#Fergus McGarrity

[soweirdondisney]

A snippet from the 1999 episode “Boo”.

Henry Winkler was attached to So Weird since it’s production and served as executive producer for the series. Mackenzie Phillips, as the star of So Weird, was in the majority of its episodes.

Both Winkler and Phillips came to prominence in the 1970s and had early success in their careers.

Mackenzie’s first role ever was in the George Lucas-directed American Graffiti, but it was her role on Norman Lear’s One Day At A Time sitcom two years later that made her a household name.

Similar to Mackenzie, Henry became famous for his second role ever as Fonzie on Happy Days (an episode of Mary Tyler Moore was his first).

Despite these similarities and decades in the business, the two stars never worked together until So Weird began filming in 1998.

It wasn’t until 1999 when Henry made a guest appearance on an episode that they finally shared the screen.

The two have since followed each other on Twitter and the weekend of So Weird’s 24th anniversary, they were both at a convention and we finally saw them together in one photo!

[jennaanneg]

“Boo” in a word...”meh.” I’m not a zombie person, and Fergus McGarrity represents the exact type of character I can’t stand to watch. (Although I only realized it was Henry Winkler looking at IMDB just now, lol. Never recognized him. Shows you I don’t often rewatch this one.) There are some scenes I don’t mind as much, and it’s fun seeing Fi and Molly investigate together. I also appreciate the twist where Molly refuses to believe that it’s all normal for the town. 

My biggest takeaway from this ep is Fi’s view of Halloween. I feel similarly myself. Maybe I don’t believe in everything Fi does, but I would enjoy Halloween a lot more if it wasn’t the shallow, capitalistic “holiday” it is in the U.S.

This time around, I particularly noticed Molly’s carefree attitude about Halloween. It bothers me a little that Molly teases Fi about bats turning into vampires when she knows how her daughter feels about the subject. Plus, that’s unexpected for her character. I’d imagine her more like Gwen (also known as Marnie’s mom) from Halloweentown. Someone with witch ancestry who rejects Halloween because she’s trying to move away from the supernatural. It feels like this episode was written by someone who maybe wasn’t clued in about Molly’s family history OR the Rick story line. What’s more disappointing, the town has Irish roots and no connection at all is made to Molly’s Irish heritage.

Maybe that’s what really bothers me about “Boo.” They do a Halloween episode, and it’s completely unrelated to any of the main story arcs. I would’ve much rather seen a Samhain story involving ghosts instead of zombies, where Fi uses the holiday’s power to contact her father. I would’ve also preferred if Molly couldn’t stand Halloween anymore because it reminds her of how much Rick loved it, or something along those lines.

[soweirdondisney]

A closer look at the costumes appearing in "Boo".

[soweirdondisney]

Nobody does Halloween like Disney. There are more Disney Channel Original Movies (DCOMs) dedicated to this holiday than anything else, including Christmas and high school musicals.

Disney lists the entire series in the Halloween collection, probably because Fi (Cara DeLizia) is obsessed with the supernatural. But "Boo” is the only actual Halloween episode.

The show is at its best when it deals with Fi's grief over her father, but this is just a silly, fun episode. Henry Winkler was one of show's executive producers, and this is the only episode in which he appears.