25 of the most memorable TV teachers

Mr. Feeny – Boy Meets World 

Everyone remembers their favorite teacher. In fact, for lots of us, Mr. Feeny is that teacher for us. Let’s face it, no real life teacher with real life budget problems, over-crowding issues and student apathy could ever measure up. But Feeny makes it all look effortless, and the kids in his class gravitate to his omniscience and wisdom.

Although the show is mostly about Cory (Ben Savage) and Topanga (Danielle Fishel) and their coming of age, Mr. Feeny’s a major influence in their development. He becomes the touchstone for every character to vent, confess, confide and rebel against. In fact, he is the backbone of the show, generally grounding everyone when the silliness started to take over. He was more of an authority to everyone rather than a mentor.

It’s sort of a running joke that Mr. Feeny follows the group throughout their entire school journey — all the way to college, in fact. The show couldn’t really function without him, and production wrote him into every school situation the characters faced. Not only is he Cory’s teacher, but he also lives next door to the Matthews family, so he became the confidant and peacemaker for the entire crew.

Although he winds up being everyone’s eventual hero and (sort of) friend, he isn’t always so eager to be so involved in their interpersonal drama. He tries to keep his relationships with Cory, Topanga and Shawn strictly that of teacher/student, but they eventually wear him down. As the series wound down, Mr. Feeny often seeks out the others, and feels disappointed when he is left out. Conversely, the rest of the characters become unnerved if Mr. Feeny isn’t around to hear them out or solve their problems.

You can watch the entire series on Hulu.