Disney Channel/Ron TomShawn Hunter has a lot on his mind. In a new interview, Rider Strong of Boy Meets World fame got candid about the differences between the ABC series he starred on and the spinoff, Girl Meets World, that he recurred on.
In an interview on Kevin Pollak's Chat Show with guest host Samm Levine of Freaks and Geeks fame, Strong discussed his TV past and present, including the major differences between Boy and Girl.
"For some reason on TGIF we would just do these videos that were like full on dramas and nobody seemed to notice," Strong said referring to Boy Meets World's infamous cult episode in which Shawn joined a cult because of girl, then becomes "completely brainwashed," then Mr. Turner gets into a motorcycle accident and Shawn leaves the cult and discovers God, "all in the course of 22 minutes," Strong recalled.
"When you do a tonal shift like that — I think Boy Meets World missed the mark almost as often as it nailed the mark, honestly—for some people that tonal shift will never work," Strong admitted.
"I think what Boy Meets World and Girl Meets World tapped into is that there's actually a huge segment of that age group… the target age group from 8 all the way up to 16ish, that is very melodramatic and that does see life as ‘It's all fun,' and then the rug gets pulled out from under you and you're like crying. That sort of emotional swings. I think [creator Michael Jacobs], to his credit, really wrote well for that [age group], and he still does. We've had some very dramatic episodes [of Girl Meets World]. I don't think as dramatic as Boy, mostly because we're on Disney Channel and they won't allow us to. I think had Michael had his way, Girl Meets World would have swung just as extreme."
Strong, who appeared in seven episodes of Disney Channel's Girl Meets World, broke the news that Girl Meets World was canceled. Creator Michael Jacobs later confirmed the cancellation on Twitter. "It is with incredible pride in our work and complete sadness that things end, that I report to this wonderful audience that our show is over. I just officially got the call, and would like to thank this audience for its incredible love and loyalty. Please watch our January episodes. We leave you with three incredible souvenirs of a show we couldn't be more proud of As I look back I can tell you with absolute certainty—we gave you our best," the show's writers room tweeted out.
Girl Meets World told the story of Riley Matthews (Rowan Blanchard), the daughter of Cory (Ben Savage) and Topanga (Danielle Fishel). Pretty much every series regular from Boy Meets World returned in some capacity over Girl Meets World's three seasons on Disney Channel. The series finale, "Girl Meets Goodbye," airs on Friday, Jan. 20. The final episode will also be a huge Boy Meets World reunion.