Zoey 101

Covers Always Lie. Did they even wear black once on this show?

Largely famous as Britney's sister's show.

Pacific Coast Academy was previously an all boys school, but has just begun admitting girls. Among that first class of girls is one Zoey Brooks, who has to contend with the boys when it comes to any privilege among the school. But of course, having a gender integrated school proves to be appealing for both sides and it basically becomes a college-type atmosphere but with teenagers.

The show began with Zoey and her roommates Nicole and Dana, with Zoey making friends with Chase and his roomates, Michael and Logan. Zoey was also called upon to look after her younger brother Dustin, with the slightly crazy geek Quinn always ensuring that Hilarity Ensues at PCA.

As time went on multiple characters were replaced, with varying degrees of Suspiciously Similar Substitute. Dana left, and was replaced by Lola. Later Nicole left, which allowed Quinn to move in with Lola and Zoey.

Created by Dan Schneider.

The origin of the Nick Verse, created when Drake Bell showed up As Himself.

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Tropes used in Zoey 101 include:

• Abhorrent Admirer: Stacey to Logan
• Adorkable: Chase falls fully under this, to the point that even Lola finds him adorable one time
• Agent Scully: Logan is an interesting case, as he is this purely out of fear and panicked denial instead of any type of rational
• All Cheering, All the Time: Zoey and her two friends are trying to make money for something so Logan hires them as cheerleaders for a week or so. At first he makes them cheer him on for nearly everything, but then they actually cheer at everything (getting rejected, taking a bath, sleeping) so he gets tired of it and pays them to shut up.
• Almighty Janitor: Herb, a skilled Shakespearian actor and impressive improviser
• Always Someone Better^[context?]
• Ambiguous Disorder: Nicole's in-show reason for leaving after season 2, Obsessive Male Gender Disorder. It may exist (depending on who you talk to) but it's unlikely Nicole's case was strong enough to necessitate action.
• Ambiguously Brown: Both Dana and Lola lean into this, but as their surnames are Cruz and Martinez respectively it’s implied both are Latinas.
• Ambiguously Bi: Michael. Lola too, but she's more the type to just joke about it.
• Anchored Ship: Zoey and Chase in the final Season, when due to some miscommunication, Zoey is at PCA, while Chase is in the school she was supposed to be going to in England. The end result is a Type 1.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Dustin initially seems to play this straight, later it’s very obviously subverted.
• The Artifact: As the series went on, the focus shifted from an average girl at a new school surrounded by colorful students, to standard relationship drama. As a result, Dustin became this by season 3.
• Asian and Nerdy: Wayne Gilbert AKA “Firewire”
• Attractive Bent Gender: Lola/Steve. Even Nicole finds "him" attractive.
• Back for the Finale / The Bus Came Back: Chase, in a rather touching way
• Bash Brothers: Chase, Logan and Michael, full stop.
• Beautiful All Along: Quinn. She gives herself a makeover to try and win back Mark, only to fail and have Logan fall in love with her. He puts her glasses back on her and says "There's Quinn.", right before their first kiss. Of course, Quinn is played by Erin Sanders, however, this does put a nice spin on the cliche of a geeky girl taking off her glasses, getting a makeover, and having a guy fall in love with her.
• Beleaguered Assistant: Chase is this to Logan while working as Sushi delivery boys
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Arguably, Logan and Dana in season 1. This would have been more than arguably, as Logan and Dana were supposed to start dating later on, but this was switched to Logan and Quinn after Kristen Herrera left the show.
• Berserk Button: Calling Quinn a spazz is a bad idea.
• Beta Couple: Lola and Vince, Logan and Quinn, Michael and Lisa
• Betty and Veronica: An interesting case, as Logan could be considered the Veronica to Mark’s Betty for Quinn’s affection. Another case of canon comparison is Rebecca being the Veronica to Zoey’s Betty in terms of Chase. In Fandom strictly, Dana is often considered the Veronica to Quinn’s Betty for Logan
• Big Brother Mentor: YMMV, but Chase can be seen as this for Dustin most of the time. Logan once tried to be this to Dustin with unsuccessful results
• The Big Damn Kiss: Chase and Zoey in the finale.
• Big Eater: Coco.
• Big Man on Campus: Vince Blake and on some level Logan is this as well
• Black Best Friend: Michael is this to both Chase and Logan. Arguably Lisa is this to Zoey.
• Blind Without'Em: Quinn, the few times she's seen not wearing glasses it's obvious her vision is not very good.
• Boarding School
• Book Dumb: Logan
• The Bully: Keith Finch from the season 1 episode “Defending Dustin”
• Bunny Ears Lawyer: Quinn
• Butt Monkey - Stacey (oh so much)
  • And Quinn can be considered this as well.
  • Let's not forget Mark Del Figgalo. The aardvark costume alone should be enough for him to make the list.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Chase with Zoey
• Captain Obvious - In "Spring Fling"

Michael: (seeing the Dean's wrecked car) It's wrecked.
Zoey: Thank you, Michael.

• Catch Phrase: Michael tried to make “Dripping” into one and later he tried to make “Flump” after he heard someone using “Dripping” but could not take credit for its invention
• Celebrity Paradox
• Celebrity Star
• Chick Magnet: James is the biggest one in – series, but both Logan and apparently Vince do very well for themselves in this department
  • Chase himself is not so bad in this deparment as well
• Child Prodigy: Dustin
• Cloudcuckoolander—Quinn, Michael to an extent
• Cold Opening: One of the few Dan Schneider shows without them (Kenan and Kel didn't either).
• Cool Teacher: Mr. Bender
• Crash Into Hello: Chase first meets Zoey when he crashed into a flagpole on his bike while waving to her.
• Deadpan Snarker: Among the males Chase surely is the biggest one in the series, followed more subtly by James and among the females Dana wins the snarking trophy with Zoey in second place
• The Dandy: Logan could be considered a modern version of this
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Arguable, but Dana could fall into this
• Distracted by the Sexy: Chase crashes into a flagpole on his bike due to staring at Zoey.
• The Ditz - Nicole
  • Ditzy Genius: YMMV, but Nicole, in all her ditz glory, is a straight A student and lowering that percentage freaks her out.
• Does Not Like Women - In the first season Logan really seemed upset that a bunch of teenage girls would be allowed in his school. ... kinda of makes you wonder
  • Ugh. Except when it doesn't. Logan probably just didn't want girls ruining the bachelor pad like dynamics. He's been shown multiple times flirting with girls from other (nearby schools) so it's not like he wanted to be away from girls.
    • Yeah- it's more his sexist attitudes than anything.
• Dork Horse Candidate—Between Zoey, Chase, and nerdball Mark, guess who wins?
• Elaborate University High: Pepperdine University, to be specific. That's where exterior locations were filmed.
• Eskimos Aren't Real: Michael tries to convince Chase that reindeer aren't real.
• Everyone Can See It: Chase's love for Zoey is the school's worst kept secret, and Zoey's obliviousness is almost painful.
• Everything's Better with Princesses: Averted, as a princess doll was dissolved by some harsh chemical.
• Extroverted Nerd: Quinn, then Stacey.
• Fan Service: It's really amazing how much they got away with Beach Episodes and putting the cast into appealing outfits. Granted, this goes for both guys and girls.
• The Fashionista: Zoey and Lola. Lola did cool off a little by the third season, though.
• Free-Range Children: Zoey and her friends are in middle school. But they seem to be able to go out whenever they want, go where ever they want, with no adult supervision or consult.
• Foe Yay: Logan has this with all the females in the series, but its most obvious and biggest case is with both Dana and Zoey
• Funny Afro: Chase has a bushy "Jewish afro" constantly referenced by the other characters. He tends to shrug it off, but lampshades it himself after Zoey throws a pillow at him that knocks him off his chair. He gets up, pats his head and exclaims "You dented my 'fro!" in good humor
• Genki Girl—Nicole
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: The ENTIRE episode where they all tried to get "tapped" by the Silver Hammer Society. To be fair, they meant get tapped on the head with a silver hammer to be initiated into the society, but they just keep saying stuff about being tapped, and it gets even weirder when the girls start talking about being tapped.
  • Logan wears a shirt saying "I spent ONE NIGHT IN PARIS." Which is the name of Paris Hilton's sex tape.
  • In "The Radio," Zoey gives Chase a taco in exchange for a $10,000 antique radio, suggesting that a taco (of another variety) could be something of value (e.g. Zoey's "taco"). The final scene of this episode is utterly shameless.
  • From "Chase's Girlfriend": "You won't need those balls for a while." It's also the tag quote!
  • "Paige at PCA" begins with Lola discussing her feet. Except it sounds like she talking about her boobs at first.
  • In "Chase's Grandma", the robe Zoey is wearing at the pajama birthday party for Chase is very slinky. Her pajamas are sorta skimpy as well but it's a sheer robe- not the sort of thing a 16 year old should be wearing, especially in public and especially since she's in the rain later in the episode.
• "Gift of the Magi" Plot
• Gilligan Cut: From "New Roomies":

Chase: You can't just look a girl in the face and say, "I don't want to live with you anymore."
(cut to Quinn's room where she is looking at Zoey)
Quinn: Zoey, I don't want to live with you anymore.

• The Glasses Gotta Go: Subverted with Quinn, who after giving herself a makeover, actually gets her glasses put back on her by Logan, and he says, "There's Quinn." before their first kiss.
• Good Cop, Bad Cop: On Lola’s instance, both her and Zoey try this in one episode on season 4 with Lola taking the place of the Bad Cop and Zoey taking the place of the Good Cop
• Hair of Gold: YMMV, but Zoey could actually fit in this qualification
• Heterosexual Life Partners: Chase and Michael, full stop. Logan also shares this with both Chase and Michael; especially notable with Michael in season 4. Zoey and Nicole from season 1-2 and Zoey, Lola and Quinn from season 2-3-4 also qualify
• Hippie Teacher: the psychology teacher in “Zoey’s Balloon” falls under this
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Logan suffers from this constantly
• Hollywood Nerd: Quinn is type 2; Firewire is type 1.
• Humiliation Conga: Rebecca gets one at the end of "Zoey's Balloon" when Zoey and the rest of the students at the lunch area do the Macalana and Rebecca flees in disgust.
• Idiot Ball: "Robot Wars".
• Informed Attractiveness: The new dean in "Hot Dean".
• Informed Ability: In universe example: In "Lola Likes Chase," Dustin points out Logan's woman-getting ways.

Logan: Do I get a lot of girls?
Dustin: You TALK about getting a lot of girls.

• Intergenerational Friendship: Chase is close friends with Almighty Janitor Herb, Cool Teacher Mr. Bender and Only Sane Employee Kasu
• Interrogation by Vandalism: How Lola and Nicole force persuade Firewire to tell them who is blackmailing Zoey in season 3.
• It Runs on Nonsensoleum—All of Quinn's inventions
• Its Pronounced Tropay: Coach Keller pronounces sushi as suh-shi (rhymes with slushie).
• Jerkass: Coach Keller. Oh so much.
• Jerk Jock - Logan
  • Vince fell into this qualification until season 4
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Logan, Logan, Logan. Although most of the time you have so squint to see it, he does have a Hidden Heart of Gold in him and it becomes obvious in the 4th and final season of the series
• The Jeeves / Servile Snarker: Chauncey, the butler for the Reese family is both The Jeeves for Logan’s father and an intense Servile Snarker for Logan himself
• Just Friends
• Ladykiller in Love: Logan, after he starts dating Quinn, he seem to be this, more if we have in mind his historial as a serial dater.
• Last-Minute Hookup: Zoey and Chase. After three seasons of shipteasing they finally confess their love to each other, only to not be able to do anything about since they're now 6000 miles apart. Chase returns in the final episode, and he and Zoey kiss and become a couple in the last five minutes.
• Laugh Track: Averted. Feels like a breath of fresh air as opposed to Dan's other shows that abuse the living hell out of it.
• Love Makes You Dumb: Chase, numerous times throughout the series. Michael in "Michael Likes Lisa."
• Mad Scientist: Quinn
• Man Hug: Michael and Chase have no trouble indulging in this
• Market-Based Title: The series is sometimes just called Zoey outside of the USA, since the "Subject 101" format for class names isn't used a whole lot in other countries.
• Meganekko: Quinn, to the point where Logan actually puts her glasses back on her before their first kiss.
• Millionaire Playboy: Logan
• Miracle Rally: In the 1st episode, Dana leads one of these in the game against the boys. Although the girls in the end don’t win the game, Dana’s participation makes the game extremely close, and the girls do win the respect of the coach and the boys.
• Mama Bear: Zoey is this in terms of Dustin when he gets bullied.
• Meaningful Name: Chase (as in 'pursuit'). Came in handy for naming the series finale TV movie "Chasing Zoey" ("Chase"-ing Zoey, Chase 'n Zoey).
• Meet Cute: Chase and Zoey meet when Chase crashes his bike into the school's flagpole
• Moment Killer: Chase and Zoey, constantly.
  • Nearly all of the other ensemble characters (and even a few inanimate objects) have served as cockblockers to this relationship at some point in the series.
• Mood Whiplash: The episode "Chase's Grandma" starts as your average sitcom episode about one of the main character's birthday and the other characters wanting to put together a great birthday behind his back - then during the very last scene of the episode, Chase's grandma (who was coming to the party) passes away ending the light-hearted episode on a really depressing note.
• Narcissist: Logan. Notably it causes him to lose a contest in Hands On a Blix Van, since his arrogance prevents him from believing that Zoey is lying to him. (Or more accurately, he's so arrogant that he doesn't believe she could lie to him.)
  • Also, the contest had been going on for almost a full day, so he probably couldn't think straight.
• New Transfer Student: Technically all the girls at PCA are this in the first season, but the most obvious case is Zoey. Lola in the second season.
• Nice Guy: Chase and Michael both tie for possibly the biggest one in the series and in season four both the reformed Jerk Jock Vince Blake and Romantic False Lead James fall into this
• Nice Jewish Boy: Chase
• No Indoor Voice: Coach Keller, again.
• Oblivious to Love: Zoey is oblivious to Chase's feelings for her. This gets painful when it drags on for three years, despite multiple attempts by Chase to tell her his feelings. She's oblivious even after she is told flat-out by her friends that Chase is in love with her, and had been since he met her. Lola even goes so far as to pull a random student from the hallway. And Zoey still doesn't believe it!

Lola: Ginny, could you come here a minute?
Ginny: What's up?
Lola: 'Blank' is in love with Zoey. Fill in the blank.
Ginny: (as though it were the most obvious answer in the world) Chase.
Lola: Thanks for playing.

• Odd Friendship: If one takes times to think about, Chase and Logan’s friendship seems to fall into this, as they are so incredibly different and normally seem to be the kind of friendship that would not work thanks to their personalities but more than once is showed that they are acutely dear and close friends
• Official Couple: Zoey and Chase
• Off the Table
• Only Sane Employee: Kazu, the owner of PCA's Sushi Rox, seems to be one of this in comparison to the other adults on campus. Mr. Bender also seem to be this
• Only Sane Man: Chase constantly falls into this, something that is obviously not very difficult when your competition is Logan and Michael. Throughout the first season 1st season, Dana proved to have elements of this as well
• Opposites Attract - Logan and Quinn. This was supposed to be Logan and Dana, but Quinn moved into her role after Kristin Herrara left the show.
• Out of Focus: Dustin. He barely appeared in the last two seasons.
• Pair the Spares: Stacey and Mark
• Popular Is Dumb: More Book Dumb that anything, but Logan could fall into this
• Put on a Bus - Dana after the first season. Nicole after the second season. Chase for most of the fourth season. Basically no character was too important enough on the show that their actor couldn't afford to be fired.
  • Put on a Bus to Hell—Alexa Nikolas quit the show because of a feud between her and Jamie Lynn Spears. Alexa's character, Nicole, was an intensely boy-crazy, insecure kid who hated unfamiliar situations — and Zoey says in the third season premiere that Nicole has been shipped to an all-girls boarding school. In a previous episode, Nicole had broken down sobbing when she thought she'd have to transfer to another school. Ouch. The writers know how to punch.
• Really Gets Around: Logan, serial kisser and dater per excellence fall into a kid – friendly version of this
• Reasonable Authority Figure: for all his moments throughout the series, the Dean seems to be this
• Replacement Flat Character—Stacey seems to exist so there's still a freaky nerd to pick on after Quinn becomes more normal.
• Replacement Love Interest: Deconstructed in "Goodbye Zoey?" with Gretchen.
• Romantic False Lead:
  • James Garrett with Zoey
  • Rebecca with Chase
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Michael and Logan.
• She's All Grown Up: Zoey, Lola, and Quinn in the third season.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Quinn, something that comes with the Hollywood Nerd territory
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Quinn often indulges in this
• Six-Student Clique: Zoey (The Head), Quinn (The Smart One and The Quirk), Lola (The Wild One), Chase (The Smart One and The Quirk), Michael (The Quirk with aspect of The Wild One) and Logan (The Muscle). Other qualifications among the group are Nicole (The Wild One and The Quirk), Dana (The Muscle) and James (he shares qualification with both The Head and The Sixth Ranger)
• Shout-Out: There have a few references to iCarly, including one episode where Lola has a ringtone that is the show's opening theme song and another where she is visiting the iCarly website. Both of them were before the said series began.
  • Logan's father's name is Malcolm Reese.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Once again, Logan.
• Smug Snake: Who else? Logan
• Spicy Latina: Arguable and mostly implied because of her surname, but Dana Cruz, both sarcastic and confrontational, could fall under this. Lola Martinez could be considered a milder version but she has some aspects of this
• Spoiled Brat: Logan
• Suddenly Fluent in Gibberish: Quinn is very concerned about her pet alpaca, Otis, whom she left back home. Zoey arranges for Otis to come to school. Quinn makes alpaca noises at Otis, and Otis makes the noises back. Nicole says, "Quinn speaks alpaca?" Zoey's response: "Are you surprised?" (We later see Quinn and the animal playing chess.)
  • Used again that season in the episode "Closing Time". Craig seems equally disbelieving as he holds a conversation with his son Alphie.
• The Stoic: Mark
• Start My Own - Logan after being rejected of the "Silver hammer" club.
• Strange Girl: Lola initially acts as this in order to scare both Nicole and Zoey, but later its subverted as it comes to light that the Strange Girl characteristics she had where all a mere “acting exercise” and that Lola could not be farther from this trope.
• Straw Misogynist: Logan
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute - Lola, and Austin Butler's character substituting for Chase
• Take That: Towards the end of episode two in season three, Zoey and Chase talk about how they think it's dumb that two people can't be friends without suspicions arising about their feelings for each other. This could be considered a Take That to the fans who ship the pair, or just shippers of anyone on the series.
  • They do end up together, so it's a Broken Aesop at best.
• Taking the Heat: Zoey at the end of the episode "Prank Week", so she could save the school's co-ed status. Due to an oversight during her subsequent apology (the statue acting up and the students rioting), her expulsion is revoked AND the school remains co-ed.
• Teen Genius: Quinn
• They Do: Zoey and Chase
• This Means War: Zoey in "Prank Week" after getting soaked with a giant water balloon. She had previously been saying that they shouldn't sink down to the level of the boys.
• Token Minority: Michael
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Dana is the most obvious tomboy on the show to girly girl Nicole in season 1. Quinn and Lola to a lesser extent in seasons 3 and 4. Zoey, being a Canon Sue, rotates between being a tomboy or a girly girl based on whatever the episode calls for.
• Trailers Always Spoil: Or in this case opening credits spoil. The trailer for the first episode of Season 2 depicts Lola as a goth chick. She wasn't. This may have been a surprise...if they didn't show her as normal in the opening credits.
• True Companions
• TV Genius: Quinn, especially early on
• Unneccessary Makeover: In-universe, in "Quinn Misses The Mark", Quinn gives herself a makeover to try and win back Mark. She ends up ditching it when Logan falls in love with her and puts her glasses back on her and says, "There's Quinn" right before their first kiss. (Of course, she's played by Erin Sanders, so she's extremely hot either way).
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Zoey and Chase, at least until their Last-Minute Hookup in the series finale. Arguably Logan in regards to both Zoey and Dana.
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Logan indulges on this from time to time
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Logan with EVERYONE
• Wacky Guy: Michael
• Will They or Won't They?: Done to death with Zoey and Chase. They Do, but not until the last few minutes of the final episode.