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What’s the Story?

Reviewed by Joly Herman

In ZOEY 101, Zoey Brooks (Jamie Lynn Spears) and her younger brother, Dustin (Paul Butcher), are new students at Pacific Coast Academy, which was formerly an all-boys' boarding school. Spears (Britney's younger sister), is no stranger to the small screen. She has been a regular on All That, Nick's answer to Saturday Night Live. She can command an audience's attention and even their empathy, but at times appears to be a showbiz kid going through the motions. Tweens are going to love her in the role of Zoey, especially because she sings the theme song, which was written by her sister. She's a fair-minded heroine, who befriends all kids who come her way, even when they're a bit awkward or geeky.

Is It Any Good?

3

Zoey and her peers live in an utterly unreal world, where her character confesses during a truth-or-dare type game that "Once, I burped in church." This is admitted by a kid wearing full makeup and a miniskirt. How do innocence and being expected to make adult choices co-exist in the 21st century? Let's hope that kids viewing this show go a little deeper for answers than these characters.

Nick has kept Zoey 101's plot pretty shallow for a reason: Without adult supervision, kids in the circumstances that they appear in this program would get into a lot of trouble. But besides some bickering and tricky behavior, these are pretty well-mannered kids. Fantasy? You be the judge.

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