(Interview conducted Feb. 26, 2019)
Boy Meets World didn’t have exceptional ratings in the 90s, yet is remembered above most sitcoms of the era and even gained a spinoff recently. Why has this show made such an impact?
I think the show was just ahead of its time. I think it was probably only like five or six years ahead of its time, but that made a big difference when it popped up on the Disney Channel in the early 2000s. At that point, it really struck a chord with a new generation. Of course, we had all of our fans the same age as us, but I really feel the show hit its stride with the next generation of people five to ten years younger than me. I think it is a tribute to Michael Jacobs, the creator of the show. He really put a lot of care and attention to the characters that I think a lot of other shows in the period didn’t invest in their characters. Most shows just had simple jokes, easy stereotypes, and things just to make people laugh. Then, it was over. Whereas, Boy Meets World aimed for something deeper, sadder, and weirder. That’s why it worked and lasted in the long run. It might not have been as successful in the short run, but it the long term I think that it really paid off. People seem to look back really fondly on the show.
How do you personally compare to your character, Shawn Hunter?
They stole a lot from me. I think the best writers for tv shows really draw from the cast. We had a lot of back and forth, which is pretty rare for a kid’s show. Michael and the other writers would actually listen to us on things, like if we did or didn’t really like something our character was doing. I ended up being a lot of Shawn.
I think I was a pretty emotional teenager. I had a friend recently point out to me that every time they watch the show it looks like I am always about to cry. I am like, “Yeah, that is pretty accurate.” There was an episode where they decided to have Shawn go on a road trip because I had actually spent the entire summer driving around the country interviewing people and meeting people on the street. Shawn also became a poet because I was actually writing poetry of my own. Those are two very clear things, but I think I was just a very emotional and sensitive kid in general. Even though Shawn was supposed to be this bad boy, poor kid from the wrong side of the tracks, they decided to make him sensitive, which was very much me.
Shawn grappled with family issues, poor grades, behavior issues, and much more in the series. What have been some of your biggest struggles?
Getting over Boy Meets World. [laughs] I think, at the time, being famous was very awkward. I was not prepared for what that meant. The fact that I am not acting anymore probably indicates that I would not have gotten into acting if I had waited until I was older, but I loved it when I was a teenager. Achieving the type of success that I did was not super comfortable for me and I didn’t really enjoy it. I think that I enjoyed the actual acting, but the fame part and being assumed to be Shawn in the real world was not great for me. I don’t know if that was the biggest struggle in my life, but it is certainly one that I think people understand.
You obviously spent much of your childhood on set. What was one of your favorite behind-the-scenes moments?
We always had so much fun together. During the final season, Will and I actually made a documentary that takes place ten years after the show was over. We got everybody in the cast to do interviews as themselves as if they were ten years older. It took us two months and we didn’t tell everybody what everyone else was doing. We ended up with a forty-five-minute short film that we played at the final wrap party for the seventh season. That was by far the most fun we had. We had makeup done, so it looked like he had a combover and we tried to drive onto the Disney lot. We told the security guards to not let us on and act as if they didn’t know who we were. As far as shooting the show, the Halloween episode “And Then There Was Shawn” was by far the most fun we had making an episode.
There are rumors of a certain Backstreet Boys dance that was choreographed by Will Friedle, Matthew Lawrence, and yourself. Why hasn’t this gone viral yet?
Oh, yes. By the last season it sort-of sprang up naturally. Ben would always interact with the audience by telling jokes and stuff. He started lip syncing this Backstreet Boys song and then Will got involved. Then, I got involved and so did Matt Lawrence. We choreographed this whole sequence where we all ended up dancing, singing, and ripping our shirts off. It was so much fun and kind of became a weekly tradition. There is video of it somewhere, although I’m not sure if anyone has posted it online. It was always a pretty good time.
Over the years you have added acting, writing, producing, voice acting, and directing to your portfolio. Which have you found to be most fulfilling?
Writing is, by far, the best. Writing film is frustrating because I spend a lot of time writing films that never get made or see the light of day. I recently wrote a play this past year that has really struck a chord with me, primarily because it is something that I can just go and do. I don’t need millions of dollars to put up a play. I just need some actors and a theatre. That has been really satisfying, so I think I am going to keep moving in that direction. I actually got my MSA in fiction writing, so I am probably going to go even further and start writing a novel. You get to control the means of production. Television and film require so much capital to initially fund it. Writing a play has been the most satisfying thing I have done in my life even if nobody has seen it yet.
Can we expect to see it in the future?
Yeah. I have to find the right home for it, whether I get it going here in L.A. or back in New York. It depends on where I can get a theatre and some actors behind me.
You and your family have some of the most awesome names that I’ve come across. Your dad’s name is King Arthur Strong and of course you are Rider. How did they come up with your name?
It was a way to relate to my dad’s name, King Arthur, without being too obvious. My parents that of Rider in the sense of an old horseback rider. It is sort of old timey, knight sounding without naming me Lancelot or something ridiculous. My mom always loved my dad’s unusual name; she wanted to make sure my brother and I had unusual names so that people would remember us. They have become less unusual. Right now, Ryder Is pretty common name. I have a four-year-old and anytime I am out with him there in inevitably another child named Ryder. My parents were just about thirty years ahead of their time.
You have mentioned wanting to breach out from characters, like Shawn, to play something different. What role would you like to find yourself cast in?
That is a great question; I really don’t know. As an actor you mostly crave doing something that you haven’t done before. I think, for me, it was always challenging myself and doing something different. Coming off of Boy Meets World that meant doing a horror film like Cabin Fever. After coming off horror films like that, it meant doing a play like The Graduate. I am always trying to do something different. That’s part of the reason why I wanted to stop acting. I was thinking, “I don’t want to keep doing comedy tv shows or bad horror films” They all start to feel the same. I thought that I could do more as a writer and a director that I could as an actor. Now, it has been about six years since I have acted in anything, so I guess any role would be a fresh start now. I would probably start with theatre by doing a play first. I don’t think I would want to jump right back into a movie or tv show.
is something fans of Boy Meets World may not realize about the show or the cast?
That is a good question… Maybe it would be that Danielle Fishel and the character Topanga were never part of the original show. The Cory and Topanga love story kind of became the defining characteristic, but the reality is that it was never part of the plan. In about the fifth episode there was this character of Topanga created and there was another actress to play the part. About halfway through the week they fired her and decided to cast this little, blonde girl that would have had around two lines in the episode. The second Danielle stepped into that role it changed everything. It was great to see, and the whole future of the show just kind of fell into place. I guess it goes to show you that you never really quite know what a show is going to be. The best writers follow where the energy is. In this case, it was the Cory and Topanga love story.
I discovered an internet theory that believes Shawn and Cory have telepathic powers. This revolves around the scene where they think Minkus into oblivion and use cast changes as evidence of that. Apparently, Mr. Feeny is similar to Professor X and is there throughout the entire series to guide them. Thoughts?
Oh my god, that’s great! I like it. I am a huge fan of over analysis. You can never overthink it, especially if it explains all of the missteps and random cast replacements. I mean Topanga had about three sets of parents before the show ended. Whatever can explain the universe of Boy Meets World where it was lacking.
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