Anyone who grew up in the 90’s was assumably a fan of ABC’s Boy Meets World.  Every teenage boy had a crush on Topanga – even though we didn’t know anyone named Topanga nor could we figure out how she ever got that name.

As such, fans were excited last year when Disney announced the reboot of BMW as Girl Meets World (its already been renewed for a second season.)  Now Cory and Topanga – still married – live in New York City, where they are raising their daughter RIley and son Auggie (really, Auggie?)  Riley attends middle school and, like her father Cory, is trying to find her way in the world as well.  Riley, naturally, has the kookie best friend, Maya (she’s the female version of Shawn from BMW) and the two of them together explore the challenging world of middle school.

John Quincy Adams Middle School is your standard issue middle school – chalkboard, desks in rows, unnamed students in class, rows of lockers.  The show seems a little skimpy on the sets – the Matthews apartment, the classroom, the hallway and the cafeteria.  I’ll give them credit for getting the NYC subway set on target (they even had Metrocards!)  The pilot episode also featured a poster of Mr. Feeney (!) promoting education.

Riley and Maya are friends with Farkle (Mincus, Mincus’ son) who, as a character, is your standard-issue weird kid who crushes on both Riley and Maya and who is afforded “Farkle time” in class.  I appreciate out of the box thinkers but Farkle clearly is in need of an evaluation.

The “Topanga” role for Riley is filled by Lucas, a transfer student from Texas who, in stereotypical fashion, wears cowboy boots and a cowboy hat.  He talks with a southern drawl, but as a character, he brings zero energy to the show.  Perhaps we havent seen enough of his qualities be fleshed out to make him interesting. There are also times when Riley, Maya and Farkle are in Cory’s class, but Lucas is non-existent.  Hopefully the writers will develop his character more.

There have only been a handful of episodes – and I really wanted to like this show – but right now, its not must see TV for me.