Whatever happened to Boy Meets World?

The Disappearance of Quality TV families

I grew up with Corey and Topanga. I watched Sean and Corey’s friendship develop before “bro-mance” was even a word. Erick’s “Call the Good Looking Guy” song still gets stuck in my head sometimes, and I really wish that Mr. Feeny lived next door to me.

Boy Meets World was one of my favorite shows as a child, and I have to think that this was, at least in part, because of it’s innocent, quality-family-appeal. Sure, maybe it had some of the “Leave-it-To-Beaver stereotypes” of the American family, but I think that only added to its charm and endearing nature. I loved watching fun-loving Sean try to drag what-will-my-parents-think Corey on all sorts of delinquent adventures, all the while watching the puppy dog romance between Corey and Topanga. And should things get too teenage drama-ish, there was always a comical scene with older brother Erick or a family dinner that involved a Barbie in the toaster oven.

What happened to these quality TV families? When did Step by Step’s roller coaster theme song get replaced with a Gossip Girl text message? I miss the innocence of our 90’s TV families. I don’t want to watch a bunch of 15 year old Beverly Hills kids at the country club, sipping mimosas and plotting revenge on the girl that bought the same Jimmy Choo heels. I want to watch Kevin on the Wonder Years ride his bike to Winnie’s house. Or maybe watch the Seaver family’s adventures on Growing Pains, all while learning a valuable life lesson.

It seems that there are relatively few quality TV families on our current shows. This plethora of corny yet lovable families has been replaced with Hannah Montana and The Suit Life of Zach and Cody. The recent shows targeted to that 7-12 age demographic seem to emphasize the wild happenings in the lives of the actors, with little mention of their family. Many of these shows follow self-centered children to whom family is an afterthought. Hannah Montana is secretly a rock star with more fans than she can count, and The Suit Life follows an unbelievably narcissistic hotel heiress and her minions. The kids in this target age group are learning some interesting morals and undoubtedly setting some questionable goals and priorities based on their favorite show’s characters.

And with the overabundance of reality shows on the air, the older kids in this group are moving from Miley Cyrus straight into Heidi Montag. With shows like ABC's The Secret Life of the American Teenager running during the after school time slot, it makes me wonder what type of role models we are providing our children with. This show follows young highschool girls as they get pregnant and try to balance school life with the perils of raising a child at age 15. This is a far stretch from the corny jokes told by Screech and Slater in Saved By the Bell's hallways. After school, I used to ride my bike home as fast as possible so as not to miss the beginning of Saved By the Bell or Sister Sister. Now, we see fourth graders calling parents for rides on their own personal cell phones with Hannah Montana cell covers.

It seems to me that we need a little more Full House and a lot less Gossip Girl.

Even a few reruns would be nice, for old time’s sake.