Posted in: ABC, Disney+, TV | Tagged: boy meets world

Boy Meets World Cast Attempts to Reconnect with Ben Savage in New Doc

Boy Meets World stars Danielle Fishel, Rider Strong, and Will Friedle open up about star Ben Savage's estrangement in Doc Meets World.

One secret behind long-running TV shows and franchises is the lifelong bonds formed along the way, which is rare considering how many unremarkable projects come and go, either underperforming on the original platform, whether it's TV or film, or being abruptly canceled. Boy Meets World has certainly met the criteria as stars Ben Savage, Danielle Fishel, Rider Strong, Will Friedle, and William Daniels largely remained close for the ABC show's original seven-season run from 1993 to 2000 and the Disney Channel sequel series Girl Meets World that ushered in a younger newer cast to complement the legacy stars for its three seasons from 2014-2017 thanks to creators Michael Jacobs and April Kelly. Naturally, as nostalgia podcasts started to percolate, particularly during the COVID pandemic, Fishel, Strong, and Friedle got together to create a rewatch/pop culture podcast called Pod Meets World, where the trio discussed themes of the show, brought in frequent guest stars from the original ABC and Disney Channel shows, and even some celebrity contemporaries from similar era shows. Missing from the picture is Savage, who ghosted them, and the perplexed trio has been trying to figure out why ever since. Now that journey is chronicled in their documentary, Doc Meets World, as Fishel, Strong, and Friedle spoke to Entertainment Weekly about their struggle to reconnect.

Doc Meets World Chronicles 'Boy Meets World' Cast Attempts to Reconnect with Star Ben Savage

As Doc Meets World premiered at Tribeca on June 7th, the cast reflected on their attempts to reach Savage. In Boy Meets World, Savage played Cory Matthews, a youth struggling through adolescence, learning life lessons from his personal experiences, friends, and mentor Mr. Feeney (Daniels). As he bonds with his brother Eric (Friedle), he also becomes best friends with Shawn (Strong) and Topanga (Fishel), the latter he falls in love with and eventually marries in the finale. In GMW, the story continues with Cory and Topanga as parents to their daughter, Riley (Rowan Blanchard), as she's trying to figure out life with her friends.

Friedle said Savage hasn't responded to his text since 2020, showing one of his messages to the actor, "Just FaceTimed you. I'm going to call you EVERY DAY until you pick up or tell me to stop," adding to his disappointment that "you don't just get to ghost me" after knowing each other for 25 years. Strong's approach is far more subtle, only opting to text Savage once a month, adding that the two were "never close."  The documentary doesn't address any of Savage's responses, if he had any; since he wasn't featured at all, it likely went predictably as imagined. Fishel reflected that it "makes me sad sometimes when I think about the fact that I would love to just know, like, 'How's it going? What's happening now? What are the milestones that are being checked off?'" As far as why she thinks Savage isn't interested in joining Pod Meets World, "I would never try to shove that perspective down somebody's throat and make them do it, and it wasn't for him," she said. "And so I understand that. I'm not upset about that. I think when the time is right, the story of our friendship will continue, and if not, then I'm wrong."

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