that was happening. You saw a lot of those traits, where it was, you’d walk in and somebody 13 or 14 would be sitting on somebody’s lap who’s 35. There’s nothing overtly sexual about it, but it’s still inappropriate,” Friedle says. “It’s completely on the adults. It’s not on the 13-year-old girl to say, ‘Wow, I shouldn’t run up and jump on somebody’s lap because that’s inappropriate.’ It’s on the man to go, ‘No, no, no — I like you a lot but why don’t you sit over there and we’ll have a conversation. It’s just not appropriate.’ You don’t seen that nearly as much as you should. It was very strange.”
Despite their up and down experience on “Girl Meets World,” when the show wrapped in 2017, the group remained close. Again, they’re not just saying that — Friedle, Fishel and Strong all still get their hair cut by the same hair stylist from “Boy Meets World.” In fact, that’s where Strong is heading after our lunch.
The years that followed included more cast reunions at fan conventions — and that group included Ben Savage. However, when the threesome began talking about the idea of doing a podcast, he wasn’t interested.
“He was very adamant that it was not for him,” Fishel says. “He was also very clear, ‘I don’t want it to stop you. If you guys want to do it, go ahead.’ The time between those conversations and the time we actually started the podcast was a significant amount of time.”
At first, the group had all been doing conventions together. Savage stopped, without alerting anyone. She explains, “He just kind of disappeared from our lives.”
Savage was there for Fishel when her first son was born early, and was in the NICU in June 2019. “We were just so, so close, especially during that time. He was checking in with me regularly,” she recalls.
Something changed after that, she says: “He ghosted us.”
They haven’t spoken to Savage in three years. Friedle has tried the hardest to get in touch, but has had no luck.
“He disappeared — I wish I knew why, to this day,” Friedle says. “We didn’t have a fight. There’s no falling out. There was no animosity. He just woke up one day, and decided I don’t want this person in my life anymore.
“I finally sent a text saying, ‘I’ve known you for 30 years, what’s going on?'” Friedle continues. “I said, ‘I’m gonna call you every day until you tell me not to call you anymore.’ That lasted about three weeks or a month, every single day.”
It’s a “sore subject” for Friedle, who grew close with Savage through the years as they played brothers on the series. “I’ve known him since he was 11 years old, and we have a shared history. And we were doing these conventions together, and we were getting to know each other as adults, and then he just kind of went, I’m done with you,” he says. “I tried and tried and tried for months, until finally my wife was like, ‘Why are you doing this to yourself? He obviously doesn’t want you in his life.'”
Still, Fishel is hopeful: “If there’s anything this podcast has taught me, it’s that everyone is on their own journey and having their own experiences that can be perceived many different ways, depending on your POV. Speaking for myself, Ben and I may be estranged right now and we may have our complaints about each other, but I will always love Ben and want what’s best for him. I don’t think this is the end of our story — but time will tell.”
Savage did not respond to Variety‘s request for comment.
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