Girl Meets World: Season 1 Discussion

[Lord Kira]

Now that season 1 has finished, I thought it would be good to have a place to discuss the season as a whole without cluttering up the individual episode threads.

 

What I liked about season 1 of Girl Meets World:

 

*Maya. I wouldn't have stuck with the show if it wasn't for her. Sabrina is easily the best actress on the show. Whenever she is on screen, she immediately has my attention. Her story arc is pretty good and she is believeable in that role.

 

*Shawn. The moment he first appeared on the show the entire tone of the episode changes. It becomes less kiddy, thankfully, because it is impossibie for Shawn to exist in the regular Disney Channel tone this show has. It may just be me, but Rider Strong adds a validity to the show.

 

*Cory. The writers didn't do him many favours this season, but in the moments where they gave him serious moments with Maya, Ben Savage delivered. The comedy was hit and miss for his character, but when he had good material he was a joy to watch. Even when the wring was bad, Cory was still a serviceable character.

 

*Josh. This kid has presence. He is good at the comedy as well as the drama. I hope to see more of him.

 

 

What I disliked about season 1:

 

*Riley. She is annoying. She never shows any respect to any adult. She gets her way all of the time and rarely suffers any consequences. The actress isn't that great by herself, but pairing her with equally bad Lucas does her no favors. Also, it always looks like she is smiling, even in scenes she shouldn't be. It's distracting.

 

*Lucas. He is so bland and boring. The only time he shows any life is when he and Maya are teasing each other.

 

*Topanga. She has no personality. She definitely isn't the Topanga I remember from BMW.

 

*Farkle. I hate him. His obsessive love of Riley and Maya is creepy. The fact that it is played for laughs even more so. Even besides that, his personality is obnoxious. I don't see why anyone would want to hang around him.

 

*Auggie and Ava. Why do they get so much screentime? To please the Disney Channel crowd? Its a waste of time that could be better spent developing important characters.

 

*Cory not getting respect at school or at home. His class runs all over him. He lets the students run the class. At home it is no different. He is a joke.

 

*The focus on romance. Riley/Lucas, Auggie/Ava, Farkle's love for Riley and Maya, Maya's crush on Josh,etc. It's almost all poorly done. I just don't care. (Though, Josh and Maya in the finale were good. I just hope we are done with that crush)

 

*The Shawn/Maya connection was a bit forced. Mainly because Riley and Cory kept going "Ooooh, look how similar they are" which led to "Obviously Shawn should be her new Dad". The show was trying way too hard. The fact that Shawn was only in to episodes made his relationship with Maya kind of rushed.

 

What I hope they do in season 2:

 

*Mature the tone a bit to match early BMW. I'm not expecting them to suddenly go PG-13, but season 1 was targeted at a younger audience that BMW season 1. Don't believe me? Alan, Amy, and Mr. Feeny grounded that show, but even then Cory and Shawn weren't as over-the-top as the kids in GMW. Boy Meets World was a family show, but right now Girl Meets World is very much a kids show.

 

*Less bright colors that scream Disney Channel.

 

*Less screentime for Auggie and Ava.

 

*Have Cory get respect in class and at home. More importantly, have him be worthy of it.

 

*Many appearances by Shawn. He makes the show 10 times better by just being on screen. The show has a different feel when he is around.

 

*Don't have Eric be too dumb when he comes back. He went way over the top in BMW; and while it was funny, he seemed to regain some brain cells and seriousness in the finale. I hope he hasn't spent the past 13 years in the mountains married to a moose.

Edited March 28, 2015 by Lord Kira

[Kromm]

Very good roundup and I agree with a great deal of it.

Sabrina is the best Disney find in many years. The girl isn't merely a great actress, she's got bucketloads of chemistry and can basically be put on screen with any other actor, and to some degree even almost any script, and it's going to be very watchable.

The actual character of Maya is a bit hard to separate out from Sabrina and consider if the character would be any good on her own. It's an academic question, I guess, but AS portrayed she's a very easy character to both be constantly amused by, but also care a lot about. Her bad influence/bad girl stage on the show was like a single episode long (and not that deep) and most often she's a voice of wisdom for the seemingly much dumber Riley.

Shawn, Josh, both as you say, Lord Kira, are good serviceable characters played by good interesting actors.

Ben Savage has to be commended, I agree, for making the best of some really bad writing for him, making his character a constant nincompoop. Corey is a likable nincompoop rather than merely a nincompoop because of this. His scenes with Shawn are indeed a joy to watch, and I'd even venture to say SOME of his scenes with Topanga are pretty okay as well. As with everyone with her, his occasional asides to Maya are funny and/or touching. It's just the scenes with Riley that suck the oxygen out of the room.

Okay, now to the middle area. Topanga. She's constant wasted opportunity. She doesn't need to be the exact same person as the original Topanga, because I've thought for years that Danielle Fishel herself is pretty interesting. But the show constantly sidelines Topanga into shitty Auggie and/or Ava plots and that ruins her. Let Danielle BE Danielle a bit and give her something actually interesting to do. No, not help run that stupid cafe or whatever that place was. FIND A WAY. I actually think the little tiny stubs of time we've seen of her with Riley, you know actually being a mom DIRECTLY to her, didn't suck. Let Auggie go play in traffic or a ditch somewhere. Riley might actually be elevated a bit herself by dealing with her Mom more. Again... FIND A WAY.

Auggie is hopeless, and Ava just makes him even worse. But we're stuck with him, and probably both, because I'm convinced Disney has done testing with their younger viewers and the two characters must test well with them. They don't make this show for adults who watched the original, they make it for kids. We can't change that.

Lucas needs to go back to Texas over some episode break and not come back. While he's actually been interesting sparring with Maya on occasion, we know the show won't go there, so... he's useless. He looks like Riley's uncle, not her date and there's zero there.

Farkle I don't know how to fix him. His character always seemed like a bad idea to me. The actor isn't that bad, but he's not even remotely viable for a romance, but also too creepy for a valid "friend" character. He could simply be comic relief, I suppose, but those jokes get old. Even Sabrina Carpenter, that chemistry magnet, is at her worst comparatively around this character.

Riley again must test well as she is with younger viewers, because otherwise I don't get it. She's such a ninny. I don't think the character is unrepairable, but given that the actress can barely act outside of some okay (but not stupendous) comic timing, they need to seriously be giving her acting lessons on the side. She won't EVER in a million years be Sabrina Carpenter, but she could be better. The acting, the writing, etc. ALL needs to be better. Again, Maya saves the day here. The friendship between the two girls is the only truly interesting and convincing thing Riley is involved in.

[Mabinogia]

I'm kind of curious what kids think of this show. I'm assuming most of us here at Previously are adults and certainly not the shows demographic. It is an interesting concept because it is a show that is based on the show near and dear to many parentally aged viewers but it is actually geared towards children. So you've got a really odd audience for it.

 

I, being well above the age of 12, love this little show. I don't take it seriously but it is shiny and fun and cute and cheerful. That's all I expect from a kids show.

 

I agree about Sabrina. She is a rare find. If it weren't for her, I would probably have tuned out by now. That girl is going to be a star if she wants to.

 

I just love the friendship between Maya and Riley. It makes so much sense. Maya wants to be part of a family like Riley's and Riley wants to be the "bad girl" she sees Maya as. I also think the show did something very smart in making Maya often the voice of reason. Riley is a bit spoiled, not Ava spoiled, but she is a kid who has never really had to struggle for/with anything real. Maya, OTOH, has struggled. so Maya being the one who points out to Riley when she mistreats her family makes so much sense. When the show does stuff like that, I can forgive them the horror that is Auggie (I actually kind of like Ava more than him, which WTF? I never thought that would happen).

 

I also love the moments between Maya and Corey. Two big ones come to mind. When he asked her to dance at the father daughter dance, and I love that RIley not only understood and wasn't upset, but she was also there to remind him that she's his daughter. It was very real. And the scene which didn't actually have Corey in it, but when Topanga told Maya that Corey would always go to her because he cared. And then he did. I just feel like Maya is more the heart of the show than Riley. Riley is the comic relief.

 

I don't care for the original boys. Farkle is creepy. I know they're going for he loves the girls in a sweet, innocent way, but when he had those watches with their voices saying they loved him, that crossed a line for me. EEEEW, it's a shame, because I did like the character and the actor. But that was just too much. Lucas is useless. Pretty but useless. He's fun when bantering with Maya and I love their little "war". I like how he drives her nuts by not being driven nuts by her. But his thing with Riley is boring and I can't figure it out. Why does he like Riley? She looks and acts a LOT younger than she is. At 15 is he already a pedo? LOL just kidding. But it is a weird, bland pair.

 

Other than Lucas and Auggie I quite like the cast, and the show. I think it is getting better as the show continues. They seem more focused on the family than school, which is a nice improvement. I hope that continues. But please, just say NO! to Shawn and Katie (Maya's mom)

[BigPaul25]

When I look back on my favorite seasons of BMW, I remember the snappy dialogue and madcap juxtaposition of the actors. I saw that rhythm last night with the show and smiled. Yes, I agree Sabrina is the MVP of the show, but I am not going to dump on Rowan here. Kid just turned 13 and she has the task of carrying this show. If I do recall, Ben Savage annoyed me in the original show until his voice changed. Honestly, I feel like Rowan has the ability to do it if the writers tone her character down just a notch.

Edited March 28, 2015 by BigPaul25

[DeepPoet117]

I think it was a mistake to introduce Riley/Maya/Lucas/Farkle as a foursome right in the pilot. In Boy Meets World, it started out as Cory and Shawn with Minkus as a rival and a few episodes of Topanga. Then in season two, Minkus disappeared to the other side of the school and Topanga became a regular. What they should have done was have it start out strictly Riley and Maya, possibly throw in a Farkle/Smackle/Minkus type character to be a rival for the girls, and slowly introduce a Lucas-type character (but not the actual Lucas because he's only interesting when paired with Maya).

 

I most enjoyed this show when they referenced/had characters from Boy Meets World. Since season two is supposed to have more Boy Meets World characters and references, I'm hoping I'll enjoy it more.

[David-]

Fail:

I don't know where the writers are going and why their doing it.

S1 is all over the place

Most first seasons need to have time to develop so we'll see how S2 goes.

Liked the BMW flashback though.

[Bitterswete]

Auggie is hopeless, and Ava just makes him even worse. But we're stuck with him, and probably both, because I'm convinced Disney has done testing with their younger viewers and the two characters must test well with them. They don't make this show for adults who watched the original, they make it for kids.

 

I think Disney Channel's target audience is tweens and early teens, so viewers between 10 and 14, give or take. So kids, but older kids, most of whom are just counting the days until they are actual teen-agers, and having fantasies about how awesome high school will be. Which is why the lead characters on most DC shows tend to be about 13 to 15 when the shows start, and in high school.

 

After that, I think they hope to pull in adults. That's why I think the adult roles on these shows keep getting bigger and bigger. Not to mention that they have a show where the title character is an adult.

 

I'd actually be shocked if they were all that concerned about their shows appealing to really young kids. They're probably happy if they do, which is why so many of the shows (but not all) do have young kids as side characters. But if that young character really bugged enough of the older viewership, I bet they'd make changes no matter how much 6 and 7 year-olds liked that character.

 

I don't have a huge problem with Auggie. I was going to say "especially when he's acting like an actual kid," but I've actually chuckled a few times when he was acting like a little adult. Other times, it makes me cringe. And the stuff with Ava and him having a "serious relationship" (enough for him to fall to pieces over it at one point) really makes me cringe.

 

And here's something I find interesting. GMW is the only DC show I can think of that's so heavy-handed with trying to have some deep message in every episode. The other shows do that kind of thing on occasion, but it doesn't come across as awkwardly as GMW sometimes does. Which is funny because people who criticize GMW for being so heavy-handed with the messages often seem to think the writers are being forced to do it by DC.

Edited March 29, 2015 by Bitterswete

[Kromm]

Hmm.  Nah.  I never presumed Disney was forcing the show to "message".  The opposite in fact.  It's the direct legacy of Boy Meets World and I'd think anyone who watched BMW would realize that.

 

Perhaps the scripts may not be doing it as WELL as BMW did.  But it's the same model.

[spanana]

And here's something I find interesting. GMW is the only DC show I can think of that's so heavy-handed with trying to have some deep message in every episode. The other shows do that kind of thing on occasion, but it doesn't come across as awkwardly as GMW sometimes does. Which is funny because people who criticize GMW for being so heavy-handed with the messages often seem to think the writers are being forced to do it by DC.

 

I definitely don't think DC forces GMW to be so message heavy.  I'm not arguing the other current DC shows are better than GMW, but the other shows do message shows more sparingly.  GMW kind of feels like every episode is a very special episode.  Some work and others don't.  Personally I think the heavy handiness is coming from the writers who are trying so very hard to make this BMW 2.0.   Instead of letting the messages happen naturally, the writers tend to think they need to hit the audience over the head with it.  I also think it doesn't help that most of the actors on GMW aren't very subtle so it makes all that much more hard to take at times.  Mind you most DC actors aren't subtle, but I swear Ben Savage was a better actor when he was a child.  Or at least it came off better.

[Bitterswete]

Hmm.  Nah.  I never presumed Disney was forcing the show to "message".  The opposite in fact.  It's the direct legacy of Boy Meets World and I'd think anyone who watched BMW would realize that.

 

I agree. But I've seen so many comments various places that criticized the heavy handedness, then added, "Must be because it's on Disney Channel," or even, "Disney must be making them do that."

 

I think the comments might be because, while BMW was big on delivering messages, they just did it better, so it didn't really stand out the way it can on GMW.

 

GMW kind of feels like every episode is a very special episode. 

 

That's the perfect way to put it.

 

Personally I think the heavy handiness is coming from the writers who are trying so very hard to make this BMW 2.0.   Instead of letting the messages happen naturally, the writers tend to think they need to hit the audience over the head with it.

 

It seems like they're trying to use these "deep messages" to make the show more mature somehow. And I'm hoping they realize that didn't really work in season one, and they back off of the heavy-handedness in season two.

Edited March 30, 2015 by Bitterswete

[methodwriter85]

The problem is that Boy Meets World is known for Mr. Feeney and the messages of the 90's Very Special Episode vibe the show had, as well as the depth of Cory and Shawn's friendship and the romance of Cory and Topanga. The problem is that they don't have a Mr. Feeney, as 35-year old Cory just ain't it. And all the relationships that the show had took years to develop- I don't remember Shawn and Cory season 1 going on about how deep their friendship is. That came on later.

 

I feel like that's the biggest problem with most reboots I've come across- they try too hard to recapture something about the original show, without building it organically. See: The 90210 reboot that instantly started off with a love triangle, because Original 90210 was so famous for the Dylan/Kelly/Brenda love triangle, but they failed to realize that the show had spent 3 years building up their relationships before doing it.

 

I think the other problem is that the PSA vibe they want to replicate from certain episodes of Boy Meets World is really hard to do in 2010's Disney, which is just so sanitized and the like. Going by how they did the bullying episode, in which the grand total of bullying is Farkle being called "nothing", I can't even imagine them being able to touch racism (with Cory saying some racist slurs as a point and then going on about Anne Frank) like they did in that one episode of BMW. So you get vague stuff about the "Forgotten", or "standing up for what you believe in", instead of real, definable issues like the BMW would have done.

 

In any event, I like the show well enough. It's better when it's not trying so hard.

Edited April 3, 2015 by methodwriter85

[benteen]

I think that's an issue with several shows nowadays.  As you point out, they want the instant gratification instead of building something organically.  I recall someone mentioning the Girl Meets 1961 episode when they all found out their relatives had all come together on one night.  This was like, 9-10 episodes in and as the poster pointed out, the friendship between the four main students hadn't been built enough yet for that kind of revelation.  There's a rush to do things instead of a gradual build.

 

Sanitizing topics isn't restricted to Disney alone.  A lot of shows won't tackle real topics in a realistic way.  On this show, you have Cory giving vague life lessons described in the most general way possible.  That's about as close as you'll get here.

[ladyrott]

This little show has turned out to be my most favorite Disney show of all time.  :)  I was an adult when I was watching BMW in the 90s (only in my early 20s, but still) and I a way older than the target demographic for GMW, but this show still tickles me.  I spent season 1 getting annoyed with how stupid Cory acted at times, but still loving the character if only for nostalgic reasons.  The episode where Topanga remembers who she is, and Cory's reaction, was one of my favorite moments of the season for the adults.  I still love their relationship, as much as I did back in the BMW heyday. 

 

Maya is my favorite character.  I actually like her better than I did Shawn back in the day.  She does the "older than her years" mixed with "vulnerability" very well.  She is going to be a huge star someday, I think, well outside of the little world of Disney.  I like her crush on Josh.  It seems very realistic that she would have the hots for this older boy and I like that he is making it clear that nothing is going to happen.  Her interactions with Lucas are awesome.  I love their teasing banter and the fact that it drives her crazy that she cannot get to him.  Even her relationship with Farkle is appealing to me.  She obviously cares about him, but she won't let him pull any crap on her. 

 

Riley annoys with her immature behavior.  I am a Disney addict so I understand the wish fulfillment of a character who gets to say what they want to any adult (without getting in trouble) and acts like a brat (with no one calling her on it) but I wish they would give her at least a little more maturity.  I don't want to spend the entre run of this series wondering why someone as mature as Maya would hang around a little entitled brat like Riley.  She has her moments.  I liked her when she showed an honest interest in Lucas and his horses when they were doing the no cell phone project.  I hated her in the "Princess Riley" crap which seemed way too immature for a 14 year old girl.  My dream for next season is for her to behave consistently like an almost 15 year old girl.

 

Auggie and Ava annoy the crap out of me, the same way the younger kids on Disney shows usually do.  Since we met Ava's mother, I find myself a little more tolerant of the character, but she is never going to be my favorite.  I don't remember Morgan being this annoying on BMW, but I think she was used more sparingly than Auggie (and I wish they would address why the hell they named that kid Auggie!)

 

The biggest WTH of season 1, for me, was the purchase of the bakery.  What was the point?  I thought it was going to be a way to integrate Topanga into the kids lives....like they would hang out there and Topanga would start working there to protect her investment.  Instead, we had one episode where they bought the place and it was never mentioned again.

[spanana]

Sanitizing topics isn't restricted to Disney alone.  A lot of shows won't tackle real topics in a realistic way.  On this show, you have Cory giving vague life lessons described in the most general way possible.  That's about as close as you'll get here.

 

I agree with this.  I don't really think the sanitizing topics is necessarily a Disney thing.  Or at least not totally a Disney thing.  It kind of feels like the automatic response to any fault with the show tends to be blamed on it being Disney.  In general I think it's the more PC culture and time we are living in than anything else.  Nobody wants to offend.  Nobody wants to take a real stand on an issue that might be seen as controversial.  Things need to be safely generic.  Maybe it would be a little different if the show were on a different network, but not that much.   I know 80's shows are made fun of for their very special episodes and some were of course extremely heavy handed and cheesy, but shows for kids/teens actually used to tackle some pretty heavy issues in a way that most don't now.  

[KerleyQ]

I agree with this.  I don't really think the sanitizing topics is necessarily a Disney thing.  Or at least not totally a Disney thing.  It kind of feels like the automatic response to any fault with the show tends to be blamed on it being Disney.  In general I think it's the more PC culture and time we are living in than anything else.  Nobody wants to offend.  Nobody wants to take a real stand on an issue that might be seen as controversial.  Things need to be safely generic.  Maybe it would be a little different if the show were on a different network, but not that much.   I know 80's shows are made fun of for their very special episodes and some were of course extremely heavy handed and cheesy, but shows for kids/teens actually used to tackle some pretty heavy issues in a way that most don't now.  

 

I agree that DC shows aren't going to do gritty - we won't see them tackle sex, specifically between teens or unmarried people, for example.  But, they do address some controversial issues in non-confrontational ways.  The biggest example I can think of is that, in its last season, Good Luck Charlie had a same sex couple.  The younger daughter's friend had two mommies who came over for a play date.  They treated it as completely normal except for the parents deciding how to divide the two mommies up (since, typically, the dad would take the kid's dad to the basement to watch the game while the moms hung out together).  I actually appreciate that Disney doesn't get really over the top when addressing these kinds of issues, because it's helping to not teach young kids that there's something "abnormal" about it.  

 

And a large part of that is that, while they know that older kids and parents are watching, they still have a lot of young kids in their viewing audience, and they want parents to feel like their shows are "safe" for their kids to watch.  

 

And, actually, I appreciate that GMW addresses something that a lot DC shows seem to shy away from - where the absent parent is.  You look at Dog With a Blog, for example, and the family is a blended family, but you don't hear where the other parents are, or that they even exist.  It's like the parents each just magically produced their children without another parent involved in any way.  The only way the absent parent gets addressed is if they died (Hannah Montana).  And, it seems like not only are they willing to acknowledge that Maya has a deadbeat dad, but it also seems, to me, like it's likely she was conceived out of wedlock.  And Lucas, while they haven't come right out and said it, also seems to be the product of divorce, as it seems like he lives in NY with his mother while his father is still in Texas.  (Although they haven't firmly put that into play, so it could be that his parents are still married but work keeps them in different areas for chunks of time.)  The one DC show I can think of that kept the divorced parent in play was Suite Life, and I think that was only because they showed that the parents still loved each other.  (Also Suite Life, and its spin off, seemed to do a pretty decent job of slipping stuff in that you wouldn't expect on a DC show, for whatever reason. Maybe the other shows just need to try a little harder?) 

 

Anyway, I appreciate when they just treat stuff like it's just a normal part of life, especially when it comes to the whole family relationships thing.  I'd bet that most of the kids watching these shows know kids who have divorced parents, remarried parents, same sex parents, etc.  Hell, some of those kids watching are the ones with families like that.  So it's nice for them to see that reflected on the shows they watch without it being treated like it's a big deal.  In other words, I'd rather not see various things given the "very special episode" treatment.   I know DC does still do it to some extent, but, as much as I enjoyed the cheesy good fun of, say, Saved By The Bell, I don't think it would work now, and I wouldn't want the DC shows to try to duplicate that.  

 

And, now that I've said that, one of these shows is going to pull a "very special episode" on me.  I know GMW came close in the bullying episode, when they moved from the bullying to the kids trying to "save" the bully.  But, I don't want to see a full on one.  Just...no.  

[Bitterswete]

I think the other problem is that the PSA vibe they want to replicate from certain episodes of Boy Meets World is really hard to do in 2010's Disney, which is just so sanitized and the like. Going by how they did the bullying episode, in which the grand total of bullying is Farkle being called "nothing",

 

And, now that I've said that, one of these shows is going to pull a "very special episode" on me.  I know GMW came close in the bullying episode, when they moved from the bullying to the kids trying to "save" the bully.  But, I don't want to see a full on one.  Just...no.  

 

You know, I was going to say that you probably wouldn't see a DC show do a serious bullying episode. Then I remembered one that did. This probably slipped my mind because it was on a DC show I'm not really big on.

 

Anyway, on Austen & Aly, Trish got the part of Sleeping Beauty in the school play. And some of her classmates decided that not only was she not pretty enough for the part, but they should tell her so by doing things like putting stuff on her locker, saying nasty things about her online, and making comments as she walked down the hall. And it wasn't just one meanie, or one group of meanies, doing this. Once it started, a lot of kids seemed to decide making fun of Trish would be fun, so she was getting it from several sides.

 

With Farkle, I almost had to talk myself into believing that being called "nothing" a few times by one jerk would be enough to have such a huge affect on him. With Trish, I could totally understand why she would rather stop going to school than spend several hours a day being made fun of because of the way she looked.

 

And, the thing was, even though the episode was pretty serious for A&A, it still didn't feel as heavy-handed or "very special episodish" as the GMW episode was. I think it was because the only thing the A&A ep was trying to do was show how painful being made fun of can be. The GMW episode was trying to do some deep, over-the-top, philosophical thing that just didn't work.

 

Seriously, I always find myself cringing when I sense a "deep, philosophical moment" coming on in a GMW episode. Even though some of them haven't been too bad, I've still started to dread them.

Edited April 5, 2015 by Bitterswete

[KerleyQ]

The Austin & Ally episode did go a lot farther in terms of the bullying.  I thought it was kind of interesting, though, that both A&A and GMW decided to also focus what seemed like half of the episode on the friends wanting to retaliate against the bully (with reverse taunting on A&A and violence on GMW).  

 

I feel like the bullying episodes even do venture into the "wish fulfillment" aspect of DC shows.  Part of what makes bullying such a problem is that nobody (especially not the "popular" kids steps up and tries to stop it.  Here on GMW, we've got Lucas (the guy whose "flaw" is being "perfect") standing up for Farkle to his own teammate.  Over on A&A, the girl being bullied for her looks has two music stars among her BFFs to stand up for her.  In both cases, the victims had a protective circle of close friends who would go the mat for them.  I think that most of the kids who are bullied (especially to the extent that Trish was) and get to the extent where they refuse to show up for class, wish they had that tight knit circle of friends around them who will defend them and shut down the bullies, especially if those friends were the popular kids that Lucas, Austin, and Ally are (the kind of kids whose disapproval of the bullying would carry some actual weight with their peers).     

[spanana]

Another example of divorced parents on Disney was on Shake It Up.  Cece's (Bella Thorne) parents were divorced and the dad made some random appearances.  I think at one point the kids tried to get the parents back together only to find out the dad was engaged to his girlfriend.  I'm not sure if they ever touched on why the parents were divorced though.  They also had an episode or two where Cece had to deal with her mom getting serious with someone that wasn't her dad.   The divorced parents were fairly friendly though.

 

Also not sure if it fits the context of bullying, but Liv & Maddie recently did an episode where the boys in school were rating the girls on some sort of number scale and the girls stood up for themselves.  I didn't really watch it, but I think the attack from the boys was centered on one of the side characters.

 

But in general for me, the problem isn't that GMW tries to tackle issues like bullying.  It's as said above, when they make everything into so really uber deep moment.  Or I should say some attempted deep moment.  The game night episode was the one that really killed me with all the faux-deep moments with the overly literal board game.

Edited April 5, 2015 by spanana

[methodwriter85]

 

I know 80's shows are made fun of for their very special episodes and some were of course extremely heavy handed and cheesy, but shows for kids/teens actually used to tackle some pretty heavy issues in a way that most don't now.

 

It's amazing to re-watch episodes of The Facts of Life, and realize that there is no show aimed at junior high girls now that would remotely touch a lot of the topics they talked about. (Maybe Degrassi, but that's about it.) The show included: the sexualization of young girls by the media, human trafficking/teenaged prostitution, sexual education issues in America, how to handle treating mentally handicapped friends, teenaged suicide, rape, religion (yeah, I can't see a show now EVER touching a girl dealing with her sister deciding to become a nun), emotionally abusive relationships, etc etc. And they could be heavy-handed sometimes, but a lot of the times they weren't, especially in the episode where Jo goes on a date and the guy tries to sexually assault her because he believes she's one of the Bad Girls.

 

I thought the bullying episode was absolutely cringeworthy, but the Forgotten was actually done pretty well. Mainly because they didn't try too hard to hit us over the head with the lesson.

Edited April 5, 2015 by methodwriter85

[Perfect Xero]

With Farkle, I almost had to talk myself into believing that being called "nothing" a few times by one jerk would be enough to have such a huge affect on him.

 

The thing with that episode is that in all other episodes Farkle is basically a giant nerd power fantasy, he's basically king of the entire city (or at least the school). He has a collection of female admirers, he takes over class at a whim, he can interrupt the school play and demand that Juliette kiss him instead of Romeo to thunderous applause from parents and students alike and have the entire crowd pressuring Maya to go up on stage and kiss him when he demands it, ect ...

 

You can't have a character run roughshod over everyone on the show in every episode and then suddenly go, "Oh, yeah, he's a nerdy guy, so he'll have a bully and he'll be completely powerless against him!" The improbably popular and beloved by all Farkle that we see in every other episode of the series would have responded to bullying by dressing up like a South American dictator and whipping up an army of frenzied followers who would have hunted his bully down on his behalf.

[KerleyQ]

I agree, it seemed odd that Farkle would let something like that bother him. 

[David-]

Yep I think they were trying to send an anti bullying message to the masses there I don't see that actually bothering Farkle all that much myself either.

Been watching the reruns of BMW and it took some time before Corey got full on into intervention mode. maybe S4 BMW.

Riley is jumping right into "counsellor" mode and it's rather a turn off and, frankly too soon.

Characters need time to evolve and I think that the writers are forcing the development rather than letting it evolve naturally.

[methodwriter85]

On the other hand, it doesn't bother me as much- Riley is clearly a very spoiled oldest girl who grew up with two parents that clearly wanted to be very "buddy-like" to their kids and treated her like a special snowflake. I would not be surprised if there are literally thousands of digital photos from Riley's childhood. Cory Matthews was the middle child to parents that took more of a hands-off approach to them. I have no problem with her being very bossy and a busybody; the problem is that no one ever really calls her out on it.

[David-]

It'd be a good story methinks :)

For Riley to get called out on it and get a figurative slap on the nose for poking it where it doesn't belong.

It'd be all part of the, "Girl meets World" experience. :)

[Kromm]

On the other hand, it doesn't bother me as much- Riley is clearly a very spoiled oldest girl who grew up with two parents that clearly wanted to be very "buddy-like" to their kids and treated her like a special snowflake. I would not be surprised if there are literally thousands of digital photos from Riley's childhood. Cory Matthews was the middle child to parents that took more of a hands-off approach to them. I have no problem with her being very bossy and a busybody; the problem is that no one ever really calls her out on it.

Hmm.  Auggie is clearly even more spoiled than Riley, so we have a pattern.

[Check Sanity]

The thing with that episode is that in all other episodes Farkle is basically a giant nerd power fantasy, he's basically king of the entire city (or at least the school). He has a collection of female admirers, he takes over class at a whim, he can interrupt the school play and demand that Juliette kiss him instead of Romeo to thunderous applause from parents and students alike and have the entire crowd pressuring Maya to go up on stage and kiss him when he demands it, ect ...

 

You can't have a character run roughshod over everyone on the show in every episode and then suddenly go, "Oh, yeah, he's a nerdy guy, so he'll have a bully and he'll be completely powerless against him!" The improbably popular and beloved by all Farkle that we see in every other episode of the series would have responded to bullying by dressing up like a South American dictator and whipping up an army of frenzied followers who would have hunted his bully down on his behalf.

Maybe they're trying to show that even despite all that, everyone has buttons that can be pushed that leads to loss of confidence. And no one is "beloved by all". I can't remember what show it was, but I recall one tackling the inevitability of there being someone that doesn't like you. The character bent over backwards trying to figure out why and get the person to like them, and in the end found out why and change, but the person still didn't like them. I'm thinking Even Stevens or something like that, maybe even Boy Meets World. Anyways, pretty much everyone, even extremely likeable people get bullied at one point or another. 

[wingster55]

*Riley. She is annoying. She never shows any respect to any adult. She gets her way all of the time and rarely suffers any consequences. The actress isn't that great by herself, but pairing her with equally bad Lucas does her no favors. Also, it always looks like she is smiling, even in scenes she shouldn't be. It's distracting.

 

I can't disagree with this...but Maya's worse with the disrespect. Way worse.

[Kromm]

Arguably the adults on this show aren't portrayed that often as easy to respect. It's a flaw in the writing making them that way and the insistence that Corey, as the main example, has to still be significantly "Corey like" (in other words a bit of a dumbass), while also being the authority figure.

 

What the show lacks, and many have said this, is a true authority figure.  From almost episode 1 I for one was saying they need a Vice-Principal or similar character to act as a point of conflict and a check on Corey being too soft/conflicted.  I reiterate that.  Season 2 would benefit a ton from such a character.  But... I bet it won't have one.

[Mabinogia]

They are missing a Feeney like character. A school principal would be perfect because Corey, too, seems to desperately need an authority figure at work. He is the most unprofessional teacher EVER! Trouble is, I'm not sure how/where a character like that would fit in? Do kids (the target audience after all) really want to see Corey constantly being yelled at for letting his daughter control the classroom?

 

Personally I would love the classroom stuff to be brought to a minimum. I quite liked the end of the season when the focus shifted to family life. Corey could still do his lessons, Farkle and Lucas (cause lord knows we're not getting rid of pretty boy) could still hang around for no apparent reason (like they already do). I think the show would improve without the farce that is Corey's class.

[Kromm]

They are missing a Feeney like character. A school principal would be perfect because Corey, too, seems to desperately need an authority figure at work. He is the most unprofessional teacher EVER! Trouble is, I'm not sure how/where a character like that would fit in? Do kids (the target audience after all) really want to see Corey constantly being yelled at for letting his daughter control the classroom?

 

Personally I would love the classroom stuff to be brought to a minimum. I quite liked the end of the season when the focus shifted to family life. Corey could still do his lessons, Farkle and Lucas (cause lord knows we're not getting rid of pretty boy) could still hang around for no apparent reason (like they already do). I think the show would improve without the farce that is Corey's class.

I think you need school to SET the lesson and home to illustrate it, but without the joke that is Corey at the helm on the school side.

 

If this show is to have any nugget of believability, even a tiny bit, Corey can't (shouldn't, won't) be their teacher next year, because this isn't Little House on The Prairie with the same teacher for multiple grades.  So the solution maybe if not a Principal is a new teacher, with Corey only bumping into the kids there for extra-curriculars.  New teacher, being less of a dumbass and bad teacher gives more natural sounding lessons, where maybe a nugget of a life lesson peeks through, but only in retrospect, not slammed home inside the classroom with the kind of stupid denouements we get early in Season 1 with Corey "The Hammer"  Matthews. This way 90% of the episode can still happen out of school, since you only need the establishing scene hearing something historical or social studyish, but not a second scene where they wind up back in school discussing the life lesson.

[Perfect Xero]

After Feeney I'm guessing that the entire concept of a teacher not following his favorite students through every grade is completely alien to Cory.

 

They might have an episode or two where Riley gets a new teacher and she and/or Cory freak out about it, but then they'll have the teacher move to another state or retire early so Cory can step back in.

[David-]

Mmmmm Well you could do a 180 and make Cory the principle and that would address all the issues, he'd be in MA/RI business and Cory would have to toughen up in general.

Has possibilities..

[Kromm]

Mmmmm Well you could do a 180 and make Cory the principle and that would address all the issues, he'd be in MA/RI business and Cory would have to toughen up in general.

Has possibilities..

Never.  They'd just wind up with a principal who's an ineffective marshmallow if it were Corey.

[David-]

Never.  They'd just wind up with a principal who's an ineffective marshmallow if it were Corey.

Sighs

Yep I know I was just trying to put a positive spin on it.

See how S2 goes :)

[Mabinogia]

Maybe  Corey could have been their homeroom teacher. Do they still do that? It's been a while. Anyway, then he wouldn't be directly hijacking their actual education to teach his daughter about life. He would be there to kind of deal with general concerns. He is the type who would take his duty very seriously and come up with life lessons to teach them every morning before their actual classes.

[Kromm]

I suppose it varies by school, but I guess there's still got to be some central teacher to take attendance and report if a student hasn't shown up for school.  Although I never got why that couldn't simply be whichever teacher got a student for their first class of the day.

 

Still in a school that size it seems unlikely that the four main kids would just HAPPEN to wind up with the same homeroom, or even the same history teacher two years in a row.  So I guess we're already in fantasyworld no matter what.

[Saylii]

The teacher following the students isn't too weird anymore. I had the same high school English teacher from sophomore year to senior year. I had the same math teacher twice. That was ten years ago. My cousin is an elementary school teacher and has to follow her kids from Kindergarten to 2nd grade (and she hates it; the program started a year after she joined that district). The thought process is that the first six weeks of any given school year is wasted by teachers and students learning one another. So if Cory follows to eighth grade, I won't think it's strange at least. I'm not sure I would be okay with him going to high school with them.

My biggest displeasure with the show is Cory. They tried to retcon him back into his kiddie self when he is obviously an adult now. The hijinks would be okay if it was limited. But if you're in a situation where being a devious schemer is the norm and you never act normal, something is wrong.

The worst part to make up for Cory's inability to be an adult is that they've made it so Topanga seems to never have any fun. I thought they were going to get back to that with the hippie episode buying the cafe, but they never really revisited it. And never show her having any fun.

I still think no matter how much they push Riley and Lucas on us that Riley and Farkle will be the endgame. They make a much better fit and fit together more organically. I also wouldn't be surprised to see an episode where Farkle finds his inner Stefan and becomes a "hot catch". Outside of that weird double date science award one.

[KerleyQ]

I actually think that Cory and Topanga, as adults and parents, are pretty similar to how I would have imagined them.  Cory is a little over the top sometimes, but I would be surprised to see a together fully grown up guy.  He seems to be mature/serious when he needs to be, but, at his core, Cory is kind of a goofy guy.  But, you can also see how much he cares about these kids (Riley, Auggie, and Maya the most, but even Farkle and, to a lesser extent Lucas).  I also do think that Topanga does have fun and her lighthearted moments, but, being married to Cory, she has to be the "serious" one at times.  They've always balanced each other out well in that way, even when they were kids.  It might have seemed like Topanga was the "wacky" one, but she was always pretty grounded in herself, for the most part.  Sure, she was the "hippy chick" and all, but she never really seemed to do anything without thoughtful consideration.  And she's always been portrayed as very intelligent and driven, so it's not a shock that she ended up being a "shark" attorney.  I think it would be good to see the bakery set more often (with her there), to give her more to do outside of throwing Ava out, but I'm not disappointed in either characterization.   They could have Topanga more heavily featured in the main story line, but, since she doesn't work at the school, it would be really bizarre to have her constantly showing up at school for various contrived reasons, when she's supposed to be at her office during the school day. (Even without the angle of her working, how many "Cory, you forgot your lunch again" drop ins at school could they really do?)  And, who knows, maybe it's as simple as Danielle having more of a "special guest star" type contract with the show where she gets paid less per season than Ben does but also doesn't film nearly as much as he does. 

 

On a related note, I get why so much of the show takes place in the school.  A huge chunk of a kid's waking hours during the school year are spent in school.  It's a big part of their social lives.  It makes sense for a huge part of the show to take place there, because that's where you expect to see kids during the day. (And it gives the kids watching a sort of easy familiarity with the show). It always bugs me when you have a show about kids and those kids are rarely, if ever, shown in school.  There should be a happy medium, of course, and I'd love to see season 2 move more towards showing a little more outside the school (which brings us right back to the bakery, which would be a great place to show the kids going after school where they would interact with Topanga more).  Danielle does a great job, with very little material, in portraying that Topanga loves Maya as much as Cory does, but she doesn't seem to know Farkle and Lucas much (she knows Farkle better, since Lucas is "new").  Topanga strikes me as the kind of parent who would be very familiar with her kids' friends (especially if her daughter wants to date one of those friends).  Showing them in the bakery after school would accomplish that and integrate her character into the show more.  

 

Overall, though, I think that, if you're going to get a DC version of a show that originated elsewhere, it's going to be a lot less subtle than the original.  Sure, they love that adults are watching, and a big part of the reason they made this particular show was because they knew it would appeal to the kids' parents who have fond memories of BMW, but, overall, their target is kids.  So they are going to make the show accessible and understandable to those kids.  And it's pretty much a given that they're going to more regularly go for the "silly" because little kids, on average, tend to enjoy that type of thing.  I think it will be interesting to see what kind of changes, if any, they make in season 2.  It's hard to drastically change things in the first season, and, depending on the filming schedule versus when the first season aired, we may not even see major changes in the early episodes of the upcoming season.  

[methodwriter85]

 

The teacher following the students isn't too weird anymore. I had the same high school English teacher from sophomore year to senior year. I had the same math teacher twice. That was ten years ago.

 

I had the same English teacher twice, the same science teacher twice, the same history teacher twice, the same French teacher for 3 years (although that's probably usual- I don't think schools have multiple people teaching the same language plus I had to retake French 1), and I had one teacher who served as my 11th grade homeroom teacher, Algebra teacher in 10th grade, 11th grade economics and political science teacher, and Algebra II teacher in 12th grade.