If you were a teenager at any point of the 1990s, you probably saw Boy Meets World, the coming of age story where young Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) managed to grow from sixth grader to married man within eight short years. Sure, there were time-jumps and continuity glitches, but for a generation – usually those a little bit younger than me – Cory and Topanga were the “it” couple.
Tonight on the Disney Channel, Cory and Topanga are back, and now they have two children of their own, in a sequel series called Girl Meets World. While this sounds like a dream scenario for a revived ABC TGIF show, instead, this one is aimed right at the tweens… and being 30-something, I’m not totally sure what to make of that.
Rowan Blanchard as the spawn of Cory and Topanga is, unfortunately, a typical Disney pre-teen. There’s nothing offensive about her, but she doesn’t really wow. If anything, her delivery reminds me a bit of Ben Savage’s early performance, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she studied his delivery to try to duplicate it. It is fun seeing this girl bouncing off of Cory as he tries to embrace his inner Mr. Feeny as her teacher, but I expected something a little stronger. Maybe, like Ben Savage, she’ll get better as she gets comfortable in the role. (Cory as teacher totally is payback for what he put Feeny through back in the day, and if you take a steady diet of classic BMW episodes after watching this premiere, as I did, you’re in for treats.)
Sabrina Carpenter plays Maya, Riley’s best friend and heir apparent to Shawn. She’s a bad girl so look out, but she’s really not that bad at all. Again, echoes of Shawn. Sabrina is fantastic and may be the standout in this new young cast… and unlike Maya, this character works from the very beginning.
There’s the typical “kid the girls have a crush on” because heaven forbid the girls don’t have one of those… and there’s a character named Farkle, who reminded me of Minkus. Turns out there might be a reason for that.
Kids will probably love Girl Meets World. I’m hoping I like it more as it goes on. There’s not enough Topanga in the series premiere, and I’m sure I’ll be tuning in when the Matthews family shows up for Thanksgiving. There’s a nice nod to Mr. Feeny, too. If I had any real complaint, though, it is that Boy Meets World felt more like a show that kids could enjoy with their parents, and that an opportunity is being missed by having GMW as a series that’s more aimed for 12 year olds. What’s so wrong with TV that’s appropriate for all ages?
Girl Meets World premieres tonight (June 27) at 9:45pm on the Disney Channel.
