My first introduction to “Boy Meets World” was not on the ABC Friday night line-up. I was in college at the time, and Friday nights were for things other than sitting around watching family sit-coms on ABC. (Or, at least, no self-respecting college student would admit to “cutting loose” on Fridays with “Boy Meets World.”)

My first introduction was with my wife, who used to watch the show and later discovered the episodes in perpetual reruns on the ABC Family channel. I never really watched the show back then, but I got most of it through osmosis while she watched it. And it was then that I realized that this show had some huge frickin’ legs. Like it or not, it gave America a chance to watch Ben Savage grow up on television much the way “Lost in Space” let us see Angela Cartwright grow up on TV.

However, going back to the beginning (or near the beginning) was an interesting trip when I sat down to watch the entire Season 2 of “Boy Meets World.” Here, the show was in its infancy. Cory Matthews’ future bride Topanga wasn’t even a regular on the show during this season.

There are some neat goofs throughout the show that surface when you watch everything back-to-back. Apparently, everyone from Frankie “The Enforcer” Stacchino (Ethan Suplee) to Cory himself shared the same locker, right next to their English class. Seating charts and enrollment in class (and really only one class, which we were allowed to see) shifted randomly, depending on who was the focus of the episode.

Actors were replaced as characters without thought, including bully Harley Keiner and the owner of Chubbies, the new Peach Pit. Of course, my personal favorite is the fact that there were roughly 2500 kids in the high school (which I extrapolated from a mention of there being about 400 kids in the seventh grade), yet the cafeteria was smaller than your average White Castle, and the bulk of the action happened in a section of hallway outside Principal Feeny’s office (or the janitor’s closet, or the girl’s restroom, depending on which episode you watch).

Of course, you can tell by the level I’m geeking over this show right now that I kinda became a fan over the roughly 500 minutes of show on these three discs. Yeah, I admit it. The characters kinda grew on me. Being able to piece together the show’s beginnings with the later episodes makes me sheepishly say that this was a show that deserved to live as long as it did.

It’s not without its faults. I wasn’t much of a fan of the young, hip English teacher Mr. Turner (Anthony Tyler Quinn). He really didn’t have any depth, and he was too easy of a fix. However, he was rarely the focus (until the end of the season, of course). What really made this show click was the cast, particularly the parents. The little sister, I could have done without, but William Russ and Betsy Randle as Mr. And Mrs. Matthews had a great chemistry with each other, managing to look like real people and not buffoon caricatures to give the kids more credibility.

Included on the DVDs are several commentary tracks for various episodes, featuring Ben Savage, Danielle Fishel, Will Friedle, Rider Strong and creator Michael Jacobs. Standing out above most insipid cast commentaries, these are actually fun because it helps you reminisce with the actors themselves - especially when they pick apart the wardrobe choices for Rider Strong (and every other guy on the show who wore a t-shirt with a button-down over it). There’s also a video commentary with Friedle and Strong, although this is really just a novelty. Watching people talk isn’t really all that exciting.

In the end, I have to admit that I do look forward to Season 3 on DVD. It was one of those cute, wholesome shows that didn’t get too pretentious on you - at least not yet.



Specifications: Dolby Digital Surround Sound. Full frame (1.33:1). English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.