For the record, the three stars rose to fame as child stars of an ABC sitcom. Boy meets worldwhich aired on our screens from 1993 to 2000. The series follows the lives of the main characters from age 11 to college graduation: Ben Savage plays the main “boy” Cory Matthews, Danielle plays his love interest Topanga, Ryder plays his best friend Shawn, and Will plays his older brother Eric.
In 2014, the characters were revived for a sequel series. Girl meets worldwhich follows Cory and Topanga's daughter, Riley, played by Rowan Blanchard, with Sabrina Carpenter as Riley's best friend, Maya.
Daniel and Ben starred in every episode Girl meets worldand Ryder appeared regularly as Shawn became a key character in the story later in the series. Will also made a guest appearance, and most of the other main cast members also reprized their roles. In addition, Daniel and Ryder directed episodes of the series.
The show aired for three seasons until 2017, and in recent years Danielle admitted that she didn't really enjoy her time on it. Talking about Pod meets the world Early last year, she said it was a “very, very difficult shoot” and that she “went into it” hoping to recreate the joyful experience of filming. Boy meets worldbut “it just wasn’t.”
She said the environment was “turbulent” and she often felt ostracized and criticized. All these feelings came to a head when Maitland Ward, who played Rachel in Boy meets worldappeared on the podcast in the infamous episode in which she had a big quarrel with her owners. Here Maitland accused Danielle of ignoring her when she visited Girl meets world put it, having previously assumed that she was jealous of her.
Danielle was surprised by Maitland's statements and said that she had unintentionally acted more reserved on set due to her personal experiences on the show. She added that she had no intention of being cold towards Maitland and concluded: “I'm sorry you thought this was about you.”
And Danielle had another difficult conversation about Girl meets world according to special episode about the podcast that aired on New Year's Eve, where she, Will, and Ryder had a surprisingly candid discussion over the microphone about watching it again.
For context: from 2022, owners work through Boy meets world spending most weeks watching the episode and then discussing my memories and thoughts. They're about to start re-watching the final season, and that's what led to a big, frank argument about what they should do next, exposing the fact that they're not all on the same page. Like in general.
It all started when Danielle confirmed that they had signed a new deal with iHeart Podcasts, stating: “We will officially continue our partnership. Pod meets the world podcast long before the end of our reviews, and it will be a bittersweet feeling.” She then joked: “We don't know what we're doing, but they want us to keep talking!”
“I mean, do we want to talk about this for real right now, real quick?” Danielle asked Will and Ryder. “You guys have gone completely off the deep end on something and it’s making me a little angry.”
“I know. I know what we need to do next,” Will responded, to which Danielle replied, “And I just won't do it.”
When Ryder agreed, Danielle countered, “It's not because…”, then she explained to the audience, “We're talking about Girl meets world… This is not our show.”
“It was your show and Ryder was in charge of most of it!” Will exclaimed, and Ryder repeated: “You were there every single day, I did 18 episodes.”
“I wasn't a star Girl meets world” Danielle countered. “And make a show with an adult lens that is a show for six to nine-year-olds… Talking about it and breaking it down in the same way that we did a very mature adult and well-rounded character. Boy meets world… To do this for a show for six to nine year olds where there are other kids who are the stars… I don't think we can do it fair! And I don’t know if we have good prospects for this!”
“Well, we're not the same distance, are we? It's closer in time, just ten years ago,” Ryder replied. “We are not as closely involved as we used to be in Boy meets worldobviously, so it's a different experience. Most of the podcast comes back to watching. Boy meets world is: “Do you remember this?” Can you believe we did this? Can you believe this happened? None of this kind of thing and this kind of clash of points of view that we had throughout this entire experience when we, the adults, looked at us, at the children… It will not happen. Instead there will be analysis and discussion of the continuation Boy meets world Universe”.
“I feel like there's a story that we're absorbing and discussing on this podcast with Topanga, Cory, Shawn and Eric that continues into Girl meets world universe,” he continued. “And I think if we approach it from the point of view of, 'Well, let's just see where these characters go and talk about how they ended up…'”
“But we could do it by picking, say, five to ten episodes that actually talk about these characters, we could just watch them,” Danielle suggested, but Ryder asked, “But why not look at the whole universe and discuss, like, official Boy meets world storylines?
“I'm taking Ryder's place on this show because I've literally never seen an episode other than the one I was in,” Will added. “I've never seen Girl meets worldso I'm really going in blind, I've never seen the show.”
“And I haven't seen most of the episodes,” Ryder said, before admitting that they don't have the same “ownership” of Girl meets world how did they do it Boybut they could come to the show with a “lighter touch.” He said: “There are many stories here. For me, going back to Girl meets worldI would talk to Ben and Michael [Jacobs, the creator of both shows]and everyone else, and they remembered things from Boy meets world and have to explain to me what's going on, because I've never seen Boy meets world“
“If I had seen these things, I would be closer to them now than when I performed them on Girl meets world” he explained, stating that he would like to see all the links and callbacks in Girl meets world now that he understands them better.
Danielle then admitted: “The argument that convinces me more than anything is that I feel like if we're ever going to do Girl meets worldwe have to do it right after Boy meets world. Against, like… My preferences, honestly, what I fight for, I want to do. Friends. I've never seen every episode Friends“
“We could do it after Girl meets worldRyder said and Danielle agreed, “That’s what I’m saying.” It would be stupid to leave Boy meets world [to Friends]it makes sense to just continue the story and push the button… We also don't have to spend three years making three seasons.”
“We can get over them very quickly, and again, nothing lasts forever, if we do 10 episodes and say, 'We don't like this,' we might as well just stop,” Will suggested, but Danielle said she “didn't like that idea.”
The trio then discussed what percentage of their listeners would watch at least a couple of episodes of the series. Girl meets world For years, Ryder believed there would be a significant match, and Daniel and Will disagreed.
Will suggested that listeners who had children might give Girl meets world attempt, but others will be wary of ruining their memory of Boy meets worldor just not interested in watching Disney Channel shows as an adult. But Ryder explained that while he believes in the “Venn diagram” Boy meets world And Girl meets world viewers will have a small overlap, the one with Pod meets the world there will be significantly more listeners, since they are clearly “interested in Boy meets world– related content.”
“Unless what they're doing is the same as what I'm doing, which means they've never seen it either and they're like, 'I think if they watch it, I'll watch it,'” Will suggested, but Danielle countered, “Or, 'I think if they watch it, I'll stop listening to the podcast!'” Will suggested.
Will then said that they would watch the show in the context that it was for children rather than through an adult lens, before saying that they all knew the child stars on the show were “amazing,” with Ryder adding that he “loved working” with Rowan and Sabrina and had “nothing but positive memories.”
After the heated conversation died down, Danielle joked with listeners about how much they were let into the inner workings of the podcast, to which Ryder exclaimed in response, “I thought we were wrapping up! Instead we were like, “Let’s talk about it! On the air! Right now!”
Personally I would Love For Pod meets the world gang to take stock Girl meets world next to recap the characters' storylines, but be sure to let me know. your thoughts in the comments below!
