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STUDIO: Buena Vista
MSRP: $39.99
RATED: PG
RUNNING TIME: N/A
SPECIAL FEATURES: Boy Meets World Quiz
The Pitch
“It’s just like seasons 1 and 2 – but with more kissing! Ooooooo!”
The Humans
Ben “Don’t call me Fred” Savage, Will “perfect hair” Friedle, Rider “I didn’t even know her” Strong, William “I should be doing Shakespeare, man” Daniels, Danielle “15 was a good year for me, developmentally” Fishel.
The Guest Humans
Hot Girls (Brittany Murphy and Mena Suvari); Angel /Buffy Girls (Charisma Carpenter and Julie Benz); Pro Wrestlers (Vader); old TV stars (Tom Bosley, Pat Morita and Dave Madden); and MONKEES (Mickey Dolenz, Davy Jones and Peter Tork)
The Nutshell
Boy Meets World is your standard TGIF sitcom, but with clever writing. The show is centered on Corey Mathews – the title “Boy” (which is in no relation to Best Boy). He hangs with his friend Shawn, his girlfriend Topanga and his brother Eric. Some sort of hilarity happens every episode and, after 22 minutes, we learn a heck of a lesson.
Always a little slow, Ben got the wrong idea when his friend told him to go out and lick carpet.
The Package
Technically, the episodes are fine. They all look and sound good (as good as a TGIF show should look/sound). Really not too much to comment on except the “extras.” Only one extra on the discs and that was a Boy Meets World quiz game (I got a perfect score – that frightens me). Beyond that, the set is pretty bare. The packaging is OK though. It contains three single-sided discs, which I like (I loath double-sided discs for some reason).
Ha! Now I remember where I shoved my hamster.
The Lowdown
Boy Meets World and I go way back. Way, way back. About 15 months or so back, BMW, Season 1 was my first review for CHUD. At that time, I had never seen an episode. Since then, however, I have also reviewed Season 2 and now 3. The show grew up during its first three seasons (and maybe I have too over this year stretch). Honestly, I enjoy the show. Take that with a grain of salt – I love reruns of Growing Pains too.
Season 3 is pretty much like season 1 and 2 of the show. Season 3 does stray a bit from the past seasons, as it does bring some recurring character development. No longer are character-building traits forgotten after one episode (Note to all current sitcom writers: this is a good thing). This season focuses a lot on Corey and Topanga’s rocky High School relationship (he asks her to go steady early in the season – how exciting!); Shawn’s search for identity and family; and Eric’s quest to get into college.
Where it is rare for any given episode to directly lead into another, it is obvious that the writers were laying out small arcs for their characters. I don’t think that ever happened in Growing Pains (except for late in the run when Kirk Cameron got religious and, all of a sudden, Mike Seaver had depth). The characters in Boy Meets World grew up as the season went on – not just during the summer hiatus. That gives Boy Meets World (at least in Season 3) a little more depth than most sitcoms have.
"Sure baby, we can get nasty. But, I never remove my vest. Never."
7 out of 10