Main Staging it for the Boy Meets World 20th Reunion panel here at NYCC2018. The crowd is getting a Feenie-Call challenge up on the stage to kill the time before this gets rocking and rolling.
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There is about five minutes until the show gets going with Aaron Sagers hosting.
Seven seasons … 158 episodes in the making, and here we get going:
Will Friedle first to the stage, Danielle Fishel, and Ben Savage are our three folks up here.
Q: This is a legacy… has that hit you?
Wil: No! We always laugh that when we were on the air, we weren’t that popular. Sabrina the Teenage Witch had all the press and got all the attention. Rider and I would laugh that when we left the set even after seventh season that we really didn’t get recognized.
Danielle: I always had the feeling that we were just doing the show for our grandparents, like a few people watched it, but it is pretty crazy that when social media got huge we found out that so many people were watching. I think it was probably nice, not knowing that made us a little better. I would have probably been more self conscious about some things.
Ben: I think that BMW was done in a different era, and no social media, and it was a bit of a bubble when we were filming the show. We were able to just have fun with each other and our characters. We didn’t check Twitter to see what everyone thought about it. Years later it means a lot that people really enjoyed what we did.
Q: There was so much social issues and moral lessons in the show, without cramming it down our throats. How much was organic and how much was intentional?
Danielle: Michael Jacobs was our showrunner and he came up with about all of the ideas and he is very socially focused. He has very strong opinions on things and he knows there are some universals that those lessons could span a long time. I get mentions on Twitter thanking me for things that Topanga stood for or against. It is really wild that those things are still relevant and I hope they are in another 20 years.
Will: I think Michael would find social issues and make them all happen to Sean.
Qs from the audience —
Going on to Girl Meets World, Jacobs takes and does it all, do you think could have done more if it were on a streaming service? It was missing YOU guys…
Danielle: We knew gong into it that it being on Disney Channel, we knew full well that it would focus around the girls. I didn’t go into it thinking it would be a way for people to see what was going on with Cory and Topanga. Six year olds don’t care what a firm looks like. So those folks that came looking for the nostalgia and were disappointing, I understand that. I still feel like we put out three years of a very good product.
Ben: There was a generational gap between Boy Meets World fans and wanted it to be more about our character. I think if you talk to Girl Meets World fans, they are getting the lessons and stories that you guys got with Boy Meets World.
I think people want more Cory, Topanga, Erik… and I guess we could still do that show.
Q: What would your character have as a Tinder profile?
Danielle: Topanga’s profile would be … Don’t tell Cory Im on here.
Cory: you just rewrote our entire show…. Cory and Topanga are both on Tinder now? Do we ever match?
Will: Erik’s would say, Im a Senator. But it would all be misspelled.
Q: Was there ever a time when your character was in the wrong in the episode but because you sympathized with his angle and agreed with what he was doing?
Ben: Im…. Just an actor. People write it down, and I do it and try to make people laugh. They make all the decisions.
Danielle: Topanga was never wrong. But I can appreciate your question. My backup career was to go into therapy, and I think that I am super empathetic so I can put myself into the shoes of other people and see how and why people got where they got there.
Q: Massive Will Friedle fan… as an actor, when you went directly into VO, do you just work constantly? What was it like to go into that?
Will: What brought me to VO was my anxiety. When I was 22 or 23 I got hit with a massive anxiety disorder and it got so bad that I couldn’t audition for roles. I thought I was totally going to just keep being on-camera but that didn’t happen and thank goodness I had that opportunity.
Kevin Conroy was my mentor, and as many of you know he is forever Batman, but he got me into it and helped train me and get me better at the whole process.
Now, with Girl Meets World, I was able to get back onto camera a little again and ease back into acting. And now me and Danielle are shopping another on-camera show and so maybe you will see more of me.
Q: What do you guys binge watch?
Ben: I watch what everyone else watches… I dunno.
Danielle: Im obsessed with The Good Place.
Will: Handmaid’s Tale…. I think it is going to wind up going well for them… hahha… and we love all cooking shows: Top Chef, Hells Kitchen, and Deadlist Catch.
Ben: Oh, I watch Billions.
