The Zack Files

"[...] You attract the paranormal like dogs attract fleas."

—Spencer

The Zack Files was a Canadian live-action paranormal show that aired in the early Noughties that was apparently based off of a book series. The show revolved around Zack Greenburg and his friends Cameron, Spencer, and Gwen as they experience various paranormal hijinks thanks to Zack essentially having a literal Weirdness Magnet-gene. Spencer chronicles these adventures, which he dubs "The Zack Files" in his hopes of studying and proving the existence of the paranormal.

Coincidentally, this show has pretty much the same cast as Black Hole High, and a number of the actors wound up on Degrassi.

Tropes used in The Zack Files include:

• Alone with the Psycho
• Clip Show: The penultimate episode, "Who Did You Say I Was?", Zack gets amnesia and the others have to remind him of his adventures.
• Cultural Translation: The book series took place in New York City; the TV show, being made in Canada, moved the setting to Toronto.
• Extremely Overdue Library Book: The pilot episode had Zack borrowing Alice in Wonderland, thus making it months overdue. Despite trying to return the book without getting into trouble, it was then he realized that a page was torn out and stolen by Vernon. Since Zack's a Weirdness Magnet, the torn page brought the characters to life and placed Zack on trial for this very trope, until Vernon revealed himself to be the actual culprit.
• Gender Bender: In one episode, Zack turns into a girl after trying some girls' deodorant.
  • Gender Bender Friendship: In a slight twist on the usual trope, he spends his time trying to set Gwen up with Cameron, not with himself.
• Imagine the Audience Naked: Subverted. Zack is told to imagine himself in his underwear (his friend getting the advice wrong), which causes his pants, and any subsequent pants he tries to put on to disappear until he can confront his fear of not only giving a speech, but doing it in his underwear, too.
• Instructional Title: The book series has a book entitled How To Speak Dolphin in Three Easy Lessons.
• I've Never Seen Anything Like This Before: Spencer's Catch Phrase.
• Kiss of Life: One episode had Cameron attempt this on Zack. Zack is NOT amused.
• Least Rhymable Word
• One-Gender School: The main characters all attend Horace White High School for Boys. Gwen is the only girl at the school, because her father is the principal.
• Truman Show Plot: One season two episode involves Zack's life being broadcast as a reality show on an alien planet.
• Weirdness Magnet: Pretty much the whole premise.
  • The books offer this as one of two possibilities. The other is that this stuff happens all the time, and Zack's the only one who notices.
• Will They or Won't They?: Gwen and Cameron.
• Wondrous Ladies' Room: Inverted! Gwen bursts in to the Boys' Room to yell at Zack, and has no idea what the urinals are. He tells her they are planters. For vegetables. She believes it.