S01.E01: Girl Meets World

[spanana]

 

I liked the nostalgia, but I found the "message" to be a bit of a mess. Honest question:  What exactly were they trying to say with the final classroom scene?  Maybe I missed something, but I really didn't understand why Riley was in trouble and why Lucas was pissed at her for not trying to "stop Maya."  Maya can make her own decisions and she can deal with the consequences of making those decisions.

I found the message oddly muddled too.  Pilot and all that of course so I'm giving them some leeway.  Also who is Lucas, who Riley has known for all of five minutes to be telling her to stop her Maya?  Then again I saw a sneak peek of the third episode too and I found that message really muddled as well.

 

Other than that, I mostly agree with others.  Farkle needs to be toned down considerably.  Good casting on the part of Riley as she is so believable to me as Cory/Topanga's daughter.  Too many "world" references in the pilot.

 

I also have some issue with Cory being Riley's Mr. Feeny of sorts.  I just don't see how that can work.  I get that they want Cory to be a big part of the show and I don't take issue with him becoming a teacher, but I do have an issue with him being Riley's teacher.

 

Overall it's cute and feels a little different than the other Disney shows.  It should do well and I expect it to improve.  But they need to be a little less hamfisted moving forward though. 

[MaiSoCalled]

I loved the moment where Riley comments that she is doing what her dad wouldn't, and protesting homework. Young Cory Matthews did that very thing. A lot of shows would have spelled it out for us, and included a scene where Cory and Riley talk about the time he participated in a homework strike. Instead it's included as a little Easter egg for the original fans, while the younger viewers can take it at face value. 

 

And yes, the Feeny cameo broke me at the end. 

[sunrisepink]

I loved the pilot, and I have to say this is officially the first Disney Channel show to ever earn a spot on my DVR. I have one small nitpick, though. Is this John Adams supposed to be the same John Adams that Shawn and Cory went to in BMW? Because I thought the original show was set in Philadelphia and GMW is in Brooklyn.

[Melgaypet]

No, not at all. This school is called John Quincy Adams, which I think is quite cute.

[Maximum Taco]

No, not at all. This school is called John Quincy Adams, which I think is quite cute.

 

Also on BMW, it's John Adams High School (the middle school Cory and co. attend is Jefferson Elementary), the school Riley attends is John Quincy Adams Middle School.

[Kromm]

Also on BMW, it's John Adams High School (the middle school Cory and co. attend is Jefferson Elementary), the school Riley attends is John Quincy Adams Middle School.

This is going to be a problem.  By establishing it as a middle school they're automatically setting up a future need to have 'Mr. Matthews" change schools just to keep him in the same place as Riley.  While sitcoms do this kind of contrivance all of the time, I'd have expected better than for a show to set up a situation like that deliberately (going into it knowing that they'd need to move a teacher between schools rather than simply stumbling into the need).

[KerleyQ]

Yeah, I didn't want to say it, but I was definitely getting post-mortem vibes.  I hope that's not the case.

 

Ditto. When it happened, I said "oh my God, did they kill Feeney???"  I'll hate it if he's dead. 

 

This is going to be a problem.  By establishing it as a middle school they're automatically setting up a future need to have 'Mr. Matthews" change schools just to keep him in the same place as Riley.  While sitcoms do this kind of contrivance all of the time, I'd have expected better than for a show to set up a situation like that deliberately (going into it knowing that they'd need to move a teacher between schools rather than simply stumbling into the need).

 

Well, if she's in 6th grade right now (which seems possible given the age), then it gives them 3 seasons to work with (maybe even more if they stretch a school year out over more than one season) before they need to worry about whether to move him on with the kids or not. And since that's what happened with Feeney, I can see them thinking it would be in keeping with the history to have Cory do it.  

[EVS]

I thought it was cute and kind of a hybrid of BMW and icarly, or Drake and Josh but with female leads. I thought the girl that played Riley sometimes reminded me of Madeleine Zima when she was on The Nanny. Riley's mannerisms and facial expressions sometimes seemed similar to me. She is cute though, and I think a great casting choice to play Corey and Topanga's daughter.

Farkle is annoying with none of the nerdy charm of Minkus or other similar characters. Definitely the weakest character and possibly casting choice to me. Also, the scene where Corey jumped all over the boy just for sitting next to Riley in the cafeteria was too over the top for me. Ben Savage's nose was also really distracting to me. I have no idea if he had surgery or if his nose changed naturally as he aged. I've known people that has happened to, but it was so different that I couldn't stop focussing on it.

Edited June 30, 2014 by EVS

[fernsehen]

I didn't remember the school being named in the 1st season of BMW.  Cory, Topanga, and Shawn's class were 7th graders entering John Adams High School, so they never went to a middle school as such.  John Quincy Adams was the son of John Adams, which is a nice parallel to GMW being the child of BMW.

 

A pilot's purpose is to introduce characters and relationships, so I don't dissect them too strongly.  It's been a longer wait than usual from the first news of this show to the airing of the pilot, so I was afraid it'd come off as being not worth the long wait.  I think it's promising.  I buy into Riley and Maya as best friends, and it was nice to see Cory and Topanga again.

 

In the closing credits I saw William Daniels as Mr. Feeny and thought, "Did I miss him?"  About two seconds after that was his cameo.

[Kromm]

I've found evidence that the first episode wasn't actually called "Girl Meets Boy", but rather was "Girl Meets World" (like the show). - http://www.tvrage.com/shows/id-33436/episodes/1065342601

 

Back when the Pilot was first put up on Disney's website, IMDB and the various episode guides seemed to think it was called "Girl Meets Boy", but there is in fact ANOTHER episode (airing on the 11th apparently) which is named that.  -  http://www.tvrage.com/shows/id-33436/episodes/1065555698

[David T. Cole]

Changed!

[Kromm]

Changed!

[burns mode on]Egg-cellent [burns mode off]

[kia112]

I finally watched it today.  I thought it was cute.  Farkle was annoying, but stragely, I cracked up when he jumped on Cory's back.  That little brother might need to go, too.  Did they ever even say his name?

 

Rowan Blanchard's speech impediment is the cutest thing.  Also, she is the cutest thing.  I think she won me over when Maya asked to see her face as she was walking past her parents and it was so Ben Savage.  I love that Cory is still Cory.

[bettername2come]

Ditto. When it happened, I said "oh my God, did they kill Feeney???"  I'll hate it if he's dead.

 

I think the final scene was intentionally left ambiguous. William Daniels is 87 years old, so there's a very good chance his health may decline before he has another chance to appear. By doing it that way, they can have either Cory imagining Mr. Feeny because he was his mentor and it helps Cory (à la Eric when he went to college) if he's able to appear again or they choose to reference him as alive, or he was a ghost visiting (à la Chet visiting Shawn) if he doesn't. 

[Sakura12]

If they stop saying the word "world" every other sentence, I could like this show. 

 

Danielle Fishel and Ben Savage look so young for tv parents but I guess it makes sense if they had Riley while still in college. I hope Topanga gets more to do in the next episodes. 

 

I agree about Farkle, that kid needs to be toned down, he was my one annoyance with the whole episode. Maya was almost exactly like Shawn but I like her. I just wonder if she'll end up living with them at some point. 

[Athena]

I am tuning in for the nostalgia, but the "World"-ness and the general Disney Channel vibe of it really isn't my thing. If they are really live filming, that's kinda refreshing to hear about again.

 

I watched a lot BMW, but it was mostly for the ensemble cast and not really for Cory or Topanga. I loved seeing Feeny at the end! I really want to see Cory's parents, Eric, and Shawn. So I'll give it a couple more eps and it keep it on the radar for that factor.

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

Ben Savage's nose was also really distracting to me. I have no idea if he had surgery or if his nose changed naturally as he aged. I've known people that has happened to, but it was so different that I couldn't stop focussing on it.

Yeah, me too. At first I actually wondered if he was wearing a false nose.

[AntiBeeSpray]

I think the final scene was intentionally left ambiguous. William Daniels is 87 years old, so there's a very good chance his health may decline before he has another chance to appear. By doing it that way, they can have either Cory imagining Mr. Feeny because he was his mentor and it helps Cory (à la Eric when he went to college) if he's able to appear again or they choose to reference him as alive, or he was a ghost visiting (à la Chet visiting Shawn) if he doesn't. 

 

That's what I thought as well. And in a way I thought of him as kind of Cory's conscience, not so much a ghost.

You and me, both.  I wasn't expecting to feel at all emotional about this show, but Feeny did me in.  The pilot didn't have the same "feel" for me as BMW, but I still liked it.  Ben's new nose, however, is really weirding me out.

Thanks XD now I notice it too. I wasn't really distracted by his nose tbh. It was an ok episode.

 

Really loved seeing the interactions of him with his daughter... some of it was a bit much, kind of like Farkle was. I think they need to dial down some of the OTT-ness of it. Along with the whole 'World' thing... and get RID of the LAUGH track! It's not funny. It's annoying.

[atlanticslide]

Grantland had an interview with Danielle Fishel, Ben Savage, and the girls playing Riley and Maya that had some interesting facts about the making of the series - in answer to how old Riley and Maya are, I believe they said 12, and they're in 7th grad. Originally the girl playing Riley was told she wouldn't get the part because she was too young - 11 when she auditioned - because Riley was going to be 14 at the start of the series, but the producers realized that was too old for the coming-of-age story they wanted to tell and lowered the kids' ages (also, I think 14 would've stretched the credibility of Cory and Topanga as parents a bit too much). Also, apparently the huge, beautiful apartment they live in is actualylsmaller than the original aprtment set they had. It's still too big and everything does look too polished and the subway station looked way too nice and clean, but at this point I'm used to sitcom!New York City looking like that. My one qualm with that, though, is that it seems like her jaunt with Maya in the beginning of the episode was the first time Riley had ever been on the subway, which seems bizarre to me. She's never ridden the subway even with her parents?

 

Agreed with others on Farkle, he could be funny if used sparingly, but they need to ease up. I actually laughed out loud at him climbing all over Cory becasue the physical comedy of it was great, but what the hell was he doing and why did Cory let it go on for so long? And why on earth would Cory let this kid hijack his class to talk about the girls he has a crush on? And why was Farkle included in the "here's your Metrocard, it's your world now, yada yada" final scene? Is he actually friends with Riley and Maya? (oh god, is he going to be the female Topanga and eventually be paired off with either Riley or Maya??)

 

I liked the little brother. For some reason his "because we're twins" "we're not twins" "mom!!!!!" exchange with Riley cracked me up. It was so random.

 

Overall this episode was a little clunky but I'm really looking forward to seeing where they go with the show once they get settled in.

[madfortv]

The pilot story wasn't that good. Farkel was too over the top. I didn't like Maya.  If the writing improves, it may be a fun show.

[Indy]

I finally watched the pilot.  I thought it was cute.  A little heavy handed with the "world" crap, but a lot of the times pilots are really cheesy and annoying with their set-up stuff so I'll give it a pass.

 

The girl playing Riley really looks like she could be Cory & Topanga's kid.  Just the right mix of pretty and geeky.  I'm meh on Maya at the moment, she's a little over the top, but hopefully she'll settle in.  Farkle grew on me throughout the episode (though my DH loved him from the start). Annoying at first but for some reason, him crawling on Cory's head cracked me up.  And the full season preview spoiler with him is just perfect.

 

LOVED the Feeny cameo at the end.  Feeny...FEENY....FEEEEEEEEENY....FEEEEHHHEEEEHEEENYYYYY! 

[TVSallyS]

I don't think Riley is a mini Corey so much as a Topanga/Corey blend. Yes, Corey was neurotic, less "cool" than Shawn, and unwilling to go as far as Shawn. But he was also a constant slacker in class, someone always willing to be a smart aleck with Feeney and someone who never handed in any homework. He was a problem student. (This wasn't a rare act of rebellion for him, it was the norm).

[Oscirus]

 I found it silly that Riley thought that Corey would ban her from seeing Maya especially given who his best friend it. I also thought they were a bit annoying trying to establish that Maya's a bad girl. In Boy meets World, we didn't need to be told that Sean was bad, we just knew it due to his actions.  It weakens the character when you have to keep telling me that she's so bad. It really annoyed me that they stepped on their own dramatic moment of Maya going too far and possibly having to face the consequences of her action because they had to show Farkle Shenanigans.

Finally, they really need to give Riley some older female role models. In season 1 of Boy Meets World, Corey had Eric, Alan and Feeney, Riley has Topanga.

 

That being said, I didn't hate the show. It was a decent enough time waster, Riley's likeable enough and it was a nice bit of nostalgia. They just need to work a bit harder separating this show from it's predecessor.