While Mr. Feeny was everyone’s favorite teacher, Boy Meets World fans also have a special place in their hearts for the youthful Mr. Jonathan Turner. Viewers loved the hip, motorcycle-driving English teacher played by Anthony Tyler Quinn. He was another stable adult figure for the younger members of the Boy Meets World cast for a few seasons. The last time viewers saw Turner on the show, he was lying in a hospital bed in Season 4. Interestingly, Quinn has now revealed that he almost joined the cast during the first season and finally explained why his character was written out.
Before Boy Meets World hit the airwaves, Quinn had met series creator Michael Jacobs while working on a TV pilot. Unfortunately, the project was passed over, but Jacobs never forgot about the sitcom vet. He called the actor shortly after the failed pilot, asking to work together again. During his appearance on Pod Meets World, Quinn went onto revealed that the BMW creator wanted him to read for a big role -- Cory Matthews' father:
He goes ‘I’m working on this new show. It’s called the Ben Savage Project. I said ‘Yea, I think that’s the thing Willie [Garson] was telling me about.’ He goes ‘I want you to read for the part of the dad. My only problem is I think you’re going to play too young. But we’re going to do it anyway.
So he came close to playing Alan Mathews, as the star even met with Seasons 1 and 2 director David Trainor and the producers. He also ended up reading with Cory Matthews himself Ben Savage, to see if they would make a good TV father-son match. The veteran actor went on to say:
So I read, and they thought I was really great and funny and everything. He said, ‘We want to bring you to network, but I sorta want you to age and dress well.’ So I do that, and I got over to ABC at Avenue of the Stars. That’s where I first met Ben. Cause Ben was there at [the] network at the time… He and I read together for the part of the dad. We did really great. It was a lot of fun.
Unfortunately, the Boy Mets World alum didn’t end up playing the Matthews patriarch. Yet he was still on Michael Jacobs’ mind as the producer invited him to lunch before Season 2. The sitcom impresario offered the actor a chance to read for Mr. Turner. Anthony Tyler Quinn revealed that Jacobs was initially sheepish about auditioning him, as he cautioned to Quinn that he may not get much to do as part of an ensemble cast. That didn't bother the actor one bit, though.
During the podcast, the conversation turned toward Mr. Turner’s mysterious Season 4 disappearance. Co-host Danielle Fishel mentioned that fans had been asking what happened to his character, and Quinn has faced the same questioning in recent years. The BMW alum went on to reveal that Jacobs spilled the original plans for Mr. Turner in the fourth season after wrapping on the third:
I saw Michael Jacobs across the stage, and I want to say congratulations and [ask] what do you think about how my character’s developing and how he’s interacting with everybody? He goes ‘Great. We think it’s all great. We’re very excited and can’t wait for Season 4. He shared a little bit with me about what he wanted to do with me for Season 4. They wanted to dive a little deeper into our relationship, Rider… So, I was very excited for Season 4.
But something changed between filming the Season 3 finale and the fourth season as Mr. Turner was only in a handful of episodes that season. With this, the star opened up more about what led to him leaving the classic sitcom after Season 4, and it seems that it stemmed from a change that was requested by the powers that be:
So that was the end of March in ’96. Remember that conversation ‘cause in June of ’96 I get a phone call from Michael Jacobs and he’s like ‘Okay. I got some bad news.’ And I was ‘Okay. Uh-oh.’ He’s like ‘so, you’re not coming back for Season 4. Maybe sparingly like five or four episodes. But definitely not Season 5. You’re not coming back.’ Now, I get the concept that in show business there’s no such thing as job security, but this just seemed like a radical reversal. Cause we just had a conversation two months ago that everything was great. So, I just go, ‘What happened?’ and he goes, ‘So the network and the studio came at us last minute with some change. They said the kids are going into high school now and we wanna explore that whole dynamic, so we’re going to change it up. It was kind of unexpected [and] last minute, so there was nothing we could do to save it. He goes, ‘It is what it is,’ and that was it.
Anthony Tyler Quinn admitted to feeling sad about his departure, but it had nothing to do with the job itself. He missed not being around the cast and crew anymore. The Someone Like Me actor equated his dismissal from the series to “getting kicked out of the house.” After delivering the shocking news, Jacobs gave the Mr. Turner actor his blessing to seek other acting gigs. Though he would later be put in a precarious situation during pilot season, as he went on to explain:
This is where the story gets interesting. This is in June of ’96. Now, you fast forward to February of ’97 I was gearing toward pilot season in ’97 because I had to get a job… So I was getting really close to landing this pilot I had auditioned for Fox. I jumped through all the hoops and wanted to bring me to [the] studio and meet everybody there at the network. And I was thinking ‘This is great.’… So they’re going to bring me to network. I get a phone call from my manager, and he goes, ‘We have a huge problem.’ And I’m like, ‘Of course, there’s a huge problem. Why wouldn’t there be a huge problem.’ I’m like, ‘What’s the problem?’ He’s like, ‘Disney’s not letting you out of your contract.’ I was honestly confused because it’s been nine months since I got that phone call from Michael… I’m like ‘You mean, Boys Meet World,’ and he’s like, ‘Yeah.’ I told him, ‘You know as well as I do that they called me and told me I was being dismissed.’ He said ‘Well, they say your contract is still active, and they’re not letting you out of it.’
While the circumstances are tense, Quinn wasn’t too bothered as he was satisfied with either returning to Boy or having Fox negotiate or buy him out of his Disney contract. Even with his easygoing attitude, he understood the ramifications that could result from both studios not agreeing. At one point, his manager floated the idea of suing the House of Mouse. Thankfully, things didn’t get that far, as the company let him out of his contract.
One still can't help but scratch their head when pondering the decision to eliminate Anthony Tyler Quinn's Turner from the show. At the very least, the actor did get to reprise the role years later in the Disney Channel sequel series Girl Meets World. While it honestly stinks that things turned out they way they did, it's good to at least have some clarification. It's also good to know that so many people connected with the character and still talk about him today.
You can hear more BTS stories (like Jason Marsden's exclusion from the Season 5 finale and Lindsay Price's guest spot) by listening to iHeartRadio's Pod Meet World. You can follow the rewatch podcast by streaming every season of Boy Meets World using a Disney+ subscription, including the very special episode featuring Beverly Hills 90210 alum Lindsay Price.
