TV Review: Girl Meets World 1×01-“Girl Meets World”

My friends, the time that every 90’s child was waiting for finally arrived: the much-anticipated Boy Meets World spin off Girl Meets World debuted on the Disney Channel this past weekend. Girl Meets World follows Cory and Topanga’s daughter Riley Matthews as she navigates middle school with her best friend Maya Hart. While the show is ostensibly about this new generation of Matthews kin and friends, the promise of seeing old favorites hooked Boy Meets World fans. Let’s answer the question that’s been on everyone’s mind since the initial announcement: how well does it hold up to the original?

First, a summary: A father-daughter heart to heart reveals that what Cory wants most is for Riley to make the world her own. Unfortunately, Riley wants to be exactly like her troublemaking best friend Maya. Cory, in his role as their history teacher, assigns them an essay about something they care about enough to fight for. Maya fights for no homework, launching a protest against it, which Riley quickly joins. Maya takes it to another level when she attempts lighting everyone’s essays on fire in the classroom, soaking everyone when the sprinklers kick in. Cory reaches out to Maya, who reveals that she doesn’t have anyone at home to help her with homework. Riley realizes that the best thing she can do is be herself and help her friend out of trouble—not to create more. Oh, and a non-corporeal Feeny gives Cory his nod of approval in the cleanest New York City subway I’ve ever seen.

Let’s get to it:

Riley Matthews (Rowan Blanchard): Cory and Topanga’s daughter is a good combination of outgoing bounce and middle school awkward. You can see the obvious influence of Cory in her, but she’s very much her own person. However, Rowan Blanchard’s acting was a little too cookie cutter Disney right now—I’m hoping that as the series goes on, she brings that down a notch.

Maya Hart (Sabrina Carpenter): Maya Hart is a great Shawn Hunter-like friend for Riley without drawing on too much from his character. She’s mischievous and a little directionless. My only issue was that the plot of this first episode had her staging a similar school protest to the one Cory and Shawn did in Boy Meets World’s second season. I’m curious to find out more of Maya’s story.

Farkle Minkus (Corey Fogelmanis): Riley and Maya’s classmate is related to Stuart Minkus (Lee Nichols) and sounds exactly like him. He’s quite forward in his affection for Riley and Maya. He tends to be a lot to take, but I can’t say I didn’t laugh when he hopped on Cory’s back after the sprinklers went off.

Auggie Matthews (August Maturo): Riley’s little brother and the cutest 5-year-old ever. While Riley is moping, he sits next to her and ponders, “Do bears know how to smile? Why is cake so delicious? Will my drawings get any better?” He’s inexplicably convinced that he and 12-year-old Riley are twins.

Lucas Friar (Peyton Meyer): The new kid in town and an empty vessel. Seriously. All this dude did was smile a lot and judge Riley for not controlling Maya. I’m unimpressed.

Cory Matthews (Ben Savage): Savage perfectly aged Cory’s character. His constant interruption of Riley and Lucas’s conversations was the perfect Cory-as-dad move. I don’t necessarily believe that Cory would have gone on to be a teacher and I completely don’t believe that the administration would allow Cory to teach his own daughter, but plot devices are plot devices.

Topanga Matthews (Danielle Fishel): Fishel’s portrayal of Topanga as a mom was flawless, if brief. I want to see more of her, like maybe tell us what she does all day?

Most of the characters were great or at least showed potential, but comparing the plots between the two shows, I’m a bit concerned. Since Boy Meets World was an ABC show and Girl Meets World is a Disney show, I think we’re going to see some differences in content—I’m betting we won’t see a lot of the more serious subjects that Boy Meets World explored, such as underage drinking, prejudice, or sex. Girl Meets World is heavier handed when it comes to life lessons—rather than show us bits of advice through the story, the characters state those lessons. Still, I think it’s a cute show that has potential and the nostalgia factor on its side, even if the Disney Channel cheese is a little hard to look past sometimes.

What did you think of the Girl Meets World pilot? Who are you excited to see return from Boy Meets World? Let us know in the comments!