By the Bel:Blasts from the Past—Part 10

I’ve looked at Australia, the UK and Canada for TV shows for young adults that were above average in the 90s. When it comes to the United States I am bombarded with memories of hours and hours of TV viewing, and the list of shows is a little overwhelming.

Let me rattle a quick list off the top of my head, some of which I’m proud to admit to watching… others, not so much: Blossom, Full House, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sweet Valley High, California Dreams, Saved by the Bell, Felicity, Party of Five, Brotherly Love, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Family Matters. See what I mean? If there’s anything on that list that you have never heard of, YouTube it, and see what you come up with… maybe even enjoy a few.

So which show did I leave off that list? What possibly could be left? Boy Meets World was a series that ran from 1993 all the way through to the year 2000. This equates to 158 Episodes. WOWZA! Here’s a bit of the pilot

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2bwACI2wa0

Thanks to the lovely people at IMDb we have a synopsis of the 8 seasons of this off-kilter program. “Adolescent Cory Matthews and his best friend Shawn, and Cory’s girlfriend Topanga attempt to survive the trials of high school, along with the help of the George Feeny, the high-school principal and Cory’s next-door neighbor.” Cast and crew were pretty stable over the life of the program.

There was even a brief appearance by Marcia Cross, and a couple of episodes with one Brittney Murphy in them, right off the back of the movie success of Clueless. Ben Savage in the leading role of Cory Matthews, made a plotline that was pretty cookie cutter for the era, stand out in the crowd. Cory’s on air relationship with Topanga Lawrence (Danielle Fishel) grew and morphed into something that few sitcoms were game enough to venture into… a marriage.

We first meet Cory and his mates when they’re in 6th grade, and we move right through school with the group, and the last parts of the last season, if my memory serves me right, are spent in university. Few programs ever got this far, and I’m a little surprised this one did as well as it did. There was little respect for adults and though there was always a moral to the episode, it was a tad on the insipid side. However the program was FUNNY. American sitcoms are dime a dozen, but this one was a head above the rest. Let me know what you think.