Veronica Waddell is a graduate of the University of Oregon with a degree in English and a passion for writing as well as film. She loves seeing what story each film has to offer and dissecting them to critically analyze all they have to offer. Veronica never bases her thoughts on rumor or gossip in hopes of getting views, which she loves about The Hollywood Insider. She’s an honest, positive girl who bases all her arguments on truth and fact, and tries to see the good in everything in order to build things up. While she enjoys entertainment of many kinds, she’s fond of children’s media because of how light-hearted and fun it is, and that’s what she enjoys reporting on most. It is her goal to work in children’s media to help entertain them today and create a memorable childhood for them in the future.
Oct 11, 2024
Table of Contents
Fans were devastated in the past when ‘Zoey 101’ got canceled. Despite the show’s popularity, the reason it got canceled was because lead actress Jamie Lynn Spears got pregnant. Nickelodeon couldn’t have their show’s teen star be pregnant on camera when she was still only in high school, for the wellbeing of the audience and Jamie, thus putting the show to an end. Now that revivals are becoming more common nowadays and Jamie is no longer a pregnantteen, the cast can reunite.
The classic show followed Zoey Brooks (Jamie Lynn Spears), a young teenage girl, and her life at high school. Zoey’s high school was a boarding school called Pacific Coast Academy, otherwise known as PCA. The school was created to be a fun, exciting place for kids to attend classes while also gaining independence and a sense of who they are while away from their parents. It was like a college setup, but for younger students. Zoey quickly falls in love with the school and the friends she makes along the way. The episodes always consist of Zoey and her friends getting into comedic, wackysituations while dealing with school life.
Children all over the nation loved this show, and it’s not hard to see why. PCA was created to be a fun, exciting place. Since it’s a school on television, they’re allowed to set it up to look ideal, even when the characters are dealing with problems. Every school and student has issues, but why not have them at a place you love? PCA had its own vitamin water, vending machines, stores, and restaurants around campus, cool common areas, and a beautiful ocean view. It allowed the characters to have a lot of freedom to explore and do what they wanted without having parental figures constantly hover over them. Of course, the kids still had faculty that watched over them and exercised authority when needed. Not only was the setting ideal, but the characters were great too. They were all believable types of kids, and their chemistry worked well with one another. There was the drama kid,Lola (Victoria Justice), the genius, Quinn (Erin Sanders), the crazy girl, Nicole (Alexa Nikolas), the sweet one, Chase (Sean Flynn), the comedian, Michael (Christopher Massey), and the narcissist, Logan (Matthew Underwood). Together, this cast created an iconic show that’s still well-loved today, enough to even get a revival movie years after the finale.
Everyone was shocked to find out that Jamie had gotten pregnant so young. How did a teen actress for a children’s show let this happen? Well, there are a couple of theories about it. But the bottom line is that Jamie did end up being a pregnantteen. Since she had a baby on the way, there was a short amount of time the team had left for filming. Luckily, this allowed for the show to still get some episodes in before needing to come to an end. While pregnantteen moms deserve to be helped and shouldn’t be shamed, it’s understandable why they couldn’t have Zoey be pregnant in the show. Since it was a children’s show, it definitely would’ve confused a lot of younger children to see Zoey pregnant. Not only that, but parents definitely would’ve found it inappropriate and complained. They would’ve been worried that allowing a pregnantteen actress on screen for their children to see would’ve made kids think that teen pregnancy is okay. And again, while teen mothers don’t deserve to be shamed, it’s also understandable why adults would want to avoid possibly setting kids up for that situation. Because even though teenparents exist and don’t deserve to be shamed, it’s still a rough situation to be in. They’re still at an extremely young point in their lives, and being a teenparent isn’t glamorous. It takes away your youth and makes life harder. Instead of being able to engage in normal teen activities like hanging out with friends on the weekends or going to parties, those kids have to parent. Even if they do receive help from others, like a family member willing to babysit, the parent is usually working a job outside of school to help provide for their baby. This show isn’t the same as ‘The Secret Life of the American Teenager’ where they can show the drama and hardships that come with being pregnant in high school and a teenparent.
If Zoey was pregnant on screen, the show definitely would have had a different feeling to it. Instead of being a lighthearted, everyday-life, relatable comedy, it would’ve become more dramatic. Zoey would have needed to make alterations to her schedule to accommodate her pregnant body, but she would’ve also been dealing with the not-so-pretty sides of pregnancy, such as nausea and vomiting. There’s nothing wrong with showing the realism and effects of teen pregnancy on television; the only thing about this situation was that it wasn’t the right setting for it. It’s for a more mature audience, which isn’t the viewers ‘Zoey 101’ had since it was a Nickelodeon show. Thankfully, though, Jamie was able to deliver her daughter just fine, and both are doing well. Now that her daughter is old enough, Jamie has the time to be able to come back to work on the new project.
The new film is supposed to be released later this year on Paramount+. Viewers can anticipate most of the cast to reappear, except a few main characters, such asVictoria Justice and Paul Butcher (Dustin Brooks). But a majority of the cast will be returning, such as Quinn, Chase, Logan, and Michael. What we know about the film so far is that it follows the characters reuniting for a wedding in the modern day. Other than that, not too much has been revealed. Hopefully, this movie gives fans the nostalgicrevival they want and that it satisfies their inner child knowing that they got more ‘Zoey 101’ content after it got canceled years ago.
Revivals don’t always come back as well as people hope they do. Sometimes it’s better to leave things in the past than to bring them back because they’ll never be the same as the original. With certain shows like‘iCarly’ coming back, they always change. In the case of ‘iCarly’, it’s bringing back kids’ shows but making them more mature. Despite the original series of ‘iCarly’ being one of the most popular kids’ shows of its time, the new series isn’t as popular. Could it be because of the more mature theme the show has taken on, the creative team, or both? It’s not like the show picked up exactly where it left off and follows the same situations. All the characters have different lives now, and there are new characters in the series. Despite it being the same franchise, the new version has a different taste to it. While it can be interesting to watch, not all viewers enjoy newer versions of shows like that, which is understandable. Originals will always be hard to live up to and replace. Hopefully, since ‘Zoey 101’ is getting a movie instead of a show, it doesn’t feel like that. It’ll allow for the characters to come back and inform others of their current lives and show new characters, but also allow for recalls back to the original show. This new movie seems to be exciting for fans, and we can only hope it lives up to the hype.
By Veronica Waddell
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Veronica Waddell is a graduate of the University of Oregon with a degree in English and a passion for writing as well as film. She loves seeing what story each film has to offer and dissecting them to critically analyze all they have to offer. Veronica never bases her thoughts on rumor or gossip in hopes of getting views, which she loves about The Hollywood Insider. She’s an honest, positive girl who bases all her arguments on truth and fact, and tries to see the good in everything in order to build things up. While she enjoys entertainment of many kinds, she’s fond of children’s media because of how light-hearted and fun it is, and that’s what she enjoys reporting on most. It is her goal to work in children’s media to help entertain them today and create a memorable childhood for them in the future.
Veronica Waddell is a graduate of the University of Oregon with a degree in English and a passion for writing as well as film. She loves seeing what story each film has to offer and dissecting them to critically analyze all they have to offer. Veronica never bases her thoughts on rumor or gossip in hopes of getting views, which she loves about The Hollywood Insider. She’s an honest, positive girl who bases all her arguments on truth and fact, and tries to see the good in everything in order to build things up. While she enjoys entertainment of many kinds, she’s fond of children’s media because of how light-hearted and fun it is, and that’s what she enjoys reporting on most. It is her goal to work in children’s media to help entertain them today and create a memorable childhood for them in the future.
Veronica Waddell is a graduate of the University of Oregon with a degree in English and a passion for writing as well as film. She loves seeing what story each film has to offer and dissecting them to critically analyze all they have to offer. Veronica never bases her thoughts on rumor or gossip in hopes of getting views, which she loves about The Hollywood Insider. She’s an honest, positive girl who bases all her arguments on truth and fact, and tries to see the good in everything in order to build things up. While she enjoys entertainment of many kinds, she’s fond of children’s media because of how light-hearted and fun it is, and that’s what she enjoys reporting on most. It is her goal to work in children’s media to help entertain them today and create a memorable childhood for them in the future.
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