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Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Boy Meets World would have been better if they maintained the original ages and grades of Cory, Shawn, and Topanga.

Cory, Shawn, and Topanga (CS&T) were in the 6th Grade at the start of the series, the 1993-1994 school year/TV schedule. We knows this because in S1E09, **Class Pre-Union**, Mr. Feeny tells the class they will be "the graduating class of 2000" and a banner displayed at the class pre-union also reads "Welcome Back, Class of 2000". It's also stated that Cory is 11 years old, and Eric is 15 years old, establishing a four-year age gap. We know *this* because he fails his drivers test in S1E15, **It's a Wonderful Night**, having turned 16 at or around that time.

We also know that in S2E01, **Back 2 School**, CS&T start 7th Grade and their first year of what should 6 years of high school at John Adams High. This lines up with the 1994-1995 school year/TV schedule, setting up the expectation that each season of TV will cover more or less one school year.

Over the course of the 7 season run of the show, that *would* have pegged CS&T to end the series graduating high school, and Eric graduating college (or entering his senior year, depending on whether the writers would have had him put in the work to make up the year he didn't get into college).

However, by Season 4 (as stated in S4E03, **I Ain't Gonna Spray Lettuce No More**), CS&T are in 11th grade while Eric is still in his one-year off from schooling. Further evident of this time jump is the high school graduation of CS&T in the S5 finale and their freshman year of college in S6. For reasons I am personally not a fan of, the show jumped CS&T's class up two years, from the class of 2000 to the class of 1998, while maintaining the school year/TV schedule alignment for other characters.

While I'm sure from a writer's perspective there were more compelling stories to be mined with Eric and Cory being two years closer in age, the time jump narratively hurt the show and reeked of a shark jump. The college application process, SAT prep, and overall educational drama for CS&T were rushed through in order to get them to college. The relationships Feeny had with Shawn and Topanga seemed artificially enhanced to get them to align with his relationship with the Matthews brothers, whereas following S&T through six years of high school could have seen that properly fleshed out. The pains of college planning (whether Shawn could get in, whether Topanga would choose Cory or going to Yale) went by in the span of 2-3 episodes. Eric's growth as a character was stunted in order to keep him in the circle of CS&T, which ended up hurting the later additions of Jack and Rachael.

TL;DR: Boy Meets World jumped the Class of 2000 up to the Class of 1998 during the run of the show, and this move made the show worse for most of the characters, CMV.
gpt
Aging up the characters allowed the writers to handle subject matter that might have otherwise been inappropriate by the network's standards. Corey and Topanga's relationship turning sexual, for example, is probably something they wouldn't have otherwise gotten away with on a family network. Same goes for subplots that touched on themes of alcohol and death.