An Oral History of the Infamous 'Boy Meets World' Horror Parody Episode

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http://www.hollywood.com/news/tv/432...isode?page=all

It should be easy to write off Boy Meets World as a blip on the lengthy timeline of family-friendly sitcoms. The show opted for simplicity over a high concept hook: at the center was the "Boy," Cory Matthews, a regular kid who navigated the ups and downs of life along with his mom, dad, older brother Eric, younger sister Morgan, his best friend Shawn, romantic interest Topanga, and wise sage of a teacher Mr. Feeny. As a well-intentioned, by-the-books comedy, the conclusion of Boy Meets World should have spelled the end of the series in viewers' TV Guides and minds.

But Boy never disappeared. After a seven-season run and 158 episodes, the series — which aired its finale on ABC in 2000 — continues to remain popular. The sitcom thrives on DVD and ABC Family reruns, and has been reinterpreted by passionate fans thanks to the Internet's thriving GIF culture.

How did Boy Meets World's legacy survive? By seizing an endless number of opportunities in the sitcom formula.

One episode in particular encapsulates everything the show continually got right, a half hour experiment that was as risky as the show was heartfelt: "And Then There Was Shawn," the series' horror episode, which was routinely revived during the Halloween season (the episode, strangely enough, originally aired during sweeps on Feb. 27, 1998). The Season 5 episode was a teen slasher parody that still, in true Boy spirit, led to an important life lesson for Shawn and helped an audience come to terms with Cory and Topanga's breakup. To do so, it brought together the entire cast for a "whodunnit?" mystery through the high school that strayed from Boy's traditional format — not only was it extremely graphic for its young viewers, but multiple characters met their maker throughout the half-hour. Despite the episode being as bizarre as it was bloody, "And Then There Was Shawn" became instantly memorable for not only the TGIF set who reference it annually on Twitter, but for Boy's cast and crew as well.

So, in the spirit of the Halloween season, Hollywood.com assembled the cast and crew of Boy Meets World to discuss how "And Then There Was Shawn" organically came to fruition, an evolutionary process that started at the very beginning of the show's creation:

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“Welcome to John Adams High, where you are gonna die.”

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i remember this episode from the very night it aired


wow i am old

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Boy Meets World’s best episode was an homage to a completely different genre

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I remember being so confused watching that episode at age 10 or so, with essentially no background in horror movies.

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https://www.yahoo.com/celebrity/m/c0...errifying.html

We all remember key moments in our childhood - big birthdays, first crushes, Summer vacations - but one thing that continuously stands out in my mind as a defining moment is the Scream-inspired episode of Boy Meets World, "And Then There Was Shawn." It first aired in February 1998 and wasn't even intended as a Halloween episode, but I didn't see it until one chilly Fall day in 2001. I had just gotten home from school, was all by myself, and was planning on doing my homework while watching the Disney Channel. But shortly after the episode began to play, I abandoned my homework and started closing all the curtains and locking all the doors. The storyline of a crazed psycho going on a killing spree