Forever thankful; yet disappointed.
The Disney Channel has decided to cancel Girl Meets World and my heart is shattered.
When I was 5 (albeit a young age to be tuning in to such a show) I was watching Boy Meets World, laughing at young Cory Matthew’s naivety, envying Topanga Lawrence’s hair, and swooning over Shawn Hunter, but all the while learning about things that I would later face as a teenager. I thank Michael’s for the lessons he gave me as a child that I later took into my adulthood.
Girl Meets World came along and it was everything I could have hoped for for my younger cousins, Erin (9), Crystal (12), and Caitie (14). It wasn’t Boy Meets World, that was a show about teenagers growing up in the 90s, and while many of its lessons are still relevant, the world has changed. Girl Meets World is the Boy Meets World for today’s young audience. It is a show that I was so proud to say my littles would be able to grow up with. They tackled racism, mental disability, being different, cultural appropriation, familial issues, and over all friendship. I will never be able to thank Jacobs enough for that. Rowan Blanchard wrote in her farewell letter that if the show was able to form a friendship or heightened one, then the cast and crew had done their job right. The show brought my little cousins (who I consider my little sisters) and I so much closer; I mean come on: We had sleepovers just binge watching whole arcs, even seasons! So I sincerely thank @rowanblanchardxx and @sabrinacarpenter and the rest of the cast and crew for everything they did.
With all that said, I am so disappointed.
The Disney Channel has not been the same. Many of its shows today are superficial with a live audience that might as well be a laugh track played every two minutes during the show. I do not mean to diss the current shows that are on the channel right now, those shows are wonderful for what they are, but they are not Girl Meets World. Girl Meets World was a real show about a girl who was truly coming of age; a real girl who met the real world. It disheartens me that Disney Channel would cancel a show that not only had the highest ratings, but the biggest fandom of their current programs. I don’t only mean biggest fandom in terms of numbers, but of all ages, genders, sexuality, religions, etc. I am absolutely disappointed that they would cancel a show about a friendship between two girls; one in which nothing would come in between: not social class, not boys, not other girls. There was nothing, no differences, that could come between Riley Matthews and Maya Hart and if that isn’t the most important lesson any show on Disney Channel can have to offer, than what is?
Disney Channel has canceled Girl Meets World.
Disney Channel has canceled representation within media.
Disney Channel has canceled a bridge that joined generations.
Disney Channel has canceled one incredible show.
But Riley, Maya, Lucas, Farkle, Auggie, Ava Smackle, Zay; they all live on in each and every one of us because we are them and they are us. They are the people see every day, they are the people we know, they are this generation and generations past.
So while I am disappointed, I do have to thank the Cast and Crew of Girl Meets World for such an amazing series. May they find success in everything that they do.
PS: I won’t be mad if @netflix decides to continue such a wonderful story. Please don’t let this be the end of a great opportunity to teach today’s youth about the world that they live in.
