Darlene Vogel Meets World

Published Jul 10, 2023, 4:00 AM

Just days away from the start of Season 3 recaps, there’s just one last piece of unfinished business from the gang’s Freshman year at John Adams High School that needs attending to. It was during the rewatch that actress Darlene Vogel, and her nuanced, yet vital, role as Katherine “Kat” Tompkins, shocked the gang beyond expectations, forcing them to hunt her down and bring her on Pod Meets World.

Listen in as Darlene recalls her time on the show, digs deep into her Back to the Future II stardom and talks honestly about her time all over television. And…we reunite two former lovers that give the final word on whether or not 4 months is too early to talk marriage. Join us in the teacher’s lounge for this fun, and candid, interview!

M How about the fact that the Declaration of Independence wasn't signed on the fourth of July.

When was it signed.

It's it was people were staggering in to sign it. But it was July second is when everything was was actually done.

So they were holding off.

Like the famous the famous painting of all of the founding fathers and everybody together around the Declaration of Dependence.

None of that ever happened. That's not photograph exactly.

Never watched the documentary National Treasure.

Oh yes, starring Nick Cage. Yes, I watched it with my son. Not great. Not a great movie because it's a great movie. It is not Nick Cage is a National Treasure. I love Nick Cage.

But but it's it's back in the day, like when they would just be like a puzzle here and a puzzle there. Nah, they didn't talk. They didn't talk about the lack of everybody signing on the fourth.

Yeah, no, they were just he's the fourth well, because the fourth is it might have been ada. It was actually ratified. But again, these were men that were coming from all over the thirteen colonies, So it's the idea that they were all together at the same time to sign it.

Didn't happen.

People would stagger in, people would stagger and people would stagger in and they and they signed it and it was it was actually New York abstaining was the thing that finally allowed the law to pass.

Where where to get down?

So not everybody voted for independence, and that's where and so there are all these I mean, that's why it's so sad to see kind of what's happening in our country now because our country was founded on compromise. That's what our country was founded on. And so eventually New York just wouldn't vote yes or no. So they went to the New York delegation and said, just abstain. So they were with their abstention they were able to pass. But no, because I mean the South was making a ton of money from from England exporting you know, everything cotton and everything else that not everybody wanted to.

Declare, you know, independence. So that's why Lexton and Concord.

I mean, when the shot heard around the world and all that kind of stuff, I mean, it changed everything. But even when we were at war, and that was the thing General Washington, So General George Washington was a huge man, especially at the time, he was like six foot four when everybody else was like five foot three.

I mean, yeah, I was gonna say five to six, but that maybe.

Even empowering over people.

And he would go to when everybody was together, he would go to all of the discussions and the debates in full military regalia.

Wow.

So when the time actually came, it was John Adams who said we have to appoint a general and everyone thought, oh, of course, you're from Massa Chusetts. We were your state was your country. So if you were from Virginia, that was your country. If you were from Massachusetts, that was your country. There was no United States, so the everyone correct, right, but that's they called it their country. So if you when John Adams stood up, everyone's assumed he was going to pick somebody like his cousin Sam Adams, somebody like that to lead the Continental Army. Here's who I vote for, and they he said, there's only one person, and that's George Washington, who was from Virginia. And so Washington very you know, was very bashful in actually taking over the lead. But the whole I mean, the story of actually how our country came to be is just so amazing, and.

You know, I love this. I remember as a kid being like we would.

I would just get lost in conversations like this with you all the time because I knew nothing like I was so especially American history. I remember, because you grew up in Connecticut, you were surround like you just were steeped in it in a way that I knew nothing.

It was just it was such the entire and talking a bill about all this stuff was.

The what George Washington had wooden teeth?

I believe he did, because again at the time it was the wooden teeth were you know, your teeth fell.

Out all the time, and the versions of dentures.

Yeah, exactly, so his dentures were wooden. But there's all that.

I mean. The height thing is something like, what's the one thing if you hear not to jump to another country? But when you think of Napoleon, what are the things that you think at all short which he wasn't, which he wasn't at all. So the French how tall was he? He was five seven and the French inch was different than the English inch. The French inch was larger. So like the the major generals that he was fighting who were English were like five two and five three, and Napoleon was actually five seven, but they used it as a propaganda tool to say that he was the titque colonel or whatever they called him, when at the end of the day, that was actually a French affectation for how much his soldiers loved him had nothing to do with his size. It was like they would, you know, you'd call your baby the batite whatever, because it was a it was affection.

And so he was actually five seven.

So like the one thing everyone knows about Napoleon is actually untrue, and you get all that stuff. But that's why history is just so amazing and so fascinating.

Well, I just got another one from from husband Jensen, cart producer this podcast. It says the dentures were not would they were human cow and horse teeth, okay, with io pieces and alloy.

Oh.

I love learning new things. I love learning new things. It's like my favorite thing in the world to do.

Well.

I love learning new things from you, especially I really I think I think we could do an entire podcast episode that's just class with Will and Will we'll just come to the table with like three topics and he's gonna someat and he's just gonna educate us a little bit.

Will would you do that? Would you say, like, here are three.

Historical things that I think are the most interesting that you may not.

Know about it.

What if just what if we just you don't have any prep and we just say, oh my.

God, Egypt, what do you want to know? We'll just talk.

He knows everything, all right, Well, I think I'm in okay, welcome to bod Meets World. I'm Daniel Fishl, I'm right or Strong, and I'm Wilfredell. When we decided to sit down to rewatch Boy Meets World, which we continue to prove, sure, feels like we're watching it for the very first time ever. We knew we'd be surprised by a lot of things, some big ones already. That Minkis is only in season one, I'm clearly just not even a part of the show until he's three. The Feenie Call is a late addition, but one that really snuck up on us. Catherine Kat Tompkins, the immediate love interest of mister Turner, sure has an important and very present role, and it was excellently played by an actress named Darlene Vogel, who will quickly knew from Back to the Future two and as the host for the Back to the Future Ride at Universal Studios. But as far as much as she was on the show or how story driven her time with Tony was, we just did not know.

So we rushed to get her.

On the show when we found out, and we are so happy she responded to us and is willing to give us some of her time. In addition to Boy Meets World and the classic Back to the Future too, Darlene starred on the Santa Monica bicycle cop show Pacific Blue, a bit of like another Bawatch type but on ten speeds. She also appeared on Coach, two episodes of Full House as Danny Tanner's younger sister, house Castle, and Silk Stockings.

But today we will.

Force her to talk about her four episodes on Boy Meets World as the social studies teacher who Will thinks rushed way too fast into talking about marriage. Let's please welcome Darlene Vogel to Pod Meets World.

Yeah, I got it. Somebody else who hasn't aged what I.

Got your lighting in here? Oh yeah, it's all about the lighting.

You look fantastic. It's so great to see you. Oh, my gosh, we are so excited. I'm just gonna get it out of the way now. I see Will foaming at the mouth. What was it like to have Back to the Future to be your first feature film?

Were you nervous to join such a hit with all those big stars around you?

You know, it's crazy, is if.

We didn't even realize what it was when we were there, like it, and I mean, you know, it's great to work with Michael.

I don't even think I knew what the job was until I was on.

Set because it was so hush hush, and it was a three month process. And then when we were on set, was suppoed to beak for two weeks and we were there for two months.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah, were shooting two and three at the same time. Weren't they shooting both movies at the same time?

Okay?

They went two and three were back to.

Back, back to back, Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So when we finished two, then they went on to do three.

Yeah.

But you're on like that big cool back lot at Universal. It's this big, mega movie cool.

It was fun to walk around in my outfit and all the tourists were in the trams and they didn't know who we were because it was a new thing. No one saw us yet, so no one knew what we were.

So yeah, it was pretty cool.

You've got like punk hair and punk makeup and bits around your neck, right, and they put a.

Red contact in my eye because my eye is half blue and brown in really well.

He remembers that about you, absolutely, absolutely, yes.

So they got the idea from that, and yeah, it was just I mean, it's great. What it was really funny is like I didn't even.

Tell people I was in that movie for the longest time because it was so many years ago, and then when we did the twenty five year anniversary, all of a sudden, I go, oh my god. I mean, there's a lot of people that love this movie. And now when I mentioned it, it's crazy. It's like, what you know, and I go to year, I'm going to Milan, I went to Paris just to sign for people. I'm like, really, I mean, it's weird. It's just has this full resurgence and the fans are getting younger and younger.

We're just getting older and older. But it's great. Are we doing it till I'm three?

Yes?

So will we?

We're just still drugging along.

I know right. Well you all look amazing too. I have to say, you look exactly the same. Shit.

Thanks you do.

Do you have a Crispin Glover story.

I didn't work with Crispin.

It was because there was a lot Yeah, because there was a lot of.

That was a big thing and it's still a big thing.

Yeah.

Yeah. The first one there was contract disputes and a little bit of strangeness going on. So they ended up taking this guy, Jeffrey Eisman and putting his mask on him and just putting him upside.

Down, and then that became a problem.

Gotten away with that, I mean they.

Didn't really now there Now there's like a oh there's litigation involved and all that and all that way. Oh yeah, that's a whole big thing about just taking somebody's likeness and putting it in the second movie, and Crispin Glover.

Was like, hey, you know you can't do that. So it was thank you much. What you no?

I remember when you came onto the set, I was I knew instantly who you were really, Oh yeah, absolutely, and was It took me about a day to work up the courage, and then you started telling me stories from the set.

Oh so funny because.

It was just because you know, Tony and I are were nerds with that stuff, Tony and so we would just we would be like, we got to tell me what was like and then we started slow so it was like, hey, so you're like in Back to the Future or whatever, and then it was then it was just story after story after story.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, it was a great experience, I have to say. Yeah, and Michael was so sweet.

How big was being the video host of the ride, like so many people saw that, I know, And that.

Was funny because the wardrobe, the costumer from Back to the Future, she suggested me for the job and so I was like, okay, yeah, sure, I'll do it.

And then I went.

I showed up that day and the teleprompter had broken and I had all this dialogue and I'm like, I mean, thank god they let me kind of read off the sheet because I was supposed to be a reporter anyway.

So but that was crazy. Yeah, yeah, that was fun.

And then yeah, it was I went to the premiere or the ride, and that's where I saw Michael Jackson.

He was there with the whole with Macauley Culkin and a.

Whole group of kids and and then I got to go the premiere of that.

But yeah, it was pretty cool to do that, right. Yeah, that's all done now though. But there's this whole Back.

To the Future conspiracy that they think that Heather, my reporter character on the ride, is related to Spike, and I'm like, no, there's there's no.

It's so funny these stories that come up later.

It's an alternate timeline, a multiverse.

It's a multiverse thing.

Yeah exactly. Yeah, yeah, so cool.

You know what I do remember the one thing I do remember with you Will and writer with the teaching me that you can choot trident gum with the wrappers still on it and it dissolves in your mouth, right.

All the time? Did you know you can shoot try to guming with the paper?

I learned that from you guys, right, I forgot we used to do that. You just put it. It's like that you made your discovery. It works, it works like a charm. I love that.

That was funny.

Yeah, that was so great.

Wait, so the gang from Back to the Future, Yeah, it's you Casey Schmasco.

No, isn't Casey in it? So he's not in this The second.

Dean Logan and Jason scott Lee.

It was Jason Scott Lee was the other one. Okay, that's who I thought. It was Jason Scott Lee. And then of course Tom uh Tom Wilson. Yeah yeah, who's still is still Griff or Biff or Griff Yeah yeah, okay, that's right.

It was the new gang.

Casey Shamasco was in the the first and third.

And then they plucked one from each for the third one. I think you Reichy from us and like you should have picked a girl.

Yeah, but they did it.

Yeah, that would have been fun to be in the Western but yeah, crazy. Yeah, I'm still friends with them. I mean, Ricky and I talk all the time.

We do shows together.

Jason is in Hawaii or no, Yeah, he's in Hawaii. He's always working on something. Yeah, he took a break for a really long time.

But yeah, now he's back because right after that he did Dragon, the Bruce Lee story, and it was the one that really shot him to the whole.

Yeah it was great. So yeah it was old.

Yeah, we haven't all been back together since the twenty fifth year anniversary.

Yeah, sorry, I just need to geek out. You need you need to back to the future geek out. I just had to.

I's all right, I want to see my hoverboard. Yeah.

I was just going to ask you, what was it like filming the hoverboard scene?

But I have I have someone made me this. Oh, it made me this.

And then they also made me a skateboard.

That's awesome.

Cool, yazi cool. I never let my kids ride it though, I was like, you can't ride that.

What was it like shooting that scene?

Oh?

It was awesome.

I mean, you know, we just and they put us up on We had harnesses on and piano wires attached to a crane and they just flung us around the town.

It was just so I couldn't wait for.

That scene because we were we had to practice it and everything. But the story is, my first stunt double backed out because she knew.

The stunt was not perfected.

And I don't know if you know all this story, but so the day one day I had off was the big crash into the courthouse, and Eryl Wheeler, my stunt double, she what happened was when they were flying it to the courthouse, the crane was off like this much like maybe a half an inch and if you really slow that scene down you see her crash into the pole and then they released them because they were supposed to go through the glass and land on mats, which which the two other stunt doubles did.

But she dropped fourteen feet onto cement.

Oh my gosh.

And she had multiple, multiple, multiple surgeries after that.

And yeah, it was a huge thing.

I mean, I have to say because a Lisa A Color, who was my first stunt level she was like, this is not affected.

I'm not doing this and she knew like something was. She wasn't going to do it, but Cheryl did.

And yeah, oh my god, isn't it crazy that that wouldn't even be a thing nowadays?

Right, It would just all be green screen. You would just be like standing out stand somewhere. Yeah, that's crazy, Oh my gosh.

Yeah, but it was funny when you do watch that movie back, it's like a lot of those things come true and and just there's just some weird stuff. I mean, like Bob Gail the writer, you know that they so brilliant. The writing in that movie is just crazy. It still stands now.

Yeah that's the time.

Yeah, well let's jump into something else that we like to think stands The test of time, Boy Meets World. Do you remember your audition?

No, I don't.

So many people and they do exactly what you just did.

They go, you remember being on Boy I'm trying to.

Gonny because my kids, you know, they're friends.

When they a lot of them didn't even know it was an actress or anything, but they would freak out, oh my god, you're on Tooy Meets World and they love that. Sh So many kids still to this day love that show. It's another one that stands a tots of time. But I don't remember the audition. I think I already knew Michael Jacobs because why I worked on Charles in Charge. That was my first sitcom. I got it, and then I did a pilot called Misery Loves Company.

Yes, yeah, between yeah, but it didn't.

Go my version because I was with Rick Rossovich who then I got a job on The Pacific Blue.

But I don't think our version went.

But I remember David Trainer, Michael Jacobs, all those guys were on that, so.

I can't That would have been between our seasons one and two, so they probably you probably didn't audition, and then they probably just brought you radio.

They just brought.

Me in had you seen any of Boy Meets World? You don't have to say yes, had you Were you at all familiar with the show before you were then on it?

No? No, I wasn't. No. No.

I mean, of course I probably watched it before I went on it, because I always do all my research.

But yeah, well, we were so wildly impressed with your acting and also how important you are both to mister Turner storyline and the Seawan character development. Like what do you remember about taping the show? And do you remember anything about specifically working with.

Writer although you didn't really work with writer that much, like one scene where I walked in and.

Write when you were in trouble all the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.

You know, it's funny.

I rewatched the episodes this week, and it's it. It's funny because I shot like one hundred episodes of Pacific Blue, and I watched some of those episodes and I don't really remember half.

Of them shooting them.

But then when I watched Boybet's World, I go, oh my god, I remember this.

I remember this. I remember that so much. I remember when I put my hands.

On Tony's face, Tony's.

Face like that doing that go. I remember it was such a weird feeling. And then but when I was watching it back, I go, come, my voice is so high. Because I was younger, you know, I hardly had anything to do. I just felt so green. I was like, oh my god, it was so green. And I love that I got to work with mister.

Feenie, you know. I mean he's still.

Around, right, he's such a ninety six.

Yeah.

I remember just being in awe of him because he was such an established actor.

You know.

It was just such a professional. I loved working with all the kids. I remember being at a horse show once and Fred was at the horse show and I said, oh, I worked with your.

Brother Ben and you would come and you.

Know, and visit the set and He's like, okay.

But I just loved working with you guys because you had such great energy.

You are really the one thing that's really important is that you made me feel comfortable. Because I remember being on Charles in Charge was my first sitcom, and none of the actors said hello, none of them, no, yeah, I was a guest star, and they were just like they just didn't make us feel welcome. And I was like what, So I was just like I was like, Wow, I said, you know what, one day when I get on a show, I'm going to treat the extras the same the guest stars every because it's as family.

Yeah, And I remember being on your show and feeling like part of the family. You really made me feel good.

Yeah. I always hated guest starring and stuff because especially dramas, because you know, if it was a single camera drama, you might not even meet like of the cast. You only work with like one person. I always so intimidated. And it's like if you find if an actor comes up to you and it's nice to you and it's like welcome, or a director whoever is like bringing it, it's the best feeling.

You need that confidence because I mean being able to act from a place of like fear and insecurity is just impossible. It's so yeah, I don't know.

As we get older in this field, you know, and then you know, our roles are just different now and you go in to be a guest star and now it's not a guest star like it used to be. It's like very small sometimes and you just feel like I just sit the trailer and I go.

Why am I doing this?

I don't even like this anymore because when you're used to being a lead of a show and having that family and having that camaraderie, it's so hard to walk into another family because yeah, it's just different.

Yeah, were you saying something interesting about not remembering the Pacific Blue stuff. There's something about doing single camera where you're getting random scenes. You're shooting kind of every day all day, as opposed to sitcom where you're rehearsing one thing. It's like you're putting on a play. You've got to show night. There's something that kind of sticks in your head as opposed to just one thing, one thing, one.

Four days a rehearsal. Yeah, you do, and then there's a big night.

You know, there's a big night around it, and and there's a whole cool thing and all that kind of stuff.

So yeah, I love that being in front of an audience. And I haven't had that since my twenties. I mean that's when I used to do all that, you know kind of work.

But then after that it's always drama and now it's the crying mother all the time.

So it's like I never get to do, you know, comedy anymore.

So do you like doing multicams I did.

I really did love it because I love the audience. Although I don't like doing theater, but I love doing multicams.

Yeah, for sure.

Why don't you like doing theater?

I just I can't do the same thing week after week after week. I was. I did one play once that got extended to eight weeks. I go, oh God, really.

You know more of this? Yeah? I don't know how.

You know, like somebody like Nathan Lane does, like years of the producers on Broadway, like in his fifties. You're like, what every night, eight times a week, the same thing all the just it's yeah, it's a Mira.

They say it.

Feels different every because of the audiences are always to be sure. But it's just nothing I would want to do. I mean, I did a soap too for a year and a half and I said, never, I will ever do a soap ever.

And then you did eleven hundred episodes of a soap opera.

Oh my gosh. When I when I first did that soap, I was like, I cried to the executive producer every three weeks, I go.

Can you give me off the show? I couldn't handle it?

And give me Amnesia, drop me off, Elevator chef something.

It was like thirty pages a day. My last day was seventy pages.

Oh my gosh, I know it's possible.

You just had to go, Okay, what scene I am? What am I doing?

And you're pretty much saying the same lives as you said on Monday, but you're peating them on Thursday for who didn't see Monday. I mean, they're just rewording them and it's the hardest work ever.

We really spent quite a bit of time on the scene where you basically dump mister Turner for not being ready for a long term relationship, and you do it so subtly and you don't really need to, like Hammer at home. But also Will felt very adamant, very strong feelings that the character pressured mister Turner way too early at only four.

Surely, oh okay, you agree with Will because right away we're on the other side.

Yeah.

No, I'm a scorpio, so I'm like and I'm also the runaway bride and been engaged many times, so for me play that kind of a character, I was cringing watching myself on the couch the other day.

I go, what are you doing? The only one I.

Liked was when I was when I was being flirtatious with them and giving him a hard time about the dance, not asking him to do right. That was like that because I'm giving a little bit of a hard time. But I was just like, oh my god, we've been taking for three months, four.

Months, four months, we're gonna get married.

That means you want to marry me. I'm like, oh my god, how cringe.

Will is very vindicated, And I have to tell you I disagree with you.

I just I don't want to. I did too.

I thought calm logic in sitcom logic, like four months two, I mean two, like twenty something teachers in love like I don't know.

It made sense. It made sense to me.

It makes for a good story point because it makes for a great breakup. I mean, the way that you break up with him is actually really wonderful.

But again, we could have done this, could have done exactly we talked about this in the last one. We could have done exactly the same thing by just not using the word marriage.

Where is this going? Is there a future?

What's it going to be when you're talking married at four months? As I said, it was very nice meeting you. Please exit stage left. So yeah, it's.

No.

She should have she knows John Guturna.

She should have said, listen, I'm not the kind of girl that wants to get married, and then he'd be like, oh, I want to marry you.

In the game reverse psychology.

Like getting married.

Yeah. Yeah, but I guess it was only a four episode arc. I didn't even I don't even know.

I was gonna ask you, did you know that that was going to be your last episode? Do you remember if I originally signed on?

Yeah, I don't, I don't remember.

Yeah, hmm.

Interesting. You also had we talked about some of your experiences or being in awe of Bill Daniels. Do you have any great Bill Daniels stories, like for you got you had to have a lot of scenes with him.

I did, but he was I just remember him being just very professional and he wasn't a chatty guy, you know, just and plus you know me coming into a new uh you know, a set, you know, stuff like that.

I I don't. I'm not always myself where I'm very chatty, chatty, chatty.

I don't want to be that obnoxious guest star, you know, So I just let him lay the line, you know, because you never know. I mean I I did House, and we weren't allowed to talk to him more allowed. I was a guest star too, and I'm standing right next to uh, what's his name, the guy who played House.

No idea doctor House, Doctor House, the British doctor.

Couldn't even like ask him any questions, nothing, And I'm him to me.

We're standing doing the markings and this. Some sets are like that.

So I did a movie with Donald Sutherland and he has an eye contact rule.

Oh he can make eye contact. Well that's when I walk up and I go, nice to meet you, sir. Well, if you're in the scene with him, you can make eye contact with that.

But you know, his whole thing was that everybody, every crew member has to look away. Nobody can make eye contact with him. To the point that we're shooting in the houseboat and he was delivering some sort of he's like a creepy grandfather in this movie's delivering some kind of monologue. In the middle of his monologue, he looks up and he goes, there's a man outside that window looking at me, and like it was.

Like some passerby, not part of the crew. That was like outside the window looking.

In, but that through the whole take and you had to start over and the whole crew had to go out and like kick this guy away.

It's so ridiculous.

There's a there is an argument to me, when you're doing single camera stuff that if your eye catches somebody looking at you, you work eyes with them, and there can be a problem if you have too many lookie.

Louse, like in the line in the scene, if you're somebody's in your eye line. Okay, I understand that, but I'm walking on the set and the crew is not allowed to make eye contact.

Is you can bleep me looking ridiculous? Yeah, it's it's that is.

A stupid egotistical power trip that all comes from insecurity of this being an actor, and it's like, you're an idiot.

Sorry, you're just an idiot.

Our feeling is for will come on four months. That's also just saying you're not.

Good enough to look me in the eyes.

Please, I know, forget it. Also, though I feel like it's probably a little better now, but in the ninety I can only imagine how bad that was. This like those sets for women, specifically dart Oh yeah, yeah.

I mean, I have to say I've never had any me too stories like that on sets.

I'm pretty good.

But as far as yeah, actors being holier than thou, yeah, I've had those experiences for sure.

Except Michael J. Fox. He was not like that at all.

No, He's like the coolest guy. We got. Got a chance to meet him a couple of times, and he's so nice.

Every time you meet him. I remember I just because he was my idol. He's the reason that I became an actor.

Essentially.

He and Alan Aldo were the reasons that I decided to be an actor. And we got to meet him. I was with you, I think writer and Ben at Disney World and we walked up to him.

We're like, he's right there. We have to go say hi. We have to go say hi.

And Ben took the lead and he went, excuse me, sir. We just wanted to say and he went, sir, are you kidding me? I've known your brother since he was get over here, and like gave in a big hug.

How are you guys doing? He could not have been nicer to hum.

He gets some.

Parade through Disney World and he was in the car in front of us. He was like making faces and shouting things to us the whole time.

It was It's so validated everything I hoped he would be. It was like, oh my god, He's exactly what I wanted. It was amazing. I almost cried. I literally almost cried because he was just so cool.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He invited us to do his trailer for Margarite to Fridays and stuff. And I recently, right before COVID, I was in New York and I was walking down the street and I saw Tracy coming out of a restaurant and I go, oh, there's Michael's like Tracy and I go, oh, wait a minute, there's Michael. And I hadn't seen Michael.

Since the premiere. Woh wow, so like that many years ago. So my friend Linda was like, you have to say hi. You have to say hi. I go, yeah, I'll kick myself if I don't say hi.

Yeah.

So I walked over there and I said Hi. And I don't want them.

To think here I am a fan, you know, I'm like, Hi, Terracey, I'm Darklene. I played Spike and bad to Future two and They're like, oh my god. And so then we had a but then he had said it goes weren't you hurt?

And I said, no, that was my stunt up.

Yeah, but but yeah, it was really great to see him, and they were so gracious. They were so nice. You know, I said, Oh, I just went to Paris to do a show. They're like Paris, We've got a Philadelphia.

See him at the comic cons.

Nowadays it's always like Tulsa and yeah, stuff like that.

Yeah, speaking of very cool, you were cast as a love interest for mister Turner a ka Tony Quinn.

When do you remember the first time you met Tony?

Yes, I do, because he was he was so sweet. I remember him just being so sweet and so inviting. He really was.

He didn't Yeah, I mean he was great. I mean we we got along. I remember we got along really well. He's very comfortable to be with.

And yeah, he was a great guy in the world.

Yeah, and that hair maybe you know he said, least least pretentious person in the world.

Yeah, you guys, Well, we wanted to send you this little message from Tony Quinn. So let's bring in Tony Quinn.

What here? Hi?

How are you?

I'm doing great? You look fantastic.

So do you just shorter hair.

I see, ah, yeah, that's all gone.

When did you get rid of the mullet, Tony? I mean, I know that bullet, you guys, I told you you guys.

When when?

Uh?

I think the last episode that I did my hair was different.

Because they told me I wasn't coming back, so I cut off all my hair and I had to audition for other shows.

So I think the last episode I show up with way shorter hair.

MM. So funny he's back now.

Did you know that it is.

Nineties?

Yeah?

Not for me. I would look a little bit like Ben Franklin.

I like, hell o, thank you, thank you, Tony.

We just asked Darlene what she remembers about you and working together, and she talked about how sweet and warm and welcoming you were and really making her feel at home. What do you remember about meeting Darlene for the first time and working with her?

It was pretty much the same. I mean, she had this It was immediate.

It was like, welcome to the party, this is going to be great, and we just we just hit the ground running.

Yeah for sure.

Yeah, you guys had such great chemistry.

Yeah, yeah, easy to be around, easy to work with. It was great.

I just feel bad that I just really pinned you and like wanting to when you go you have such great eyes and like does that mean you want to marry me or something?

I'm like, oh my, it's like, what the heck, Tony, where do you stand? Where do you stand on that debate? We we talked about it when we watched the episode recently. Wright and I were both on Kat Tompkins side, which is, yeah, you know, at four months, you.

Guys are you guys? Are aren't like your Gaby Young?

It's at least worth saying, where do you see this being a thing for the future. It's it's a worth a check in. But Will is like the minute you say marriage at four months, you run out the door. And Darlene actually agrees with Will. So let's let you be the deciding. What do you think about how she handled that at that at that four.

Months I I sort of was kind of in agreement with her in terms of, you know, where is this going kind of thing? I mean, we're we're in our we're in our thirties, and it's like, are we just playing around or that's okay?

Yeah, but that's okay, that's okay. Is there a future here.

Well, just has a real problem with the marriage insantly going to marriage.

After I, Hey, you got great eyes? Does that mean you want to marry me? Like what he does say I could stare into your eyes forever verbally hyper people.

I don't know if Jonathan Turner was using hyperbole at that moment.

And how was she sing? Yeah, because when you say something like that, you better dag I mean it exactly.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, because you're not going to play around with somebody's emotions and say something like that flippantly.

I could stare into your eyes forever.

Is a declaration of undying love that will last for an eternity.

Well, you did use the forever word. I agree with you.

She just repeated, back, forever. That's what we talked about that for you get married. Yeah, we're working on time travel and then we have we have a lot of the mist of stuff we're doing with the show. When we actually invent time travel. We're going to get there, We're going to get We're almost there. We're really close so far. We have a styrofoam cup and we're doing.

Well, which is a telephone in Connecticut. Thank you very much. I grabbed it from you anymore.

I know.

One of the most uncomfortable scenes was when we were standing at the bar. It was at the first episode, standing at the bar, and we're just like no, like forehead to forehead.

And you've got like your hand on his chest and it's it's so we're in the makeout poetry bar.

Yes, yes, yeah.

Some of the romantic displays of like p d A that that we chose on the show.

World trafficked and PDA is like business wow, And I don't think we thought.

Anything like it was just normal.

Yeah, Tony, I don't want to take up any more of your time. Thank you for popping in to make a surprise my pleasure.

You guys look fantastic. You're doing great. It was Thank you so much for inviting me to be on Thank you.

Want to see you in Kansas City. In Kansas City on August six. We'll see you there, Tony. We love you.

That was so cute.

I love that we.

Wanted to have a little bit of a surprise for you.

And where does Where does Tony live?

Chicago is in Chicago the next Thursday.

We were so able to anticipate your responses and our responses that he actually taped that a week ago.

Amazing. Gosh.

Okay, So looking back now, nearly thirty years later, we are I mean, we're approaching the thirtieth anniversary of the first season, so you would have been just next year. Yeah, twenty nine years for you. Looking back, how do you feel about your time on Boy Meets World.

Oh, it's definitely, you know, I mean I love that I was on that show, and even you know, because it's a kids show and it was clean.

It was good, it was.

Fun, it was sweet, and you know, I just had a great experience of it. You know when I tell kids, like I said, you know when I was on that show, it's just everyone thinks very highly of that show because you guys were also so professional. It's like young ages and you know, just very professional, very sweet, very giving as actors. I mean, it's great to work with child actors back then and just know what they're doing, and you know, you just did and you just all had fun, which was great because some sets are not so fun.

I remember that set being really fun. We were all laughing a lot. You guys were so close, and yeah, it was just it was just always a great, great feeling.

It's always good to look back on a show and go, oh my god, that was a great experience. Definitely people that I was on it, because also it's still a big show today.

Well.

One of the most favorite things we have found doing this Rewatch podcast is how much of an appreciation it has brought to us about all of you, the adult actors we worked with, because we were honestly not really paying that much attention to the adult storylines, whether it's because we were in the school room or because.

Were if it was you and Tony in the scene, we wouldn't.

Be unless it was run through, and which case we'd see it that one time for run through and then we'd be into notes and getting, you know, into the next stuff. So being able to watch the show now as adults ourselves who are even significantly older than you guys were when you were on the show, it has it has really just been like, Wow, we were surrounded by such talent and you are one of the people that we were just mesmerized by watching the show.

So oh you're I mean, when I was watching it, I was like, I really didn't too much.

I mean, I I was a little.

Embarrassed it's like I had like little lines here and there.

But but that is it is true that they could have given you more and they they didn't.

You were you were Your.

Character was a little limited, but what you were able to do with it, you left such a mark, like you are memorable. Yes, you are memorable, your dynamic, you're fun to watch, even though they didn't really give you that much great stuff, but you really really make the most of it, and you stand out.

And it's and it was so.

Important for the storyline of of where you know, uh, it got Tony to Sean.

It got it got Tony. That's what I mean.

That became huge, hugely important because you were the catalyst for mister Turner realizing he wanted something in his life. He didn't know what it was, but wanted something, which then led us to the entire Sean Turner storyline, which was a huge story point for season three. So, I mean, you say you didn't have a lot to do, and you didn't, and they could have used you more, but I mean without your character, it wouldn't have gotten us there in such a natural way.

It really was a great kind of transition. Yeah, yeah, I know.

I was just like it's like, okay, bye, you're not going to be a bye.

Yeah, and then you're out.

Yeah, I do.

I hate to do this, though, I absolutely hate to do this.

I don't think you do.

I do.

I do?

Actually, I don't think you know I do do?

What what? The brand Modellis International, the company that sells Trident gum, has explained the rapper is not meant for human consumption, so you're not supposed to let you're not supposed to eat the try, the tried and wrapper.

I hate, after all these years.

To have there's ink on it as well. I mean, there's ink.

Did anybody really enjoy doing that?

Though?

I mean we thought we all did it once we heard you could. It was a party trick.

It was great, but that it does make the gum unenjoyable, so you don't actually keep doing.

It, right, It turns out that not only was the gum unenjoyable, but it's also probably poisonous to us.

So yeah, well we're all still here.

We managed to make Maybe that's why no one's aging. It's all. I mean, Will does have a tail, and we have been wondering where that came from. But I do it's vestigial. It's fine. Well, Darlene, thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate it. It was great to catch up with you.

Yeah, it's so funny because I was on a retreat last summer and the girl that I met, Christine, she lives in Massachusetts, and she.

Just happened to text me. She goes, I'm listening to.

This podcast by Boy Meets World and all that, and I was like, oh really, and so I love to chime in.

So yeah, she's so happy that I'm coming up. There's so much I can't wait to listen to it.

We're we're finally, at some point in the in the near future, going to be doing a party for everybody we want to, like a bit like.

Really big, everybody we have contact information for, and even people we don't, but we're going to try to find We're going to try to do something maybe at Writer's house. I think probably the easiest way to plan it and giving everybody enough time is like to send out a save the date and do it sometime at the early part of next year, so we will be in touch with you and it'll be a big Pleas.

For inviting me into the family. Thank you are you guys all with Greg. So happy to be here and thanks so much for having me.

So good to see you just see so hopefully bye bye bye bye. Well that was fun and it was fun to have a mister Tony Quinn pop in and do a little surprise did you guys? Did you guys? Like all the Back to the Future talk, I'd.

Never heard the.

Horrible and I want to them with the cranes like I knew that that's till I did it. Like I've definitely seen some behind the scenes footage, but I never heard the injury story. That's that's a bummer.

Man.

I want to be on a set like that once in my life. I don't need lines. I will be a background. Just a huge, huge movie like a star back to the Future where you're on you know the best Now it's just like it was just a bunch of Tom Cruise movie and then it's all practical. Oh man, I would do that in two seconds. I would hold his motorcycle and just to be here, you go, mister Cruz. That's all I need to do that a big movie star.

Like, Yeah, I've always wanted to be on the you know, I I think I told you guys that I was really close to getting apart and hook like the movie because they built a whole pirate ship.

Yeah, and it was like they took over the stage.

You know.

It's like back in the day when they would just build everything. Oh my god, and like I never got to do that, you know. But also like I love how she's like we were shooting for two months. It's like, yeah, on those big things, especially back in the day, you would spend like all day on one eighth of the page, like one eighth of a page in the script, and you are just getting so much coverage and everything takes so much preparation and like that it must be exhausting in its own way.

Do you know the original time Machine was a refrigerator. Yeah, in the original draft that talk about change. You're breaking in the break into three rather than like getting to the they had to like break into a.

A nuclear power plant.

They didn't.

They didn't come up with a giggawatts thing until later, but yeah, so originally it was like them just the whole third act was then breaking into a power plant to like get material.

The first Back to the Future is perfect, It's a perfect script. It's perfect as a film. There's nothing wrong with it. It's so amazing.

I teach it. I teach it.

It's like my fourth lectures back to the Future. It's it's like, it's like so fundamental screenwriting. Every single you know, talk about set up and pay off, every single line of dialogue, every single shot pays.

Off, pays off.

I mean, it's echo. It's like, yeah, it's the platonic ideal of set up and pay off. It's just me, Oh god, it's such a good movie. Yeah, okay, Well, thank.

You all for joining us for this episode of Pod Meets World. As always, you can follow us on Instagram pod meets World Show. You can send us your emails pod meets World Show at gmail dot com. As we mentioned, Tony Quinn will be joining us in Kansas City on August sixth, and uh.

As always, we have merch. You built a time machine out of merch. Pod Metsworldshow dot com.

We'll see y'all next time. We love you all, pod dismissed. Pod Meets World is an iHeart podcast produced and hosted by Danielle Fischel, Wilfredell and Writer Strong. Executive producers Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman, Executive in charge of production, Danielle Romo, producer and editor, Tara Sudbachs producer, Jackie Rodriguez, engineer and Boy Meets World superfan Easton Allen. Our theme song is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon. You can follow us on intra at Podmeets World Show or email us at Podmeets Worldshow at gmail dot com

Pod Meets World

We're sending you to 1993 when TGIF reigned supreme and “Boy Meets World” first premiered. Danielle, 
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