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[adeadhorse]

did you watch or hear anything about Quiet on Set documentary? it is absolutely terrifying and hearing even more stuff on what happened behind the scenes is terrifying :(

also hope you’ve been doing well, it’s been since awhile since the account was active so hope you’ve been doing well for yourself!

hey, thanks for thinking of me and checking in. i would not say i have been doing well for myself but i am ok, so that's something. i hope you are also as well as possible in these trying times.

i have heard a lot about quiet on set but i haven't watched it. it is horrible to hear about how awful people's experiences were and i hope sharing it widely has helped them. i also really hope that this does trigger some serious change when it comes to protecting child performers, and generally reducing how abusive this industry is towards most people involved.

[adeadhorse]

Hi! No need to apologize, I appreciate your honesty! Lol As for someone who spent lots of time thinking about these characters and where they would be after all this time I could understand why they may not like it.

I definitely agree that Zoey’s screen time was a bit excessive. Especially when the OG series did a good job for the most part making sure the other cast member had an equal amount of screen time. (TBH season 4 only proved that Zoey was kinda boring without Chase 👀)

As for Zoey being a producer, I didn’t think it was too far fetched for her character (there were like a couple of episodes were she should an interest in TV. The Jet-X and the Webcast episode) Yes, she was mostly interested in fashion design but maybe TV was a safer option? Lmao I guess they could have a dressed that in the movie.

Majority of the cast not being on screen for a little over 10 years was concerning but Erin and Sean’s performance was really good! (especially Erin she killed it!!) JL was ok. Still a needs more charisma but was way better than her recent projects 😬. Logan was ok. Stacey and Mark were good. Micheal was done so dirty ( he rarely has any lines) so I couldn’t make a fair judgement. 😐

Haha I'm glad my honesty didn't go to waste. Like I get that this was very much a Jamie Lynn vehicle but it really just...shouldn't be? The show worked best as an ensemble for a reason, and if they'd talked to any actual fan they likely would have heard that most people like Chase as the main character, not her. This movie also clearly saw that S4 needed fixing and yet it just...made it worse? Which is kind of impressive.

That's valid, I can see where you're coming from. Like you said, it would be nice if they'd acknowledged her interest in fashion and had that as part of her failure to achieve her dreams or whatever. Instead, her being a producer just read to me as nothing more than a plot contrivance. It's very Hallmark TV movie (if they made a sequel that's a Christmas TV movie and Chase suddenly owns a bakery then I will be all in).

I'm glad JL has improved slightly, especially if she was on-screen that much, and I'm pleasantly surprised to hear that Sean was decent (Erin doesn't surprise me because she's one of the few that has continued to act). Chris just BAFFLES me like did he pull out of the project part-way? Hell he was the main male lead in S4. (It's also annoying as a writer when, theoretically, I would like to only focus on a few characters instead of all of them, but I try to find something for everyone to do because I know that every character is someone's favourite. That consideration really did not seem to be taken here, which is disappointing in an "official" sequel.)

[adeadhorse]

I haven’t gotten a chance to watch the Zoey 102 movie until recently. I walked in with really really low expectations. Some people are definitely trashing it because of the whole controversy with Britney (which is complex and more layer than people would like to believe) and not focusing on the actual film.

It was actually not bad at all. I quite enjoyed it and it was pretty fun compared to most reboots of our childhood shows that I’ve seen. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it. A solid 6/10. The only issue is that I felt that it was a bit rushed (causing hurried explanations and a bit lack of chemistry between certain characters) A one season reboot show would have actually worked better in this case to build the story more carefully.

I know that the director recently said in an interview that they are think about a sequel movie. I wouldn’t be mad at it if they give it a better pace and give the other characters more screen time (especially scenes with Michael, Logan and Chase)

I’m not sure if you watched the movie yet or intend to but someone like yourself (who based on your writing really knows the depth of these characters and their world) I would love to hear your opinion of the movie if you ever do.

Hello, I am glad you enjoyed it! I agree with you that people solely bashing the show because of what happened with Britney and Alexa gets tiresome, because the original show had some merit despite those issues, and because you can just decide to not watch the movie instead of constantly talking about it (it's not like anyone is really on JL's side anyway).

I have no intention of watching it but @queenlova101 kindly gave me an extremely thorough rundown. To be blunt, I hated it. The downside of writing these characters for thousands of words is you do get to "know" them, so I think it's possible that I would have hated a reboot no matter how good it was because it was different to my version of them. Part of that is circumstance - anything is possible in a fanfic, compared to real life where you have budgets and availabilities. But I've seen other people say it didn't really feel like the original show, and to me they just made some baffling choices that shows they had no idea what the fans actually wanted or even liked about the original show.

Zoey should not be the main character to that extent (or at all really. Also why is she a producer), you should pander to the Quogan fans more, and most of all, you should have Chase and Michael (and Logan, but especially those two) interact as much as possible instead of not at all. I hate What Did Zoey Say with a passion, and Dan could not write for shit in 2015, but even he got that right. It feels like they told ChatGPT to write a script only going off the character names and every rom-com that got released c. 2008-2012.

I agree with you about the one-season reboot. Before I started actually writing fanfic I semi-planned out a season and a movie because I was more interested in screenwriting at the time. So again, I feel like I have potentially thought more about this show than anyone actually involved in the movie, so being disappointed was somewhat inevitable. I am also, at my core, a hater.

I personally hope they don't do a sequel movie or anything else. Neither attempt at an "adult" continuation has worked, it's just fallen into the trap most other reboots have of not having them change since high school and undermining a lot of what people liked about the show (I don't love PCA but that's! The main! Draw! You just shot yourself in the foot!). Frankly I would just like them to put the S3 cast (minus JL) in a new show with similar vibes and call it a day. That I think would actually be fun, and would make more sense than whatever they are doing now.

[adeadhorse]

when i die i want the zoey 101 cast to lower me into my grave so they can let me down one last time

[adeadhorse]

no major spolier but 102 100% shows that Chase is from Baltimore, debunking all of the fandom's nod that he was from boston

To be fair I think a lot of that was written before The Radio aired but good to have it confirmed.

[adeadhorse]

I have watched the reboot and you know what? I thought it was pretty good actually. For the sake of not spoiling it for anyone else I can message you privately with more specific thoughts I have or just wait a few days and I can put the rest in your ask box lol. My only (vague) complaint is the characterization of some of the characters. I get they’re not 15 anymore but still was a little strange (i.e. Stacey and Mark specifically). Other than that I’m glad they gave Zoey more depth (and failure lol).

I’m glad you thought it was decent! I 100% want spoilers and more in-depth thoughts; I’m intrigued that of all the characterisation they messed up it was those side characters but yay for giving Zoey something. Can Jamie Lynn act yet?

[adeadhorse]

cannot find it but i saw a post on here a couple of days ago about the whole "character A fell first but character B fell harder" dynamic and how character A is pining and came to accept that character B would never love them back while character B just wakes up one day like "we need to get married right now" and this is the exact dynamic chase/zoey should have

[adeadhorse]

quogan shippers new fanfic idea just dropped

[adeadhorse]

do you think Chase was video calling the gang off screen in S4? because there was NO WAY he returns and says “wow nothing happened while i was gone for 5 months”zoey dated james, Quinn and Mark Broke up, Quinn and Logan got together (that he wouldn't know because secret) and vince came back all in one semester and chase didn’t notice any of that in finale because we hate good writing.

"because we hate good writing" i am WHEEZING that's literally the entire vibe of S4 huh

The entire gang? No. And maybe not even super regularly, but Michael is a) absolutely emailing him with updates, especially to complain about getting a new roommate and b) SOMEONE (maybe not Michael because he doesn't want to hurt Chase, so Logan or idk Lola) is telling him that Zoey is dating his replacement. Michael is emailing him about Vince and asking whether he has any specific revenge fantasies he wants them to dish out on his behalf, and then sending an update saying "hey he's cool actually, also do you know how to get cheese stains out of clothing". And honestly at some point I think Chase stops replying, mostly because I headcanon him as being hardcore depressed but like, what are you even supposed to say? Glad you're all having fun with my replacement and the guy that violently beat me up, cheers.

I also personally headcanon Chase as knowing about Logan and Quinn. For one, I think that's what would have happened in S4 had Chase been there, but even in this scenario I think Logan just would have wanted to talk about it SO badly that if he didn't just spill it all out one video chat he would have kept dropping hints to the point that Chase is like "are you two...dating?". To which Logan would probably say "pfft no how could you think that", and Chase would say that he kept scheduling calls to ramble about nothing but it would usually involve Quinn, and he just mentioned a picnic, and he seems to be scheduling a LOT of time to specifically make fun of Quinn, like 2-3 hours worth, and something seems off. Queue Logan begging him not to tell anyone ie Michael, Chase agreeing, and Logan getting to work through his feelings.

So I do think he knew things by way of Logan and Michael which is why he's just chill in Chasing Zoey (though I think coming up with an in-universe reason for that is stupid because it is just transparently lazy as shit). But I think it's pretty clearly implied that Zoey hadn't spoken to him at all since the start of the season seeing as she didn't have his number and the girls were overly supportive of her relationship with James, so I think the inference is that they didn't talk to him much then either.

[adeadhorse]

[adeadhorse]

Who are your top 5 most disliked characters? Also, which character do you think deserved more screen time?

The gym coaches, especially the one that mispronounced sushi

Coco because her screaming all the time was not funny

James.

Stacey who was also rarely funny and got waaayyyy too much screen time.

Zoey in S4

Dana and Rebecca deserved more screen time. Dana basically got relegated to one line per episode by the end of S1 and never really got a chance to live up to her full potential. Daniella Monet is just a genuinely good actor who made Rebecca feel very real before switching quite effectively into evil bitch mode.

[adeadhorse]

Who is your favorite Zoey 101 side character?

Oof what a question. Frankly most of them are very annoying because they exist to be obnoxious and wacky which is not my favourite mode of Schneider humour.

If I had to pick it would probably be Mark. He didn’t yell and he had strong interactions with a lot of the other characters. I ended up really disliking how his relationship with Quinn developed in S3, but there were still moments of humour there that I enjoyed.

[adeadhorse]

do you rewatch old episodes for either nostalgia memories or for fanfic writing?

Both. Historically it’s been for nostalgia, but I’ve sort of tried to stop doing that because there’s only so many times you can be like “oh my god they were roommates Chase didn’t say goodbye” or whatever. Right now it’s for fanfic writing because I’m trying to be accurate with character voices.

[adeadhorse]

thoughts on Dance Contest as an episode? genuinely i don’t really care for the brief Michael/Logan/Quinn plot where they compete for the coffee cart customer and having a bad twist, otherwise i adore it and it’s Zoey/Chase ship at it’s best. the ending is perfectly cute.

I liked it as a kid, not so much as an adult. The B-plot is silly but honestly the dancing is kind of awkward so for me that detracts from Chase and Zoey's chemistry (though I think I also just feel for Sean who had to learn two dances on top of his regular lines and while being back at school). But there are definitely still parts I like, such as the interaction at the start where Zoey tells him he can't dance and ruffles his hair, Chase threatening to tell everyone Michael and Logan cried over American Idol, and him trying to learn to dance for her is very sweet and very him.

[adeadhorse]

your fave episodes?

Top 5:

Chase's Grandma - the show at its best. Even before the drama and angst of the ending, both storylines are genuinely funny (often a rarity) and the performances are all-around excellent. I actually believe Zoey cares about Chase as a person in this and not only did I not find Dustin annoying, I find the stuff with the puppet oddly funny as well. Plus Sean is at his most rom-com charming for most of the episode and of course he delivers for the rain scene as well.

Goodbye Zoey - I have the possibly unpopular opinion that the end confession is not what I love most about this episode (though I think the entire intervention/confrontation scene up to that point is oddly intense for a kids show aka I think it's good). But like. The darts scene, the fact that he didn't say goodbye (!!!! He must have gone at least ten days without speaking to her), Zoey saying his opinion means everything to her, her actually CRYING?? Why would you write this and then fuck up S4 so badly oh my god.

Lola Likes Chase - hooray for jealous!Zoey! Plus Chase/Lola is genuinely cute. The plot with Logan and Dustin is also pretty amusing.

Bad Girl - Dustin tackling Chase is dumb as hell but up until that point the episode was pretty funny and compelling. This is to me one of the best uses of "Chase is bumbling and neurotic", partly because I like it when it's actually directed at Zoey (the delivery of "you always butt in! You're like the queen of butt-inning!" lives in my head rent free).

Surprise because it nailed the character dynamics and the ending is *chef's kiss*. Plus it was a two-parter which is always cool because as we have discussed this show should have been a proper teen drama.

Honourable mentions: Trading Places, which sucks on most levels but Sean's performance breaks my heart; Little Beach - genuinely wish there had been more episodes like this, especially Season 3 which I think is the best version of the gang. It's sweet, it's fun (apparently not behind the scenes but we'll ignore that), and it's sort of bittersweet knowing that they never actually do go back to that beach and that two, technically three, of them leave the school.

[adeadhorse]

Update: they do not drop any tea. All they say is things they’ve said before such as Sean’s favorite episode to film being the go kart episode, Matthew liking the Spring Break-Up episodes with Chauncey the butler, and Chris liking the rollercoaster episode and the beach episode. Interesting enough, Erin’s favorite episode to shoot was Quinn’s date from s1 lol.

I also think JL’s absence from this is intentional. They know if they put her anywhere NEAR the thumbnail no one would watch it 💀. I ADORED JL growing up so hearing all this (rightfully awful) stuff about her actually stung. Zoey 101 was a great escape from my childhood trauma growing up and I IDOLIZED her before I even connected the dots of how iconic and amazing Britney was. Now that the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia and naivety are off I’m just like damn :/

Ugh boring. Though shout out to Chris for actually liking an episode from S4 lol.

Yeah it's wild that I literally used to have a photo of her in my room. I remember she wrote an article a couple of years after she had Maddie and she seemed relatively mature and intelligent in it. Even during the early days of 2020 when people were starting to learn more about the conservatorship Britney fans still thought she might have been on Britney's side. It's just all around sad and disappointing.

[adeadhorse]

NickRewind just dropped a new video of the cast reacting to Zoey 101 I’m SAT (no JL)

Do they drop any tea?

Also I'm amused that in her "autobiography" JL said she felt like the rest of the cast were better friends with each other than her and now she's still not doing promo with them, though that might be because Paramount knows she's still pretty loathed by 90% of the internet.