It appears (gasp) that the British tabloid I linked to (and that many bloggers also linked to) reporting that Nick was dropping "Zoey 101" and Jamie Lynne was wrong. MTV reported:
"No truth to that rumor," the show's spokesman Dan Martinsen told MTV News. "We have not made any change to our schedule."The fourth and final season of the show, which has already completed production, is set to begin airing in February. On Friday, the network will air a "Zoey 101" TV movie, "Goodbye Zoey?," that explores whether Spears' character will move to London with her parents or remain at boarding school with her friends.
Personally, I'm in the camp that thinks this is a mistake -- not because I feel teen mothers should be judged or given a "scarlet P" for being pregnant, but because I think it hurts the Nick brand. The celebrity mags (probably with help from Momma Spears) will be publishing photo after photo, feteshizing her "bump," showing her shopping for cute designer baby clothes, etc. etc. I read an article (can't remember where) where this pop culture professor up at Syracuse who tends to be quoted on all of this stuff was saying that if Nick canceled the show, it would make it an even bigger issue and that many kids don't even know about it -- I disagree. Tweens are all over the net -- they know. And if anything, if Nick did cancel the show, the message parents can relay to their kids who already know is "these choices have consequences." These tween stars are role models, whether they want to be or not, as well as brand ambassadors for the channels they are on.
Sort of related: I mentioned briefly a while back that I didn't LOVE "Juno." This review articulates exactly why. Also, for another take (very lefty) on the whole "preg-sploitation" issue, check out Katha Pollitt's piece in The Nation.
Posted by anastasia
TV
Comments
"these choices have consequences."
And what are the consequences, mommy?
That if a girl gets "caught" having sex - or makes a mistake - she loses her tv show.
That's not a message I'd like to send to my daughter. That's so puritanical.
They should keep her.
Better to teach tweens the difference between fantasy and reality. And I think they pretty much get that.
The only thing accomplished by ditching Spears is to feed the cult of celebrity.
But then, I'm not a marketing person. Just a consumer - and a parent.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 7, 2008 1:14 PM
Hi "anonymous" -- thanks for commenting though I'm not a big fan of anonymous commenters.
I'm not clear on why there being consequences for certain behaviors is being puritanical. If she was caught doing heroin on the set or pulled over for a DUI at 16, there would be consequences -- like possibly being fired from her job. Instead she made a series of choices that got her pregnant -- For any teenager that gets pregnant there are always consequences (i.e. life gets a lot harder). Does that mean these teens are "bad"? Of course not. They're human -- we all make mistakes. Not just teenagers.
But for a teenager who is also happens to be a role model for other young kids on TV, I think explaining to your child that she lost her job because she's not the best role model for 10-year-old girls any longer seems pretty legit.
Tell me how that feeds the celebrity machine any more than the onslaught of Jamie Lynn baby coverage we're going to see over the next several months, possibly with more photos and interviews sold to these magazines by her mother?
Posted by: Anastasia | January 7, 2008 1:31 PM
The immediate economic issue for Nickelodeon is play the Season 4 episodes and make a profit, or don't play them and lose money on episodes they already paid for.
You can speculate that playing the episodes will hurt the Nickelodeon brand in the long run and therefore hurt them financially in the long run.
But one could counter-speculate that refusing to play the S4 episodes would make them look intolerant and thereby hurt their brand.
I wonder if Nickelodeon planned to make S4 the last season all along, or if they decided that because of the pregnancy.
Posted by: Eric Jaffa | January 7, 2008 1:59 PM
Hi Eric -- I guess it depends on how much backlash they have received from fans and parents, something they are not commenting on. But given the writers strike, having a season "in the can" is worth a lot more than it used to be.
Posted by: Anastasia | January 7, 2008 2:11 PM
The quote by Dr. Robert Thompson from SU can be found here:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319446,00.html
(I used to work for him when I was working on a grant with the Center for the Study of Popular Television)
Posted by: Melanie | January 8, 2008 6:56 AM