Zoey 101


Zoey 101 is an American comedy-drama television series created by Dan Schneider that originally aired on Nickelodeon from January 9, 2005 until May 2, 2008. It focuses on the lives of teenager Zoey Brooks, her brother Dustin, and her friends as they attend Pacific Coast Academy, a fictional boarding school in Southern California. It was initially filmed at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, then at stages in Valencia, California beginning in season 3. It was nominated for an "Outstanding Children's Program" Emmy in 2005. Zoey 101 was the most expensive production ever for a Nickelodeon series, as it was shot completely on location in Malibu, California.
Zoey 101 was one of Nickelodeon's highest rated and most successful shows in the 2000s decade. The series won three Young Artist Awards, two Kids' Choice Awards and a Neox Fan Award. The entire series is currently available for purchase on DVD and on digital stores online, such as iTunes, Google Play, YouTube, and Amazon Prime Video. Several soundtracks and video games based on the series have also been produced and released. The series officially ended production in August 2007 after the shooting of its final season, which began airing five months later in January 2008. Spears's pregnancy made this season controversial, however, the show was not "cancelled" due to her pregnancy. It was not until October 2007—two months after the final season wrapped production—that the Zoey 101s staff learned about her pregnancy.

Premise

The series centers around Zoey Brooks as she enrolls in Pacific Coast Academy, a school that previously only allowed boys to attend. Throughout the series, Zoey and her friends navigate life as teenagers in a boarding school. As the series progresses, the group of friends grows closer together.

Cast and characters

10th anniversary revival short and possible revival

On September 18, 2015, the 10th anniversary of the airing of the season 2 episode "Time Capsule", TeenNick aired a short clip featuring Chase and Michael. In the clip, it becomes apparent that Zoey and Chase have broken up and he is now seeing someone else. Just as Chase is proposing to his current girlfriend Alyssa, Michael storms in and informs him of what Zoey said on her DVD from "Time Capsule". The DVD reveals that Zoey suspected Chase's crush on her at the time, even before she went to England, and at some point even thought about getting together with him as she considered him her soulmate, but didn't act on it until after she went to England. This causes Chase, who is still in love with Zoey, to abandon Alyssa to find Zoey, with the clip ending on a cliffhanger.
After reuniting with many of her former cast mates on All That in late 2019, Spears revealed during a podcast in May 2020 that she was interested in developing a possible revival and that discussions had already been underway, but nothing was official at the time as many details of the potential project had yet to be confirmed.

Home media

Nickelodeon has released all 4 seasons on DVD in Region 1. Seasons 2, 3 and 4 are manufacture-on-demand releases and are available only through Amazon.com.
Alliance Home Entertainment has released the first three seasons on DVD in Canada only. Season 3 was released on March 8, 2011.
In Region 4, Madman Entertainment has released the first two seasons on DVD in Australia.

Soundtrack

Zoey 101: Music Mix is the soundtrack album for the series. It was released on March 7, 2006. The album features music of the pop and rock genres. By June 2016, only tracks 2, 4, 9, and 10 were available on iTunes.

Track listing

Video games

A video game titled Zoey 101 was released in March 2007 for Game Boy Advance. Another game called Zoey 101: Field Trip Fiasco was released on September 11, 2007 for Nintendo DS. Both video games were published by THQ and developed by Barking Lizards and received poor reception and negative reviews from sites such as IGN and Common Sense Media.
Zoey 101 is a mini-game collection. Players must successfully complete each mini-game, then a dare, and then a final challenge. Dares and challenges are randomly chosen from three games in the level. Players can choose to play mini-games freely in the main menu. GameZone awarded the game 4 out of 10, stating that the game was either "boring, frustrating, just plain unfun, or some combination of all three." Nintendo World Report rated the game 2 out of 10, while X-Play rated it one star out of five, with both reviews criticizing the mini-games, graphics and music.
Field Trip Fiasco is about Zoey and her friends taking a field trip to a park. The player controls Zoey by using the D-pad or touch screen to walk or run. The player runs around Pacific Coast Academy completing fetch quests. They involve delivering things to people or collecting objects scattered around the school before time runs out. After finishing a fetch quest, the player plays a mini-game involving hosing off cars or picking up Frisbees. Zoey walks around the national park, talks to the camping club about Native Americans, goes to the library to learn about the park and takes a quiz about a national park.
Jack DeVries of IGN gave the game a 3.5/10 and criticized the game's boring gameplay, bland music and sound, and awkward controls. Mike David reviewed the game for GameZone and gave it a 2.8. It was criticized for its graphics and controls.

Reception

The series received positive reviews from its target demographic, scoring high with younger audiences. It was Nickelodeon's best performance for a series premiere in almost eight years. The premiere of the episode "" was the highest-rated live-action show ever on Nickelodeon, with over 7.3 million viewers. The series finale "" was the highest-rated show on all of television for all kid demos, including teens 12-17, beating out American Idol. The show has an 8.2/10 on TV.com, a 6/10 on IMDb and a 3/5 on Common Sense Media.
Criticisms of the show have come mostly from older audiences, and have included claims that the show is unrealistic.

Awards and honors