‘Boy Meets World’ Fans In Awe As Mr. Feeny Crashes ‘Dancing with the Stars’
George Feeny always had high standards for the students in his class, but even he was never as ruthless as the judges on Dancing with the Stars.
Twenty-five years after Boy Meets World ended its lauded run on ABC, the beloved coming-of-age sitcom still holds a special place in the hearts of its fans, and the cast of the show still hold each other close in their post-show careers. Rider Strong, Will Friedle and Danielle Fishel’s Boy Meets World re-watch podcast, Pod Meets World, is one of the strongest performers in the nostalgia media market, and, as the lattermost podcast host makes a run for glory on the 34th season of Dancing with the Stars, Fishel stayed true to her roots on the most recent episode during Dedication Week.
Don't Miss
Before dancing a jive to the Boy Meets World theme song, Fishel brought out 98-year-old William Daniels, best known for playing the shrewd mentor Mr. Feeny on the sitcom, delighting obsessive fans of both 1990s television and Dancing with the Stars, which is, admittedly, a pretty significant overlap.
Along with Daniels’ onstage participation in Fishel’s latest dance, other Boy Meets World cast members Friedle, William Russ, Betsy Randle, Matthew Lawrence, Alex Désert and Trina McGee also attended the episode shoot to support Fishel in what turned out to be a veritable cast reunion.
Leading up to the Dancing with the Stars episode, Fishel teased the 1990s sitcom talent that would be joining her in an Instagram post, writing specifically of Daniels, “I feel such an overwhelming responsibility to give a full out, joyous, celebratory dance to the man who is responsible for THOUSANDS of people becoming teachers and who has helped raise multiple generations.”
While Boy Meets World die-hards were delighted to see an unofficial cast reunion in primetime, many felt that Dancing with the Stars didn’t properly honor the 98-year-old legend who graced their stage with his presence. The top commenter on the official Dancing with the Stars YouTube video of Fishel’s performance wrote, “I was so disappointed how absolutely none of the judges or hosts gave props to William Daniels. The man is 98, but he showed up to do this and they completely ignored him.”
“Protect Mr. Feeny at all costs y’all!” another fan exclaimed, adding numerous heart emojis to their message.
“Mr. Feeny gave the dance an A+ that's all that matters,” one more user added of Fishel’s disappointing score from the judges.
In a thread about Fishel’s Dancing with the Stars dedication performance in the surprisingly active Boy Meets World subreddit, fans felt all warm and fuzzy at the sight of Topanga fawning over her favorite teacher all these decades later. “This brought the tears for me,” one emotional fan wrote. “Bill Daniels being willing to do that says so much about how he feels about them. With all the deaths lately, seeing him out there living and being as active as possible just made me sentimental and happy that we get to see them do this.”
All that’s missing from what might be Mr. Feeney’s last dance is the perfect closing line — maybe, “I love you all. Class dismissed.”
