Goosebumps (1995-98), based on the long-running series of children's horror novels by R. L. Stine (231 to date), provided chills for the pre-teen set. A jack-o-lantern comes to life. The lunch lady turns out to be an alien. An abandoned house holds a dark secret. A piano teacher named Mr. Schreek has a sinister motive. It was scary but not too scary for kids, with bravery and ingenuity triumphing over the evil, and no one being actually killed or eaten.
The protagonists were kids or teenagers, sometimes alone, sometimes in pairs of best friends or siblings. Since an anthology series needs a new cast every week, producers scoured the ranks of Canadian child actors, coming up with sat least 10 who would become teen idols, or go onto a hunky adulthood.
1. Corey Sevier (4 episodes), major teen idol of the 1990s, more recently appearing in tv movies like
The Tree that Saved Christmas (2014)
2.. Kaj-Erik Eriksen (2 episodes) of
The Commish and
Boston Public, now appearing in even more tv movies like
A Christmas Detour (2015). 451 tv movies with "Christmas" in the title appeared between 2010 and 2017.
3. Brendan Fletcher (2 episodes), star of
Freddie v. Jason (2003) and more recently IZombie. No Christmas movies.
4.Daniel Clark (2 episodes) went on to another paranormal series,
The Zack Files, and the teen soap
Degrassi: The Next Generation.
5. Kevin Zegers (1 episode) starred in
Air Bud, about basketball-playing dog, and a number of indie movies where he takes his shirt off. He was last seen on
Fear the Walking Dead.
6. Tyler Kyte (1 episode) appeared in many indie movies, including
Prom Queen: The Marc Hall Story (2004)
7. Ben Cook (4 episodes). His last role was in
Camp Rock 2 (2010).
8. Mpho Koaho (1 episode) is now starring in the sci-fi series
Falling Skies.
9. Dov Tiefenbach (3 episodes) has appeared in many Canadian tv series, and in an indie band.
10. Blake McGrath (2 episodes) is a pop singer and contestant on
So You Think You Can Dance.
6. Tyler Kyte (1 episode) appeared in many indie movies, including Prom Queen: The Marc Hall Story (2004)
Not my favorite Daniel Clark cap. That episode of Degrassi is far worse in Canada: Marco acts like a creeper. Seriously, Marco even licks his lips. Just kind of...not the image they were going for. You should've used that one from the season 4 (Do the writers speak any East Asian languages? If you saw the show, you know why I ask.) opener where the writers for a second remember Sean and Craig are friends. (There was a joke about them being lovers among the fandom, but that started mid-season 4. It actually got pretty out of control.) Or go full beefcake with Daniel in boxers, in season 3 Or 4 during the "Sean gets his own place, welfare pays for everything, and this is still more realistic than Kevin Smith" arc.
ReplyDeleteKevin Zegers took a lot more than his shirt off in Transamerica. Gay content (and fanservice for both sexes) was a staple in aughts indie films. Though I must say, a lot of gay characters fell into the same traps that Transamerica did: Depicting gay men as promiscuous, preoccupied with sex, victims of abuse, on drugs (the other staple of aughts independent film), or really bisexual (assuming bi men exist, which is not always a given on film).