...why so heavy-handed!?

[TMC]

Seriously, we're only one episode into Season 3 and they're already throwing the themes at us without any subtly. There's no plot beyond "Here's the lesson we need to learn, here it is in a way you'll all catch it!"

In effect, this show is too preachy and and tires too hard to make sure that we've all learned a lesson. Seriously, if the kids came to a teacher and said they were being bullied (and said teacher is one of the kids' dad), you think he would talk about life lessons.

Plus, they did a bullying episode already. So what's the lesson here? People grow (get older) and change?

It seems that in context to rewatching Boy Meets World, Michael Jacobs is trying to rewrite his own history more so than continuing the story. In other words, GMW is what BMW would've been if Jacobs had made it 20 years later.

In GMW, Jacobs seems to want a utopia and for everyone to get along in harmony, so there is no conflict. But no conflict makes for a boring story. Any problems they might have are manufactured, first world problems created in the characters' minds.

[TMC]

They hardly ever let the viewer decide anything or leave anything up to the imagination. It's all "what's the meaning of life...who am I...what is love!?" constantly in an overbearing way. Then they'll force feed you the answers.

The fun friendships and hilariously antics from BMW, peppered with some genuine and relatable lessons, are gone. Everything on GMW on the other hand, had to be so melodramatic, heavy-handed and utterly ridiculous.

[ThomasE]

I am rather enjoying the episodes from season three on the show. I think they are very good. I'm just saddened by Disney's decision to cancel the show. They should at least let it have a season four so that way it will have more than 100 episodes.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by ThomasE

I am rather enjoying the episodes from season three on the show. I think they are very good. I'm just saddened by Disney's decision to cancel the show. They should at least let it have a season four so that way it will have more than 100 episodes.

I think the fundamental problem w/ GMW is that it in a sense, wanted to have its cake and eat it too. It wanted to appeal to viewers who grew up watching Boy Meets World on TGIF back in the '90s, while also cater to a "new generation" through the lens of Cory (who seemed to just be there to be the Mr. Feeny-Alan equivalent on GMW) and Topanga's daughter (basically, "What if we did a gender flipped update of BMW!?").

Unfortunately, I feel that maybe Michael Jacobs and company were so caught up in delivering their skewed, heavy-handed, view of wisdom week in and week out (instead of "showing, they had to tell" first and foremost), that they forgot to deliver something genuinely natural and relatable to its intended target audience. GMW in effect, felt like a glorified E/I show (or one of those hyper earnest family/kid sitcoms of the '80s like Punky Brewster, Diff'rent Strokes, Webster, Full House, etc.), where there has to be a pat, clear-cut moral of the story at the end of each episode.

[bmasters9]

Originally Posted by TMC

GMW in effect, felt like a glorified E/I show (or one of those hyper earnest family/kid sitcoms of the '80s-early like Punky Brewster, Diff'rent Strokes, Webster, Full House, etc.), where there has to be a pat, clear-cut moral of the story at the end of each episode.

Which is, again, why I never liked any of those shows you mentioned-- because of far too many "very special episode" moralistic stories.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by bmasters9

Which is, again, why I never liked any of those shows you mentioned-- because of far too many "very special episode" moralistic stories.

A lot of it more problematic issues with Girl Meets World perhaps stemmed from the group of kids acting almost entirely as a group. They rarely broke into smaller groups, and the group grew over time. As a result, the more moralistic episodes really stretched the moral, and by extent the episode fell flat. In contrast, on Boy Meets World, the lessons tended to be a lot more singular. (to be more specific, Cory or Shawn or Eric would learn a lesson, and often it'd be something they'd do by themselves. Riley and her friends meanwhile, would often learn the lesson all together)