Adam Scott ‘Finally’ Confronted ‘Boy Meets World’ Star Rider Strong About What’s Bothered Him for Nearly 3 Decades Since He Guest Starred

Back in the ’90s, way before Parks & Recreation, Step Brothers, and Severance, Adam Scott had a role on the hit ABC sitcom, Boy Meets World. The series centered around the trials and tribulations of Corey Matthews (Ben Savage) and his friends and family.

For seven seasons, the show focused on Matthews growing up, along with friends Shawn Hunter (Rider Strong) and Topanga Lawrence (Danielle Fishel). Rounding out the cast were Will Friedle as Corey’s brother Eric, and William Daniels as neighbor and teacher George Feeny. 

Guest stars who appeared on ‘Boy Meets World’

Over the course of the series, many future stars appeared on Boy Meets World as guest characters. Before appearing in American Beauty, American Pie, and American Horror Story, Mena Suvari appeared on BMW as Lori, Eric’s girlfriend’s cousin, who went on a date with Shawn. 

Brittany Murphy, most well-known for her role as Tai Frasier in Clueless, played Topanga’s annoying best friend Trini Martin for two episodes during Season 3. Sadly, Murphy died in 2009. In Season 5, Corey cheats on Topanga with a girl named Lauren. She was played by Dead to Me star Linda Cardellini.

A few different actors portrayed Topanga’s mother, Rhiannon Lawrence. Marcia Cross of Melrose Place and Desperate Housewives was her Season 7 mom. 

Then there was a character named Griff Hawkins, played by Adam Scott. Hawkins appeared as a transfer student and school bully. He was seen in a few episodes during Seasons 2 and 3.

What happened between Adam Scott and Rider Strong during ‘Boy Meets World’?

Former castmates Strong, Lawrence, and Friedle host a podcast called Pod Meets World. The three rewatch episodes of the ’90s hit and share their memories and behind-the-scenes stories. Former guest stars often join them to discuss all things Boy Meets World.

One recent guest was Adam Scott, who shared some surprising thoughts for the hosts. He told them he’d been looking forward to “finally” asking Rider about “something that has been bothering” him “for 29 years.”

That something happened when they were all backstage watching the season 2 finale. 

“The scene ends, everyone just erupts and starts cheering,” he explained. “Blake and Ethan [Joey and Frankie on the show] high-five and hug, they come up to me and high five and are just cheering… Then Blake and Ethan go up to you, Rider, and give you a high five and hug you and after they do that I’m like, hey, congratulations, buddy, and give you a high five and go in and hug you.”

Scott went on, “And as I do that,” Adam recalled, “you push me off and you give me this look like, ‘Wait a second, who the f*** are you?’ and then you ran away.”

Strong, along with Fishel and Friedle, were shocked by what Scott told them and said they had no recollection of the incident. Rider was visibly uncomfortable and exclaimed, “Are you serious?! Why would I do that?!”

Scott shot back with, “I’m so glad you don’t remember that because to some extent that means it wasn’t a traumatic experience for you.”

Later in the podcast, Strong did admit he may remember the incident a little more dramatically than it actually happened, but doubled down on the fact that it did happen.

What was the issue between Adam Scott and Danielle Fishel?

That wasn’t the end of the uncomfortableness during the podcast. Fishel brought up another incident. 

In a Vulture interview, Scott talked about his time on Boy Meets World, and something he read on a message board, “I remember reading someone posting that they were friends with the girl that played Topanga [Danielle Fishel], and Topanga had told this person that no one at the show liked me very much.”

He said that this information “crushed” him, although he always felt he was “on the outside” on the set. He finished by saying, “And sure enough, the next episode they wrote me off.”

Fishel wanted to clear things up, and told him, “For one thing, that just wasn’t true. Nobody didn’t like you, that was not the situation.” She continued, “The second reason was because I didn’t talk about Boy Meets World at school. If someone asked me a question I would, but it wasn’t super cool to be gone from school all the time.”

Whatever did happen, Scott had a hard time with the cast of Boy Meets World.