Student Bodies was a Canadian television show that aired from 1997 to 2000. Repeats of the show still air nightly on YTV, and occasionally on Global TV. Student Bodies is known by the title "Vice-Versa" in Quebec. For those of you who've never seen the show, like most Canadian shows targeted at teenagers, it's so bad it's really good (see: Degrassi High). Basically, the show can be summed up in the wonderfully corny line which was spoken at the end of its classic theme song:
"It's not life, it's high school."
While Student Bodies was filmed in
Canada and features an all-Canadian
cast (with the exception of its star, Jamie Elman), the show actively pretends to be
American. The only examples of this that I remember off the top of my head are in the
episode in which the entire Student Bodies crew receives their
SAT scores (for any confused Americans who might be reading this, SATs/entrance exams generally aren't required for
Canadian universities), and in various episodes which show people using American
currency to buy things.
The show is centred around the trials and tribulations of Cody Miller, who is your basic high school student. He is an exceptional cartoonist (to be honest the cartoons are crap, but his friends still seem to like them a whole lot), and is persuaded by his friends to allow them to be used in their class project. His best friend, Chris Shepherd, sensing the opportunity to make some fast cash, photocopies the project and sells it around the school. Thus, Student Bodies is born, a student newspaper based on Cody's hilarious cartoons.
The Student Bodies crew consists of:
-
Cody Miller:
The sensitive, talented protagonist, played by Jamie Elman, the only American cast member. Elman hasn't appeared in anything significant since.
-
Chris Shepherd:
The token goof, he was brilliantly portrayed by Ross Hull. Hull is most recognizable (to Canadian audiences, anyway) as having played Daniel Masters on the equally awful Ready or Not. Despite being fairly successful prior to appearing on Student Bodies, the only thing I've seen him in since was a commercial for Rogers High-Speed Internet (he's the guy complaining about how slow his internet is while waiting for a train). According to www.imdb.com, he currently attends Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto.
-
Mags Abernathy:
A red-haired vixen who is oddly paired off with Chris in the second season. Something of a scatterbrain, she writes the fashion column for Student Bodies. She is played by Katie Emme, whose real name is actually Katie McInnich.
-
Emily Roberts:
The uptight and brainy editor, the whole newspaper was actually her idea. She is played by Nicole Lyn, who once starred in Eric's World as Prue. Ross Hull also guest-starred on Eric's World.
-
Romeo Carter:
As his name implies, he's the original Canadian Ladies' Man (although he and Emily have quite a lengthy involvement is season two). He was played by Mark Taylor, who went on to star in the CBC's urban drama/hip hop showcase Drop The Beat, which ceased production after a single season.
-
Grace Vasquez:
Played by Victoria Sanchez, she briefly dates Cody and then moves away at some point in the second season. I have no clue where she went, she wasn't really that interesting, anyway.
-
Holly Benson and Kim McLeod:
Entering late in the second season, neither are actually on the Student Bodies staff, however they both date Cody. In the fabulous tradition of teenage dramas, Cody first dates the gorgeous but vain Holly, and then realises he is actually in love with her best friend, Kim, who is much more down-to-earth. He figures the only way he can get away with dating Holly's best friend is if he gets Holly to break up with him, so he decides to stop bathing, shaving, or changing his clothes, with the hope that Holly will get grossed out and dump him. To make a long story short, Holly doesn't break up with him, and Cody gets frustrated and ends up breaking it off with her. Holly is infuriated, but her vanity solves all his problems, as she menacingly tells him that if anyone asks, she broke up with him. Anyway, Holly is played by Katheryn Winnick (who can't act, but does hold black belts in both karate and tae known do, according to imdb.com), and Kim is played by Jennifer Finnigan. Despite the prevailing trend among her Student Bodies co-stars of fading into obscurity (interspersed with guest spots on the terrible Mutant X), Jennifer Finnigan snagged herself a role on the long-running American soap opera the Bold and the Beautiful, on which she plays Bridgit Forrester.
And now for the requisite crew of
antagonists:
-
Victor Kane and Francessa "Flash" Albright:
The spoiled and wealthy Victor Kane is head of the school's rival newspaper, the staff of which consists only of himself and his photographer, the aptly nicknamed Flash. After a lengthy prank war with the staff of Student Bodies, the bitchy vice-principal punishes them all by forcing Victor and Flash to share an office with the Student Bodies crew. Their mutual animosity only increases after this development, but by the end of the second season, they've all become great friends. Victor was played by Mik Perlus, whose first name is actually Miklos, and Flash was played by Jessica Goldapple.
-
Mrs. Morton:
Bad-tempered vice-principal, she is played by a big scary black lady who looks like George Clinton.
Sources:
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-41445
www.imdb.com