GMW In the Media: Girl Meets Media

[Skyfall]

Can't hit quote on posts currently so bear with me.

@KaveDweller - Her sophomore album charted in the top 25 of the Billboard 200 and 2 months later the show she's on is ending? Thats pretty damning evidence by itself but add in the fact Disney has a history f doing it and yeah it's very likely the case.

@TDT And Hilary Duff and if the basis of Miley Cyrus had t allowed for what it did it would've happened there too.

@wingster55 2015 album charted in the 40s on the Billboard 200 and her new album that just dropped in November charted in or near the Top 25 along with her recently doing a headlining nationwide tour.

Can't hit quote on posts currently so bear with me.

@KaveDweller - Her sophomore album charted in the top 25 of the Billboard 200 and 2 months later the show she's on is ending? Thats pretty damning evidence by itself but add in the fact Disney has a history f doing it and yeah it's very likely the case.

@TDT And Hilary Duff and if the basis of Miley Cyrus had t allowed for what it did it would've happened there too.

@wingster55 2015 album charted in the 40s on the Billboard 200 and her new album that just dropped in November charted in or near the Top 25 along with her recently doing a headlining nationwide tour.

[justjen]

I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere (but really I just skimmed), BUT is it possible that the channel formerly known as ABCFamily and currently known as Freeform could un-cancel the show, which would allow for more 'mature-ish' episode themes like the original had?

[KaveDweller]

On 1/6/2017 at 9:41 PM, Skyfall said:

Can't hit quote on posts currently so bear with me.

@KaveDweller - Her sophomore album charted in the top 25 of the Billboard 200 and 2 months later the show she's on is ending? Thats pretty damning evidence by itself but add in the fact Disney has a history f doing it and yeah it's very likely the case.

But my point was it doesn't matter if she released a number one album. If she's contracted to the show, she's contracted to the show and would have to do that over any music commitments she or her label wanted to make. I can't imagine she's so successful that Disney would cancel a popular show just to prop up her music career. They must feel like the ratings are down and it is less profitable.

I'm honestly shocked to hear she even has a music career, it is the first I've heard of it. No offense to Sabrina, I just am surprised. Granted I am not in the demographic, but I do pay attention to what is popular. When those Disney kids really hit it big they are everywhere and you can't help but hear about them.

[TDT]

12 hours ago, justjen said:

I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere (but really I just skimmed), BUT is it possible that the channel formerly known as ABCFamily and currently known as Freeform could un-cancel the show, which would allow for more 'mature-ish' episode themes like the original had?

Since Freeform is owned by Disney i doubt it...

[Skyfall]

On 1/9/2017 at 11:57 PM, KaveDweller said:

But my point was it doesn't matter if she released a number one album. If she's contracted to the show, she's contracted to the show and would have to do that over any music commitments she or her label wanted to make. I can't imagine she's so successful that Disney would cancel a popular show just to prop up her music career. They must feel like the ratings are down and it is less profitable.

I'm honestly shocked to hear she even has a music career, it is the first I've heard of it. No offense to Sabrina, I just am surprised. Granted I am not in the demographic, but I do pay attention to what is popular. When those Disney kids really hit it big they are everywhere and you can't help but hear about them.

You don't know how the Disney channel works do you? Every in house original show of theirs features someone signed to the Disney owned Hollywood Records. Hilary, Miley, Zendayla, Sabrina, BFW's Naldo's boy band, etc They stash them on a show and promote their music whenever possible (Sabrina saw part of a (or whole?) music video shown during an airing of GMW) while they develop them as musicians and then when their music career hits the point of profitability they drop the show. Pop music will always make more money than a tween show on Disney Channel. And two two 50 albums back to back in back to back years, a successful headlining tour, and even appearing on the iHeartRadio special broadcasts is a lot more profitable than what? a 0.4 demo rated show.

[KaveDweller]

1 hour ago, Skyfall said:

You don't know how the Disney channel works do you? Every in house original show of theirs features someone signed to the Disney owned Hollywood Records. Hilary, Miley, Zendayla, Sabrina, BFW's Naldo's boy band, etc They stash them on a show and promote their music whenever possible (Sabrina saw part of a (or whole?) music video shown during an airing of GMW) while they develop them as musicians and then when their music career hits the point of profitability they drop the show. Pop music will always make more money than a tween show on Disney Channel. And two two 50 albums back to back in back to back years, a successful headlining tour, and even appearing on the iHeartRadio special broadcasts is a lot more profitable than what? a 0.4 demo rated show.

I actually do know how the Disney Channel works. And I know how much money shows and pop music can make. There's no reason to be condescending. I disagree with your conclusion, it doesn't mean I don't understand.

The other singers you mention are significantly more famous than Sabrina, and their shows stayed on after they hit their peak. I just think there has to be more going on with GMW. Disney likes to suck as much money out of a property as they can.

[TDT]

Rider Strong did bring up some interesting points in this interview..

http://www.eonline.com/au/news/821273/girl-meets-world-couldn-t-get-as-dramatic-as-the-original-because-of-disney-channel-according-to-rider-strong

[Mabinogia]

11 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

The other singers you mention are significantly more famous than Sabrina, and their shows stayed on after they hit their peak.

Exactly. Since Disney runs both the show and her recording career they could easily keep both going since they would only be negotiating with themselves basically. This isn't because Sabrina is singing, unless she decided not to renew her contract because she thinks her singing career is big enough to no longer need the show, and she is no where near popular enough to have cancelled a show if the show was worth keeping.

It's because the show has drastically declined in quality. I don't know if they ran out of ideas, or if they just aren't a great production/writing team but the show has gotten just plain stupid. It was a cool concept, take our childhood favorite and reinvent it with original characters from the past. However, I don't think they really had a plan beyond the nostalgia and once that wore off (party because they kind of destroyed the characters we knew and loved) they didn't have anything other than  a dimwitted Pollyanna and her team of enablers. Honestly, it was getting uncomfortable to watch Maya and the gang keeping Riley so sheltered and dumb because they liked her that way.

[Dee]

Girl Meets World Boss: 'There Are Talks Underway' to Continue the Series

[TDT]

2 hours ago, Dee said:

Girl Meets World Boss: 'There Are Talks Underway' to Continue the Series

I'll be damned lol..the first people that should be talking better be Freeform

[DucksFlyTogether]

I think most people don't actually want the show to continue.  (Meaning continue from where the finale will leave us.)  They want a complete do-over to right what they don't like about it.  You can't just erase 3 years of bad writing.  It's too young for Freeform even if they bumped things up to PG13.  Freeform has been targeting the 20-somethings for a while now. 

[methodwriter85]

I can't see Girl Meets World fitting on Freeform, either. ABC Family during the Melissa and Joey era, yes. Not where it seems like Freeform is going.

Ryder does make great points, and it's true- Disney isn't going to allow for a deeper show. But I think Jacobs and co. would have been smart if they had actually done their homework and watched recent, popular shows on the network like Austin and Ally, and Good, Luck Charlie. They might have had a better idea about how to create a genuinely funny t.v. show within the parameters of the Disney show, with characters that are broad sitcom characters without feeling like I want to pull my hair off.

Also...I mean, unless a show is super-popular, Disney has a long history of ending a show at 3 seasons/65 episodes. Most shows don't get the Hannha Montana treatment.

[grandemocha]

I'm not surprised the show was cancelled, but then again, I probably shouldn't have watched in the first place since I am not in the age group for the intended audience.

However, (and I may be imagining this) I could have sworn that early on in the show's airing that everyone from Michael Jacobs to the actors & even Rider Strong were praising Disney/ kissing their ass a little bit claiming that without Disney there would be no GMW (because the network came to him) and that even if the show wasn't on Disney, it would tonally be the same because that's how the writers wanted the story. I thought I had read that Jacobs said something like Disney wasn't necessarily restricting him from telling more mature stories and that it would all happen in time.  I feel like the guy is a little bitter that he got cancelled and now he and some of the actors have changed their tune.

Lastly, for some reason I can't really explain, the whole "people change people" mantra that they keep repeating is incredibly annoying to me. It just reminds me of the reoccurring after school special theme that was so prevalent on this show. Like how the characters constantly had to state that they were the best friends ever and they'd be close forever and ever...it was rarely believable. 

[timimouse]

I was one who thought that a move to freeform would facilitate more mature writing but now I'm not so sure. I recently rewatched a couple episodes of Good Luck Charlie which aired all 97 episodes on Disney channel and while there was a certain level of silliness at times, the writing wasn't unbearably immature... it wasn't a bad show at all. So I don't think the problem was GMW being on Disney channel... I think the problem was just the writing. Yes I think it has potential but it didn't live up to it and the time for saving it has passed. RIP GMW 

[grandemocha]

20 minutes ago, timimouse said:

I recently rewatched a couple episodes of Good Luck Charlie which aired all 97 episodes on Disney channel and while there was a certain level of silliness at times, the writing wasn't unbearably immature... it wasn't a bad show at all.

You make a good point. I also watched Good Luck Charlie and even in the cheesiest episodes, the teenagers still felt like real people as opposed to the teens we got in GMW that sit and discuss every single little thing and reassure each-other every other episode about how they are best friends. Even Amy Duncan from Good Luck Charlie had more to do as a character separate from her kids than Topanga does on this show! It's a damn shame that the writers or Jacobs didn't care enough about the character of Topanga to actually give her stuff to do away from Auggie or annoying Ava and the rest of his pointless plots. Good Luck Charlie had the lesbian couple show up in their last season as the moms of one of Charlie's little play-date friends and it was just like any other bit in the show. Teddy had to deal with her boyfriend cheating on her and there were actual ramifications (mostly). So, GLC was also a Disney show that didn't seem to have too many issues maintaining their kid audience but somehow remained entertaining and not get too preachy.

[Dee]

‘Girl Meets World’: Why Disney Channel Canceled the Series & Will Netflix Save It?

[madfortv]

For me the show went the wrong direction with the Riley/Lucas/Maya triangle. Once that story line began, I often missed episodes catching them on repeat.  Those episodes were awful and the show never recovered.  Also, I never liked how Augie and Ava were written as a potential couple and how Riley and Maya interacted.  Ava's character would have been great had she been written differently.  There were glimpses of how much better it could have been in a couple of recent episodes especially with sweet scenes between Topanga and Ava.  The interaction between Riley and Maya was often unrealistic and off putting.

The actors were good.  I would have liked more Corey/Topanga scenes.  I always liked Shawn and Katy together. As I think about the different seasons, the writing for me is where the series fell down.

[BigDave]

I'm glad it's being cancelled. Not because I want to see actors out of work, but because the show was not very good. You can blame Disney for a lot of things, but unless they have a clause in their contract that prevents Michael Jacobs from writing stories that make sense, then a huge chunk of the blame falls squarely on the writers. The concept of the show was fine, the execution was awful, and if Jacobs is as proud of the show as he claimed to be, then he should not be writing TV anymore. The "world" that Jacobs depicted on this show was a joke. It wasn't funny, clever, thought provoking, or relatable in anyway. A lot of it was forced. You couldn't sink your teeth into anything because instead of showing you something, they told it to you (i.e. Shawn/Katy love each other randomly rather than letting the audience get to fall in love with them as a couple.....or Riley and Maya are best friends because they tell us that on every friggin' episode, etc). There was so much potential for this that they wasted, and it's not the fault of the actors. From Shawn/Angela's relationship, to the "triangle", to Shawn/Katy's sudden love for each other, to Eric's childish story arcs, etc, etc, everything was done in the most lazy way possible. 

The only way to continue the show would be to retcon everything that happened on Disney. Seriously. Every single thing. Mold the show like Fuller House where the adults are the main characters and the audience can slowly start to get to know the kids rather than throwing the lovable characters in a side role and putting the unknown kids in a spot they have no chance of ever living up to.

An adult remake of Boy Meets World would have been fantastic. Girl Meets World will be known, at least to me, as a show that had potential but was let down by the writers.

Edited January 14, 2017 by BigDave

[grandemocha]

1 minute ago, BigDave said:

An adult remake of Boy Meets World would have been fantastic. Girl Meets World will be known, at least to me, as a show that had potential but was let down by the writers.

Just popping in to add that the writers' twitter really helped turn me off from the show and just kind of reinforced my thoughts that they didn't know what they were doing. Some were insufferable. They spent so much time trying to be faux-deep and cryptic that it ended up being too much. Its not that long ago that I was a teenager, and IMO real teens don't act like Riley and her friends. If the show does somehow miraculously get saved by Netflix, I'll check it out to see if its improved. But by the way Jacobs has talked in his recent interview and the tweets from the writers, they seem to think the writing was excellent and it was all Disney's fault. Not every episode needs a poorly explained lesson from Cory and the writers needed to pick a personality for Riley: either too stupid to function (Eric 2.0) or an intelligent young woman who makes as many A's as Topanga did. 

[TwistedandBored]

This show was over for me the moment they went out of their way to make Angela irrelevant and basically only brought her back to make Shawn/Karla happen. I have never seen more forced couple than those two. The writers then cemented it by saying things like  'reuniting Angela and Shawn was not realistic" like anything on this show was ever realistic. Karma is real. 

[Spencer Hastings]

It's not even that they didn't reunite Shawn and Angela.  Angela didn't even need to be brought back.  They could have left the Shawn/Angela situation alone and just explained that they grew apart, as most young couples do.  But to bring her back as a way to force Shawn and Katy on us/make it okay was insulting to viewers. 

[absnow54]

I do feel like Girl Meets World suffered for being geared towards a lost demographic. Boy Meets World, along with many shows in the 90's, were shows that grew up with their audience. What network block fills that TGIF role today? It used to be ABCFamily and the CW/WB, but both of those networks now skew older. MTV is wrapping up the last of their high school shows. The only show I can think of that's geared towards 14-20 year olds is Degrassi, which was saved by Netflix last year. I do think the quality of GMW diminished over the last season and a half (basically since the love triangle) but I wonder if it would have been a better show if it were allowed to grow out of the 6-14 demographic that they were limited to on The Disney Channel.

[TwistedandBored]

12 hours ago, Spencer Hastings said:

It's not even that they didn't reunite Shawn and Angela.  Angela didn't even need to be brought back.  They could have left the Shawn/Angela situation alone and just explained that they grew apart, as most young couples do.  But to bring her back as a way to force Shawn and Katy on us/make it okay was insulting to viewers. 

This would have been a little better but I don't think it would have solve their problem specially when they were bring back everyone. Fans would have wondered why Angela is the only one being left out of the returning characters list. 

I do however think they could have said Shawn and Angela grew apart while still giving people hope by bring back a single Angela or one that is not in a serious relationship. They could have brought back Angela through Topanga or Corey if they didn't want to use her. If they wanted, the writers could have made Angela related to Zay and bring her back through that link thus reuniting her with the group. There is many things they could have done that would have been better than what they did. The way they shutdown any possibilities for Angela just left a bad taste in my mouth. It also made me realize what a terrible writers they were. So, I am glad I left when I did. 

[methodwriter85]

The love triangle killed this show for me. "Oh, we're the best friends forever and ever- until a cute boy shows up!" If they had really wanted to create a bond on the level of Corey and Shawn, they should have remembered that they never put a girl between the two of them.

[SmithW6079]

On 1/14/2017 at 4:02 PM, BigDave said:

I'm glad it's being cancelled. Not because I want to see actors out of work, but because the show was not very good. You can blame Disney for a lot of things, but unless they have a clause in their contract that prevents Michael Jacobs from writing stories that make sense, then a huge chunk of the blame falls squarely on the writers. The concept of the show was fine, the execution was awful, and if Jacobs is as proud of the show as he claimed to be, then he should not be writing TV anymore. The "world" that Jacobs depicted on this show was a joke. It wasn't funny, clever, thought provoking, or relatable in anyway. A lot of it was forced. You couldn't sink your teeth into anything because instead of showing you something, they told it to you (i.e. Shawn/Katy love each other randomly rather than letting the audience get to fall in love with them as a couple.....or Riley and Maya are best friends because they tell us that on every friggin' episode, etc). There was so much potential for this that they wasted, and it's not the fault of the actors. From Shawn/Angela's relationship, to the "triangle", to Shawn/Katy's sudden love for each other, to Eric's childish story arcs, etc, etc, everything was done in the most lazy way possible. 

The only way to continue the show would be to retcon everything that happened on Disney. Seriously. Every single thing. Mold the show like Fuller House where the adults are the main characters and the audience can slowly start to get to know the kids rather than throwing the lovable characters in a side role and putting the unknown kids in a spot they have no chance of ever living up to.

An adult remake of Boy Meets World would have been fantastic. Girl Meets World will be known, at least to me, as a show that had potential but was let down by the writers.

I agree. Good riddance. They made Riley a moron, when they weren't shoving social justice lessons down our throats. 

"Good Luck, Charlie" was infinitely better. PJ only approached idiothood in the later years of the series, but even then, they let him chart his own path to being a chef. Riley was an idiot from day one.

[grandemocha]

36 minutes ago, methodwriter85 said:

The love triangle killed this show for me. "Oh, we're the best friends forever and ever- until a cute boy shows up!" If they had really wanted to create a bond on the level of Corey and Shawn, they should have remembered that they never put a girl between the two of them.

He wasn't even a particularly interesting boy!! That's almost the worst part. Definitely not worth a multi-episode arc. I feel like a creepy old lady for saying so, but the kid who plays Farkle ended up MUCH cuter than the kid who plays Lucas. None of them are excellent actors or anything but Lucas was dull 90% of the time. I did find it funny how he always looked like he should've been in his senior year of high school though when the other kids were mostly age appropriate.

[Dee]

9 hours ago, TwistedandBored said:

This would have been a little better but I don't think it would have solve their problem specially when they were bring back everyone. Fans would have wondered why Angela is the only one being left out of the returning characters list. 

I do however think they could have said Shawn and Angela grew apart while still giving people hope by bring back a single Angela or one that is not in a serious relationship. They could have brought back Angela through Topanga or Corey if they didn't want to use her. If they wanted, the writers could have made Angela related to Zay and bring her back through that link thus reuniting her with the group. There is many things they could have done that would have been better than what they did. The way they shutdown any possibilities for Angela just left a bad taste in my mouth. It also made me realize what a terrible writers they were. So, I am glad I left when I did. 

All of this.

MJ's gross treatment of everything Angela, the marginalization of Riley for Maya, the blatant retcons surrounding Katy & Cheryl Texiera's constant mugging ruined the show for me.

[methodwriter85]

17 minutes ago, grandemocha said:

He wasn't even a particularly interesting boy!! That's almost the worst part. Definitely not worth a multi-episode arc. I feel like a creepy old lady for saying so, but the kid who plays Farkle ended up MUCH cuter than the kid who plays Lucas. None of them are excellent actors or anything but Lucas was dull 90% of the time. I did find it funny how he always looked like he should've been in his senior year of high school though when the other kids were mostly age appropriate.

Lucas is the guy that's the cutest boy in junior high because he got his growth spurt first. Farkle is the guy you don't realize is hot until 11th grade because he blossomed late.

I've also been saying this since season 1/season 2- this show basically became Maya's show. Riley wasn't allowed to have her own storyline or concerns independent of Maya, and even her boyfriend storyline couldn't be separate from her "friendship" with Maya.

Edited January 17, 2017 by methodwriter85

[LexieLily]

1 hour ago, methodwriter85 said:

The love triangle killed this show for me. "Oh, we're the best friends forever and ever- until a cute boy shows up!" If they had really wanted to create a bond on the level of Corey and Shawn, they should have remembered that they never put a girl between the two of them.

And even when Shawn was dating that girl that tried to make him choose between her and Cory, he and Cory had secret meetings in the library and made plans to run away together to Paris (I think). Hee!

[Dee]

I think all the boys were cute, but in addition to the complete standstill Lucas came to as a character, due to the triangle that wouldn't end, Lucas also felt hampered by Peyton Meyer's self consciousness.

During the run of the GMW, the other kids had no problem acting silly & happily breaking the fourth wall, but aside from a handful of small moments in Season 3, Peyton, being older than the rest, felt too self aware to really commit to the character.

[KaveDweller]

19 hours ago, LexieLily said:

And even when Shawn was dating that girl that tried to make him choose between her and Cory, he and Cory had secret meetings in the library and made plans to run away together to Paris (I think). Hee!

There was an episode of BMW where Shawn asked Cory to pretend to date some girl, so that no one else asked her out while Shawn decided if he wanted to date her or someone else. Then Cory really wanted to date the girl and he and Shawn argued about it. I can't remember how that ended though, I think the girl found out and dumped them both.

[madfortv]

Besides the ridiculous triangle that made no sense, I found the friendship between the girls unrealistic. They were always hanging on each other. To be clear, I didn't see it as sexual.  They seemed to be portrayed more as very young pre-teen girls instead of teens.  Supposedly Lucas and Riley were dating but never sat together or even talked that much. 

[TDT]

Those who hoped that Netflix would save it,prepare to have your hopes dashed..

http://www.thewrap.com/netflix-is-not-picking-up-girl-meets-world-exclusive/

EDIT: Then again it's just a rumor..

Edited January 20, 2017 by TDT

[Spencer Hastings]

Quote

Thank you all for watching #girlmeetsgoodbye #GirlMeetsWorld tonight. So much fun to play Eric again. It won't be the last time. #DunDunDun

https://mobile.twitter.com/willfriedle/status/822669781711003648

Tell me what you mean, Will!

I think it's great that he was pretty much done with screen work until GMW gave him his confidence back. I'm proud of him!

Edited January 21, 2017 by Spencer Hastings

[Skyfall]

I know we have a media thread but I think since this will be a hot topic that it should have its own topic.

first off we know Netflix has stated they have no interest in doing a new season, I'm not sure if they was just a new season or if they tried to bundle BMW streaming rights with it. I'm sure if they bundle the BMW rights a streaming service will snap it up for at least one season.

[madfortv]

If the show moves to another network, I would check it out. I would prefer more focus on the adults or the boys.

[SmithW6079]

On 1/21/2017 at 2:29 AM, Spencer Hastings said:

https://mobile.twitter.com/willfriedle/status/822669781711003648

Tell me what you mean, Will!

I think it's great that he was pretty much done with screen work until GMW gave him his confidence back. I'm proud of him!

I would watch the adventures of Eric, the mayor elected by the good people of Stupidtown ... sorry, St. Upid Town.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

One Emmy nomination for Girl Meets World:

OUTSTANDING CHILDREN'S PROGRAM

[Utpe]

I do feel a little bad they canceled it because there are people that genuinely liked it, but I always found it a bit weird telling people that I watched a children's show on Disney at my age, even though I was in it for the Boy Meets World (1993 - 2000) cast.

I suppose what really irked me the most was that the adults on this show hardly acted like one most of the time.  Even the kids were becoming fairly annoying to a certain extent.  I'm glad they kinda matured towards the end, though.  Some of the "situations" presented were hardly a problem in the real world.  One example of this would be the tater tot episode.  I found that one to be quite silly.

I guess it's not coming back.  I didn't have high hopes that some other network/streaming service would take a chance on a poorly rated TV show.  It had a lot of potential, but being on a Disney network kinda restricted some of the more serious issues.