This week, I’m going to talk about the rest of the secondary
characters, of which there are a substantial amount. Let’s start with…
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Mr. Feeny-This
was Cory, Shawn, and Topanga’s teacher through the entire series. How does that happen, you may ask? Well, every time the main group moved up a
grade, Mr. Feeney came with them. When
they moved from elementary to middle/high school, Mr. Feeny became the
principal. When they graduated high
school, Mr. Feeny first decided to audit classes at the college, and then
somehow became a professor there too!
Mr. Feeny was the mentor of the group, recipient of the Feeney call, and
teacher of lessons and lessons to
everyone on the show. He always had a
kind word, or a slap on the head if it was necessary. Even if someone(*cough*Shawn*cough*)
straight-up takes over his house for a b&b while Mr. Feeny is on vacation,
he lets that someone off with a slap on the wrist, after that someone gave Mr.
Feeny the profits, of course.
Alan and Amy Matthews-These
are Cory’s parents, the early foils and later plot-drivers of the show. When Boy Meets World first started, Cory’s
parents were the disciplinarians when Cory did something wrong, the celebraters
when he did something right, but their characters didn’t go much beyond being
stand up people, and Cory’s role models.
Sure, we got bits of personality here and there: Alan was a grocer, a former Navy Seal, stern
but not above helping his kids during a punishment. Amy was a real estate agent, a bit sneaky
when it came to snooty friend’s parents, and very interested in her kids’ well
being. But later on in the show, they
began to have their own plots, and their personalities really came
through. Alan didn’t like being a
grocer, so he quit his job. Amy wanted
stability, so she bought a sporting goods shop for him. They had another kid late in the show’s run
that fueled several arcs forward for all the cast. In short, they started out cookie cutter parents
of the sitcom mold, but eventually grew into fully realized characters
themselves.
Morgan Matthews-Morgan
was probably the least developed character on the show. She was basically used as comic relief,
singing to Eric the song an angry ex wrote, teasing Cory, disappearing for a
season, and reappearing with a different actress and a funny quip. Even the plots that revolved around her felt
shoehorned in, like when a famous 12 year-old artist came to town, and wanted
to hang out with her. It seemed they
only remembered her in service of the plot, and didn’t really care much
otherwise.
Jack Hunter: Jack
was Shawn’s half-brother who appeared in the fourth season. When he first appeared, he was played off
Shawn the majority of the time, with them learning to love each other, and
whatnot, after Jack had been living with his mother, and Shawn, their father,
on separate sides of the country. They
were the opposite in nearly every measure.
Shawn was poor, Jack came from money via his stepfather. Shawn was a slacker in school, while Jack was
an over-achiever. Shawn was rather
introverted, whereas Jack was terribly extroverted. But soon the writers discovered how well Jack
and Eric worked, and soon their stories inevitably intertwined. They shared an apartment, several classes, a
love interest, and several traits as well.
Jack didn’t really grow that much, but his stories, when coupled with
Eric, were usually fun—who can resist a good cross-dressing story?—and his exasperation
at Eric’s stupidity, but his obvious affection toward him, endured us to both
of them even more.
Angela Moore: Angela was Shawn’s main love interest for the
back half of the show. They met because he
found her purse, and fell in love with the girl he though the owner was, based
on the contents of said purse. When he
gave it back to her, they started their arc.
Angela also filled the ‘minority’ requirement all sitcoms seem to
have. She eventually fell into the role
of Topanga’s best friend, though after that, she also didn’t grow too terribly
much. But again, like Jack, her playing
the straight man to Cory and Shawn’s antics, and watching her and Shawn’s
relationship blossom was enjoyable for all.
Even if she did break his heart more than once.
And that’s all the secondary characters—I used a cutoff of
60, of 158, episodes to determine secondary status, so Angela juuuuuust made
it.
Next week:
all the rest!
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