THE NEW GHOSTWRITER MYSTERIES
(CBS, September 14-December 7, 1997)
Decode Entertainment,
Inc., Children’s Television Workshop
(CBS, September 14-December 7, 1997)
MAIN CAST:
Erica Luttrell – Emilie Robeson
Charlotte Sullivan – Camilla Gorik
Kristian Ayre – Henry “Strick” Strickland
Erica Luttrell – Emilie Robeson
Charlotte Sullivan – Camilla Gorik
Kristian Ayre – Henry “Strick” Strickland
Ghostwriter
is an educational media franchise created by Liz Nealon. It all
began with the first Ghostwriter show produced through a partnership by
Children’s Television Workshop (now Sesame
Workshop) and BBC Television. The show
centered on a group of kids from the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, New
York who solved local mysteries with the help of a ghost. This ghost, appearing
as a circle with two curved lines, could only be seen by whoever he chooses to
see him and was only able to communicate through the written word, leading the
kids to name him “Ghostwriter”. On a computer he could write fluently and
clearly (as well as travel through the internet), but offline he was limited to
borrowing letters from his environment (although this was inconsistently
portrayed), which sometimes necessitated the kids filling in some blanks in his
messages or deciphering them when they appeared cryptic. The goal of the series
was to get kids excited about reading, writing and problem solving.
 |
| Ghostwriter as he appeared on the show. |
Ghostwriter’s
true identity was never revealed on the series; his stating early on that he
couldn’t remember who he was. In a 2010
article about the first season’s release
on DVD, writer Kermit Frazier
stated that the plan was for Ghostwriter to have been the ghost of a runaway
slave during the Civil
War that taught other slaves how to read (although, it was originally
planned to make him a famous 15th or 16th century writer).
This fit in with the history of the neighborhood as the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church was a
stop on the Underground
Railroad.
 |
| Jamal, Alex, Lenni and Gabby watch Ghostwriter quickly read through a stack of books. |
The Ghostwriter Team, as they
called themselves, primarily consisted originally of Jamal Jenkins (Sheldon Turnipseed), an
aspiring scientist who accidentally freed Ghostwriter (possibly his ancestor)
from a book in his basement; siblings Alex Fernández
(David López), an aspiring detective, and Gabby Fernández (Mayteana Morales, later Melissa González), an aspiring newscaster; Lenni Frazier (Blaze Berdahl), an aspiring
singer/songwriter; and Tina Nguyen (Tram-Anh Tran), an aspiring
filmmaker never without her camcorder. Other kids would eventually join the
team, expanding the roster to ultimately seven active members. Each member
would receive a pen with a string through its cap that they could wear around
their neck to always have handy. They would also keep two casebooks: one to
keep track of the active case’s suspects, clues and evidence, and one to help
Ghostwriter determine his identity. To initiate a gathering of the team, they would
broadcast a message through Ghostwriter—who was always present with all of them—tagged
with “Rally” and the first initial of their name to indicate who was calling
them together.
Ghostwriter
aired on PBS and BBC Two for three seasons beginning on
October 4, 1992. Each mystery was split across multiple episodes; typically
four, with a couple running five. Spinning out of the show were magazines,
teacher’s guides, computer software, new and adapted novels, games, home videos
and various outreach materials. Despite the show winning a WGA Award and being nominated for a Young Artist Award, and its
continuing popularity, it was abruptly cancelled in 1995 due to lack of funding
when the BBC pulled out of co-producing. Reruns aired on PBS until 1999, and
then aired on Noggin, the cable network
founded by CTW and Nickelodeon.
 |
| The new cast (and Ghostwriter) in front of a faux subway entrance. |
As 1997 was
rolling around, the FCC had put stricter
regulations into the Children’s
Television Act requiring television stations to broadcast shows designed to
educate and inform viewers 16 and under at least three hours a week, identifying
these programs on air, and stringent reporting requirements on their complicity.
To comply with these regulations, CBS launched
a new Saturday morning programming block called Think CBS Kids and
featured an all live-action line-up designed to be educational and informational.
Part of that programming was a revival of Ghostwriter with Decode Entertainment (now WildBrain) producing alongside CTW.
 |
| Meet the new crew: Emilie, Strick and Camilla. |
Still set
in Fort Greene (although shot in Toronto, Ontario, Canada), The New
Ghostwriter Mysteries centered on an all-new Ghostwriter Team attending Jesse Owens Junior High School. They
were intrepid reporter Emilie Robeson (Erica Luttrell), popular athlete Camilla
Gorik (Charlotte Sullivan), and comic-loving former juvenile delinquent Henry “Strick”
Strickland (Kristian Ayre). When not hanging out at Fort Greene Pizza or the office
of the school paper, The Rattler, they could be found in Strick’s
basement hideaway he called his “Batcave”.
Together they solved local mysteries with the aid of Ghostwriter, who took on a
more computer-generated appearance thanks to advancing visual effects
technology. He did, however, lose his vibrant color palette as he only appeared
in silver and gold.
 |
| Ghostwriter reads Emilie's headline in the school paper. |
Unlike the original series, the
kids didn’t interact with Ghostwriter as much on a personal level; utilizing him
mostly as a tool to get around roadblocks in their cases or to speed an informational
search along (moments of his personality would come through with little asides
of his). In fact, it's never explained exactly how they met him in the first place. They were also less “official” detectives as they didn’t keep any kind
of casebook or record of their cases beyond whichever Emilie could use in the
paper. In lieu of a “Rally” code, the kids used Ghostwriter to locate each
other by having him read nearby landmarks like street signs, or just sent a
general message through him. Emilie also possessed a small portable computer
for communication with Ghostwriter on the fly.
 |
| Pizza solves everything. |
The New Ghostwriter Mysteries debuted
on CBS on September 13, 1997. The series was written by Kelli Roberts, Anne Kenney, Susan Snooks, Simon Munter, Mark Askew, Gail Glaze, Alice Eve Cohen and Alan Kingsberg.
The Ghostwriter graphics and animation were done by Todd Morgan. Marvin Dolgay and Alex Khaskin composed the theme, as well
as did the score in several episodes along with Amin
Bhatia and Gaz Mellen. Instead
of the multi-part mysteries of its predecessor, each case only encompassed a
single episode. As a result, less emphasis was placed on the teachable moments
of reading and writing to allow the story room to play out; however, some of
that remained, such as characters having to figure out the meaning of a word
and how it related to their case. Unfortunately, the revival didn’t prove as
popular as its predecessor and it was cancelled at the end of its sole season
due to low ratings. Reruns would air on Noggin as part of its nighttime
programming blocks The Hubbub and The
N. Most of the episodes have been uploaded from recordings to YouTube.
It wouldn’t be until 2019 that another
revival would be attempted. Sesame Workshop partnered with Sinking Ship Entertainment to bring Ghostwriter
to Apple TV+. However, this time
around, the kids weren’t teamed-up with Ghostwriter to solve mysteries, they
were attempting to solve the mystery of Ghostwriter as he proceeded to
unleash fictional characters upon the world from various works of literature. This
version of Ghostwriter, while still restricted to communicating through
writing, was more akin to a poltergeist
as he was able to manipulate physical objects as well as letters. The premise
behind the series was to play upon the notion of being pulled into a story as
you read it.
“Losing Bet” (9/14/97) – A classmate is busted for gambling when betting slips are found in his locker during a spot check.
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