TVLine reported Tuesday that actors Ben Savage (Cory Matthews) and Danielle Fishel (Topanga Lawrence) have officially signed on for the pilot episode, which will feature their 13-year-old daughter, Riley, in her journey through adolescence.
Actor Ben Savage announced his involvement via Twitter, writing, “I’m going to be a father! Well, on TV at least. The ‘Boy Meets World’ sequel is officially happening!”
The now young adults who originally watched the show are becoming more excited about the new “Girl Meets World.” Students, like Ryan Oldach, are eager to see how the famous couple has turned out over a decade later.
“I’d like to see it, how Cory and Topanga grew up and what they’re doing now,” Oldach said. “I’d like to see how they pick up that huge jump from when they were teens to parenthood. They will definitely get a lot of the 90s viewers like us because we knew how funny those two were in the original.”
Penn State senior Lisa Peirce, writer and producer of the show “Reel TV” on psnTV, attributes the hype on a yearning for the past.
“The show has a lot of potential I think. Having a new female character [Riley] is interesting, and bringing back the two main characters is a big deal also,” Peirce said. “Those are characters people loved as kids, and [the characters] are parents now.”
Pierce added that the now young adults have grown up with Cory and Topanga and they are excited to see how the pair turned out.
“It really ties into nostalgia, and I think people have been waiting for this type of show to come back,” Pierce said.
It has been 12 years since the “Boy Meets World’s” run ended on ABC, yet fans continue to watch the re-runs and learn from the familiar characters, such as Cory, Topanga, Sean and Mr. Feeney.
“I’m a huge fan,” Jennifer Morgenstern said. “I loved it because it dealt with issues that were prevalent in my life at the time, but it was also hilarious. You can’t really get that comedy nowadays.”
Morgenstern admitted that initially she thought the spin-off sounded like a bad idea, but she changed her mind when she heard the news that Savage and Fishel had signed on. While long-time fans are excited for the show, many have similar reservations.
Will Monkowski, senior president of psnTV, said that the cookie cutter “Disney Channel humor” could possibly ruin the classic show.
“I’m hesitant to get too into it because there is a risk of [the show] being a big let down, just because it will be on Disney Channel and that comes with certain connotations of its own,” Monkowski said.
TVLine reported that Michael Jacobs, the executive producer of “Boy Meets World,” is in the forefront of the project for Disney Channel.
“I think [Jacobs] will probably want to keep it going in the same direction, because that was the show that people really related to,” Peirce said. “They’ll adjust it for the new generation of viewers and they will hopefully relate in the same way. I mean they haven’t even finished casting or filmed the pilot episode and people are already really excited for it, which is a really good sign.”