Boy Meets World’s Danielle Fishel Talks Cory and Topanga’s 25th Wedding Anniversary, the Future of ‘Pod Meets World’ and Directing Lopez vs. Lopez
Danielle Fishel is no stranger to sitcoms. Following her breakout role as Topanga Lawrence on ABC’s Boy Meets World — a role she later reprised on Girl Meets World — Fishel has gone on to direct several multi-cams, including the recently launched Disney Channel comedy Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, as well as NBC’s Lopez vs. Lopez.
Ahead of her second Season 3 episode (airing Friday at 8:30/7:30c, following Happy’s Place), TVLine hopped on the phone with the TGIF all-star to discuss the state of network sitcoms, the staying power of Lopez, and the future of her popular Boy Meets World rewatch podcast, “Pod Meets World.”
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TVLINE | Very excited to talk to you about directing Lopez vs. Lopez — but I’d be remiss if I didn’t start by acknowledging that today is a very important day in our nation’s history. Today… is Cory and Topanga’s 25th wedding anniversary.
[Laughs] Is it really?
TVLINE | On Nov. 5, 1999, Cory and Topanga were pronounced Mr. and Mrs. Harold Peterman.
Oh my gosh, unbelievable! Wow! On Election Day, huh? That’s amazing. I can’t believe I’ve been married for 25 years.
TVLINE | What sort of feelings does that anniversary dredge up? And to know that Cory and Topanga have now been married for a quarter century?
I remember that it was a big deal that Cory and Topanga were getting married. I remember that they made a website. The internet still felt very new, and you could go to this website and ABC did a poll [asking fans if Cory and Topanga should get married]. It brings up so many fond memories of a simpler time. On the other hand, I’m like, “Oh, man… these creaky knees that I have!”
TVLINE | You grew up on multi-camera sitcoms, and now you’re directing them. I was looking at what others are airing on the “Big 4” this fall — and, besides Lopez vs. Lopez, you have fellow NBC comedies Happy’s Place and Night Court, and CBS’ Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, The Neighborhood and Poppa’s House. Nothing on ABC or Fox. Why do you think the format isn’t necessarily thriving these days?
Well, I’m hoping that there is a multi-camera revival. Things happen in waves, and execs and different networks sometimes tend to be late adapters to some things. So, when single-camera shows started really resonating with people, people wanted more and more of that. By the time the people watching start to crave something different, networks had gone all in on only doing that one thing. The next thing you know, you’ve got years of single-camera, single-camera, single-camera… and now I really feel like everybody I talk to is saying, “I’m craving levity. I’m craving humor. I’m craving something that feels more palatable… something I can watch in 22 minutes, get the lesson and move on. Maybe have something that feels more like a distraction… there’s too much heaviness that mirrors real life.” I feel like people have been saying that for a while now, and it’s just taking the networks a little longer to hear that message and say, “Let’s bring back the multi-cams.”
I’m really happy with NBC. They’ve got some really good comedies on the network, with Happy’s Place leading into Lopez vs. Lopez, and I’m hoping other networks follow suit. I know Tim Allen has [Shifting Gears] coming out on ABC, so I’m hoping for there to be more multi-cams because I think it’s what people are craving now.
TVLINE | Single-camera shows may be more sophisticated, but when you crack the multi-camera formula and a show really gels, there’s nothing on TV that I find more comforting….
One of the things I think that people need to recognize is that some multi-cams really don’t hit their stride until they’re in Season 2 or Season 3 — once those characters are well-defined, and once the audience truly knows who all of those characters and their unique points of view are. That’s when everything starts really hitting — the laughs are extra hard, the heart is really earned, and you just get that feeling of, “I know these people. I’m a part of their family, and they’re in my living room.” Giving a show a chance to grow and thrive, and find its voice, is something that we’ve been lacking, so I’m thrilled for everybody who has watched all three seasons of Lopez vs. Lopez and is now seeing where they are, and seeing them gel as a show as well as they are.
An Ode to Boy Meets World: The Perfectly Imperfect, Continuity-Averse TGIF Sitcom
TVLINE | You directed a couple of episodes of Lopez vs. Lopez last season, and now you’re doing even more in Season 3. Why do you think it is that this particular multi-cam is working? Do you think it shares any similarities with the shows that you and I grew up watching in the ’80s and ’90s?
Absolutely. This season, I was able to do five episodes, and I love every single one of them. I feel like every week that I showed up, every episode was topping the one before that. Lopez vs. Lopez, especially in Season 3, has struck that perfect chord of hard laughs and true vulnerability and emotion that is relatable to everybody, no matter who you are.
Season 3 of Lopez vs. Lopez is reminding me a lot of Season 4 of Boy Meets World. I’ve been doing a rewatch podcast [“Pod Meets World,” with former co-stars Will Friedle and Rider Strong] and I’ve been watching the show for the first time — certainly as an adult watching every episode for the first time — and what I was struck by was that Season 4, to me, felt like where we really hit [our stride]. We knew who all of these characters were, they all had perspectives, they all had journeys they were going on, and we didn’t shy away from difficult storylines. That’s one of the things I love about Lopez so much: They don’t shy away from difficult subjects, but they’re able to do it in such a way that you can be laughing really hard one second, and possibly tearing up the next. When you can strike that balance, I think you have an audience in the palm of your hand. I’ve been telling everybody that if you only watched episodes of Lopez vs. Lopez in Season 1, and you didn’t come back to it for whatever reason, you’re really missing out. There has been so much growth — from the writing, to the acting, to the relationships, to everything. It’s really in such a good flow right now.
TVLINE | I haven’t had the opportunity to see this week’s episode ahead of our call, but I caught your first episode this season — last week’s “Lopez vs. In Laws,” and I can only imagine what fun it must be directing legends like Vicki Lawrence and Stephen Tobolowsky.
It was a dream come true — not only for me, but for the entire cast. Lopez vs. Lopez has really built a reputation of getting out-of-the-park guest stars, and Vicki Lawrence and Stephen Tobolowsky were the icing on the cake. Matt Shively [who plays Quinten] was thrilled beyond belief. The very first sitcom he ever watched was Mama’s Family, so getting Vicki Lawrence to be his mom, he literally couldn’t. He was, like, “I’m going to need somebody to pinch me.” And I was also pinching myself every day, like, “I can’t believe I get to talk to Vicki Lawrence about acting. This is crazy!”
TVLINE | This week’s episode, “Lopez vs. the Roast of George Lopez,” features the “RoastMaster General” himself, Jeff Ross. What was it like getting to direct Jeff in a version of something he’s done for years?
It was so much fun. We didn’t have Jeff throughout the week. He came in for our shoot day, and it was wonderful to have him there. He truly is a joke master, and I got to witness it firsthand. I went and visited some of the actors in the hair and makeup room, and I was talking to Jeff. While I was there, every member of the cast walked up to him and said, “Listen, I’m writing this joke that nobody knows about. Help me make it better.” And I watched him put his skills to the test. With just a couple of simple changes, a word here or a “move this around there,” he made every joke better. Everyone benefited from his presence.
TVLINE | Now, you alluded to “Pod Meets World” before, which is nearing the end of Boy Meets World Season 5. With just two seasons left in your rewatch, have you guys discussed whether there is a future for the podcast beyond Season 7?
We have discussed it. I don’t know that we’ve necessarily figured out exactly what it is, but I do know that the three of us are sad — similar to the way we were sad about Boy Meets World ending, while also being excited about what’s to come. The difference with this is we don’t want to see “Pod Meets World” end. We love working together. We love talking about our experiences, and we would love to keep it going. We understand that there are certainly a large majority of people who listen to our podcast every week and are just there for the Boy Meets World information. When Boy Meets World is over, they’ll leave and they won’t listen to the podcast anymore. But we have heard from so many people who have just come to love our friendship, the three of us together, and would like to see us do something else. So, we’re in talks about what that means. I don’t think there will be an end to “Pod Meets World,” I think there will just be a new beginning.
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