Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 68: Interview with David and Eli from You Scared of This?

Happy Halloween, everyone! In this episode of Casual Chats, Patricia interviews David Dycus and Eli Philips from You Scared of This?, a weekly podcast dedicated to reviewing every single episode of the 1991 Nickelodeon anthology series Are You Afraid of the Dark? They discuss about their earliest memories of Nickelodeon, why they decided to watch every episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, what they think of the show when looking back on it, and what would like to see in a reboot?

Old School Lane's Nickelodeon Tribute: Interview with D.J. MacHale

Who better to get to make this discussion of Are You Afraid of the Dark? even more special than the creator himself, D.J. MacHale. His work on television and literature is astonishing to behold. From TV show work writing, producing, or directing shows like Tower of Terror, Criss Cross, Flight 29 Down, and Seasonal Differences to writing the now acclaimed fantasy book series Pendragon, Morpheus Road, and Monster Princess. 

Kevin and I had the chance to interview D.J. MacHale, so I hope you enjoy.

Patricia- What are your favorite cartoons?

D.J.- Bugs Bunny.  No question.  

Patricia- What made you create Are You Afraid of the Dark?

D.J.- I love telling stories...especially spooky stories.

Kevin- Are you or were you a fan of Tales from the Crypt comic book and TV show?

D.J.- I watched it but I wasn’t what you’d call a fan.  I did read the “Creepy” and “Eerie” comic books when I was a kid though.

Patricia- What inspiration did you get to creating Are You Afraid of the Dark?

D.J.- Dark? was very much an homage to one of the greatest shows of all time: The Twilight Zone.  Also, I read thousands of supernatural stories...long and short...when I was young.

Patricia- What was your favorite Are You Afraid of the Dark episode?

D.J.- The Tale of the Midnight Madness.  We were firing on all cylinders with that one.

Patricia- Who was your favorite Midnight Society character?

D.J.- Hard to say because they were all so different.  But Gary was the ringleader and the most like me so I guess I’d say...Gary.

Kevin- How did you feel about Zeebo the Clown?

D.J.- I’m terrified of clowns.  No joke.  Ever since a “clown incident” when I was very little.  As I called it in that episode, it’s known as Bozophobia. 

Patricia- How did you go pitching Are You Afraid of the Dark to Nickelodeon?

D.J.- They didn’t want it at first because they thought parents would go crazy if we tried to scare little kids.  So they turned it down at first.  But a great guy was hired there afterward, found the three-page pitch in a file, pulled it out and said:  “Why aren’t we doing this show???”  If not for him, the show would not have been made.

Patricia- Do you still keep in contact with any of the cast members?

D.J.- Not face to face but many of us have found each other through Facebook.  Not just the cast, but the crew as well.  We call ourselves “Darkies”.

Kevin- What was a typical day of shooting?

D.J.- Making that show was grueling.  Long, long days.  And often we had to shoot into the night because it was Are You Afraid of the DARK?”  Sometimes we’d get to work at 6pm and finish at 6am.  When you shoot scary scenes, it takes a long time because you need lots of shots to be able to build tension.  So it wouldn’t  be weird to be working 14 hour days.  Then of course for me I’d have to go home and work on scripts or look at edits of the show or meet with composers...it was challenging.  But I loved it.

Patricia- What was that white stuff that they threw on the fire?

D.J.- Non-Dairy creamer.  That stuff is petroleum based...and burns.  But we also added a little pyrotechnic charge for some oomph.

Patricia- Who were your influences in writing your books?

D.J.- I always write about real life...even if I’m writing fantasy adventure.  I look around and write about stuff that I know, though I build it up to fantastical proportions.  It’s fun.

Patricia- How did you come up with the idea of the Pendragon books?

D.J.- I actually had lots of ideas for different stories and couldn’t decide which one to write.  So I decided to write them all...and tie them together with the story about Bobby vs. Saint Dane.  That’s why I then pitched it as a book series because it was too long for a movie and too big and expensive for a TV show.

Patricia- In the Pendragon books, each of the characters go through a series of adventures and has an aesthetic feel of friendship and making the right decisions. How did you go when creating each obstacle for each character that can relate to the readers?

D.J.- Again, it’s about real life.  People are faced with decisions all the time, and the right decision isn’t always obvious.  Also, often times there IS no right decision.  So I tried to create as many moral/ethical/difficult challenges that would make the characters (and the readers) really have to think about what the right way to go would be.

Patricia- Movies based on books for teenagers and young adults are becoming quite the rage ever since Twilight and The Hunger Games. Will we see a movie adaptation of Pendragon?

D.J.- They’ve been quite the rage for about a hundred years now!  I’ve been having trouble setting up Pendragon because I think the story is just too big and expensive to get a studio to want to take a chance on.

Patricia- Now that your last book in the Morpheus Road trilogy has been released, what will be your next projects?

D.J.- I’m writing a science-fiction thriller.  First draft already complete.  I’ll reveal more info about it as it gets closer to reality.

Kevin- What were your favorite shows as a kid?

D.J.- Yikes.  Too many to name...and it depends on what age you’re talking about.

Kevin- Do you feel that Are You Afraid of the Dark should get a proper DVD release?

D.J.- Absolutely!  Most of the episodes from seasons 1-5 are available on DVD but through a Canadian company and they are very expensive.  I wish Nickelodeon would do a proper U.S. release.

Kevin- What is your favorite Nickelodeon show?

D.J.- Ren & Stimpy.

Kevin- What is your favorite movie?

D.J.- The Guns of Navarone.

Patricia- What advice would you give to someone who wants to pitch an idea for a TV network?

D.J.- First get a job writing on somebody else’s TV show.   You won’t sell a show of your own until you’ve proven you can do it for somebody else.

Kevin- Are you a huge fan of the horror genre?

D.J.- No.  I don’t like the gory violence.  I think it’s too easy.  The scares come from the fear of seeing something disgusting.  But I DO love ghost stories.  Whole different ballgame.

Kevin- What episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark scared you the most?

D.J.- Well...none.  Because I made them!  It’s hard to get scared when you know what’s coming.

Kevin- Did you go on the set on any of the episodes?

D.J.- Of course!  I directed a few dozen and I supervised the making of the rest.  I was what was called the “Show Runner” which means I was responsible for every creative aspect of the show...from scripts to casting to hiring crew to locations to art direction/costumes/make-up to editing to music...  So if you liked the show you can thank me.  If you don’t like it...you can blame me.

Kevin- How do you feel about Nickelodeon now than it was before?

D.J.- I don’t know much about the animation stuff, but with the live action I feel that it’s gotten too one-note.  So  many of the shows look alike.  There isn’t enough variety.  And I can’t tell the difference between Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel.  I call it Disnelodeon.  It didn’t used to be like that. 

Patricia- What advice would you give to someone who wants to be a writer?

D.J.- Learn about everything that you can and then write about it.

Patricia- That's all the questions. Thank you so much, D.J. Take care.

D.J.- You are very welcome.

For more information about D.J. MacHale and his books, you can check out the website http://djmachalebooks.com/. You can also follow him on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AuthorD.J.MacHale or on Twitter @DJMacHale. 

Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Take care.

-Patricia and Kevin

Old School Lane's Nickelodeon Tribute: Are You Afraid of the Dark?

As we've already established recently, 1991 was a very important year for Nickelodeon. They no longer  borrowed cartoons and TV shows from other sources materials like they used to back in the early to mid 80's. Instead, they were successful enough to create their own cartoons and shows from their new studio in Orlando, Florida. The last show that came out in 1991 was released around Halloween, October 31. Similar to The Third Eye, it was an anthology series that took you into the thrilling and creepy atmosphere of the supernatural world. I'm talking about the Canadian series Are You Afraid of the Dark?

The show is about a group of teenagers simply known as the Midnight Society. Every week, they would meet at a secret location in the woods telling scary stories. Each person would take turns in every episode telling a story which would range from ghosts to haunted houses. The group consisted of the following:

Gary (played by Ross Hull) is the leader of the group. He has a fascination with magic and his stories mostly contained about enchanted objects with supernatural abilities. 

Tucker (played by Daniel DeSanto) is Gary's younger brother and the youngest member of the Midnight Society. He portrays himself as an annoying brat. His stories involve with families who have a bitter relationship at first, but tend to get better at the end.

Betty Ann (played by Raine Pare-Coull) is very enthusiastic and has a passion for unusual bizarre things. Her stories revolve around supernatural forces and unknown realms similar to The Twilight Zone.

Kiki (played by Jodie Resther) is a tomboy who sometimes picks on some of the members of the Midnight Society, especially Tucker. Her stories mostly revolve around danger and deceitfulness that her characters go through. In the beginning of the series, her characters were mostly African American to represent her culture. It stopped as the series progressed.

Frank (played by Jason Alisharan) is a tough juvenile delinquent with a tough attitude. He doesn't have a theme for his stories, but a character known as Dr. Vink would appear whenever he told them.

Kristen (played by Rachel Blanchard) is a squeamish girl who loves to tell stories that revolve around fairy tales and ghosts who have unfinished business. She tends to dress up sometimes whenever it's her turn to tell the stories.

Sam (played by Joanna Garcia) is a shy, quiet girl who has a crush on Gary. Her stories tend to focus more on love.

David (played by Nathaniel Moreau) is a quiet, shy boy who has a crush on Kristen. His stories tend to be about the outside forces and the darkness inside of people's souls.

Eric (played by Jacob Tierney) was a pretty normal kid with a proud Irish ancestry which seemed to be the themes for his stories. He was cut from the show and was replaced by Frank. 

Stig (played by Codie Lucas Wilbee) is an odd outsider with bad hygiene. He was the last member of that generation of the Midnight Society to be initiated. Not everyone at the Midnight Society cared for Stig very much due to him being an odd character. His stories revolve around outsiders judged by their appearance.

The way to get into the Midnight Society was like this: A person would be brought to the secret location with  their face covered to not know the location by a member of the Midnight Society. He would tell the story and it has to be voted unanimous for that person to be included. If even one person from the Midnight Society says no, then they wouldn't get in. Stig had to do this twice in order for him to be a member.

Each episode started off with a person giving a introduction to what the theme of the story was and grab a brown bag that contained a substance known as "midnight dust". They would look at the campfire, say the following words "Submitted for your approval of the Midnight Society, I call this story (throw the midnight dust at the fire, the fire pops a bit), The Tale of...

Depending on who's telling the story, each episode then focuses on the story. It would start off simple at first with the main character living their normal lives, doing their normal routines. Then throughout the story, something strange happens, it gets worse and worse, a creepy ghost, a supernatural force, or a monster would appear out of nowhere and scare the main characters. They work together to take down the monster or evil force until, the majority of the time, they would defeat them and save the day. 

However, it wasn't that simple. There were even stories in which the story does not end in a happy note. There are some stories that end tragic or in a cliffhanger. I like stories like this since they don't happen often and leave you with a more memorable story at the end.

Even though each main character and story was different in every episode, there were recurring characters that show up throughout Are You Afraid of the Dark? Like the previously mentioned Dr. Vink (played by Richard Dumont), who's a supernatural mad scientist, Sardo (played by Aron Tager), who owns a magic shop that contains supernatural objects and items, Zeebo the Clown, and The Ghastly Grinner.

As time went on throughout the series, all of the members from the Midnight Society left for being too old in the group, with the exception of Tucker. He became the new leader and initiated his four friends in the group.

Andy (played by David Deveau) is a troublemaker, similar to Frank.

Vange (played by Vanessa Langies) is the youngest of the group and a complete tomboy who speaks her mind, similar to Kiki.

Quinn (played by Kareem Blackwell) is a sweet farm boy who is teased for his huge size and his lack of brains.

Megan (played by Elisha Cuthbert) is a snobby, rich girl who doesn't like to get dirty. She's not used to being outdoors, so she brought her old couches and sofas outside their secret location to make it more comfortable.

There was even a three part special called The Tale of the Silver Sight. Gary returned in this movie working together with the new members of the Midnight Society looking for an object known as the Silver Sight. Gary and Tucker's grandfather had mysteriously passed away and told them to look for the object and destroy it. This was the first time in the entire series that didn't involve with a scary themed story, they were actually going through it. It's a very well done story that you should really check out sometime.

An interesting fact about Are You Afraid of the Dark? was that it almost didn't make it to TV. The creator of the show, D.J. MacHale, was inspired by other anthology TV series like The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents and had written the first episode of the show and sent it to Nickelodeon. The executives of Nickelodeon refused to air it due to the fact that they too scary for kids and set the script aside. Then a year later, an Nickelodeon executive named Jay Mulvaney looked at the set-aside script and said "Whoa! Why aren't we doing this show?" The rest was history.

The show ran for 7 seasons ending its run on June 11, 2000. The actors had gone on to do other things while some have faded into obscurity.

Ross Hull did a few more TV shows such as Ready or Not, Iron Eagle IV, Student Bodies, and Stargate: Atlantis. He quit acting and is now currently a weatherman for CTV in Ontario.

Daniel DeSanto has done a lot of TV, movie, and voice work such as The Magic School Bus, Half Baked, Mean Girls, Braceface, Goosebumps, The Border, Aaron Stone, Combat Hospital, and Breakaway.

Jodie Resther has done other TV and voice acting roles such as Vampire High, Abandon, Undressed, and Who is KK Downey? You might know her nowadays as the voice of Francine Frensky in Arthur.

Joanna Garcia has been on other TV and movies such as American Pie 2, Party of Five, Freaks and Geeks, Boston Public, Reba, Gossip Girl, Royal Pains, and Animal Practice. She is married to New York Yankee outfielder Mike Swisher.

Rachel Blanchard has done other movie and TV shows like Iron Eagle IV, The Revenge of Carrie, Clueless the TV Series, Road Trip, Flight of the Conchords, Without a Paddle, and Flashpoint.

Jacob Tierney has done other movie and TV shows like Josh and Sam, The Neon Bible, Big Wolf on Campus, Touched by an Angel, The Trotsky, and Good Neighbors. 

Elisha Cuthbert has been in other movie and TV roles such as Popular Mechanics for Kids, Old School, 24, Love Actually, The Forgotten, and Happy Endings.

Vanessa Lengies has done other movies and TV roles such as For Better or Worse, American Dreams, Popular Mechanics for Kids, 8 Simple Rules, Foreign Exchange, CSI: Miami, Castle, and HawthoRNe. You might know her as the voice of Emily from Arthur or Sugar Motta from Glee.

D.J. MacHale went on to create other TV series such as Flight 29 Down and Seasonal Differences. He wrote the popular fantasy series Pendragon and Morpheus Road. He's currently working on some new books. 

Overall, looking back at this show, most of the stuff is not scary anymore. Some of the acting from the Midnight Society members and the characters in the stories are very hokey, cheesy, and a bit over-the-top. However, for some of these stories, they still have a bit of an edge to them when it comes to thrills and unsuspecting twists. There are some stories that are still very fascinating to listen to and find out how it ends.

Are You Afraid of the Dark, at the time, was called a softer tone compared to Tales from The Crypt which had ran on HBO two years before, however it came out before R.L. Stine wrote his first Goosebumps book, which would begin the ultimate craze of spooky stories in the 90's. But Are You Afraid of the Dark? was focusing on thrills and straighter tone point of view than Crypt paying homages to other anthology TV series like The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. From the very beginning, Are You Afraid of the Dark? wasn't meant to be a horror anthology series, but instead a thriller anthology series. For that, the show kinda still works. This is how MacHale describes it in an interview by Mathew Klickstein at splitsider.com.


“It depends on the episode. There are some episodes that were straight out horror — horror light because it was a kids show. It’s a mix between Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The Twilight Zone wasn’t necessarily scary, per se. It was always some ironic story or morality tale of the supernatural/impossible happening. Then we added the Hitchcock touch, which was tension in there, as well. Which always led to some climactic moment of escaping danger. It was really more of a thriller, I guess you’d call it.

I'm not necessarily a horror fan, but I’m a fan of good stories with mystery and ironic twists, and that’s what Twilight Zone is about. We paid homage to Twilight Zone in every episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? Rod Serling [in Twilight Zone] would always say, ‘Submitted for your approval…’ So, I had the Midnight Society, when they would reach into that bag of midnight dust, say, ‘Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society…’”

I would highly recommend checking the show out, but don't expect it to give you nightmares or anything like that. But listen to some of the creative thrilling stories that will take you out of this world.

That's all for now. Tune in next time as we have two special interviews from the people who had worked on Are You Afraid of the Dark? Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon.

-Patricia