Matthew Reine
When we were all kids, all of us were drawn into tales of mystery. We were lured into all kinds of brainstorming mischief that forced us to use our minds as well as our imagination. Books such as the series of adventures from the Hardy Boys and Nate the Great, cartoons like Inspector Gadget, and films such as Clue are all examples of tales portraying different characters, often young, using careful tactics to crack the case and save the day. It was the heroism and intelligence that gave us a good feeling. One television series from my youth particularly stands, encouraging me to want to solve cases as a young kid which brings us to this week’s article on the little educational program known as Ghostwriter.
Ghostwriter premiered on PBS in 1992 and ran commercial-free so you couldn’t turn away for a second without missing anything. It followed a gang of young friends, each with diverse ethnic and social backgrounds, living in Brooklyn who solve mysteries together. Helping them in their detective work is an ancient ghost, whose only functions are reading and writing, that the kids dub “Ghostwriter.” He’s characterized by a little ball that floats around on-screen in a variety of colors and communicates by spelling out words with whatever letters he finds nearby. Sometimes his messages will appear on a computer screen or a notebook and sometimes, thanks to 90s CGI, they’ll appear animated in the sky or a nearby surface. In turn, this helped young viewers to read and write. Only a select few can see Ghostwriter and he only reveals himself to people he wants on the team.
The pilot episode begins with the group’s leader, Jamal Jenkins, an African-American youngster with a strong interest in science, unearthing Ghostwriter in a book he opens in his basement. One by one, Ghostwriter then shows himself to more kids who eventually form the Ghostwriter team. These include: Lenni, a musician following in the footsteps of her father, Alex, a jock, Alex’s sister, Gaby, and Tina, an intelligent Vietnamese girl. Alex’s Latino heritage is often conveyed to the viewer. He communicates with his family in Spanish, helping audiences gain knowledge on how to read, speak, and even write the language. Tina’s native tongue and traditional family customs are also brought up on the show so that viewers can also understand the Vietnamese culture. Later members of the faction included Hector, Rob, and Jamal’s young cousin, Casey. Hector was being mentored by Alex and helped further the Spanish education of the show.
Ghostwriter would air every Sunday evening and each case would be broken up into four 30 minute episodes with each installment ending on a cliffhanger to lure the viewer into tuning in the next week. A typical episode can be broken down like this: a crime is committed ranging from theft, kidnapping, and even arson, the kids step in to help, they jot down clues and potentials suspects in their “case book”, and go around town searching for evidence and questioning different people while evading serious danger to themselves and others. Ghostwriter himself assists the team with decoding weird messages he finds that take the group one step closer before a conclusion is drawn. The group often gets together at one of their houses to review clues together. This is where they call for a “Rally” where they write the word plus their first initial for Ghostwriter to read and spread the word to the other members.
The show was actually shot on location in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn so as a New Yorker who never saw much of the borough as a child, it was nice to see some authentic shots of the city including certain blocks and parks. Some of the more interesting cases were Jamal helping the gang solve a case while he’s vacationing in London, Ghostwriter going back in time to solve a robbery in the 1920s, and the gang taking a break from being sleuths to help Casey write a story about a slimy doll to win a contest. The latter was actually the final episode of the series, ending it on a lighthearted note with a tale of slapstick horror.
My personal favorite might be the season two serial, Who is Max Mouse? where the gang have to catch a student who is harming their school’s computer system with several deadly viruses. It taught me and many other kids about the internet which was only starting to become a staple in media at the time. I learned what a modem, handle, and hacker, was from that show. Thanks Ghostwriter! Oh, it also boasted an appearance from Greg Lee, former host of one my all-time favorite game shows, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Runner up would probably be Don’t Stop The Music where Lenni signs with a record label and goes on to film a music video for MTV but the shoot is constantly sabotaged. It’s then up to the gang to find out who’s messing with Lenni’s dream.
Outside of being detectives, the Ghostwriter team also deal with different personal issues in their lives. In addition to focusing on friendship, school and family, the series wasn’t afraid to tackle harsh issues such as drug use, racism, bullying, and gang violence all of which were instilled into different episodes but each are overcome by the time each puzzle is solved.
A few notable actors appeared on Ghostwriter before hitting the big time. None other than Samuel L. Jackson played Jamal’s father during the first few cases and Julia Stiles plays a fellow student at Hurston Middle School. Even Brooklyn native, Spike Lee, pops up in one episode.
The series ended in 1995 after three seasons and 18 different cases. After a two year hiatus, it returned with a retooled format in 1997. The show, The New Ghostwriter Mysteries, lasted only a season before being canned. None of the original actors appeared and every episode boasted a brand new mystery, doing away with the serial format. In Ghostwriter’s absence, I was able to latch onto the Nickelodeon series, The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, for my teen mystery fix.
To the delight of fans, the original show returned to syndication on the Noggin network in 1999. The channel was an extension of Nickelodeon showing only child-oriented programming. I was very excited to see the show again after my family obtained a new cable package in 2001 that included Noggin. I would watch Ghostwriter most days after school and relive good times. One particular serial, What’s Up With Alex?, never aired during this time, likely due to its graphic imagery and frank discussion of marijuana. That was the one where Alex starts neglecting his responsibilities at home and hanging out with a star basketball player at school but soon learns he smokes pot and the pressure’s on Alex to take drugs. Ghostwriter would run on Noggin for several years before moving to the N (later TeenNick). It last aired in 2003 and hasn’t been seen on national television since. The series has been released on DVD though so pick it up! With 90s nostalgia being all the rage now, who wouldn’t want a more contemporary version of the show?
In 2010, Ghostwriter’s origins were revealed in an interview with the show’s creator, Kermit Frazier, stated that Ghostwriter was a slave in the civil war who was killed after teaching fellow slaves how to read. His soul was subsequently kept inside of the book Jamal opens in the pilot.
Go seek out some episode and remember, you gotta believe.
