During the 1990s, there were a number of formative television shows that spoke to impressionable pre-teens and taught them about life, friendship, and the gradual transition into adulthood. Plenty of shows would tackle these topics, but few resonated with young audiences as much as ABC’s Boy Meets World. The series struck a serious chord with its viewers and for seven seasons it would tell an engaging, relatable story about Cory Matthews and friends as they slowly grew up. Boy Meets World would approach mature topics with respect towards its younger audience and it built a cast of characters that a generation would go on to love. In fact, Boy Meets World would leave such a cultural imprint on audiences that the series would receive a sequel of sorts in the form of Girl Meets World, which went on to inspire a whole new generation of viewers.
Boy Meets World remains a standout series from its time period and the number of reunions and celebrations around the show that have happened in recent years show that there’s still a very dedicated fan base for this old show. Boy Meets World’s fans will never stop loving the show, but that doesn’t mean that the series is flawless or without its slip ups. Accordingly, Here Are 22 Things That Make No Sense About Boy Meets World!
22 The Name Of Cory And Topanga’s Daughter
The season seven episode of Boy Meets World, “Seven The Hard Way” features a flashforward to seven years in the future. The episode goes to a rather exaggerated place and is all revealed to be a dream in the end. However, Girl Meets World proves that the predictions in this episode were actually true, since Eric remains as his deranged Plays With Squirrels persona that the episode depicts.
This is a rather seismic reveal in Girls Meets World, but it also exposes a huge inconsistency. In the same episode that flashes forward, Cory and Topanga’s baby daughter is named Beverly Glen, and not Riley, as it is in Girl Meets World.
21 Joshua Matthews Ages At An Alarming Rate
In reality, this likely is just a result of a growth spurt that Daniel Jacobs, the child actor who plays Joshua Matthews goes through, but in the context of the show it seems borderline supernatural. It’s a bit of a surprise when Amy and Alan decide to have another kid when Cory and Eric are off in college.
Less than a year passes between Joshua’s birth and the end of the series, but by Joshua’s final appearance, he’s a full-on toddler rather than the infant that he should be at this point.
20 The Fate Of Mr. Turner
Mr. Turner is one of the teachers that makes an impression on Cory and friends, but he’s also an important pseudo father figure for Shawn. All of this points to how crucial of a character he is, yet he’s basically forgotten when he finds himself in a life-threatening accident. In “Cult Fiction,” it’s revealed that Turner gets into a drastic motorcycle accident and is in the hospital, but beyond that, there are strangely no updates to his status. He gets a shout-out during “Graduation,” but that’s it.
Thankfully, Girl Meets World is able to fill in some gaps. It reveals that Turner survives and lives happily ever after with his nurse, of all people.
19 Topanga Used To Have A Sister
In one episode, Nebula “Stop The War” Lawrence, makes an appearance to pick up her sister. This character certainly meshes with the hippie aesthetic that was present with Topanga’s family at this point in the show, but Nebula is never addressed again. A flighty sister wouldn’t be the worst idea for Topanga so it’s kind of a shame that Nebula gets written out.
Additionally, Nebula seems to be around the same age as Eric, so a Nebula/Eric and Topanga/Cory double date at some point could have been a real goldmine of material.
18 Angela’s Appearance
Angela Moore’s introduction during season five of Boy Meets World is a great boon for the series. Angela enters the scene as Topanga’s best friend, but she kind of just appears out of nowhere. Presumably she and Topanga were friends off screen during the show’s first four seasons, but that seems unlikely. On top of this, once Angela enters as Topanga’s BFF, all of the other minor friend characters that she had just disappear.
It’s as if Angela just replaces all of them and absorbs any stories that they could have hand. It wouldn’t have been impossible for Topanga to hang onto more than one female friend.
17 Topanga’s Changing And Inconsistent Parents
Not only are Topanga’s parents played by a slew of different actors throughout the show’s run that sees her father change from Peter Tork to Michael McKean to finally Mark Harelik— actor changes are excusable— but the personality of Topanga’s parents also drastically shift with each of their appearances. They’re originally hippies that mesh more with Topanga’s original personality, but then they become a disagreeable couple who are constantly on the brink of separation.
Not only that, but the name of Topanga’s mother changes from Chloe to Miriam to finally Rhiannon, which is a much bigger issue than the fact that her actress changes from Annette O’Tool to Marcia Cross.
16 The Pasts Of The Matthews Parents
Since Cory and his peers are much more the focus than his parents, Alan and Amy Matthews typically show up in small doses. The show pivots on what their jobs or histories are in order to better serve the plot of the show. This often leads to inconsistencies, like whether Alan was a cook in the Coast Guard or if he was a part of the Navy.
It’s even worse for Amy, whose career shifts from working at an art museum to being a real estate agent. Later on she goes back to school, but she just returns to being a mom at home, which seems even more random after the journey she’s been on.
15 The Original Topanga
Topanga is a vital part of Boy Meets World, but many people forget that she wasn’t originally a main character and she slowly befriends Cory. In fact, a different actress, Marla Sokoloff, was originally cast as Topanga but when she wasn’t working out, she was recast with Danielle Fishel. Fishel impressed and gradually became an integral presence to the show.
This version of Topanga that appears in “Cory’s Alternative Friends” is still quite different than what the character ultimately turns into, but Fishel’s grasp on the character is strong. The two also share their first kiss in this installment, which also helps solidify Fishel’s status in the role.
14 Implausible Phone Calls
Taking place throughout the 1990s, there were obviously no cell phones present during the beginning of the series. In spite of this, there’s a situation where Shawn goes to pick up pizza from a pizza parlor and immediately rings up Cory to give him some bad news about who’s already at the joint.
Shawn leaves Cory’s house and then literally calls Cory seconds later. There’s no way the call could happen that quickly, even if Shawn could get to the pizza place that fast. It’s clearly a concession that’s made to simplify the story, but it stands out, especially now.
13 Alan Matthews’ Birthday
Birthdays are always a pain to remember in television shows and unless someone from the production is consciously keeping track of these details, it’s inevitable that they’re going to get messed up. Unless the date of certain birthdays are a major plot point, it’s likely that fans won’t remember when they occur, especially in the case of more ancillary characters.
This slip up happens with Alan Matthews when the family appears to be celebrating his birthday in tandem with the Christmas holidays in the season seven episode, “Family Tree.” It’s a nice visual, but the episode “Honesty Night” reveals that Alan is a Gemini and that his birthday is June 14th. So which is it?
12 Morgan Matthews’ Disappearance And Change
It can often be difficult to cast child actors in long-running series, especially when they’re on the younger side. Lily Nicksay was only four years old when she was cast as Cory’s little sister. The burden of the show eventually became too much for the actress and she parted ways and was eventually recast with Lindsay Ridgeway.
This transition led to not only a lengthy disappearance for the character, but Ridgeway had such a different personality than Nicksay that Morgan turned into a more outspoken, attention-seeking character. The show at least addresses this change in a clever way by referring to Morgan’s absence as an extensive time out.
11 Shawn's Elementary School Life
Boy Meets World likes to revise its history to hammer in the idea that Cory, Topanga, and Shawn are all soul mate-level friends and will always be together. It's stated throughout the series that the three of them have all been friends since they were six, but Mr. Feeny speaks of a much more isolating history for Shawn.
Feeny states that Shawn used to live in Oklahoma and that he had been to five different schools by the time that he was twelve and relocated to Philly. That story seems much more in line with Shawn's past, so it stands to reason that he and Cory couldn't have been friends until he was twelve.
10 Cory’s Romeo And Juliet Retention
This may not seem like that major of a detail, but with a show that’s so concerned with young love during its earlier seasons, the text of Romeo and Juliet holds enough significance to these characters. Cory learns about Shakespeare’s tragedy during the show’s very first episode in a scene with Mr. Feeny. However, when Romeo and Juliet comes up again later in the series, Cory is completely clueless on it.
Granted, Cory’s not the best student, but this story does seem to make an impression on him and it seems like it’d still be present on his brain.
9 Reusing Actors
There are some instances where Boy Meets World uses the same actors that have previously appeared in bit parts. Due to the size of these roles, the assumption is that people won’t recognize that these actors have appeared before, but for the more perceptive viewers it’s a rather awkward scenario. Willie Garson even shows up in three separate roles.
Of course, this isn’t like Cory’s dad or Mr. Feeny are showing up in other roles, but Daniel Jacobs, who plays Cory’s younger brother, Joshua, does show up, and in a scene with Cory, no less.
8 Topanga’s Erratic Characterization
It’s natural for people to change and grow over time, but in the case of Topanga it feels less like a natural development of character and more like the show just trying to figure out what works best for Topanga.
Accordingly, the character goes through a number of transformations until a certain personality clicks. She enters the series as a rebellious counter culture flower child, but then shifts into someone obsessed about good grades and becomes the sensible one in the group. Even this remains in flux though as the later seasons depict a more vain and insecure version of Topanga, but one that at least makes a little more sense with her college surroundings.
7 Shawn’s Sloppy Family Tree
Shawn’s half-brother, Jack, becomes a major character during the later seasons of the show. It seems like Jack comes out of nowhere, but he eventually earns his place in the series. The earlier seasons of the show play around with Shawn’s messy home life and introduce other siblings that are never mentioned again or are straight up forgotten.
Shawn has a stepbrother named Eddie, who shows up in “The Pink Flamingo Kid” to attack Shawn over his new life with Mr. Turner. Shawn also makes reference to a sister named Stacy, but she never actually appears in the series. Clearly the show thought she could have been a useful character, but then decided to backpedal.
6 Missing Minkus
Stuart Minkus appeared frequently during the infancy of Boy Meets World. He’s a stereotypical nerd who’s an easy target for Cory and Shawn. However, after “I Dream Of Feeny” he proceeds to not appear in the show for a number of seasons.
Minkus finally does reappear in the nostalgic installment, “Graduation.” When the gang asks Minkus why they haven’t seen him for years, he explains that he’s been in “another” part of the school and longed to be re-accepted by them. It’s a fun gag, but it seems like the group would have still run into or at least heard Minkus’ name again if he was still at the same school.
5 Messy School Timeline
When it comes to the education of its characters, Boy Meets World is kind of a mess in terms of a firm timeline that makes sense. The characters enter sixth grade in the 1993-94 school year, but then there’s a substantial skip when in 1996 everyone is in the eleventh grade. “Graduation” makes reference to how the gang will graduate in 1998, but later on Feeny mucks this up when he refers to them all erroneously as the Class of 2000.
On top of this, based off of when Jack and Eric graduate college, they’d only have been there for three years, which also doesn’t jive with Cory, Shawn, and Topanga’s timeline there.
4 How Long Cory And Topanga Have Known Each Other
Boy Meets World had gotten fairly revisionist when it comes to Cory and Topanga’s younger years and just exactly when they fell for each other. For viewers of the show, their first formative moment appears to be their kiss in “Cory’s Alternative Friends,” however dialogue from Cory later on paints quite the different picture.
One version of events says that the two were friends as toddlers, which is considerably different than what’s seen in the show’s earliest seasons. If the two had been that close from such a young age, they definitely would have been closer when the show starts, but instead Cory treats her like an outcast.
3 The Layout Of The Matthews House
Due to how television is filmed, there are sometimes concessions to be made with the logical geography of certain sets. Boy Meets World seems to fall prey to this problem in a way that has even confounded members of the cast and there’s no clear consensus. The yard of the Matthews’ house is an important location due to all of the heart-to-hearts that go on with Mr. Feeny there. However, it’s unclear if this yard is at the back of the house, or its side.
To make matters even murkier, the episode “Brotherly Love” puts a garage in place of the lawn and at other times there’s a driveway and basketball net there, too.
