Will Friedle

The Dustys, the Julie Yang Silvers, the Cowpens.

We had people pitch themselves.

We hounded publicists.

We signed up for LinkedIn, for Christ's sakes.

But this week, we have a new way.

Through the praise of Jeff Manel.

When we asked him the writer he was saddest to see leave through the show's always revolving door, he answered with a name we had never focused on before—

Even though we had obviously recapped his episodes by that point, the name just didn't ring a bell.

Jeff explained this guy just never really got a chance to shine on staff.

But more importantly, the staunch vegetarian once dressed as a chicken to protest the crew's incessant desire to order kookaroo for lunch every day.

And well, then we knew we had to bring him on to Podmeat's world.

He's a playwright, screenwriter, director, and author who has written or co-written more than a dozen books advocating a diet of whole plant foods.

Books like Food is Climate and America Goes Vegan started with just an online guide to vegan restaurants in the late 90s and a website, happycow.com.

But in Hollywood, he began his career on St.

Elsewhere, China Beach, and the TV adaptation of Parenthood, before landing on Blossom, where he wrote nine episodes and functioned as a supervising producer for seasons two through four.

And he recently wrote and directed a movie, Buddhist Blues, which we will hear all about.

But today, we are forcing him to focus on the one year he worked on Boy Meets World, penning a few bangers, pairing off Wake Up Little Cory and Danger Boy for season two.

And yes.

Also, the time he dressed as a chicken to make sure everyone knew how he felt about the constantly devoured rotisserie combo from Cuckaroo.

Welcome to Pod Meets World, writer, producer, and activist, Glenn Merzer.