Podversations Presents - Pod Meets World

Listen to the hosts of the Boy Meets World rewatch podcast, Pod Meets World, Danielle Fishel, Will Friedle, and Rider Strong.

 

Find out why Danielle, Will and Rider were ready to go back to school and rewatch every episode of the iconic series. What is it about Boy Meets World that has fans still loving it 30 years later? Relive your first crush, first kiss, and favorite moments from the 90's along with Topanga, Eric, and Shawn.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
iHeartRadio presents Podversations, a weekly discussion with the biggest names
and influencers in podcasting. I want to learn the secret
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(00:26):
three D audio is the future of storytelling. Whether you're
a newbie trying to break into the podcast game or
an exact trying to refine your playbook, Conversations is the
easiest way to keep your pulse on the industry. Hello
and welcome to another conversation as part of our iHeart

(00:49):
Podcast Speakers series. I'm Will Pierson, President of iHeart Podcast.
Always lovely to be with you. I'm super excited about
today's conversation. You know, whenever we are thinking about starting
a pod cast that's tied to a really strong fan base,
we sort of like to put the word out among
our employees and our staff first and get a response,
and it gives us a pretty good gauge for how

(01:11):
excited the fan base or the podcast listenership might be
when we launch a podcast. So when we told them
we were going to be doing a rewatch tied to
boy Meets World and hosted by not one, not two,
but three stars from the show, Danielle Ryder and Will
in pod meets World, they lost it. They were super
excited about it. So we knew from the beginning this

(01:31):
was going to be a hit. I don't know if
we knew just how big of a hit it was
going to be. It's shot to the top of the
charts and actually stays in the podcast charts, which has
been awesome to see. But Danielle Ryder, Will, thanks for
joining us to chat today, Thanks for having us, for
having us here. I think one of the things that
the fans have been most excited about is the fact
that they've gotten to see the three of you be

(01:53):
friends for such a long time, right, you're obviously on
the show together, and that was one of the first
things when I was telling a couple of our staff
members we were going to be chatting today, one of
the first things they asked was about that friendship of
what it's been like kind of growing up together, sticking
together for this long period of time. But Danielle, maybe
I'll start with you tell me about this lifelong friendship
with these two knuckleheads. You know what, the friendship we

(02:16):
have is unlike any other friendship in my life for
many reasons. For one thing, it's such a truly like
small percentage of people who are child actors, who understand
what it feels like to be a child actor. And
then at on top of that, the even smaller percentage
of people who went through all the same experience as
you do, the same crew changeovers, the same cast changeovers,
you know who was in charge of you like all

(02:38):
of that stuff, and you get these two, You get
the three of us sitting right here, and you know,
we've known each other now for almost thirty years, and
of course during those thirty years there have been times
where we have not spoken for a year or two.
Maybe it's only been a text here or there, but
it's been a friendship and a relationship that no matter
what's going on in our lives, when we do get

(02:58):
the opportunity to connect, it and it's as if no
time has passed at all. So starting the conventions and
then starting the podcast has brought us together in a
way I didn't know we could ever really be this close.
To be honest, I was just gonna say, like, we've
definitely been friends lifelong, but I think this particular like
stage of friendship has only been possible since we all
got older, you know, like when we hit our late

(03:19):
thirties and started doing conventions. Like I don't know, like
Will and I went through a period where we didn't
really work together. We had work together on stuff before,
and I remember at one point saying to him in
my mid twenties, I was like, well, I just need
to work with somebody who I didn't do Boy Meets
World with. It was like I needed to like assert
myself as like at a public identity without boy Meat's work,
and like that was part of my journey, you know,

(03:39):
whereas now I like, but I really like working with Will.
I just wanted to work with Will like you just
do it, you know, and like I'm over that part
of my brain of like needing to distance myself from
this part of my life, and instead I just enjoy
their friendship. And really the podcast came out of that,
you know. I think in like twenty nineteen, when we
started doing conventions together and we just were like, oh
my god, we love each other so much. And I

(04:00):
think this is kind of funny, Like I think that
when we talk about these memories, I think other people
might listen. And so I feel like the reconnection and
the re establishment of our friendship happened first, and then
the podcast kind of came out of that naturally, and
now it's just keep Yeah, I don't like them. Yes,
that's clear. Is kind of what it's come from too.
This is not real now, you know. I don't have

(04:20):
a whole lot of friends in my life. I never have.
I've just never been that person. And my dad used
to always say to me as a kid, if you
can get through life with one or two very close friends,
you're doing well. And this relationship with the two of them,
it just keeps growing. That's the thing that I'm really
amazed about, is it just keeps growing, getting stronger. We're
still learning each other after thirty years. Because every year

(04:41):
in your life, every day in your life, you're a
different person, and so to kind of change with people
that have seen you at your best, have seen you
at your worst, to have seen you raw and vulnerable.
There's a vulnerability that I have with the two of
them that I have with almost nobody else in my life,
and to let other people kind of in on that
side of us. At first, we didn't know it was
going to work for other people. We knew it was

(05:01):
going to work for us. Yeah, but we constantly had
conversations about our fans. Are we going to be ruining things?
Is this going to destroy what people think a boy
meets roll if we really want to talk about it
from a real place when as it concerns the three
of us, and I think it did just the opposite.
Is what we're hearing is that because we're being so
real with it, because we're growing together as people and
talking about that as we're watching us grow on the show,

(05:22):
I think people are not only okay with it, but
they're tuning in every week to hear what happens. It's
amazing and yeah coming back week after week. So you
mentioned the conventions, and actually I'd love to talk about
that for a second. What was the first experience with
that world and within that was that the first moment
that you realize there was still this sort of die
hard fan base out there. Maybe talk a little bit

(05:44):
about that. It was really Will that started it and
I think he found the convention circuit primarily through cartoons,
because it seems like that's really the huge fan base,
you know, for the conventions. And then he was realizing
that a lot of boy Meets World fans are coming
up to his tables and getting autographs, and so he
dragged me in first. So I was the person that
he liked, just like my nightmare, you know, like I

(06:07):
just hated being famous, always as a sort of reaction
from my adolescence. But he was like, no, trust me,
it's actually a very positive experience. And I was like okay,
and I went and yeah. It blew my mind. It
blew my mind that it was still so popular, and
then it blew my mind that I enjoyed it, that
I actually got something truly therapeutic from connecting with these people,

(06:30):
you know, who I hadn't met, but whose lives we've
affected and changed, and realizing that, oh my gosh, like
Boy Meat's World had a positive impact on people's lives.
And for me, it was like realizing that my character,
which I had always seen as this sort of like
you know, I don't know, I was just insecure about it,
I guess, to realize that that inspired people to become
social workers, inspired people to become teachers, or just better people.

(06:51):
It was just such a positive experience. And then we
brought in Danielle, and you know, every time we added
a new cast member, it seemed like more fans showed
up and we sort of air this experience together. So yeah,
for me, that was like the lightbulb moment of like
I can like boy meets world, like I don't need
to run away from this, which god, I wish I
could go back and tell twenty five year old Writer.
But you know, for a long time there, I really

(07:13):
was avoiding the show. Yeah, Danielle, what about for you
when you finally got pulled into it? What was that like?
I mean I had a similar feeling to Writer before
he went. I was like, no, guys, I really I
don't think it's for me. And what really convinced me
to do it was honestly, just well, how bad could
a weekend with Writer and Will be? You know, it
was like, even if I don't enjoy the convention aspect,

(07:34):
I'm going to get to be with the two of them.
We're going to get to have dinners after how bad
can that be? Might as well try it, and then
my reaction and my experience was very similar to what
writer said. It was actually extremely emotional and being able
to hear those stories face to face there where people
say to me, you know, let me tell you about
what your character meant to me and how she impacted
my life and how it's affected the way I raised

(07:55):
my children, or the way it's affected my relationships with people,
and how you made me feel okay about myself as
a young quirky or weird or eccentric girl. And I
was like, Wow, I didn't know one that it was
that impactful and too that it was going to have
such an impact on me. And now I do the
conventions for myself almost more than I do them for fans. Great.
I think that's fantastic. I guess a couple of you,

(08:34):
Writer and Danielle, you've both used the word emotional, and
while this podcast is obviously a celebration of the show,
it has been quite an emotional experience as you've gone
through this together. Will maybe I'll toss to you on
this one. What do you feel like has been most
impactful about doing the podcast together? There's been so much
frankly anything podcast, television show, you have a symbiotic relationship

(08:56):
with your audience and the audience for Boy Meets World
and the audience for Podmeets World. I think what they're
responding to is the fact that we're being genuine. There
was a heart to Boy Meets World that was very genuine,
and I think there's a heart to Pod Meets World
that's very genuine. We are not mincing any words, pulling
any punches. Sounds like we're going in there looking for
a fight, which we're not. We're just simply talking about

(09:17):
our experiences as child actors on a specific show. Sometimes
they were wonderful, and most of the time they were wonderful, amazing,
positive experiences, and some of the times they weren't. I mean,
as in any life, you are going to be dealing
with things that are wonderful, you're going to be dealing
with things that don't really affect you all that much,
and you're going to be dealing with things that are negative.
And we're not shying away from any of them. And

(09:37):
I think, much like the fans of Boimeuts World that
gravitated towards it because they could see themselves in the characters,
I think a lot of people are gravitating towards Podbeats
world because they're realizing that we're being honest about what
we grew up with, and they see themselves in a
lot of what we're talking about. I mean, that's really
what I think it comes down to. So we didn't
set out with any agenda. We literally just said, here

(09:58):
are the things we're going to do. We're going to
talk about the show openly and honestly. We're going to
have anybody who wants to come on the show talk
about it, and we're going to give them an open
form to talk about it openly and honestly. That's as
far as we thought it through. And then we pressed
play on an episode one and we started and just
kind of what's happened has happened. And I won't speak
for them, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
I also think we have a nice sense of distance

(10:19):
from the show a time, you know, there's just time.
You know, our show is older, as opposed to a
lot of rewatch shows. They're talking about shows from ten,
fifteen years ago. That's a different perspective, you know, whereas
with ours we have a true nostalgia factor, and you know,
and the distance from forty to thirteen is great, you know,
And so our audience is probably experiencing a similar sense

(10:40):
of like, what wasn't that just yesterday? You know, So
that I think we were kind of in that sweet spot.
It's like we're feeling mature enough and stable enough in
our own lives to be able to talk about this
other period of our lives, and I think our audience
is in the same place. So as opposed to other
rewatch shows, I think that distance is really cool, Like
that thirty year gap, It's pretty remarkable because there I
can't say of many other, frankly, any other great examples

(11:03):
of shows, rewatch shows especially that are pulling back from
a few decades back. And again, I think it shows
to the strength of that connection with the viewers and
the fact that they're now also getting to hear from
other cast and crew members that have come on. Danielle,
maybe can you talk a little bit about that you
don't have to pick favorites. Who's been your favorite guests?
Who was your favorite, who was your favorite, Who did

(11:23):
you hate, who did you hate? Who was your least favorite? Yeah,
I mean that's been one of the things I mentioned
at the beginning of this podcast was like how much
we've enjoyed finding out that the audience actually loves learning
about almost every single aspect of making the show. And
at first, when we would talk about guests we wanted
to have, we would name people that were people we

(11:44):
really wanted to talk to, and then there would be
the little discussion of but our other people going to
care about that, and, like Will said, we eventually got
to a point where we were like, you know what,
who cares, Let's bring them on. Anyway. If people don't
like it, they don't have to listen to that one,
but we want to talk to them. We want to
have it on. And what's been really enjoyable is that
people are like, yes, we care about that person, Yes
we care about that person. They pretty much care about
everybody we care about. So I have really enjoyed that

(12:06):
we have a guest coming up that I'm super excited about,
Sarah Markowitz, our costume designer from season two who writer
mentioned on the show we should try to get her on,
and then my husband, who's a producer on the podcast,
set out to find her and she was hard to
find and he had to dig deep to find her.
And we've invited her on and she's open and willing
to come on. We have a great idea for what
we're going to do for her episode, and so that

(12:26):
has been really fun, like the bringing of people who
at first are a little scared and maybe kind of
fly under the radar and then go But yeah, I
do want to talk about Boy Meets World. I do
want to talk about my experience. That's been really fun. Yeah,
that's so cool. What is she up to now? I
don't know spoilers, but she's still in the industry. She's
still in the industry. She's still working. She's actually currently
looking for some sitcom work, which it makes me happy

(12:47):
because I direct sitcom. So I'm going to be trying
to figure out a great spot to put her so
that hopefully I could work with her again. But I mean,
she was the costume designer for Twin Peaks, like her
work is in like museums. So she she's incredible. Villa
and Ted's didn't she also did she did Bill and
Ted's you know, it's insane. No, she hasn't. She has
an incredible career. And one of the things we're going

(13:09):
to do for her episode is have her, come on,
and we've picked some of our favorite and not so
favorite looks from season two and we're going to have
her break them down for us. That's so cool. I
won't ask any other questions because everybody should tune in
for and on that one. So we've been talking about
the fact that this was, you know, a few decades back,
and you're now having to go back and watch this.

(13:30):
You know. I know so many people that staring shows
maybe never really watched it the first time around, maybe
some episodes, But what has it been like to look
back and actually watch your very young selves on camera?
What's that been like? I think the answer is complicated
because we just entered season two and it's changed a lot.
Season one, it was very much like, oh, we're like

(13:50):
little kids, aren't we cute? You know? And it was
just a cute kids show, and like I was not
self conscious about, you know, watching my own performance. Now
we're in season two and I'm hitting that awkward fourteen
through whatever twenty five states that I was in. I'm
not enjoying it as much, just personally, like I'm like,
oh God, because I've never watched the show, and I

(14:12):
think I never watched the show because I always felt
awkward about seeing myself and now but I gotta stop
talking about it because you know, no, it's just boring
to our listeners. If I'm always like, I look so awful,
I think that's part of the charm of it, though,
right everybody is what about for you? Will? You know?
So Danielle and I know Writer likes too, but one
of our favorite movies of all time. And it didn't

(14:32):
really hit me until Danielle talked about it on the podcast.
Was defending your life, where you sit in a chair
and you watch snippets of your life from the time
you were growing up, and I realized that's what we
were doing. As Writer said, he hadn't seen the show,
Danielle and I hadn't seen it since it was on.
And there's times where I have a very good memory,
and there's times I don't remember anything that's happening on
the screen. It's just they started to blend. After seven years,

(14:54):
you do one hundred and fifty eight episodes, and you
don't remember the intricacies of every single one. So it's
like watching it for the first time. And as Writer said,
as anybody who would sit in a chair and watch
their childhood growing up on a screen. There's parts of
it that are great, parts of it that are horrifying,
and everything in between. So it has certainly been a journey.

(15:15):
But again, the thing that I fall back on is
that I get to go through it with writer and Danielle,
which certainly makes it a heck of a lot easier
than having to sit there and do it by yourself,
which I think would be torturous. So yeah, that certainly
makes it better. What you're trying to say is we're
at least able to say, well, I wasn't as awkward
as Riders exactly exactly right, right, yeah, right about for you, Danielle.

(15:36):
Pretty much. I mean I feel the same Writer said
that first season where I'm twelve years old, it was
like watching you know, although I had some embarrassment about
how untalented I found myself. I thought my performances were
truly terrible, and I think I thought in my memory
I was going to think they were better than they were,
and then I was like, oh my gosh. I mean,
the relationship's cute, and like, the dynamic is cute, but boy,

(15:58):
you really had no idea what you were doing. And
I think that kind of surprised me because I think
I thought I was better in my mind. But I'm
looking forward to seeing how you know, I've only been
in a couple episodes of season two. I'm looking forward
to like once I'm in every episode, I know there
are moments I'm going to be really proud of. I
know there are some comedic beats that I'm going to
be like, Wow, I really nailed that one, or I
thought that was great, and I'm kind of looking forward

(16:19):
to feeling that for the first time. Well, I think
this touch is on right here. The charm that you
guys bring to the show. You know, we always know
the other part when we start any show, but especially
a rewatch, especially something that taps into that need for
nostalgia is the host. The talent really have to have
a genuine relationship, and you can spot that really quickly
when they don't. And I know you guys know that,

(16:41):
but from the very beginning, you're brilliant producers Amy and
Danielle just kept talking about that fact, like what this
connection feels like among the three of you, and how
delightful you are and just fun to work with, and
that really comes through in the podcast. So I just
want to say from our crew, we genuinely appreciate it.
We're so happy we get to work with you guys
and want to say congrats. It's no big surprise that

(17:02):
this show has been the success that it has, but
we appreciate everything you guys have been doing. Thank you.
And I will speak for all of us when I
say how much we have so thoroughly enjoyed working with
iHeart every single person on the iHeart side. You can
tell they're in it for the long haul. They're in
it to do a great job. They want to put
out good product, and we feel it. We feel emotionally

(17:23):
connected to you guys, we feel supported, and honestly, it's
been a really beautiful experience for us. Yeah, that's awesome,
except except for Danielle and Aim. Danielle, Yes, nice to
those two. Not great, but everybody else has been so wonderful.
You're right, they're rough, they're rough, but you know what,
what can you do you can't get it right? Everything well,

(17:44):
thank you guys so much, and for everybody out there,
if you have not checked it out, Pod Meets World,
brilliant podcasts, so much fun. We'll always leave you with
a smile, maybe a tier here or there, but it's
a great podcast. Hope you'll check it out. But thanks again, guys,
and hope we see everybody again here next week. Podversations

(18:09):
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