Cory & Topanga are back!

It's official - Cory & Topanga are back! Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel have confirmed they will be a part of the Boy Meets World spinoff, Girl Meets World.

Any doubts I've had have been cleared up by Danielle's sweet tumblr post. It makes me happy to know that she and the others involved in BMW care so deeply about the show and only want to make GMW just as good.

As for other returnees? That's still up in the air, although something tells me we won't be seeing too many familiar faces. Characters I'd love to see return:

• Shawn. A no-brainer for obvious reasons. While I'd love for him to be a series regular, I've heard Rider Strong isn't too interested in reprising the role.
• Eric. Again, for obvious reasons. Will Friedle has had a lot of success as a voice-over actor and I've heard he's not too keen on doing much "regular" acting anymore.
• Mr. Feeny. The incredible William Daniels has been acting again recently, having just done a stint on Grey's Anatomy (spoiler alert: he dies. I literally cannot watch him dying because it's too upsetting for me to see Mr. Feeny drop dead). I'm not entirely sure how his character would really work on the show other than a guest spot, I would actually cry tears of joy if he popped up, even for a minte, in an episode.
• Jack. Duh, I was only in love with his character. The problem is, his character on its own doesn't make a lot of sense, so he'd have to be there with Eric or even Rachel.
• Minkus! How freaking hilarious would it be if MINKUS was also a teacher and also Cory's foil? Extremely, that's how!

If nothing else, I would love to see a mini-reunion in the pilot, like they did with Degrassi: The Next Generation. Even if it's just for the one episode to get people to watch, it would be a tiny bit magical to see these guys back together.

Make it happen, Disney!

Also, coming soon: a brand new recap!

Boy Meets World: The Sequel

     So as everyone probably knows by know, there's talk of Boy Meets World 2: Girl Meets World. Even better is that they would like Ben and Danielle to reprise their roles as Cory and Topanga.

     The big BMW nerd in me is all squeee! about the possibility of Boy Meets World coming back (in a different way) and touching a newer, younger generation. But the other part in me is hesitant. This won't be a BMW reunion, as it seems only Ben and Danielle would be a part of it. And what's a BMW without Eric, Shawn, Mr. Feeny and the rest? Even if it's not a true BMW reunion, anything Cory and Topanga without the others would feel wrong.

     (Although really, ABC/Disney could really cash in on making a BMW reunion - even if it's just a premiere episode special. Guarantee every person who grew up watching the original would tune in for that.)

     Still, overall I'm on the fence. I think it's a great idea, but they need to do the original series justice. I'm interested in seeing what they do and where they plan on going with this - whether it'll be a reboot in reverese, or whether it'll stand on its own legs.

     More updates as they become available!

Shonda vs. Amy; or, Diversity vs. Tokenism

Greetings, my lovelies!

By now you may have heard the, um, "controversy" (my God, is that word overused) surrounding the new Amy Sherman-Palladino show, Bunheads. Shonda Rhimes, of Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice/Scandal fame, tweeted the following after the pilot of Bunheads:

“Hey @abcfbunheads: really? You couldn’t cast even ONE young dancer of color so I could feel good about my kid watching this show? NOT ONE?”

She quickly added that while she was a major Gilmore Girls fan (Amy S-P's most famous show to date) and that she liked that girls of all sizes were aspiring ballerinas, she was just pointing out a few issues. Amy S-P has since responded, essentially saying that Shonda shouldn't have attacked her like that, that women shouldn't go after each other like that, etc. etc. Which, yes. I agree, but um...that's not what Shonda was getting at. Too bad Amy didn't have anything to say regarding Shonda's point re: the all-white cast. The only thing she really said about it was that she'd had "no time" to look for a diverse cast. Whatever that means.

Non-answers aside, who's right in this situation? Can you even argue that one of them is right and one of them isn't? Let's take a look.

On the one hand, we can make a case for diversity. There should be more races represented on television and movies, period. There are small towns with mostly white folk in America (where Bunheads takes place), but those are getting harder to find. There are so many talented people of colour who deserve the chance to play roles other than ones that are written specifically for them.

A good example of this is, not surprisingly, Grey's Anatomy, which if you believe Shonda Rhimes, had colourblind casting. Some people poohpooh this idea, pointing out that the male and female leads are white. This is true. And of the five original interns, only one is not white. BUT. If you think you can call that cast anything but diverse, you need to watch again. Not only are there many non-white characters, there are characters of all different races and ethnic backgrounds - black, Asian, Hispanic. There's even a racially mixed character, if I'm not mistaken (helllloooo, Avery!). Even better, though, is that these characters are all strong, intelligent and often fearless characters, with nary a racial stereotype in sight. Even 50% or more of the guest actors (usually the patients) are coloured. This is an example of diversity at its finest, and I honestly believe that Shonda doesn't get enough credit for having such a racially diverse cast and not ever really touching on it - the characters' race is a part of who they are, but they don't exist for the sake of having diveristy-charged storylines. An honest congrats to you, Ms. Rhimes.

But on the other hand...

If I'm being honest, "tokenism" really bothers me. Shoehorning a character of colour just for the sake of having a character of colour is obnoxious and kind of insulting. It just screams "Hey everybody, look! We have a/an [race/ethnicity that isn't white] person on our show! Look at how diverse we are!". Even worse is when that character's racial/ethnicity is stereotyped to be funny. Ugh.

Shonda's comment about not feeling good about her kid watching the show because of the all-white cast rubs me the wrong way. You can still like and relate to a character and what they're going through even if you don't look like them. And if the only way you can relate to a character is by the colour of their skin, well...maybe you need take a look inside and ask yourself why that is.

And I gotta ask - would this have been a problem with Shonda if the cast had been all black?

One final point on the "boourns to tokenism" side - in all fairness, this is just the pilot. There are many more characters to be introduced, I'm sure, and who's to say they're going to be all white, too?

I think that if possible, producers/directors/what-have-yous should pull a Shonda and do colourblind casting. Pick the actor or actress that's best for the part and disregard the colour of their skin. That said, it's important to keep in mind that sometimes, it's going to be a white person, and that acting is still, at this point, a mainly white-dominated profession. Is it because more white people get cast, or because more white people persue the profession? Chicken or the egg? Who knows?

 Colourblind casting for all!

Hey Linds! Some advice for ya...

Last night, Lindsay Lohan hosted SNL for the first time since 2006. After being out of the spotlight (not the tabloids, but the spotlight) for a few years now, this was supposed to be her "big comeback."

Was it?

In a few words: uhhh...not really.

She wasn't awful, but she wasn't great. Her reliance on the cue cards was distracting, sometimes almost embarassing. She was clearly out of her element and seemed a little rusty on her delivery. It wasn't the trainwreck most people were expecting (maybe hoping?) to see, but it wasn't a triumph, either. It was, however, a step in the right direction for her.

At this point, I don't honestly know if she can ever have a successful comeback. Hollywood - and modern society, really - can be so fickle, it's hard to tell who or what will be popular one moment before being hated the next. But I have some competely unsolicited, unprofessional advice for her to get this comeback she so desperately wants.

In the long run:

*Get sober. No, seriously. Get sober for real, for life. She claims she is, but let's face it - she can be a bit of a BS-er. She really needs to lay off the drugs and alcohol to stay alive and move forward with her life.

**Actually, to that point - admit she has a problem, then get sober. She has categorically denied she has a problem, but come on.

***Get some perspective and learn humility. She got lucky so many times, and it hasn't done her any favours. If she truly understood that she did get lucky, that she got more chances than she deserved and that it could have been overall much worse for her, I think she could win people over a lot more than she has. She'd come across as more genuinely trying to clean up her act and take things seriously than she currently is. For instance, instead of saying she did a great job on SNL, she could have said something like "Thanks for watching, I had such a blast doing SNL, hope everyone enjoyed it!" or something similar.

Short term...

*Enough with the "enhancements." She's a year or two younger than me but looks much, much older. It's not becoming.

**Ditch the blonde, go back to being a redhead or even a brunette. The blonde just washes her out and is so fake.

***Gain the industry's trust back by taking on small roles, like TV guest star spots. Preferrably in a primetime drama. A more serious role without too much responisbility would allow people to take her more seriously, not put too much pressure on her while allowing her to do her best and demonstrate that she can behave professionally.

In the end, it's all up to her. Sure, the audience has to forgive & forget her misdoings, but she has to give us a reason to do so.