Twenty years ago this week, beloved Philadelphia teacher George Feeny (William Daniels) dismissed his favorite pupils for the last time. On May 5, 2000, ABC aired the series finale of its TGIF staple Boy Meets World, a series that an entire generation of kids grew up watching. Created by Michael Jacobs and April Kelly, the series followed the coming-of-age of Cory Matthews (Ben Savage), who begins the series as a wide-eyed sixth-grader and ends it married to his high-school sweetheart, Topanga (Danielle Fishel), and both of them bound for New York.
Cory wasn’t the only one who went through major life changes between the show’s first episode in 1993 and its two-part finale seven years later: His older brother, Eric (Will Friedle), his best friend, Shawn (Rider Strong) and Topanga all went through major transformations as well. In its way, the series was a precursor to Richard Linklater’s Oscar-nominated film Boyhood: an opportunity to watch a group of kids become adults in almost real time.
Yahoo Entertainment recently spoke with Jacobs over Skype about bringing Boy Meets World to a close, and the show’s enduring legacy. Watch our video interview above and read on to learn five things you probably never knew about the series.
