Nostalgia Nook—So Weird!

Who remembers Zoom Disney? It was a block of programming that aired on Sundays. It featured Disney’s own reality show entitled “Bug Juice.” If you aren’t singing the theme song, the show was about kids at summer camp. The show followed their daily activities for an entire summer. But this post isn’t about Bug Juice. It’s about another show that aired in the block.

So Weird.

Beware of Bigfoot and SPOILERS!

The show tells the story of Fiona “Fi” Phillips (Cara DeLizio). She lives with her mother Molly (Mackenzie Phillips) and her brother Jack (Patrick Levy). Molly is a rock star on tour. She has taken her son and daughter along, where they live with Molly’s manager Irene (Belinda Metz) and her family. This includes her husband Ned (Dave Ward) who drives the bus and their son Clu (Erik von Detten), Jack and Fi’s closest friend. Later, their other son Carey (Eric Lively) joined the families on the bus as well while Clu went off to college. 

Fi’s life is guided by the tragic death of her father when she was only three years old. As she investigates what happened, she encounters what can only be classified as “paranormal.” In the first season, Fi receives e-mails about future events. She deals with Bigfoot, aliens and even an astral projection. In the first season finale, her brother Jack is possessed by the Will o’ the Wisp, an Irish legend. Fi is able to save him and earns the respect of the Wisp.

The Wisp protects Fi every so often throughout the second season, which is darker than the first. Fi starts to thoroughly examine her father’s death and begins to believe it was caused by paranormal means. This angers the spirit world and Fi is soon endangered. She eventually connects with the spirit of her father, who tells her she must stop her investigations. A demon tries to attack Fi, but her father rescues her.

The third season sees the series make some serious changes. Cara DeLizia left the series, explained that Fi wanted to have a normal high school experience and went to live with her aunt. Molly takes in the daughter of a family friend, a young girl named Annie Thelen (Alexz Johnson). She has a talent for music and Molly serves as her mentor. The series also had a lighter tone to it as Annie now experienced the paranormal activity. She had a spirit guide in the form of a black panther that popped up every so often to protect her.

I did not watch the third season. I was not a fan of Alexz Johnson nor did I find the stories as entertaining as the previous seasons. I also didn’t like how the show was suddenly now shoving her talent down our throats. Of course, I preferred Mackenzie Phillips more rocker tunes to Alexz’s pop tunes.

The third season was also the show’s last. It had hit the 65 episode limit and Disney ceased production on it. There didn’t seem to be a campaign to bring it back like other Disney shows. I guess most fans felt like I did about the third season and the new direction of the show.

I loved the first two seasons of the show. Of course, at the same time I was watching “Unsolved Mysteries” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” “So Weird” fit perfectly into my interests. I daresay I may have actually read and liked Twilight if it had come out back then.

I absolutely adored DeLizia as Fi. I also had a huge crush on Erik von Detten at the time as well. And as I said, I loved Mackenzie Phillips’ songs.

One of the most memorable episodes in my opinion was from the first season. Molly thinks she spots her childhood best friend, Rebecca, in the audience of one of her concerts. Molly tells her children about Rebecca, who disappeared one day when they were teenagers. She thinks this girl is Rebecca’s daughter and Fi investigates. She discovers that it isn’t the daughter, but Rebecca herself. She is an immortal being and had to leave before people realized she wasn’t getting any older. However, she didn’t forget Molly and continued to listen to all her albums.

I’m not sure if I like this episode because of the plot (which was excellent) or if because the actress playing Rebecca was also playing Cassie on “Animorphs.” Either way, it was a very good episode.
Would So Weird hold up today? I’m not entirely sure. Disney doesn’t re-air the episodes, not even the third season. I do not even think they are on DVD. This is just me viewing them through nostalgia goggles. So, in my mind the show is a great thing.

Next time: Barbie and the Rockers!