At 90s Con, the ‘Boy Meets World’ actress explained how their 30-year friendship has led to a “genuine understanding of each other” due to the “commitment” to their relationship between all the actors
The cast A boy meets the world is back together… mostly.
Danielle Fishel (Topanga), Rider Strong (Shawn), Matthew Lawrence (Jack), Will Friedle (Eric), Anthony Tyler Quinn (Jonathan), Betsy Randle (Amy), Lee Noris (Stuart), Trina McGee (Angela), William Daniels (Mr. Feeny) and Bonnie Bartlett Daniels (Lila) went down memory lane when they gathered at 90’s Kon in Tampa on Saturday — and talked about the longevity of their friendship.
One cast member was notably absent: Ben Savage, who played Cory on the Disney Channel series. This comes after members of the cast allege that Savage “spotted” them three years ago. Fishel, Friedle and Strong stated that he “kind of disappeared from our lives,” in a conversation with Diversity earlier this year. “We didn’t fight. There’s no argument. There was no hostility. He just woke up one day and decided ‘I don’t want that person in my life anymore,'” Friedle said.
Danielle Fishel and Ben Savage from ‘Boy Meets World’ share love lessons from Cory and Topanga
Ben Savage, Danielle Fishel, Will Friedle and Rider Strong on Boy Meets World.
ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
At a panel on Saturday, Fishel spoke about the importance of friendship, without naming Savage. “Over the course of so many years and so much time spent together in different work atmospheres, there are arguments, fights, moments when you get back together,” she said.
This amount of time spent together – since the series premiered in 1993 – has led to breakups and reunions. But the choice to stay together led Fishel to praise the strength of their bond.
“Because we’re always together, there were times when we needed space from each other, and we traveled long distances,” she continued. “Yet when you really commit to a relationship, when you really commit to the idea that we’ll always be in each other’s lives, the amount of growth and grace and forgiveness and compassion and true knowing of each other that we have now — that we never would have had if we’d written each other off and said ‘I’m done with you, I don’t want to see you again’.”
Fishel concluded, “So that commitment to a relationship is such a lesson for everybody.”
The cast of ‘Boy Meets the World’. ABC Photo Archives/ABC via Getty Images ’90s Nostalgia You Didn’t Know You Needed: Every Time the ‘Boy Meets World’ Cast Reunites
A boy meets the world ran for seven seasons and ended in 2000. For a few years, Disney+ even catered to fans’ burning desire for a reboot with A girl meets the worldwhich ran from 2014 to 2017 and followed the life of Cory (Savage) and Topanga’s (Fishel) daughter, Riley (Rowan Blanchard).
Although both have become close for a long time, the actors have remained close friends throughout the years. In April, the gang got together to celebrate Daniels’ 96th birthday with his wife, Bartlett Daniels, ahead of their appearance at the 2023 Chicago Comic Con.
Danielle Fishel, Ben Savage, Will Friedle, Ryder Strong. ABC/Getty ‘Boy Meets World’ Cast Says William Daniels ‘Still Giving’ Them ‘Pearls of Wisdom’ Today
Friedle, Fishel and Strong also collaborate on their hit podcast, The floor meets the world where the trio dives deep into their time as child actors and rewatches the sitcom.
In the July 2022 episode, Fishel opened up about her difficult first day on set and recalled how she almost got fired when she was just 12 years old because of her fast-talking habit.
According to the now 42-year-old actress, series creator Michael Jacobs called her out in front of the entire cast and said he would “give you your notes all at once, at the end” as if her notes came first, “we’d all be here for hours and nobody would ever would not return home.”
Boy meets the world’s Danielle Fishel. He felt like an ‘object’ to the ‘creepy’ CEO with her bedroom photos
Jacobs then proceeded to pass his notes to everyone else before calling Fishel’s mother from the studio audience to join her at the set table. “He went through my every line and what he wanted, what I wasn’t doing right and how slow I had to speak,” she said.
“What I know specifically is that it said, ‘All I know is that if you don’t come back tomorrow doing this completely different, you won’t be here either,'” referring to the girl I replaced, she added.
Danielle Fishel as Topanga. ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
After staying up until morning rehearsing the verses with her mother, Fishel’s hard work paid off. After attending rehearsal the next day, she recalled Jacobs standing up and saying, “Let’s give Danielle a big round of applause, you did exactly what I asked you to do. Thank you, thank you. Congratulations, it was wonderful.”
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’90s Con takes place at the Tampa Convention Center through Sunday.
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Source: HIS Education