Trina McGee, the star of "Boy Meets World," was the only series regular who didn't appear in the series finale. In a podcast interview with some of her former co-stars, she discussed why she has carried the grief of that decision with her for more than 20 years.
On the ABC sitcom Rider Strong, McGee portrayed Shawn Hunter's girlfriend Angela Moore. She said that Strong, Danielle Fishel, and Will Friedle expressly requested to have her removed from the series' last episode back in 2000 during an interview for their podcast Pod Meets World.
"We still haven't covered some of this ground. A very important person informed me in a strange, casual manner that you all went to [showrunner] Michael Jacobs and said, "We don't want her in the last episode." She's stealing our glow in some way. That was basically all "The three coworkers were surprised when she revealed this to them.
"After I finished filming the previous episode of the show, titled "Angela's Ashes," I was informed of this. I was so excited when Michael told me, "Oh, we're going to do another show on Angela," not realising that this would be the show before the final show "She continued, remembering how she had previously questioned a cast member over their absence from the previous episode.
"Because I am aware that the final programme would be the one with the highest ratings, the most tears, and everything else. I thought y'all got together and decided not to have me on the last show because I was going to take some shine or something along those lines "She went on. "That truly hurt me for a long time," the speaker said.
McGee claimed that her family members had even questioned why she had been excluded, which had made her realise how genuinely "weird" it was. She continued, "I have had that in my head for 20 years.
For the record, Trina, can we state that never occurred? asked Friedle. Fishel said, "I swear on the life of my children," before Will declared, "I swear on both my marriage and wife." He yelled, "This ticks me off, I'm sorry, this is second level insanity."
"I agree with you. Your responses have shown me, "McGee answered. "Despite never having watched the show, I've got that in my head for a very long time. I've always had a bad feeling. I felt a lot of pain from that."
Having been set against one another and experiencing hostility from one another in the past, Fishel and McGee both recalled. They added that they have now worked things out as they have discussed their personal experiences with one another. "What a waste that we couldn't discuss this right now. We could have assisted one another "Fishel added.
Although Shawn and Angela were an interracial couple on the programme, this fact was never brought up in the screenplay, which was another aspect McGee took problem with but chose to downplay in order to preserve her job. She claimed to have even written an opinion piece for the New York Daily News at the time defending the show's decision not to address the couple's race, but she later clarified that the article was actually co-authored by her then-husband and a publicist.
"It wasn't entirely my organic viewpoint, and I didn't want to take it on. Funny enough, Lorraine Toussaint responded in writing to the Daily News, saying, "No, you must accept that they are two separate races coming together. It's a severe matter," "She remembered. I kind of concurred with what she stated after reading what she had to say.
I would have written the opposite article if I could go back in time and have the benefit of hindsight, she continued. If I had my way, we would have made more jokes about our differences or a scene where you visit my house and the food is different.
She later remarked to her co-stars, "You guys are so lucky you didn't have to worry about so many things.
