MovieChat Forums > Girl Meets World (2014) Discussion > But seriously, where did it all go wrong...

But seriously, where did it all go wrong?

posted 7 years ago by Brooklyn329
45 replies | jump to latest

I remember when "Girl Meets Yearbook" aired in the summer of 2015. While the show clearly had its problems by that point, I remember it was generally agreed that that episode was when it all seemed to finally click, and that it would be all good from there on out. Unfortunately, didn't turn out that way. As divisive as "Texas" was, it was the last time that people seemed invested in the show and the characters, thinking that it would only improve. I remember thinking that the Maya/Lucas campfire scene was a game-changer in terms of growth and maturity. But then the back third of season 2 came, with a seemingly endless string of subpar episodes (with the exception of "The Forgiveness Project", I disliked every season 2 episode post-"Texas".) I don't know, it feels like season 2 had a spark when it started, especially by the time of "Yearbook", then it just became garbage. Season 3 has been incredibly underwhelming. Anyway, what do you guys think?

[–] magemaximus 7 years ago

sorry young folks, but it was nostalgia for old people. the people who grew up watching boy meets world. once they got enough of their fill, they stopped watching.

You can't persuade fanboys. You'd be better off trying to convince a wall. ~CodeNamePlasmaSnake~

[–] Blanche_Elizabeth_Devereaux 7 years ago

I really don't think that they got their fill, though. It just became clear that Topanga was only going to be used with Augie (and never really act like Topanga of old), Cory would be even more ridiculous than the last few seasons of BMW, and the other characters would rarely be used and when they are, they will also will be shells of their former selves. And all of this was done just to prop up the over-the-top silly children that have become the norm on Disney Channel shows as of late.

[–] Utpe 7 years ago

LOL, I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of viewers for this show is comprised of the original Boy Meets World (1993) fan base. It actually makes sense why the ratings are dipping.

I believe it was Girl Meets STEM (2016) that did it for me. True, there were episodes prior to this that were absolutely insufferable, but STEM made me literally change the channel.

It was too preachy. It's like that episode was designed for Rowan Blanchard to specifically address her concerns. To me, it sounds like the writers had a quota to meet, so they threw in that garbage of an episode to fill the void.

Even BMW had their fair share of intolerable episodes, but they're all re-watchable. I can't say the same about GMW, except for the ones that feature the original cast, minus Cory and Topanga, obviously.

[–] ShaeBlue 7 years ago

I remember when I first started watching this show I could not tell who was the daughter of Cory and Topanga. I actually thought Mya was the daughter for half the episode and had to readjust to Riley. I think that was a sign of just how off this show would ultimately become. And I actually thought the episode Yearbook was the official beginning of the end.

[–] Nike316 7 years ago

I don't think the show addressed it's purpose the right way. Girl Meets World was limited to a select few characters with only about two settings, and hardly any room to breath. The most action anyone ever got was out of a history book, even though they were living in New York City, and they managed a season with the kids in High School. They didn't actually see the World, they only talked about it through repetitive storytelling, resulting in overdone, pathetic messages about friendship.

[–] JeffTrel 7 years ago

The show went wrong because Riley never grew up, in many ways she regressed. Think about season 3 of Boy Meets World, every single character started to mature a little bit. In many ways Auggie was more mature than his older sister in this one. I enjoyed the first two seasons. There were some good moments in season 3 but I literally turned off one episode midway through because it wasn't good.

[–] monstermayhem32 7 years ago

Riley was often very childish whereas the other characters grew up. Maya started to let her guard down, Lucas became more comfortable being himself and gained a personality, Farkle ditched the nerd persona and become a sort of goth. Even Auggie was less annoying. I just wish the third year would have had more episodes and shown room for improvement. Less preachy and more life lessons outside the classroom.

[–] cTitus924 7 years ago

i'd say he was more emo
 Women, can't live with em; So stuff your mother and live with that.(Bullet Tooth 504)

[–] crazyforyou19 7 years ago

I literally turned off one episode midway through because it wasn't good.

i did that but with upstate. i had stopped watching gmw in season 1 after game night (that was horrid) bt i would check in here and there. god annoyed when they were pushing joshaya and trying to justify maya chasing him in tell tell tot. but again i would check in. i couldn't make it past the theme song in upstate which is a season 3 episode. it was way too random and how they talked was just too unrealistic. and maya and shawn were so awkward like they were trying hard for them to be father and daughter but it wasn't coming through.

and you're right about auggie. he had a whole relationship with actual relationship stuff happening. and then riley had an entire episode about a girl not liking her?? in season 3?? that's a season 1 episode. the girl had a cyber bully for crying out loud. what they should have done was have auggie be the one not understanding how ppl in the world sometimes randomly don't like each other and have riley help him get through it because of what she went through. just my examples of how they went wrong

[–] RipperRoo28 7 years ago

For me, the series went downhill drastically about a third of the way through season two. Too many character changes all at once, and Riley definitely regressed. Now she's at the point where she's acting and dressing like a five-year-old child with special needs. And, oh, I have a lot I can say about Maya. I really liked her character at first, but the more and more she had handed over to her, the more and more brooding she became. Toward the middle and end of season two, she wasn't even the same character by any means. I mean, even the writers ended up picking up on that at some point. That's pretty bad. I'm not even going to say any more about the love triangle. We all know what a disaster that was.

I ate a pear. I ate three pears. - Lizzie Borden

[–] monstermayhem32 7 years ago

If riley actually showed maturity and stopped acting like a whiny naive brat then she would have been much more tolerable. Maya wasnt as bad but acted a lot of the times like the world owed her something because of her hardships in life.

[–] crazyforyou19 7 years ago

That maya point you made is 100%.

[–] monstermayhem32 7 years ago

I actually like maya but playing the victim gets old after awhile. One can either overcome their circumstances or continue to feel sorry for onself.

[–] theeternalone 7 years ago

When they decided to turn Riley into the weird prophetic voice of Michael Jacobs to justify her insanity and emotional manipulation of Maya which created a year long fake love triangle to clarify a point we understood in the second episode.

[–] dandanger 7 years ago

I think that the "triangle" slowly dragged out as a soap opera on a show described as a comedy destroyed the series. Setting up a situation that could have (and would have) destroyed the friendship on which the series was based was a very bad, bad idea. Dragging out the conclusion to the middle of the next season (which was over a year from the beginning of the disaster(!!!) to the finish - which should have been done and concluded within a week at most !) was the mortal wound..I'm going to miss it, though.

[–] casia232 7 years ago

GMW thought way too much of itself in my opinion. I think Fuller House succeeds because it knows its audience (and is thankfully a family show instead of kids) and it never tried to make the show more than it predecessor was. That show doesn't take itself so seriously. It's really disappointing because I really wanted to like GMW. But it gave off this obnoxious vibe of 'Look at us. Aren't we deep and smart and oh so clever? We're discussing important issues' I think it was a mistake to make Riley and Maya replicas of Corey and Shawn. They should have been allowed to be their own characters and Maya was a poor man's Shawn anyway. They gave her everything she wanted and she still wasn't happy (correct me if I'm wrong I'm going off snippets of spoilers I saw, my last episode was "Girl Meets Fish". I think it would have nice been if Riley got to spend time alone with her family without Maya. In BMW especially in the first couple of seasons, Corey and Shawn weren't always attached at the hip. I really appreciate that it was something that happened organically and the writers weren't constantly hitting the audience over the head about how they were the best of friends. I've never been impressed with Maya and Riley's friendship. The love triangle was the final straw for me. I don't know who thought that was a good idea but it was a mess. And Michael Jacob insisting that it wasn't a love triangle was ridiculous. Seriously, can you imagine if they had tried to pull that crap with Corey/Topanga/Shawn? It would have completely ruined the show.

The show is too dramatic. I don't know how many times Disney has shown the "Girl Meets Goodbye" promo with Riley talking to Maya "Life knows we're forever right?" and I'm like why is this show so melodramatic and this is before Riley finds out she's moving. Do these kids ever have fun or act like normal kids?

The forced Shawn/Katy/Maya happy family storyline will forever irritate me because it wasn't earned. Shawn getting married should have been this huge thing but it wasn't even about him. It was about Maya. Then they chose to villainize Angela and decimate her history with Shawn to prop it. Shawn barely on this show Corey is more of a father figure to Maya than Shawn is. I'll never understand it. Shawn and Angela ending up together after years apart is unrealistic. But Shawn marrying his best friend's daughter best friend's mother isn't after Riley decided that she wanted him to be Maya's dad?

[–] first_rule_of_fightclub 7 years ago

Solid post, casia.

Nothing on GMW was earned. It's like the old saying that some people are born on third base thinking they hit a triple. Barely a minute into the pilot of GMW they are already trying to teach us lessons and hitting us over the head with it. It's already sappy after 1 minute of the pilot.

BMW earned it's moments. 60 seconds into the pilot of BMW didn't feel like an after school special. When Feeny finally said, "Class dismissed" it was earned. It felt complete. GMW didn't wanna do the hard work that was required and spend the years to build up to something like that. That's lazy writing and it causes the viewer to check out.

[–] jimmiebeeee 7 years ago

To be fair to Michael Jacobs, I think he knew going in that most Disney Channel shows last only three seasons and the limitations that would pose. He could have said no.

Jacobs could have created another lightweight surface show like the rest of the Disney Channel fare, but he opted to take it deeper. For me that worked well and is why Girl Meets World is my favorite of the current lineup. The episodes that most critics on this board call too preachy are among my favorites of the series.

Yeah, I know filankey is not a word, but it's gonna catch on.

[–] crotchrocket 7 years ago

Jacobs could have created another lightweight surface show like the rest of the Disney Channel fare, but he opted to take it deeper.

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[–] Educator07 7 years ago

I think Michael Jacobs was so focused on life lessons and telling the audience about the importance of friendship that he forgot to actually tell a story. None of the episodes resonate with me.

The World Riley met was so much kinder than Cory's. Maya aka Shawn 2.0 didn't have it bad at all. Her mom was a good mother, just busy. She never had to fend for herself or had to do without. They could have done an episode where she couldn't go on a end of the year field-trip. Zay never experienced even mild racism. The sexist teacher in STEM really wasn't sexist. Riley's bully wasn't even shown. Riley may have gotten in trouble once in three years. She was the perfect kid with the perfect life. Not funny, perfectly boring
What do we want? More Asian actresses and actors. When do we want it? Yesterday!

[–] jimmiebeeee 7 years ago

correct me if I'm wrong I'm going off snippets of spoilers I saw, my last episode was "Girl Meets Fish".

If the last episode you saw was Girl Meets Fish, then you missed A LOT OF CONTEXT. If by "spoilers" you meant promos for upcoming episodes, understand that Disney Channel promos are almost always jumbled together clips edited out of order and out of context to make an episode seem more dramatic or heart-tugging romantic than it is.

I do appreciate your criticisms, however. Girl Meets World has its flaws, that triangle being the biggest. Yes, the writers sometimes crammed too much into "life lesson" episodes, but if they'd spent less time on the triangle, they could have stretched those lessons over two or three episodes. There were good ideas there, like Girl Meets Money: show the gang putting one or two of their ideas into action for helping people through Stuart Minkus's foundation.

In BMW especially in the first couple of seasons, Corey and Shawn weren't always attached at the hip. I really appreciate that it was something that happened organically and the writers weren't constantly hitting the audience over the head about how they were the best of friends.

I've seen now about 45 percent of Boy Meets World but I'm slowly catching up on Teen Nick (with seasons 3 and 5 on DVD still to finish). The first two seasons appeared more standard goofy sitcom to me. I think after season three Jacobs probably felt he had a big enough hit that he could go deeper and more serious. I think he knew going in to Girl Meets World that he'd get only three seasons, and tried to put too much into that time span. I think Jacobs also understood the Disney universe of female best-friends-as-sisters and he over-accommodated.

The forced Shawn/Katy/Maya happy family storyline will forever irritate me because it wasn't earned. Shawn getting married should have been this huge thing but it wasn't even about him. It was about Maya.

It worked for me. It would have worked better if Shawn was on the show more and we could have watched his relationship with Katy develop, but it was stated here in season one that Rider Strong wanted to spend little time in front of the camera. I don't remember if he didn't want to be typecast forever as troubled Shawn Hunter or if he preferred directing to acting. GMW is about the next generation but it still is somewhat of a hybrid with BMW, and Cory and Shawn was always the main relationship of BMW in my view. It was important to resolve the Shawn story from the old show. I almost immediately renamed Girl Meets Home For The Holidays to Girl Meets Man Meeting Closure. I watched it a half dozen times again in December on Disney On Demand because I started picking up clues that Jacobs had more in mind than a one-off nostalgia-for-the-BMW-fans episode. The seeds of Riley's scheme for "Shawn to be Maya's dad" (Girl Meets Master Plan) were planted in this episode when she saw that Shawn and Maya were connecting. "I have my eyes on a much bigger prize," Riley said cryptically as she left the two of them alone in the bay window.

As for Angela, they didn't villainize her on GMW. If anything they villainized her on BMW when she suddenly left Shawn and moved to Paris to be with her dad. I've seen most of BMW season seven now. Angela sounded all lovey-dovey and "I'm here for you always" but in Shawn's darkest moments of that season her face often said to me, "I don't know if I can handle this anymore." The move to Paris was a convenient escape. Angela was brought in on GMW (Girl Meets Pluto) strictly as nostalgia for the BMW devotees. Shawn had long moved past the Angela drama.

The show is too dramatic. I don't know how many times Disney has shown the "Girl Meets Goodbye" promo with Riley talking to Maya "Life knows we're forever right?" and I'm like why is this show so melodramatic . . .

I liked the drama. Yes it could be over the top at times. But making this a dramedy was such a refreshing change from the generally lightweight fare of always-happy-sappy Disney Channel programming. Girl Meets World showed that Disney Channel viewers would watch a show that could strongly range from hysterically funny to deadly serious when it needed to. Also, it didn't break dramatic tension with the equivalent of Joey Rooney ruining the moment bouncing in yelling "Diggie!" GMW broke the tension gently.

(I think in your reference to "Girl Meets Goodbye" you meant, "Girl Meets Sweet Sixteen," which is listed as next on the IMDB page (airs January 13).)

Girl Meets World was by far my favorite current Disney Channel show in all three of its seasons. I will miss its passing in two weeks. But it is not my favorite of all time (which started in 2007 for me). I rank it No. 4 behind Wizards of Waverly Place, Hannah Montana and either Phineas and Ferb or Good Luck Charlie. Maybe No. 5 if I add in Kim Possible.

Yeah, I know filankey is not a word, but it's gonna catch on.