Shows I Loved: Boy Meets World

Like so many '90s children/teens, I watched the ABC Friday night lineup like it was the only TV that mattered. Shows came and went throughout the years, and while I remember them all well, in the last few weeks I've been revisiting a favourite: Boy Meets World.

We've watched the newer Girls Meets World with all the nostalgia we can muster (when we can remember that it's on, that is). So revisiting Cory and Topanga's early days seemed like a good idea when I got Denise the complete set for Christmas.

You can watch Cory grow up,
right there on the box!

I gotta say: Their early days were their best days. Also, wow, could this show be any less diverse? That's been annoying me about Girl Meets World (and is one reason I don't work that hard to remember when it's on--surely Cory and Topanga could have made friends with a few people who don't look like them by now?), but when coupled with the original it's pretty obvious they're not even trying.

So, watching seven seasons of a beloved childhood sitcom in a couple of weeks' time is a good way to ruin said love. In such rapid succession, it's much too easy to see the continuity goofs, the relentlessly recycled plotlines, and your favourite characters' flaws that are easily accepted in the long term but become aggravating with constant exposure. At least the show does poke fun at its own inconsistencies (as in one alternate-universe episode, when the Cory-like character asks, "How can I learn so much every week and still be so stupid?").

However. There is a certain delight in the nostalgia provided by revisiting a childhood show, even if you do see all the blemishes in a new light. That's part of the reason I enjoy watching The Brady Bunch with my mother, after all--it's like visiting old friends and re-entering that frame of mind you were in at the time, without all the bother of having to re-live through it. And, of course, it lets you see how far you've come from this moment that was frozen in time.

What's your favourite childhood show? Would you watch it again?