1. Pilot

Complete story — includes the ending

Middle school begins for Cory Matthews ( Ben Savage ) and his best friend, Shawn Hunter ( Rider Strong ). They talk to their teacher, Mr. Feeny ( William Daniels ), and Cory attempts to eat candy for breakfast. They soon begin their class discussions and Mr. Feeny is teaching William Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet, and how two students will portray those roles. Meanwhile, Cory is not paying attention and is listening to the Philadelphia Phillies game on a personal radio. Cory gets caught and argues with Mr. Feeny that it is an important thing. Cory and his older brother, Eric ( Will Friedle ), planned to go to the game but he dumped him in order to bring a girl out on a date. Later, Cory told his parents, Amy ( Betsy Randle ) and Alan ( William Russ ), but they do not show sympathy that he had detention on the day of the game. Cory feels that his parents don't care about him and he moves himself into his tree house. While there, he spots Mr. Feeny talking to someone in the phone and is eating alone for a dinner made for two. Cory goes back into the house and Amy tells him that when people grow up they get different interests. After this talk, Cory is ready to face detention. The next day, Cory tells Mr. Feeny that he saw him eating alone, and Mr. Feeny gives him a speech about "the power of love", and uses the Matthews family as an example. Cory later moves out of the tree house and back at home. Meanwhile, Eric returns from the game and tells everyone how miserable he was on the date. Cory convinces Eric to call the girl back because he said, "I'm told love is worth it". In the post-credits, Cory is having a tea-party with his little sister Morgan ( Lily Nicksay ) and tells her that he will never ditch her for a girl. Mr. Feeny asks a teacher out for dinner, and reveals that the night Cory saw him having dinner alone, was supposed to be with him and his sister who cancelled at the last minute. Guest stars: Cynthia Mace as Evelyn, Krystin Moore as Vanessa Absent: Lee Norris as Stuart Minkus