Behind-The-Scenes Facts Only True Boy Meets World Fans Will Know

"Boy Meets World" is a feel-good coming-of-age sitcom that dominated the small screen in the '90s for seven seasons, running from 1993 to 2000. With a talented cast led by Ben Savage, Danielle Fishel, and Rider Strong, the show was a smash hit with teenagers all around the world and featured quirky characters who experienced the highs and lows of adolescence.

Despite bidding viewers adieu over 25 years ago, the sitcom has remained a TV staple that new generations continue to discover. Many people have since wondered what happened to the cast of "Boy Meets World" following its conclusion, and longtime fans were thrilled when the rewatch podcast "Pod Meets World" debuted in 2022 and featured commentary by stars Fishel, Strong, and Will Friedle.

The trio provided fun behind-the-scenes facts about the series and served up a heaping dose of nostalgia with their conversations. The podcast sparked a resurgence in popularity for the show, as cast members including the almost centenarian William Daniels, aka Mr. Feeney, came to share their experiences. Since its premiere, "Boy Meets World" has maintained a passionate following of fans who love discovering exciting facts about the sitcom. 

When "Boy Meets World" first debuted, the character of Cory Matthews was initially supposed to have two best buddies, and the showrunners swapped around new friends throughout a few episodes in the first season. The cast confirmed that any actor who sat next to Cory and Shawn in the cafeteria always ended up getting axed. "I think that the original concept was that there was always going to be two best friends, two guy best friends for Cory. So we kept trying that for about ... three or four episodes," Rider Strong (who portrayed Shawn) revealed at the ATX Television Festival in 2013.

"[W]e used to have a chair that we called the 'death chair' in the cafeteria because whoever sat in it wouldn't be back the next week." Eventually, creators decided to have Shawn become Cory's closest confidante and their friendship became one of the series' main focal points. The chemistry between Strong and Ben Savage helped the duo win the Kids' Choice Award for favorite television friends in 2000. 

Though she is now regarded as a beloved '90s "It" girl, Danielle Fishel almost wasn't cast as Topanga in "Boy Meets World." Canadian actor Bonnie Morgan was the original choice to play the character, but showrunners felt as though her interpretation wasn't working, so they replaced her with Fishel at the last minute. Morgan later claimed that episode director David Trainer felt she wasn't "pretty enough" to play Topanga.

"The director said that I couldn't take direction, which was one thing I'd never been accused of," she said in an episode of "Pod Meets World." "It came out very quickly to my agent that the director didn't think I was pretty enough. Literally did not think I was pretty enough, so that meant that a grown man, a boss, could lie about me and tell me I was untalented because the fact was he didn't think I was pretty," Morgan further revealed. Fishel ended up nailing the role and became a teen sensation, causing major hair envy for audiences everywhere. 

Rider Strong skyrocketed to stardom as Cory's rebellious best friend Shawn Hunter, and the actor became a Hollywood heartthrob during the '90s. Despite attracting the admiration of fans, Strong was uncomfortable with the label and felt out of place among his fellow teen idols. "I was never super comfortable with it to be honest. I'm not a shy person, but I'm not the guy who wants to get his picture taken and wants to be front and center," he told Cosmopolitan.

"It would just be weird to go somewhere and have groups of girls scream and hyperventilate in front of you." Strong ended up having a breakdown when he was 15 while participating in a charity cruise for the show because the experience made him feel overexposed. "They want a certain version of you, whether that's Shawn Hunter or this perfect teen idol boyfriend, and suddenly, you have to be that person 24 hours a day. It was just the worst," Strong told Vice. 

Seasoned star William Daniels already had a stacked resume by the time he took on the role of cherished mentor Mr. Feeny, a teacher-turned-principal who helps guide the younger characters. Daniels first rose to prominence as the voice of KITT in the iconic '80s series "Knight Rider" and in films including "The Graduate" and "1776." He had been uncertain about working on a sitcom and worried that Mr. Feeny's depiction would poke fun at educators. 

After having a meeting with co-creator Michael Jacobs and learning the character was based on his real-life mentor, Daniels knew the part was for him. "I said, 'Well, that's a funny name, and I don't wanna make fun of teachers. I respect them, and they're unpaid and all that," the actor said on "Pod Meets World." "Then he told me what my role was based on, which was a mentor of his when he was in high school. I realized the plot would be written with respect." 

Will Friedle charmed his way into audiences' hearts with his lovable portrayal of Eric Matthews, Cory's older brother. However, the actor almost lost out on the career-defining role when he was too sick to go to the audition. After the original actor was recast because he was too short compared to lead star Ben Savage, Friedle swooped in and made the character his own with his goofy on-screen antics.

"He was the same size as Ben, and they knew Ben was going to grow, and they wanted an older brother, so they recast," he told Entertainment Tonight. "But I always tell people, if that actor was 5 inches taller, I'm not sitting here right now. You never know how life is going to work. You just never know." Friedle beat out fellow contenders Jason Marsden and Shiloh Strong (Rider's brother) for the role, though Marsden ended up playing Eric's best friend, also named Jason Marsden, on the sitcom. 

Michael Jacobs really wanted Cory and Topanga to tie the knot before the sitcom concluded, but network bigwigs were concerned that the characters were too young to get married at just 20 years old. ABC decided to poll fans on the fate of the couple's nuptials, which resulted in the pair walking down the aisle in the final season. 

Though it was what audiences wanted, many people (including Rider Strong) believe Cory and Topanga's wedding marked a major turning point for the sitcom. "I think a lot of people agree that was the 'jump the shark' moment. Because they got married in the middle of our last season as opposed to ending the show with their marriage," he told Vanity Fair when asked about the storyline. "But, yes, he got married too young. Definitely. That's my answer: Yes, it's ridiculous."

After playing high school sweethearts for years, Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel decided to see if their TV romance translated off the set. The pair ended up going on a date to see what their feelings were like but quickly realized they had a sibling dynamic and opted to stay friends. "When we were 16, after four years of kissing and playing boyfriend and girlfriend, we were like, 'Hey, do we really like each other or do we just pretend we like each other five days a week?' So we went out to dinner one time," she told Parade.

"We just ended up joking like we always did, like brother and sister, and realized at the end of our dinner date that we're more like family." Though sparks didn't fly in their real life, Savage and Fishel ended up finding love after the show completed its run. Savage married longtime partner Tessa Angermeier in 2023, while Fishel married podcaster and producer Jensen Karp in 2018. 

Undeniably, one of the most celebrated episodes of the series was the classic 1998 episode "And Then There Was Shawn," which spoofed popular horror movies of the time. Nineties scream queen Jennifer Love Hewitt guest-starred in the entry, which follows the friends after they get trapped at school for detention and are terrorized by a masked killer. The cast couldn't stop goofing around with each other, and Will Friedle shared how much they enjoyed filming.

"I think it was called, 'And Then There Was Shawn,' which we just called the 'Scream' episode," Friedle told Mashable of the fan-favorite episode. "We could barely get through the scenes we were laughing so hard." Friedle had briefly dated the leading lady, and as one of Hewitt's exes, he has had nothing but good things to say about her. "[S]he was game, and she was a great actress and would always throw herself into a project," he shared on "Pod Meets World." 

Rider Strong really wanted to pursue his academics and even debated quitting the show after five seasons. Michael Jacobs convinced Strong to stay and accommodated his wishes. As a result, he was able to attend classes in the morning while filming in the afternoon. But this wasn't the only time Strong debated leaving "Boy Meets World." Later, he came to resent the sitcom and its tone. Showrunners subsequently provided him and his character with more profound storylines that kept him challenged.

"There was definitely a period where I thought I was way cooler than 'Boy Meets World'. I thought I could be doing a lot better, so the writers just threw whatever drama they could at me," Strong told Vice. "It ended up making the show this crazy schizophrenic vibe. You're watching these goofy Eric Matthews B-plots, and then it cuts to me, and like, my dad's dying and I'm bawling. It's so intense, but I think that's one of the reasons why the show has endured the way it has." 

TV veteran Williams Daniels had already had a decades-spanning career when he played the beloved Mr. Feeny, and in the show's later seasons, his character strikes up a romance with Lila Bolander, a college dean played by his real-life wife Bonnie Bartlett. The couple married in 1951 and enjoyed sharing the screen for the sitcom. They are one of Hollywood's most enduring marriages and remain together after nearly 75 years.

In 1986, both stars won Primetime Emmys on the same night for their joint work on the show "St. Elsewhere." They were the first married couple to do so since Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt in 1965. "You never stop learning. You never stop being surprised. I never know," Bartlett told People about the secret to their relationship. "Every once in a while, he'll do something, and I think, 'Where did that come from? Where did that come from?' Or, he the same with me. We never stop being surprised by what somebody does." 

Will Friedle and Rider Strong became close friends during production of the hit show, and their on-set hijinks and playful dynamic often made it difficult to get through filming scenes. As a result, showrunners limited the time the two spent together while on-screen. "They never let Rider and I do scenes together because we would look at each other and start laughing," Friedle told "Good Morning America." "So I think, over seven years, we had like five scenes together."

The duo remains just as close decades later and famously started the rewatch podcast "Pod Meets World" in 2022 with fellow co-star Danielle Fishel. "He's one of my oldest and best friends. Basically, every two weeks, we are on the phone," Strong shared with Us Weekly. Though he nurtured an enduring bond with Friedle, Strong revealed in "Doc Meets World" (via Wonderwall) that he was "never close" with Ben Savage, who mysteriously disappeared from his co-stars' lives and cut off contact with them in 2020. 

Many of Hollywood's biggest stars appeared in "Boy Meets World" before they found success. A slew of famous faces, like Brittany Murphy, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Adam Scott, and Linda Cardellini, all popped up on the show. Scott played the rebellious, bad boy senior Griff Hawkins, while Cardellini portrayed Lauren, a ski lodge employee Cory developed feelings for while on his senior ski trip, and who ultimately played a hand in his shocking breakup with Topanga.

"That was one of my very first jobs. I came in, and he cheated on his girlfriend with me. At the time, I didn't even understand the gravity of it — and even still people are like, 'I'm mad about that!'" Cardellini told Elle of her stint on the sitcom. "I remember a bunch of kids running up to me and yelling, 'Homewrecker!' and then running away. It was the first time I'd been recognized in public: a group of kids calling me a homewrecker." 

Rider Strong became one of the show's most popular stars, making fans swoon with his bad boy character and luscious mane. Though audiences loved his signature haircut, Strong hated it and wanted to cut his hair many times throughout the show's seven-season run. Strong revealed to Cosmopolitan that he had shown up to his audition with the cut, and showrunners loved it so much they made him keep it permanently.

"A bunch of girls at a sleepover told me to wear my hair like that — parted down the center — and I was 12, so I listened. It was my version of Christian Slater," he shared. "But my hair is wavy and they would straighten it on the show and it would take forever. I wanted to cut my hair so bad, but the only time I got to was when we found out the show was going to be canceled." 

Despite its reputation as a family-friendly sitcom, three episodes of "Boy Meets World" ended up banned from airing on Disney Channel due to their adult themes. Season 5's "Prom-ises, Prom-ises" and "If You Can't Be With the One You Love" focused on sex and underage drinking, while Season 6's "The Truth About Honesty" also involved the topic of sex, all of which were pulled from airing.

It seems as though Disney wasn't alone in disliking the banned episodes. Rider Strong revealed on "Pod Meets World" that the cast hated the drinking storyline for "If You Can't Be With the One You Love." "The real issue with drinking is that often it's sneakier, it's weirder, it's slower, and it slowly takes over people's lives," he said (via People). "And for children, you just want to see that drinking is bad ... But to try and cram an entire alcoholic journey and sobriety journey into 22 minutes, that's not ever what it actually is."  

After seven seasons and 158 episodes, "Boy Meets World" officially said goodbye to audiences in 2000. Unsurprisingly, cast members were extremely emotional while filming the final scene, in which the characters were back in Mr. Feeny's classroom as they prepared to go on their own respective journeys. The scene was unrehearsed so that the cast's reactions were more genuine. "Those tears you see me crying are real. And we didn't rehearse it either," Danielle Fishel told Us Weekly.

"We read it at the table read, which is the very start of our week. We read it so that the network and the producers could hear it. And then we all agreed that it was gonna be too hard to get through. And we also didn't wanna ruin it by rehearsing it a bunch. So we just didn't touch it for the entire week until we got to the tape night." The raw approach to the scene made it a bittersweet moment for both the cast and fans. 

Following the conclusion of the fan-favorite show, Will Friedle and Rider Strong came up with a funny idea to go around the wrap party and have cast members pretend to shoot a "Where Are They Now?" segment set a decade in the future. The group went all out for the bit and even wore costumes, makeup, and wigs, though the footage remains hidden due to its daring commentary and inappropriate jokes.

"We had so much fun making that. It's still one of the favorite things I've ever worked on. It's like my first directing gig, because I was making this fake documentary," Strong revealed to Us Weekly. "It was on VHS. We made a desk copy for the cast and crew. There's probably a lot of the cast who wouldn't really want that out there. You might be able to find parts of it. It's not for everybody."