Nellie Andreeva

Boy Meets World star Danielle Fishel raised a few eyebrows with her racy spread in Maxim magazine, which has given celebrity blogosphere fodder for the past couple of days. But the timing of the story — just a few days before Disney Channel‘s upfront presentation next Tuesday, also reverberated to the higher-ups at Disney. Fishel and her Boy Meets World co-star Ben Savage topline Disney Channel’s spinoff pilot, now in production, which somewhat surprisingly has sparked a ton of interest from fans — thus Fishel’s Maxim interview. But the racy photos and some information she shared in the interview, including a cocaine reference, which I hear came as a surprise to Disney executive and Boy Meets World creator Michael Jacobs, triggered rampant speculation that unhappy Disney Channel brass, led by topper Gary Marsh, would be yanking the hot project from the upfront presentation where it was to be a major piece. But while the Maxim cover may not have been the best way to re-introduce the family-friendly franchise to a new generation, the spinoff is not being banished from Disney Channel’s upfront presentation, a network spokesperson said. “While the project is a pilot, and hasn’t yet filmed, it will then be put through focus group testing so we won’t know if it will be a series for months to come — however, because we are excited about it, we are taking the unusual step of including it during Disney Media’s presentation to advertisers. Gary Marsh will make that presentation.”

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.