Why did black audiences watch "Boy Meets World"?

August 13, 2007 10:58 AM

Why was "Boy Meets World" popular among black audiences?

At work I saw a graphic comparing shows popular among the overall audience to those popular among black viewers for the 1996-97 season. "Boy Meets World" was in the top ten shows for black viewers but not for the overall television audience. This seems so strange to me and I'd love to see an explanation (academically, culturally sociologically, anecdotally). If I've noticed this on a casual glance, some television executive had to have noticed this and tried to capitalize on it.

One theory I have is, there was one black character among the otherwise white cast. Is that/was that so rare that that would draw a large black audience? I haven't been able to find the same data pre-'96-'97, so the character could have been a response to the popularity, not the cause.

posted by Airhen to media & arts (19 comments total)

What shows aired directly before or after it, and were these also very popular with the black audience? Could be a question of lead-ins.
posted by cmgonzalez at 11:00 AM on August 13, 2007

It was on right after "Family Matters."
posted by milkrate at 11:00 AM on August 13, 2007

Milkrate: As far as I can tell "Family Matters" was on at 8 and "Boy Meets World" was on at 9:30, wtih "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" and "Clueless" in between.
posted by Airhen at 11:07 AM on August 13, 2007

Airhen, they were back to back for the years before. By 1996, they'd established enough loyalty to stuff in a few more shows, knowing viewers would stick around for BMW.
posted by acoutu at 11:46 AM on August 13, 2007

This one has 8 and 8:30. I don't have any personal recollection beyond "Family Matters" being on at 8.
posted by milkrate at 11:50 AM on August 13, 2007

IMDb doesn't list ANY black actors in the main cast.

I'm going with the "Family Matters" lead-in theory.
posted by briank at 11:52 AM on August 13, 2007

From Wikipedia: The show aired for seven seasons from 1993 to 2000 on ABC, where it was one of the headliners of ABC's TGIF lineup. (emphasis mine)

Different demographic groups tend to watch television at different times and on different days of the week. It is possible there were/are more black viewers watching primetime shows on Fridays.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 12:03 PM on August 13, 2007

Shawn (Rider Strong) dated Angela (Trina McGee) during many of the later seasons. Her imdb mini-bio says it was one of the first interracial teen relationships on television...maybe this had something to do with it?

But looking again, her dates for the show are listed as 1997-2000...
posted by wsquared at 12:07 PM on August 13, 2007

IMDb doesn't list ANY black actors in the main cast.

Not true: Trina McGee was the girlfriend of one of the characters during the later seasons. I don't think it's enough to account for the phenomenon, though. I agree with the Family Matters theory as well.
posted by soonertbone at 12:11 PM on August 13, 2007

I just assume they watched for the same reason I did: Topanga.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 12:31 PM on August 13, 2007 [4 favorites]

Maybe it was just a good show and people liked to watch it. (Really, it doesn't have to be deeper than that.)
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 12:32 PM on August 13, 2007 [1 favorite]

I watched it because I liked it. At first, I was interested because Fred Savage's little brother was in it. (I grew up with The Wonder Years) That was more of a reason to watch then Family Matters. I remember the interracial relationship, but I watched the show before that storyline.
posted by quoththeraven at 1:28 PM on August 13, 2007

Well....

I used to watch TGIF religiously. When it started, Family Matters was First, then Step by Step, then Boy Meets World, and then Hanging with Mr. Cooper.

Maybe being sandwiched in between two black comedies gave it more appeal? Do you have any data on Step by Step? That was also a typical white sitcom, ane w can see if the lead-in effect holds true there.
posted by unexpected at 2:15 PM on August 13, 2007

Just wanted to point out that TGIF 1.0, of course, led off with Bob Saget and the crew in "Full House."

Which was, I think? Then followed by Family Matters, Step by Step, blah blah blah.

No help from me on the real question though, but DJ and Topanga in one night was all the more reason I needed to tune in.
posted by TomMelee at 2:27 PM on August 13, 2007

I think you'll find that lower socioeconomic brackets generally preference sitcoms and sitcoms in blocks.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 2:52 PM on August 13, 2007

According to this article, #4 was Family Matters, #13 was Sabrina and #17 was Clueless. So I'd agree with the Family Matters / TGIF theories above. Especially given that it came on right after Family Matters in previous years.
posted by Gary at 3:59 PM on August 13, 2007

Mostly I remembering watching it as part of TGIF. And that *everyone* at my multi-racial, multi-income-level school watched TGIF.
posted by kalimac at 4:42 PM on August 13, 2007

Maybe it was just a good show and people liked to watch it. (Really, it doesn't have to be deeper than that.)


I would agree, but then why wasn't the overall audience into it?
posted by Airhen at 4:55 PM on August 13, 2007

Oops, forgot to add regarding TGIF:

Mostly I remembering watching it as part of TGIF. And that *everyone* at my multi-racial, multi-income-level school watched TGIF.


Same here. I should add that the only TGIF shows that made either top-ten were "Boy Meets World" and "Family Matters" (both were only on the black audience list).

I just assume they watched for the same reason I did: Topanga.


I got that answer when asking my friends. I never knew she was such a draw for the TGIF crowd.
posted by Airhen at 5:00 PM on August 13, 2007