tek's rating: ½

The Zack Files, on YTV (Canada) / Fox Family Channel (USA)
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This aired for awhile on Fox Family (which would later become ABC Family). And it aired for awhile on FOX. I only ever saw a bit of it, and it was just sort of okay. One of countless shows about kids investigating the paranormal. Or whatever. I guess it was based on a series of books, which I've never read. Anyway, the main character is Zack Greenburg, who lives with his divorced father, Daniel (who's a pretty nice guy, but kinda clueless). Zack goes to an all-boys high school (which kinda seems to me like a prep school, I dunno). He has a couple of friends named Cameron Dunleavy and Spencer Sharpe. Cam is basically the "cool" kid, or whatever. Spencer is more interested in paranormal investigations, kind of an expert on such things. And some very weird things happen to Zack (who is otherwise the most normal person on the show), so Spencer begins keeping records of these events, which he calls "The Zack Files." And Cam and Spence may help Zack deal with the weirdness, in the meantime (though Cam is more interested in taking advantage of the weirdness). There's also a girl named Gwendolyn Killerby (Katie Boland), who hangs out with the three of them sometimes. Gwen goes to their school, the only girl there, because her father is the headmaster. She definitely doesn't believe in any of this paranormal stuff, and usually seems kind of annoyed that they do believe, so it's kinda hard to understand why she's even friends with them, but whatever. And there's a rich kid at their school, named Vernon Mantueffel, who is pretty much a jerk, and often an antagonist.

Well, the stories are basically kind of lame, but it's still interesting, I guess. You know, cheesily amusing. Silly. Cute. Whatever. And I should say that the end of (almost) every episode has Spencer basically filming short interviews with various characters, concerning what's happened (whether they believe it or not). Of course, there's never any real evidence, so the Zack Files only consist of what Zack or anyone else says happened. Anyway, I dunno what else to say. Except Zack's dad was dating someone named Jennifer. And we occasionally saw Zack's grandmother, Leah, who had some knowledge of the kind of paranormal stuff Zack was going through (apparently it runs in the family, but skips a generation). And it's possible Gwen and Cam could have feelings for each other. I'd really like to see if that's explored more in the second season. And toward the end of the first season, Zack started dating a girl named Sarah (Shadia Simmons). She was only in a couple episodes, but apparently she was in more episodes in the second season, which isn't available on DVD. Um... but the first season is on DVD, which I have watched (like a decade after I first saw a bit of the show on TV). I'd definitely like to see the second season someday, but I don't know if I will or not.


kid stuff
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