Posted in: ABC, Disney XD, TV | Tagged: ABC, Ben Savage, boy meets world, Danielle Fishel, girl meets world, Pod Meets World, Rider Strong, Will Friedle

Boy Meets World Cast on Being "Ghosted" by Ben Savage, Podcast & More

Boy Meets World stars/podcast hosts Danielle Fishel, Rider Strong & Will Friedle talk legacy, Girl Meets World & Ben Savage ghosting them.

Boy Meets World stars Ben Savage, Rider Strong, Will Friedle, and Danielle Fishel have known each other for 30 years since the premiere of their original ABC series in 1993. They remained together through all seven seasons through 2000 reuniting for 2014's Girl Meets World, the legacy sequel series on the Disney Channel that saw the two protagonists in Savage's Corey Matthews and Fishel's Topanga Lawrence married with kids with daughter Rowan Blanchard's Riley as the focus, lasting three seasons. Strong and Friedle also reprised their roles in guest appearances as Shawn Hunter & Eric Matthews, respectively. Both shows were created by Michael Jacobs & April Kelly. While the core cast (which includes screen veteran William Daniels who played their teacher Mr. Feeney) remains close, the three actors sans Savage reunited in June 2022 on a rewatch podcast called Pod Meets World featuring some of the other original cast members Betsy Randle, William Russ, Anthony Tyler Quinn and the bullies Ethan Suplee, Danny McNulty, and Blake Sennett. The trio spoke with Variety about moving on from the franchise, their podcast, and where things stand with Savage.

"We can't really fail — they want us to be ourselves," Strong said. The actor has moved on to becoming a college professor taking a more behind-the-scenes role as a writer and director. "I wasn't bad. When I look back, I've had these weird moments of like, 'Whoa, there were some instincts that I didn't know I had.' For some reason, I have it in my head that I just didn't know what I was doing. Somewhere along the way, I decided I wasn't good at something. So I don't know. Maybe I should have nurtured this. And maybe it's never too late."

Fishel recalled that Girl Meets World provided some perspective on their time at Boy Meets World. "Your memories start coming back to you about when this happened and when that happened. You start to see it differently," she said. "Even being able to do that, that takes a certain amount of growing up and self-reflection to even recognize it happening. And I don't think everybody recognized it happening." When Disney announced Girl Meets World, it took Friedle by surprise. "Then my family called and said, 'What's with this new show?' I said, 'I have no idea what you're talking about,'" he said. "Then we went to lunch with somebody who tried to justify why it happened that way and then started yelling at Rider over the salad. It's been a journey!"

When it came to Savage's interest in the podcast, "He was very adamant that it was not for him," Fishel said. "He was also very clear, 'I don't want it to stop you. If you guys want to do it, go ahead.' The time between those conversations and the time we actually started the podcast was a significant amount of time. He just kind of disappeared from our lives. We were just so, so close, especially during that time. He was checking in with me regularly [after I had my first son was born early in 2019]." After alluding that something must have changed, she added, "He ghosted us."

"He disappeared — I wish I knew why, to this day," Friedle said. "We didn't have a fight. There's no falling out. There was no animosity. He just woke up one day and decided, 'I don't want this person in my life anymore.' I finally sent a text saying, 'I've known you for 30 years… what's going on?' I said, 'I'm gonna call you every day until you tell me not to call you anymore.' That lasted about three weeks or a month, every single day." For more, including Strong's attitude toward acting, BMW alum making their return for GMW, other guest stars, issues brought up on GMW, hoping to reconnect with Savage, and more, you can check out the interview here.

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