My Thoughts on Girl Meets World

I waited some time to post this so that I can let the reality sink in just a bit.

photo credit to TVLine who was first to break the story

Disney has announced a return to the the Boy Meets World universe in its own spin-off, Girl Meets World. I, like many TV junkies raised in the 90's, am very excited for this. The series will focus on Cory and Topanga's 13-year old daughter, Riley, and the teenage angst of growing up.

It defined the TGIF line-up that kick-started the weekend.

What has made this big news is that it went from just a rumor to confirmed reports that Ben Savage (Cory) and Danielle Fishel (Topanga) have signed on as the parents and that creator Michael Jacobs is directly involved.

What made it special for me back then was not just the way it was filmed, but the message behind the medium. It was a show deep in family values and a strong moral compass (the first half of the series, at least - season 7 was more grey in morals.... but so much funnier).

I was a little concerned that the new show would lose that for cheap gimmicks and tricks, that it will just become another Hannah Montana or The Suite Life of whoever, or any other show that Disney has airing right now. But then I read a post written by Topanga herself (Fishel's tumblr):

(What) I wouldn’t trade for anything is the integrity and the heart with which BMW was made.  I promise with the entirety of my heart that we will make GMW with the same honesty, innocence, and intelligence that you learned to expect from BMW.

That's a pretty strong statement to make, one that even I wonder if those words will come back to haunt her. Nevertheless, she continues,

I say that so that I can say this: GMW is a new show.  It isn’t BMW brought back to life but in current day.  It will have familiar faces, familiar themes, and familiar messages.  It will also have new faces, new themes, and new messages. BMW never spoke down to the audience and we are going to do our best to never do that with GMW.  But please keep in mind that this there will be episode 1, of season 1, of a brand new show.  We started at the same place with BMW but we evolved and we evolved quickly.  For those of you who knew and loved BMW, please allow this show to evolve as well.  Stick with us. Give us a chance.

Networks no longer have a "TGIF" model to bring viewers in, and the competition is so fierce that morality in the message has taken a back-seat to even more cheap gimmicks.

No kidding that BMW evolved. And I agree that we shouldn't compare this new show to the same standards we set for that. But let us not set GMW to the same standards of what Disney has out now. Because it must be better than that.