A generation ago, teens of the 1990s thrilled to the weekly T.G.I.F. adventures of Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) and his friends Shawn and Topanga on the ABC series Boy Meets World. The show — created by Michael Jacobs and April Kelly — was a coming-of-age tale that took young Cory from his time as a sixth grader all the way to the show’s final episodes, where he was a married man, a boy who has now met the world.
Boy Meets World remained a popular series in repeats, DVD and syndication, and in 2012, production began for the Disney Channel to create a sequel series for a new generation. Girl Meets World ultimately premiered in Summer 2014 to positive feedback from critics and young people; the show has recently been recognized with a nomination for Outstanding Children’s Program for the 2015 Emmy Awards.
The Girl Meets World audience, however, isn’t only made up of the young people that the show was originally created for. A lot of viewers who grew up with the original series have found reasons to come back, lured in with return appearances by old favorites. Girl Meets World has become a show that parents can watch with their kids, where kids can learn without feeling preached to… and, like Boy Meets World, the show has created characters that have endured.
We spoke with Girl Meets World co-creator and Executive Producer Michael Jacobs late last week about the new series and its connections to the old. This interview is quite extensive so it will be split over multiple pages. Within, there are some nuggets about what’s coming up: Girl Meets Cory & Topanga! The return of Cory’s sister Morgan! A theme for Season 3! But that’s not all, as Jacobs looks back at what has made Girl Meets World work. Jacobs also talks candidly about his biggest regrets from the original Boy Meets World series. We also talk about the show’s Emmy nomination, being [rightly] recognized by the TV Academy for what they do.
Enjoy this interview, and if you like it, share a link to this article on social media. Girl Meets World is new again this Friday at 8:30PM on the Disney Channel. The episode is called “Girl Meets Creativity” and you can find some promotional photos from that episode here. Let’s get started!
KSITETV’s CRAIG BYRNE: The show has been nominated for an Outstanding Children’s Program award in this year’s Emmys. Can you talk about that?
MICHAEL JACOBS (Girl Meets World Executive Producer): We’re absolutely thrilled about it. You know, it’s our first year, and to be recognized for what we’re trying to do, that they caught it so fast.
It’s funny. There are children’s shows on the air where which seem to me, to not prepare children for the reality of what’s coming in their lives, and these are what we would call “straight entertainment programs.” What we did was, we took a chance and we really wrote up toward kids in what they were experiencing – we did the same thing on Boy Meets World, but that was on a network, and this, I think the Disney Channel has been very generous in allowing us to teach these lessons in reality, and the topics that we’ve chosen… we teach about life and death. We teach about the beginning of feelings, and how they can come like a wave, and how you respond to them when you are a person who has not lived life for a particularly long time — and yet the reality of what’s out there in the world still faces you. These are the topics we’re exploring. We didn’t know if this would succeed or not. The fact that the audience has stayed really loyal to it, and the fact that we have had the success we have, and now this recognition from the Emmy committee, really validates for all of us the reason we get up in the morning and keep taking a shot at doing something we feel could be interpreted as a bit advanced, but seems to be well received. So, we are extraordinarily happy about this recognition.
We did warn you this interview would be long! Navigate below for more:
3 Comments
Love Boy Meets World and Girl Meets World….both fantastic shows…I really hope Riley and Lucas are end game, else it will be another disappointment like Dawson’s Creek’s finale, where the main character is shafted and his supposed best friend and love of his life end up together. Makes it hard to watch that show even today. Also if Maya and Lucas end up together, will really taint the Riley/Maya friendship. Hope that while the awesome life lessons continue, the dynamic between Riley and Maya/Lucas is not torn apart, as that is the glue that really attracts a lot of U.S. viewers to this wonderful show…awesome interview too by the way…great insight and answers…
The show is getting better, though still nowhere near as good as BMW which seemed less frenetic and showcased normal kids. GMW seems to portray a more fast paced hyper stylized Disney version of school which isn’t great and loses the charm of BMW.
I think the actress who plays Maya is definitely the breakout star – by far. She is outshining the actress who plays Riley. I do think her character pales in comparison to the Shawn role from BMW. Shawn had no real parent guidance, his motor home was frequently gone, it was heavily implied he went without food at times, he dressed shabbily, etc. Maya just seems down because of material things – she has a mother who she knows is around, she has an apartment, and by the looks of it, dresses pretty well. She just doesn’t have the latest stuff like the rich kids which I guess is what passes for a hardship these days.
My two cents on future episodes – I’d prefer to see Lily Nicksay as Morgan, the newer Morgan wasn’t very good. I’d like see Topanga’s older sister and her parents. I’d like to see some of Cory’s old girlfriends come back – Wendy in particular. I’d like to see more of Farkle, I think he matches with Riley more, and Maya clearly matches well with Lucas.
Do you know how I can email michael jacbos I have been trying to email Michael jacobs for 4 years
Michael jacobs needs to know that I have a disability I have down syndrome I assumed all good faith on wikia boy meets world and the adminstrators were not nice to me