Boy Meets World actor Rider Strong recalled one particular episode that made him “very uncomfortable” and “so miserable” to film.
In a recent episode of Pod Meets World — the rewatch podcast dedicated to the ’90s sitcom co-hosted by Strong, Danielle Fishel and Will Friedle — the trio discussed an alcohol-themed episode that was eventually banned from airing by Disney for its mature content. Strong, in particular, found the episode to be a watered-down warning message about alcoholism that ended up being more of a “disservice.”
“I’m just half-assing it this entire episode,” he began. “I’m so miserable.”
Strong continued, “I was probably 17 the first time I tried alcohol, so it was probably right before this. But I remember Ben [Savage] and I talking about, like, ‘How do you play drunk?’ and having conversations about it. And he nails it. He’s so good at it.”
Throughout the podcast, Strong called the material here “not great” or “well-written” given its unrealistic qualities, saying he did not want to do the episode. In Season 5, Episode 18, titled “If You Can’t Be With the One You Love,” Cory (Savage) turns to alcohol to cope with his breakup from Topanga (Fishel), convincing Shawn (Strong) to drink with him. After a series of chaotic events makes the two pals vow to never drink again, Shawn continues doing so, worrying his friends due to his father’s history of alcoholism. In the episode, he also shoves his girlfriend Angela (Trina McGee), facing little consequences and making amends with his loved ones by the end.
Strong said the episode itself seemed to be a tonal mish-mash, in that the first half of the 22-minute installment shows Shawn “having a good time with Cory and doing handstands and peeing on cop cars and just, like, ‘Woohoo, fun loving,’ and then in that second half, it’s as if he’s a 45-year-old alcoholic who’s like, ‘I can’t stop, but I gotta keep doing this.’ I don’t think that’s realistic.”
He said, “The real problem that I see is it’s actually a disservice to people. The real issue with drinking is that often it’s sneakier, it’s weirder, it’s slower. It slowly takes over people’s lives … to try and cram an entire alcoholic journey and sobriety journey into 22 minutes — that’s not ever what it actually is like. That’s never how it happens in real life. So in a weird way, it’s hurting the issue that it’s trying to address.”
