Then I watched it in reruns on Disney Channel and ABC Family, usually with my brother or best friend. It was then that I started to pick up on the inside jokes and the meta-humor. And that all happened to coincide with my growing love of television studies, so my appreciation grew by, like, 1000%. A few years after that, I introduced my Cory to Cory Matthews - he was a casual viewer during the original run. But we watched the DVD
set (available on amazon, of course) and the reruns on MTV2 on Saturdays, and I successfully got him hooked.I have a lot of friends who are hardcore BMW fans - we can throw quotes at each other all day. What I'm trying to say is that this series means a lot to me, not only for nostalgia's sake but because it truly shaped sitcoms, with the meta jokes and absurd situations.
There seems to be this recent backlash against '90s nostalgia, particularly on social media. But that's a whole other topic for a whole other blog post. The moral of the story is this is a series that I grew up with, and it serves as a connecting point for friends and people in my generation.
First, I think it's important to explain a unique trait of the ATX TV Fest. Because this was unlike the conventions that I'm used to.
ATX TV FEST Reservation System = Awesomeness.
The way ATX TV Fest works is actually super awesome. They open up a time-frame before the event to make reservations. Using your badge number, you can reserve a seat for up to 3 events each day. They only put up half of the seating capacity for reservations. If an event "sells out," you can still make it into the panel if there's room once all of the reservations have been seated. The ATX TV Fest volunteers and coordinators were really organized about this. There were always 2 lines - one for reservations (they printed out your tickets when you registered) and one for stand-bys. It prevented the whole camping out style that bigger conventions (I'm looking at you, SDCC) are infamous for. We got in line an hour early for the one panel we didn't have reservations for, and we were probably the 3rd or 4th people in that line. So we got in without any issues. This was really an interesting way to do something like this.
So, Friday...
We had reservations for the Boy Meets World screening, so sure, we had seats. But I wanted great seats. The best seats. So we got in line maybe an hour and half early. A small line had already started. When they let us in for seating, we had to wait a few minutes once in the lobby of the State Theater. I sent Cory over to the concession stand to inquire about mimosas. It was that exact moment that they decided to open the theater doors. A few people got in front of my while I waved Cory down, but the good news was we ended up with 2nd row seats. Perfect. Throw our mimosas into that, and I was a happy girl that morning.
They screened the 2nd half of the final episode, so everyone was sniffling by the time the cast came up on stage. And that.... was amazing. I was so happy to be there, listening to them talk about the great times they had. Everyone seemed to be grateful for their time on the show, and I believed them when they said there were like a family.
Some memorable moments:- Rider Strong took Shawn's leather jacket with him after the series wrapped, only to have it stolen out of his car in Brooklyn sometime later.
- A cast favorite is what they call "The Scream Episode," technically titled "And Then There Was Shawn." They had a blast that night, though the adults didn't find it nearly as fun.
- When the main cast was younger, they all thought William Daniels was British - a joke they later worked into the show. (I can totally relate to this. I had a great aunt who we'd visit a few times a year and my brother and I swore up and down she was British even though she had never lived outside of the US.)
- There was a family lovingly referred to as "The Stalker Family" who attended every taping of the series.
- "We never talked down to you and you knew that." Michael Jacobs.
Great event. Loved every minute of it.
Structure of a Sitcom
Initially, I was really excited about this. My thesis paper for my MFA was about the very same thing, or so I thought. The description mentioned comparing multi-cam sitcoms with more trendy single-cam comedies. I really wanted to hear about this because this is where I'm currently struggling my script. The panel consisted of veteran comedy writers & showrunners (though no women) including Dan Harmon, Tim Doyle, Rob Schrab, Paul Scheer, and David Finkel.
What happens when you get that many comedy guys in a room - it's hard to keep them focused. They didn't really talk to much about the subject matter, but they were entertaining. At least there's that. I partly blame the moderator. She was very nice but she had no ability to reign in the energetic personalities and most of her questions didn't really have much to do with the advertised topic. Paul Scheer did a great job moderating at one point, asking great questions and getting good answers.
The best part of this panel was Dan Harmon's epic rant about how the storyteller used to be the respected one (something about cavemen sending the others to hunt while he stayed back and told funny stories) and how networks and studios have systematically taken away any power the storyteller has anymore. He is truly a fascinating mind.
A Conversation with Michael Jacobs
Michael discussed his various shows, how they came to be and why they ended. He fiercely defended the finale to "The Dinosaurs," insisting this was an environmental statement that needed to be made.
After the session, Michael
stayed afterward and answered questions one-on-one. He seemed very genuine, looked the person straight in the eye and his answers were always both blunt and encouraging.
I asked him about the state of the family sitcom and he reassured me that TV is cyclical (which I absolutely believe) and the time for family comedy is coming back. But, he also said this time around, the term "family" doesn't mean mother-father-daughter-son anymore. It's gotta be a little different to be interesting.
Later on that night was the "Friday Night Lights" screening, which I heard was great. We opted out, though, since we weren't fans of the show. Instead, we hung out at the Stephen F. Austin bar. It was very quiet. A few folks showed up over the course of the night but really, it was just a nice quiet evening for us.
Friday was a great day. I'm sure the attendees at the FNL screening had a blast. And that's why I really like this festival - in spite of its size, it still has enough going on to keep every type of fan involved. Can't deny that.
