History YMMV / BoyMeetsWorld

** What didn't help her character was that unlike Jack (who contributed to being character development for both Eric and Shawn) and Angela (who helped Shawn be able to open up his heart as well as be a friend to both Cory and Topanga), Rachel's purpose really only seemed to be to drive a constant wedge between Eric and Jack's friendship as well as a love triangle that had an overall unsatisfactory ending. Both Jack and Angela had their own personal story arcs at some point but Rachel seemed to just be around to be fanservice.

* FairForItsDay: Shawn and Angela's relationship was considered by many as progressive for its time, considering that race was never an issue or a complication for the two, despite them [[BlackGalOnWhiteGuyDrama being an interracial couple.]] Obviously, this can be [[RoseTintedNarrative criticized]] as unrealistic given the setting of the show (early to mid 90s Philadelphia) and viewed as an attempt to whitewash race and issues of race almost entirely from the show. To hammer this point home, similar family sitcoms with majority black casts and made for a black audience around the same time like Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir, [[https://freshprince.fandom.com/wiki/Guess_Who%27s_Coming_to_Marry%3F more realistically]] portrayed how society and family can and often ''do'' react to black-white interracial relationships, i.e. with rejection, wariness, unease, awkwardness, cringeworthy overcompensation, etc. Angela being the TokenBlack didn't help matters either. That said, the fact that the show never reduced Shawn and Angela's relationship to just racial issues allowed the show to develop both characters much further, preventing either from falling into any singular stereotype easily, and making their relationship seem just as real and important as Cory and Topanga's. One interesting caveat: whenever Shawn and Angela weren't seeing each other, they ''exclusively'' dated within their race. Given the lack of black people on the show ever, this is more noticeable for Angela than it is for Shawn.

* ValuesResonance: In the episode "Picket Fences" Cory tries to buy a starter home for him and Topanga so they can leave their ramshackle apartment despite barely having any money. The realtor draws up a special mortgage plan for them so they can buy the house but the plan requires signatures from the parents, and Mr. and Mrs. Matthews refuse to sign it because they don't think Cory and Topanga will be able to make the payments. The [[AnAesop moral]] of the episode is that you need to work to earn what you buy and not rely on others for help. This episode aired in 1999, many years before the late 2000s economic recession which was caused in part by this kind of financial behavior: young couples buying homes they couldn't afford through subprime mortgage payments.

** Dana in THE FIRST GIRLFRIENDS CLUB is portrayed as way more likable and sympathetic than She should be in the situation. She is supposed to be an angry ex-girlfriend who is an accompliance to a kidnapping.

* SeasonalRot: Season 7. It had a few good episode and some very memorable moments (i.e. "Plays With Squirrels"), but it was not very good overall. It had many [[DenserAndWackier wacky and cartoonish]] plotlines that didn't fit with the series, tons of MoodWhiplash between the wacky plotlines and serious plotlines, {{Flanderization}} up the wazoo, especially with Eric who went from being ditzy to being mentally insane, and just not as many laughs to be had. Fortunately, this was the final season and the finale ended the series on a good note.

* CrazyAwesome: Eric on a good day. The dude managed to commandeer a high profile wedding as a favor to Topanga and Cory and not get caught until after it was over.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Topanga in "A Very Topanga Christmas". We're supposed to feel sorry for her because Cory walks out on her on Christmas Eve, but the fact is that he did so because she bulldozed over his family traditions [[ItsAllAboutMe in favor of hers]] to the point of being a ''very'' inconsiderate house guest. She even makes Alan drive to Vermont to get a live Christmas tree in the middle of the night, not to mention waking Cory up at 3 A.M. because she wanted to talk (and then saying that she looks forward to doing it all the time). No wonder Cory bails!

%%* Crazy Awesome: Eric on a good day.

* ValuesDissonance: While not as bad as other examples from its era, the show did have some jokes that could be considered homophobic or transphobic by modern standards.

** After Alan quit his job, he was looking at other career opportunities, one of which was marketing a pet odor eliminator called "Poopouri" which was written off as a stupid idea. Come 2023, an actual product with the same concept called "Pooph" was introduced to the market. Ahead of his time perhaps?