Boy Meets World

One of the most durable offerings of ABC's Friday night TGIF sitcom lineup, Boy Meets World premiered September 24, 1993. Set in Philadelphia, the series starred Ben Savage as Cornelius A. "Cory" Matthews, who at the outset of the program was 11 years old. Hoping to make sense of the world around him and to hack his way through the thorny thicket of "tween-age" (and later teenage) life, Cory found a kindred spirit in fellow 11-year-old Shawn Hunter (Rider Strong), who lived in a trailer camp with his combative parents. Cory himself resided in a comfortable suburban home with dad Alan (William Russ), mom Amy (Betsy Randle), footloose older brother Eric (Will Friedle) and precocious kid sister Morgan (played first by Lily Nicksay, then by Lindsay Ridgeway); near the end of the series' run, Amy gave birth to a fourth child, a boy named Joshua. At school, Cory was kept in a state of constant terror and confusion by his mercurial teacher George Feeny (William Daniels) -- and making things worse, Feeny lived right next door to the Matthews family. On a more pleasant note, Cory harbored a crush for his classmate Topanga Lawrence (Danielle Fishel), a feeling that would blossom into true love as the series rolled on. During his elementary school years, Cory also palled around with a nerdish intellectual named Stuart (Lee Norris). When Cory entered John Adams High School, he discovered, to his horror, that Mr. Feeny was now his principal. Also, Cory was faced with a new nemesis in the form of the bullying Harley Kiner (Danny McNulty). Even so, high school had its good points, including the presence of Cory's old friends Shawn and Topanga and his new buddies Joey (Blake Soper) and Frankie (Ethan Suplee) -- not to mention the school's coolest teacher, cycle-riding Mr. Jonathan Turner (Anthony Tyler Quinn). The bond between Cory and Mr. Turner grew stronger when the latter became legal guardian of Shawn, whose parents had briefly vanished. (Shawn would later move back with his truck driver dad, Chet [Blake Clark]). On the occasion of their high school graduation, Topanga impulsively proposed to Cory. The following year, they both enrolled in nearby Penbrook College, which was already being attended by Cory's brother Eric. Eric, in turn, was rooming with Jack Newman (Matthew Lawrence)...and when it turned out that Jack was the long-lost half brother of Shawn Hunter, Shawn moved in as well, simultaneously inaugurating a romance with Angela Moore (Trina McGee-Davis). Eventually, Shawn left, whereupon Eric and Jack found themselves with a new roomie, a no-nonsense, take-charge gal named Rachel McGuire (Maitland Ward). Penbrook College also proved to be a life-altering experience for dour Mr. Feeny, who fell in love with and married the schools Dean of Admissions, Ms. Bolander (Bonnie Bartlett). During the series' final season, Cory and Topanga were wed and moved to New York with Shawn and Eric, Angela moved to Europe with her dad, and Rachel and Jack joined the Peace Corps. Boy Meets World remained an ABC Friday night fixture until its cancellation on September 8, 2000.