Ghostwriter (1992 TV series)
Ghostwriter | |
---|---|
Genre | |
Created by | Liz Nealon |
Starring |
|
Composers |
|
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 3 |
No. of episodes | 74 (18 story arcs, with four episodes in each arc, except 1 and 5, where they have five episodes) (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Producer | Miranda Barry |
Production locations | Brooklyn, New York |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production companies |
|
Distributor | Tradewinds Television |
Release | |
Original network | |
Audio format | Dolby Surround |
Original release | October 4, 1992 February 12, 1995 | –
Chronology | |
Followed by | Ghostwriter (2019–present) |
Ghostwriter is an American children's mystery television series created by Liz Nealon and produced by the Children's Television Workshop and British BBC Television. It began airing on PBS on October 4, 1992, and the final episode aired on February 12, 1995. The series revolves around a group of friends from Brooklyn who solve neighborhood crimes and mysteries as a team of youth detectives with the help of a ghost named Ghostwriter. Ghostwriter can communicate with children only by manipulating whatever text and letters he can find and using them to form words and sentences.[2] The series was filmed on location in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
Overview[]
The series was designed to teach reading and writing skills to schoolchildren. Each mystery was presented as a case, covering four 30-minute episodes (except the first and fifth story arc, where there are five 30 minute episodes); children were encouraged to follow each mystery, and use the reading and writing clues given to attempt to solve them just as the Ghostwriter team does in the TV series.[3]
Ghostwriter was critically acclaimed and honored for presenting a realistic, ethnically diverse world in its two-hour mystery stories.[4] By the end of its third season, Ghostwriter ranked in the top five of all children's shows on American television.[citation needed] Ghostwriter has been broadcast in 24 countries worldwide, and generated a number of foreign-language adaptations, including a dubbed over version on Discovery Kids Latin America marketed as Fantasma Escritor.
Despite its popularity, the program was abruptly canceled after the third season due to inadequate funding. The original series was rerun from 1995 to 1999 on PBS. The UPN Kids block on UPN also ran reruns for a short time in 1997. Then, in 1999, it was syndicated on ABC for a short time. From 1999 to 2003, it aired on the Noggin cable network, which was jointly founded by the Children's Television Workshop with Viacom's Nickelodeon. The show's revival The New Ghostwriter Mysteries also aired on Noggin as part of its nighttime programming blocks, The Hubbub[5] and The N. Noggin's website featured exclusive casebook files based on the show.[6]
Episodes[]
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | ||||
1 | 34 | October 4, 1992 | May 16, 1993 | ||
2 | 28 | September 12, 1993 | April 24, 1994 | ||
Special | September 18, 1994 | ||||
3 | 12 | September 25, 1994 | February 12, 1995 |
Cast[]
- Sheldon Turnipseed as Jamal Jenkins
- Blaze Berdahl as Lenni Frazier
- David López as Alex Fernández
- Mayteana Morales as Gaby Fernández (1992–1994)
- Tram-Anh Tran as Tina Nguyen
- Todd Alexander Cohen as Rob Baker (1992–1993)
- William Hernandez as Héctor Carrero (1993–1995)
- Melissa González as Gaby Fernández (1994–1995)
- Lateaka Vinson as Casey Austin (1994–1995)
- Marcella Lowery as CeCe Jenkins
- Samuel L. Jackson as Mr. Jenkins (Jamal's father)
Merchandise[]
Created as an integrated, branded, multi-media project, the Ghostwriter brand included magazines and teacher's guides, software (Microsoft), home video, games/licensed product, and other outreach materials that reached over a million children each month. There were many Ghostwriter novels released, both novelizations of the TV episodes and new stories. They were released by Bantam Books.
VHS releases[]
During the mid-1990s, Ghostwriter was released on VHS by Republic Pictures. The company released "Ghost Story", "Who Burned Mr. Brinker's Store?", and "Into the Comics" with their respective story-arc episodes edited together into a feature-length format.
DVD releases[]
In February 2010, it was announced that Season 1 of Ghostwriter would be released on DVD by Shout! Factory. The 5-disc set, running 870 minutes long, was released on June 8, 2010. Supplements are a trivia game and a casebook.[7][8] The entire series except for the last two story arcs were also released by GPN.[9]
DVD name | Ep # | Release date | Special Features |
---|---|---|---|
Season One | 34 | June 8, 2010 | Ghostwriter Trivia Game, Ghostwriter Casebook |
Season Two | 28 | TBA | |
Season Three | 12 | TBA |
Awards and nominations[]
- Writers Guild of America, USA, 1995
- Won, WGA Award (TV) for Children's Script—Carin Greenberg Baker, for "Don't Stop The Music".
- Young Artist Awards, 1993
- Nominated, Outstanding Performers in a Children's Program: Todd Alexander, Blaze Berdahl, David López, Mayteana Morales, Tram-Anh Tran, Sheldon Turnipseed
The New Ghostwriter Mysteries[]
The New Ghostwriter Mysteries | |
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Genre | Children's Mystery Fantasy |
Created by | Liz Nelson |
Starring | Charlotte Sullivan Erica Luttrell Kristian Ayre |
Composer | Alex Khaskin |
Country of origin | Canada United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 13 |
Production | |
Executive producer | Naomi Janzen |
Production locations | Toronto, Ontario |
Cinematography | Rhett Morita |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production companies | Decode Entertainment Children's Television Workshop |
Release | |
Original network | CBS |
Original release | September 13 – December 6, 1997 |
In 1997, CBS aired a new version of the series, The New Ghostwriter Mysteries,[10] but it was canceled after one season due to low ratings. The new series had little in common with the original, changing Ghostwriter's on-screen appearance, introducing entirely new characters, and getting rid of the serial format of the original series.[11] The series was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and featured a new team of three kids: Camella Gorik (Charlotte Sullivan), Emilie Robeson (Erica Luttrell), and Henry "Strick" Strickland (Kristian Ayre). Ghostwriter only had two colors, which were silver and gold.
Ghostwriter's identity[]
Ghostwriter producer and writer Kermit Frazier revealed in a 2010 interview that Ghostwriter was the ghost of a runaway slave during the American Civil War. He taught other slaves how to read and write and was killed by slave catchers and their dogs. His spirit was kept in the book that Jamal first discovered in the pilot episode, and when Jamal opened the book he was freed.[12]
Radio series[]
In Summer 2006, BBC School Radio produced a radio series of Ghostwriter for primary school students. Character names from the TV series were retained, though voiced by new children. Music and the theme song were also kept, and a new arranged jingle for children to recognize Ghostwriter's appearances was created by Sesame Workshop.
Revival[]
In September 2019, it was reported that a Ghostwriter revival would air on Apple TV+. The series premiered on November 1, 2019.[13] The series was nominated for eight Daytime Emmy Awards.[14]
A spin-off, , premiered on April 1, 2021.[15]
References[]
- ^ Heffley, Lynne (October 3, 1992). "Words Add Substance to 'Ghostwriter'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 7, 2012. Retrieved August 27, 2010.
- ^ Bernstein, Sharon (September 12, 1992). "Fox to Premiere PBS' 'Ghostwriter'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 7, 2012. Retrieved August 27, 2010.
- ^ Bernstein, Sharon (May 17, 1991). "Public TV: 'Ghostwriter' targets third- and fourth-graders, 40% of whom are said to lack basic reading skills. The series will debut in 1992". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 7, 2012. Retrieved August 27, 2010.
- ^ "Ghostwriter Review | TV Reviews and News". EW.com. January 15, 1993. Archived from the original on October 25, 2008. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
- ^ Umstead, R. Thomas (June 11, 2001). "Noggin Adds Interactive Series". Multichannel News. Archived from the original on September 25, 2020.
- ^ Nick Iuppa (September 7, 2001). Interactive Design for New Media and the Web. CRC Press. pp. 248–249. ISBN 978-1-136-13405-0. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
- ^ "Ghostwriter: Season One : DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". Dvdtalk.com. June 8, 2010. Archived from the original on June 12, 2010. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
- ^ "Ghostwriter Typed Up – IGN". Dvd.ign.com. Archived from the original on September 16, 2012. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved August 16, 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ King, Susan (August 31, 1997). "Educating and Entertaining". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. Archived from the original on March 12, 2014. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
- ^ King, Susan (August 31, 1997). "Educating and Entertaining". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 12, 2014. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
- ^ Honan, Katie (May 6, 2010). "'Ghostwriter' Revisits Fort Greene Past". The New York Times. The Local (blog). Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved March 11, 2014.
- ^ Denise Petski (September 10, 2019). "'Ghostwriter': Reboot Of 1990s Kids Series Set At Apple TV+". Deadline. Archived from the original on September 11, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved May 21, 2020.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ Meaghan Darwish (March 5, 2021). "Apple TV+ Spring Shows to Include 'It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown' and a 'Ghostwriter' Spinoff". TV Insider. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
External links[]
- Ghostwriter (TV series)
- 1990s American children's television series
- 1990s American mystery television series
- 1990s American school television series
- 1992 American television series debuts
- 1995 American television series endings
- 1997 American television series debuts
- 1997 American television series endings
- American children's fantasy television series
- American children's mystery television series
- American children's education television series
- American time travel television series
- BBC children's television shows
- Brooklyn in fiction
- CBS original programming
- Middle school television series
- PBS Kids shows
- Reading and literacy television series
- Television series about children
- Television series about ghosts
- Television series by Sesame Workshop
- Television shows filmed in New York (state)
- Television shows set in New York City