I highly anticipated this show, thinking it would reflect the heartfelt, fun, and thoroughly enjoyable Boy Meets World. To my dismay, this show is nothing like BMW. It is laced with the same immature comedy, shallow emotions, poor attempts at touching moments, and un-relatable characters of most other Disney shows of this generation. Riley (Rowan Blanchard) is portrayed as the over- exaggerated, bland, and obnoxious daughter of Corey and Topanga. She lacks any depth as a character - nothing like Corey's character in BMW. She is not likable at all. Her best friend Maya (Sabrina Carpenter) is the "Shawn" of the show, and is a little bit better but still lacks any real character depth or development. Girl Meets World attempts to steal similar story arcs from BMW, but fails at them miserably - the girl who is "coming of age" and learning about life, with the "troubled" best friend who needs guidance because her parents border on neglect; the teacher who is more than a teacher, but who becomes more involved in the students' lives and teaches (or attempts to teach) real life lessons. This would have been okay, if the writers had done a better job of recreating these arcs. But Maya's story is nothing like Shawn's in terms of believe-ability and demonstrates none of the real emotional turmoil that accompanies these situations, something which was portrayed flawlessly in BMW. I could go on and on about what BMW had that GMW attempts to have but falls short. Even the most frivolous and comedic episodes of BMW contained more depth and truly touching moments that the watcher felt to their core, than the most mature and serious episodes of GMW. Overall, GMW attempts to be the BMW of the generation, but ends up feeling shallow, rushed, and immature.

The only thing that salvaged the show - and is the reason for my 5 star rating - is the return of some of the original cast. While I'm overall disappointed with Topanga's sidekick, background role, she still is a delight to see again in the company of Corey. Both of them steal every scene they are in. As do Shawn and Mr. Feeny, both of whom I wish we would see more of in the show. I watch this show not for the story of Riley and Maya, but for the continued story of Corey, Topanga, and the rest of the BMW gang.