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So Weird
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So Weird is a television series shot in Vancouver, British Columbia that aired on the Disney Channel as a midseason replacement from January 18th, 1999 to September 28th, 2001. The series at first centered around teenage girl Fiona Phillips who toured with her rock star mom, encountering paranormal activity along the way. Acting as an X-Files for the younger crowd, the series took a darker tone than other Disney Channel Originals. The third and final season saw the replacement of Cara DeLizia with actress Alexz Johnson playing Annie Thelen in a revamped, lighter version of the show. After 65 episodes, Disney Channel halted production on the series.
Main cast
Season oneThe season began with Fiona on tour with her famous rocker mother Molly, brother Jack, bus driver Ned, his wife Irene, and their son Clu. Stringing together all of Fi's paranormal encounters was her search to communicate with her father, who died when she was three years old. Fi first "encountered" her father in the second episode titled "Website" where an unknown force sent her internet articles warning her of the future. From alien invasions, time warps, and ghosts, Fi faced 13 episodes worth of paranormal activity. Also encountered: one powerful tulpa, a Bigfoot, angels, and more significantly, the Will o' the Wisp. The season finale featured Jack becoming possessed by an Irish Will o' the Wisp, also known as Spunkie. Fi found the spirit's true name - Bricriu - and saved her brother by speaking it. Bricriu had offered to protect Fi, and while it is understandable that Fi initially believed he was lying, subsequent events in the show proved that Bricriu may have been telling the truth. However, this is questionable at best.
Season twoThe second season was even darker than the first, playing out over twenty-six episodes. The premiere picked up with Molly taking time off the tour to record an album. Fi and friend Candy meet a medium who is proven to be a fraud. However, the one who uncovers the fake is actually a medium himself who aids Fi in contacting her father through music on his old guitar. The episode ends in an emotional scene between Fi and Molly revealing how Molly really feels about Fi's search for her father. The character of Clu was reduced during the season as he went off to college. His brother Carey was introduced to fill in the gap. Many classic beasts surfaced within the season, including vampires, werewolves, banshees, trolls, sirens, and merfolk. In a pivotal episode, Fi learned that her father investigated the same kinds of supernatural events that Fi did. In fact, this was exactly what killed him. Upon learning this Fi is angered by her mother's deceit in covering up the truth about her father. Molly was eventually possessed by the same Will o' the Wisp as Jack was in season one, and Fi discovered that Will o' the Wisps or other dark powers, though not necessarily Bricriu himself, may have killed her father, resulting in the motorcycle accident that police had assumed took his life. In this episode Bricriu used Molly to try and kill a firefighter who had been present at Rick's car crash and was aware that Fi's dad had been dead, with no apparent cause, before the car crashed. Following this episode, Fi had further contact with her father, as the answer to a troll's question - Faith - was revealed at the last moment. The season ended with Fi discovering her father's twin sister received messages from him in her sleep. The messages led Fi to a rooftop where she was attacked by a demon and saved by the ghost of her father. He left her with a message that the spirit world was angry with her and would try to stop her. At last, Fi got the proper farewell to her father that she had been searching for. Many DeLizia fans consider this a proper, if not entirely fulfilling, finale.
Season threeAfter skewing extremely dark and intricate in its second season, the show was forced into a lighter tone for its final batch of episodes. Cara DeLizia left after the first episode, which introduced family friend Annie Thelen. Fi had yet another encounter with Bricriu that ended with him convincing her to give up her innate attraction to the paranormal in order to protect her family. Fi, unable for whatever reason to see that Bricriu was acting in her best interests, trapped him in a floppy disk. The attraction, manifested in the ring her father gave her, was passed on to Annie as Fi went to live with her aunt. Molly moved the family to a new, brightly colored house.
Annie's story arc was the mystery behind a spirit guide that followed her in the form of a panther. Her character was also musically talented, and episodes featured more of her singing than that of the older Mackenzie Phillips. The season's stories were a far cry from previous episodes, playing such plots as being sucked into a painting (which directly followed an episode of people being sucked into photographs) and a detention class that never ended. Fi never reappeared in the season, not even the final episode, which was a clip show of mostly the third season.
CancellationAfter 65 installments, Disney canceled the show as was standard practice at the time no matter how popular a series it was. After the show ended, the series' reruns were pushed further back on the schedule. Before it was taken off completely, the show was airing at 3:00 AM in late 2001. Starting in 2002, Disney Channel completely overhauled its line-up and So Weird re-runs were gone.
Unaired plotsExecutive producers Jon Cooksey and Ali Marie Matheson had plotted out a very different and dark third season. Season two would have ended with Rick being thrown off the roof rather than having a tearful farewell with his daughter. Season three would then pick up with stories including Bricriu making a reappearance, possessing Fi who would later be saved by Molly's priest brother. Fi would have continued to investigate the paranormal but the encounter on the rooftop would have made her more cautious; the Phillips witch ancestry would be delved into; the alien thread from the past two seasons would have come full circle; Jack would have been revealed to have lived a past life as a knight (subtly alluded to in past episodes); Molly's past alcoholism (the subject of "In the Darkness") would have been addressed; and Rick's story would have continued through to the series finale of Fi going into Hell to rescue her father.
However, Disney would not allow the dark themes to be included in the show. They instead opted for a lighter tone to dominate the final season. This led to executive producers Cooksey and Matheson leaving the show. However, most of the planned plots would not have been possible because Cara DeLizia had already made the decision to leave and pursue other projects.
The other known incidence of Disney rejecting proposed stories was the unproduced episode "Chrysalis." The episode would have featured Carey helping a friend who was a victim of addiction. The episode would have also introduced the backstory of Molly's alcoholism. The episode "Avatar" was aired instead.
Cast changes and guest appearancesErik von Detten was snatched up by Disney when the show was in its second season. While he was used in two network projects, sitcom Odd Man Out and fantasy series Dinotopia, von Detten returned in the third season in several guest spots. Eric Lively meanwhile replaced him. The Disney movie The Princess Diaries also featured von Detten.
Despite many rumors, producers confirm that Cara DeLizia left after season two to pursue other projects before Disney had decided to revamp the show.
In the season three episode "Earth 101," Fi's cameo appearance was done through past vocal footage and a look-alike stand-in. DeLizia had no part in the episode.
The Moffatts made a guest appearance in the episode "Destiny." SHeDAISY made a guest appearance in the episode "Listen."
Mackenzie Phillips does not appear in two episodes of the series.
Music of So WeirdThe series featured original songs sung by both Mackenzie Phillips and Alexz Johnson. Songs sung by Mackenzie Phillips included the theme "In the Darkness", "Another World", "Rebecca", "The Rock" and "Love is Broken". Each of the songs usually tied into the theme of the episode they were featured in. For example, "Rebecca" was featured in the episode "Rebecca" which dealt with Molly's former best friend of the same name who vanished when she was 13 years old. A compilation of Molly's songs was featured in the episode "Encore."
"Last Night Blues," was the only occasion Cara DeLizia had to sing during her stint on the show. The song was supernaturally transferred to the characters from a murdered blues musician.
Season 3 mainly used the music of Alexz Johnson. One of Johnson's original songs, "Dream About You", was featured in the episode "Carnival." A music video by Alexz Johnson, "Shadows", was also featured near the end of the show's run on the Disney channel.
The following is an incomplete listing of music from So Weird. With the exception of "Lorena" and occasional musical guest appearances, all music was original, created especially for the series.
Introduced in season one
- Music by Annmarie Montade
- Lyrics by Jon Cooksey
- Sung by Mackenzie Phillips
- Music by Brent Belke
- Lyrics by Jon Cooksey
- Sung by Mackenzie Phillips
- Music by Annmarie Montade
- Lyrics by Jon Cooksey
- Sung by Mackenzie Phillips
- Music by Annmarie Montade
- Lyrics by Jon Cooksey
- Sung by Mackenzie Phillips
Introduced in season two
- Sung by Mackenzie Phillips
- Sung by Mackenzie Phillips
- Sung by Mackenzie Phillips
- Sung by Mackenzie Phillips
- Sung by Mackenzie Phillips and Cara DeLiza
- Sung by the fictional Phillips Kane Band, and by Mackenzie Phillips. Alternate version sung by David Steele
Introduced in season three
- Sung by Mackenzie Phillips and Alexz Johnson
- Sung by Alexz Johnson
- Sung by Alexz Johnson
- Sung by Mackenzie Phillips
- "Thinkin' About Tomorrow"
- Sung by Mackenzie Phillips
- Sung by Mackenzie Phillips
- Sung by Alexz Johnson
- "'Cause You're Watching Over Me (Shadows)"
- Sung by Alexz Johnson
- Sung by Mackenzie Phillips
Other songs- "Lorena" (folk song fragment)
- Sung by Mackenzie Phillips
- "Star-Dot-Star" (fictional jingle)
- Sung by cast (and by gremlins)
- Sung by Patrick Levis
- Sung by Jewel Staite
- Sung by SheDaisy
- Sung by The Moffatts
EpisodesFan reactionSo Weird was popular amongst older audiences, more so than most other Disney Channel Original Series. Most fans had latched on to the first two seasons with its dark mythology, especially when led by central character Fiona Phillips.
When the lighter tone of season three came around, it seemed to alienate most fans (many of which still continued to watch). In fact, many fans separate the eras as two different series. However, as Disney had hoped, younger audiences became attracted to the show in its final season, thanks to its lighter stories and marketable new music talent Alexz Johnson filling in for DeLizia. However, many fans were also angered by the fact that Disney seemed to completely ignore the show's past in the final year, dropping all previous threads and not including clips from seasons one and two in its finale clip show.
BroadcastersBrazil: Jetix, SBT
Canada: BBC KIDS, 2008
Spain:TVE CLAN
External links
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