I’m not a child of the 90s, full stop. But I did spend that decade traversing the country doing deep dive research with those that were and led initiatives at four different media companies learning as much as possible about what and why they were choosing to watch and how their plots and cast members mattered so much to their lives. The 90s were perhaps the last gasp of monoculture before the rapid expansion of cable, the launch of two additional youth-skewing broadcast networks and the birth of the internet forever fractionalized us by generation and obsession. And as the decade wore on I frequently reported on how much rarer it was becoming for us to see common grounds–particularly among tweens. So I look back on these times with much more of an academic than an emotional lens.
That may be why I’m not quite as giddy about the outsized attention that Will Friedle, Danielle Fishel and Rider Strong have been getting this week for what so many of a slightly younger generation are celebrating as an achievement–the publication of BOOK MEETS WORLD. The trio have been at the forefront of what they would claim is a widely popular rewatch podcast dedicated to the series BOY MEETS WORLD that they co-starred on for an impressive seven seasons that pretty much spanned the Clinton administrations and whose own lifespan has now exceeded that of the original show itself. Its Amazon blurb pretty much confesses that it’s hardly breaking any new ground:
Building on their incredibly successful podcast... (t)he three podcast co-hosts and former cast members revisited the show they grew up on by watching the episodes (most of them for the first time ever) and interviewing dozens of the people who worked on Boy Meets World. And now they’ve written down all the memories—from hidden lobsters to prank wars to on-set notes sessions to castings that almost happened, and so much more. Reading Book Meets World is a glimpse behind the curtain from three friends who were there when it all happened, just as warm and funny an experience as watching the show for the very first time…From inside jokes that showed up on screen to epic notes sessions to laughter and tears on set, rediscover this fan-favorite sitcom with inside stories pulled from Pod Meets World interviews of the cast and crew, as well as brand-new interviews exclusive to this book.
It is those interviews that are drawing the bulk of attention from fan-friendly entertainment sites and talk show bookings which the trio have been taking full advantage of on their promotional car wash. Much of the attention is being paid to Fishel, who has played her status as one-time adolescent boy wet dream to the hilt for the quarter-century since she became legal, first with her and series lead Ben Savage reprising their roles as Cory and Topanga as challenged adult parents on the GIRL MEETS WORLD sequel that ran three modestly successful seasons in the mid-2010s on a Disney Channel being dominated by much more contemporary stuff like THE SUITE LIFE OF ZACK AND CODY and is now better remembered by that generation as the launchpad for Sabrina Carpenter’s career, and then as a noisy challenger that had a decent run on last year’s season of DANCING WITH THE STARS that resurrected that show’s own relevance. Fishel’s laments drew the attention of advocacy journos like SHE KNOWS’ Kristyn Burtt in a supportive piece she dropped earlier this week:
Danielle Fishel learned a tough Hollywood lesson early in her career on Boy Meets World; being a leading lady didn’t mean she would be paid like one…Topanga was one of the breakthrough roles on the show, and you would think that producers would reward that milestone with a significant pay raise. The book tells a very different story...At the end of Season 2, Fishel revealed in the book that she negotiated a pay raise from $7,500 per episode to $15,000 per episode for Season 3 — but it wasn’t easy for her agents to pull off…Once the contract was settled, Fishel alleged in the book that series co-creator Michael Jacobs “pulled me aside, and he said, ‘Don’t you ever pull that s–t again,’” while also calling her “very unprofessional.” She was only 13 years old.
The males seem to have their own unresolved issues, as ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY’s Leigh Bickley reported, and through the overly sympathetic lens of book author Emily Longeretta–a self-confessed BMW groupie who devotes her dedication chapter to how much of a fangirl she was during her own coming-of-age era:
“Why doesn’t Ben Savage talk to you?” Friedle bluntly asked Longeretta on Monday, when she appeared on Pod Meets World to discuss their book. “We’re starting out hot,” Longeretta replied, before Friedle suggested they can “cut that,” to the dismay of Fishel and Strong. “Let’s not,” they both said…Later in the episode, the foursome circle back and allude to the fact that Savage never wanted to be a part of the whole rewatch podcast from the beginning.
His castmates opened up about their falling out with Savage in the documentary Doc Meets World, which premiered in June. In one scene, Friedle confirms that Savage, who played his brother on the show, hasn’t responded to his texts since April 2020. He attempts to warn his onscreen sibling that he’ll call “every day until you pick up or tell me to stop,” but Savage never responds. Strong, who played Cory’s best friend Shawn Hunter on Boy Meets World, also sends Savage an unanswered text in the film. Longeretta said “it’s a mystery, the unknown mystery” why Savage doesn’t speak to her (or the actors), but that she reached out about the book multiple times. “He does not talk to me. I will say. We reached out for the book. We made many asks. We received no response,” Longeretta shared.
This business being what it is, even I have some connections to this World where I can weigh in. I dealt with the Savage family when I was a brand expert hocking his older brother Fred’s own coming-of-age series from a decade prior, THE WONDER YEARS. I later reconnected with an adult Fred when he turned up as a student auditing one of my UCLA Extension classes. His dismissiveness of our past underscored his family’s approach: That was then, this is now. Fred was focused on learning how to be a better director and producer and while he appreciated his fans and the residuals his life had progressed.
Fact is, both THE WONDER YEARS and BOY MEETS WORLD can only be considered hits through the lens of today’s metrics. In their eras, they were both “:30” shows as part of multi-pronged ABC sitcom lineups designed to maximize audience flow and minimize churn for a full two-hour block. BOY was launched as a companion to the likes of FAMILY MATTERS and its stablemate, the far more iconic FULL HOUSE, a show whose afterlife has reinforced that definition. It was a standout performer for local TV stations as a transition from animation afternoon shows and later a tentpole for Nick-at-Nite. It eventually led to the five-season Netflix reboot FULLER HOUSE with its full cast intact. Its own 90s teenage dream, Candace Cameron Bure , reignited her own career enough to become a Hallmark Channel go-to. Fishel got a guest spot on a reality series and a podcast.
BOY MEETS WORLD reruns never got renewed by local stations beyond one cycle after a premature roll-out to UPN and WB affiliates who dismissed it as “not black enough” to compliment the balance of shows they were programming. Subsequent cable runs on Disney-owned networks were abject ratings disappointments. GIRL MEETS WORLD preceded FULLER HOUSE in the multiplatform world and as aforementioned was anything but a breakout on cable. So yeah, compared to what, say, a Tik Tok video does these days those numbers were great among females 12-17. But at the time they really mattered they were indisputably meh.
I also happen to know someone with close ties to series creator and producer Michael Jacobs and those close with the likes of Friedle. I’ve learned that Friedle was surrounded by enablers who believed he should have aspired to bigger and better roles and not be typecast. He lived for on-camera work–which given that the overwhelming reality of his 21st century resume has been in voiceover should probably be taken into account for why he’s been especially eager to do BOOK’s promotional car wash.
And Jacobs himself weighed in last night with this adult-in-the-room observation:
Nothing really to talk about guys. People are entitled to say what they want. In a long career some say nice things, some don’t. The truth usually lies somewhere in the middle.
I honestly tried to read the whole book. After the first couple of self-serving chapters and especially after Longeretta’s evangelical testimonial my migraines got the best of me. Or maybe it was the guilt that as someone who is still trying to be relevant himself long after the reality of where the world at large judges me that these three second bananas expressed throughout their entire post-series careers hits too close to home.
I’m not gonna encourage you to avoid the book; in fact, if you are indeed a child of the ’90s I would recommend you cough up the modest price and judge for yourself. But do check in with me in about 20 years and see if you feel more like I do today.
Until next time…