A boy meets the worldIt is Danielle Fishel, Strong rider And Will Friedle We returned to what might be the series’ most beloved and beloved episode: the terribly funny “And Then There Was Shawn.”

The 1998 episode, which aired during A boy meets the worldThe fifth season of , has been included in recent years on several lists of the best ’90s sitcom episodes and the best Halloween episodes of all time. A send-up and homage to teen slasher films like Shout And I know what you did last summerwhich were huge at the box office at the time, the episode shows the show’s teenage cast being terrorized by an invisible killer while trapped in detention, and features an appearance from a scream queen. Jennifer Love Hewitt.

“It’s consistently considered perhaps the best episode of A boy meets the world history and it is a let off steam” Fishel, 43, said on the most recent episode of the trio’s rewatch podcast. Pod meets the world.

“And Then There Was Shawn” is so popular among fans of the series that Fishel, Strong and Friedle dedicated three separate episodes of their podcast to it, culminating with their well-timed Halloween recap, released on Thursday, October 31.

But as the hosts noted, “And Then There Was Shawn” wasn’t In fact a Halloween episode, originally broadcast in February.

“Can you imagine tuning into TGIF – in February – when you’re 9, 10 years old?” Strong, 44, said of the episode, in which several of the show’s main characters were murdered in — spoiler alert — what turns out to be an extended dream sequence. “It must have been so shocking.”

“You read comments from people like, ‘That struck a chord with me,’” Friedle, 48, noted.

“It scared a lot of kids,” Fishel admitted.

“I mean, there are certain episodes that stick with you after all these years,” Friedle said. “And I think for a whole generation of kids, that was everything to them.” I mean, this one really ruined them. I love it.

Despite the unexpected scare factor, the trio also praised the episode for featuring some of the show’s all-time best jokes and gags. A particularly darkly funny moment was guest actor Richard Lee Jackson’s Kenny – a timely reference to the oft-killed character. South Park character – slumped on the ground with a pencil stuck in his forehead, leaving a line on the wall behind him. Ben Savage’s Corey points to the top of the mark saying, “We’ll always remember it being so big.” »

“Is it possible that this is the most perfectly crafted prank ever?” A boy meets the world‘” Fishel asked on the podcast, while Friedle maintained that it was “up there with anything on Seinfeld Or Friends Or All in family.”

Another notable element, according to the animators: Strong’s character admits that he “will get as sick as possible without dying”, after another character notes that in horror films, only virgins survive the carnage.

“This episode was just on a different level,” Friedle enthused, later noting that the reason everyone’s performances in the episode are so funny was because “the things we were doing in rehearsals made it so funny. one for the other, we decided to do it for the series.” .”

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Apparently the casting had a bit Also however, it’s a lot of fun on set. According to Friedle, Strong and Fishel, the episode marked the first and only time in a long time A boy meets the world director Jeff McCracken shouted at them as they couldn’t stop laughing during one particular shot.

“We totally deserved it,” Fishel recalled. “We couldn’t hold on. We lacked so much professionalism.

McCracken, she said, as she walked off the set, “the minute he was around the corner, we all burst out laughing again because it was so shocking and so out of character, and we physically couldn’t stop laughing.”

“Sorry, Jeff,” Fishel added. “You know how much we love you. If we could go back and do it again…we would probably do it exactly the same way.