Monday, January 04, 2010

Leading Ladies: Anyone remember "So Weird?"

Anyone remember that Disney T.V. series, "So Weird"?

The series debuted in 1999, and followed the very weird adventures of a rock-n-roll family on tour; specifically, the sleuthing activities of a budding paranormal detective, Fiona Phillips. "So Weird" touched on everything of interest to the newly-minted supernatural addict: ghosts, hauntings, aliens, demons, dreams, witches, mythology, folklore (just to name a few), and set all of it against the backdrop of an unusual family just trying to have normal lives (such as they may be).

Fiona sticks out as a great lead character for many reasons. She had a fun sense of curiosity -- about the greater world and also about her mysterious past -- and a tenacity that lent itself well to the circumstances. She always was in search of the truth, be it about her family's odd link to the paranormal, or about the existence of things beyond reality. Each successive episode chronicled her search, building the mysteries around her to fever-pitch, and then...

"So Weird" was canceled like so many other T.V. shows (the victim of a 65-episode-only rule), to be replaced by shows with lighter, funnier and less challenging motifs.

My teenage self remains peeved at this. Fiona's penchant for finding adventure spoke to my thirst for having ones of my own, and fascinated by the oddities of the world, I felt like I was right there, along for the ride. And just when it felt like all the mysteries were to be solved... It's like being one page from the end of a book, and turning it to find the last paragraph had been omitted, or torn out.

I still wish I knew how it all played out.

What are some favorite shows (and leading characters!) of yours that you missed parts of?

~*~

Heather S. Ingemar has loved to play with words since she was little, and it wasn’t long until she started writing her own stories. Termed “a little odd” by her peers, she took great delight in exploring tales with a gothic flair, and to this day, Edgar Allan Poe continues to be her literary hero. To learn more, please visit: http://ingemarwrites.wordpress.com/ or follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/heatheringemar

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