Boy Meets World's series finale turns 20: How the "TGIF" comedy matured with its audience

The A.V. Club

When Boy Meets World concluded after seven seasons and 158 episodes on May 5, 2020, it came full circle. "Over Boy Meets World’s seven seasons, the juvenile, Disney Channel-friendly humor faded away," says Patrick Gomez. "Puberty arrived, along with the hard lessons of adulthood. Cory and his friends navigated broken hearts, broken dreams, and even death. By the series finale, which celebrates its 20th anniversary today, Cory—thanks to some continuity errors in early seasons—is a sophomore in college, married to his childhood sweetheart Topanga (Danielle Fishel), and embarking on a new life in New York City. This kind of character growth is not unusual for a long-running network show with adolescent characters, but BMW is one of few series focused on characters who started off as tweens and remained targeted toward younger viewers. Even The Wonder Years (which starred Ben Savage’s brother, Fred) was a period piece targeting the adult viewers looking back at their childhood as much as, if not more than, the kids sitting on the couch next to them. And there’s a reason most series don’t successfully mature with their audience. It’s hard, especially with younger fans, to evolve at the right pace and not alienate those developing into adults later or earlier than the characters. Yet BMW navigated that journey slowly, aside from the way it advanced the main characters two grade levels at some point in between the beginning of season two and the end of season four." ALSO: William Daniels thanks teachers for working during the coronavirus crisis.