Boy Meets World was cancelled before season 8. A key piece of programming for those who grew up in the 1990s, the series created by Michael Jacobs and April Kelly debuted in September 1993 and ran until May 2000.
When Boy Meets World premiered, it followed middle school student, Cory Matthews (Ben Savage), as he navigated life as a young teen. He and his best friend Shawn Hunter (Rider Strong) would tend to get into trouble as they learned valuable life lessons. Their teacher, who also happened to be Cory’s neighbor, Mr. Feeny (William Daniels), always helped them stay on track. As Cory got older, the friendship with his fellow classmate, Topanga Lawrence (Danielle Fishel), turned romantic and they stayed together for much of the series.
After Cory, Shawn, and Topanga graduated from their Philadelphia high school, the focus if Boy Meets World turned to their time in college. They all went to the same school along with Cory’s older brother, Eric (Will Friedle). Mr. Feeny also got a job at the university which was a way to keep the ensemble cast together. By the end of season 7, Cory, Topanga, Shawn, and Eric moved to New York. That would be the end of Boy Meets World as ABC decided to cancel the series in the spring of 2000.
The reason for the cancellation wasn't publicly discussed but it was assumed that ABC made the decision based on declining ratings. Boy Meets World was a mainstay for ABC's popular Friday night comedy block, TGIF throughout its seven-season run. Viewership started to dip in season 7 before ABC ultimately cut the series. At the same time, Sabrina The Teenage Witch, another TGIF program, was moving to a new network. This brought an official end to ABC's original TGIF lineup.
Much of the Boy Meets World cast had spent most of their teens and early 20s working on the series. It was also likely that the actors wanted to pursue other career opportunities after spending the better part of a decade on one project. Based on the characters' ages within the series, it seemed like it was becoming more difficult to interweave their storylines. The series started to lose its charm as the characters got older and it felt as though Boy Meets World had run its course.
In the years following Boy Meets World's run on ABC, it went into syndication on a number of networks. The reruns caused a resurgence of interest from viewers, both those who grew up with the series and the demographic that might have been too young when it first aired. The interest led Disney Channel to order a spinoff series, Girl Meets World, in 2012. The series aired in 2014 and followed Cory and Topanga's daughter, Riley Matthews (Rowan Blanchard), growing up in New York City. Many characters from Boy Meets World also made appearances. Girl Meets World was later cancelled in 2017 after airing three seasons.