Talk:The Zone (YTV)

Edited out the rumour about Paula Lemyre returning to the Zone. This is pure fan-speculation and came to be like this. Fan 1: "Wouldn't it be awesome if Paula was back?" - Fan 2: "Paula will be back? Awesome!!!" And since this is an encyclopedia and not a rumour mill, I removed it. In addition to that, Ms. Lemyre herself does not display any signs of returning to YTV and Corus. Furthermore, she's involved with another project at the moment. (84.20.58.61 18:16, 29 January 2007 (UTC))

this is useless---Wikipedia is not a TV Guide

no, the zone is an important part for kids growin up in Canada, I've spent so many hours watching it, lol

I think this article is useful, but needs to cover a bit more of the history of The Zone to be interesting. -Dunro

I added some info on the Zone hosts in the past, I'm so proud of it, nearly 90% of it is from my memories of watching The Zone ^_^ For the rest I checked up some names using the Internet Archive --Phred Levi 18:59, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * Wow, your description almost seems to start around when I stopped *l*. I can't remember if Snit was the first "puppet co-host" after The After-School Zone became The Zone ... for some reason, I'm pretty sure that Warren (the green Grog?) was around after the show became The Zone. -- However, my brain is going more by my memories of set changes than anything else right now.  (The original after school zone set, a grey one, a blue one, and... the current one).  Dunro 11:24, Mar 19, 2005 (UTC)

For a large generation of children, and now adults in Canada, the Zone was a huge part of their childhood. This is as relevant (and since this information is VERY hard to come by), this is a very welcome, and acceptable article. And for the record: TV Guide wouldn't supply this either.

Stuff to add
I remember Daren Jones (from the Buzz) was on there for a while too.

How is the zone determined to be a "success" while breakfast zone and the others are a "failure" ? This goes into the question of why they even have the zone in the first place. Is it to slightly raise the amount of viewers, or to get people to keep watching after one show and stay for the rest? It must be important. That time could be easily used for lucrative commercials. --Havermayer 22:08, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)


 * It says in the YTV article: "popular imported programming would run a few minutes short due to fewer ads being permitted compared to US stations. Instead of filling the time with public service announcements or other filler material, the idea of devoting several minutes between programs to interaction between live-action hosts was utilized, and has proven successful to this day."
 * The purpose wasn't just to keep people watching, they needed to fill that free time in between shows, so hence "The Zone" was created --Krakko 22:58, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Tito Lemmey=Carlos
At one point in The Zone while Sugar and Carlos were hosting, they brought in a guest host with a lie detector. At the end of that particular block, they used it to prove that Carlos was indeed Tito Lemmey.


 * It wasn't a real lie detector. It was just a joke. Lie detectors look and work way different.
 * Yeah, I kinda thought that. But if they were maintaining that Carlos wasn't Tito Lemmey until then, and they "proved" themselves wrong out of nowhere, wouldn't that mean something? Random the Scrambled 14:41, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

--- What about the meaning of "i'm in the zone"? this seems to be completely forgotten. -- Pete_I

Where they are now
A user at a forum posted information he found about the hosts about where they are as of now - though, he couldn't find information on two of the PJs. Should this information be posted? Or would it merit another page? Or should it even be posted at all? Firehawk12 14:59, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

Heavily revised and added history
I personally watched the first episode of the Afterschool Zone (although I can't recall the exact date, I think 1991 or 92) and I was quite a rabid follower. I've tried to include as much history as can remember and find regarding the early years. I've removed the references to Phil and Snit being the first incarnation of the program and written in the grogs and Warren. I have Warren's coup of YTV partially taped. I would appreciate more information on PJ Jenn however, the blonde female host from around '92/93 to maybe '97 as well as what the Saturday morning block (now called the Vortex) used to be called since it used to be directly tied into the Zone and featured the same PJs albeit on a different set. I can check my tapes later.

And yes, this is very crucial information to many Canadians from ages 5-30 who have all grown up with some incarnation of the Zone and the various PJs over the last 15 years. The Zone's cultural significance to maybe two generations of young Canadians is still very important and deserves more information.

The purpose of the Zone is to provide a segue-way into the next block of programming to retain viewers and it's grown a following for current viewers and strong nostalgia for many Canadians for whom the Zone was integral to their childhoods and young adult life. In the late 80s and early 90s, this was already popular practice on Saturday morning blocks and on targeted cable channels. By using these segueways, channels targeted at children or the youth market assuaged parental concerns about commercialism (which was rampant since the 80s in so-called "toy-oriented 30-minute violence commercials" as they were labled. These gave a chance to provide educational and inspiration stimulation (early YTV in 1988 was full of educational, health, and inspiration videos for young audiences - something the current YTV is seriously lacking). But the Zone was quickly simply just a variety entertainment segment that focused on the PJs and the other hosts (grogs, Snit, etc.) talking to the audience like those prevalent on other channels. As the 90s wore on the "get wierd" and "funky" image of YTV was probably most influenced by the Zone.

That said, what's the background on the "Keep It Wierd" part of YTV not being popular? I didn't like it, but this stems from the wierdness already in the show from the 1995-96 era which is markedly different from the wierdness of the current zone. I don't think it should be there as it's just viewer conjecture.

I'm afraid, I know almost nothing about the current Zone though, as I've grown up and stopped watching after the Phil and Paul era. I tried to fix some of the writing regarding the newer Zone (with Sugar, etc.), as it sounded somewhat "immature" and there were plenty of grammatical errors and framents...which is to be expected since those familiar would be younger audiences. I haven't really watched the Zone since the millenium so I can't verify or add any information to those sections.

I've also added a picture of Phil and Snit to provide more representation.

This article can be improved greatly by the addition of more information about the early 90s Zone and perhaps some more clarified and professional information regarding the Zone's more modern incarnations. If possible, an accurate listing of all PJ's would be helpful.

- You got it pretty damn well. Good job in with that endeavour, as I contemplated doing this myself, but couldn't find adaquate information. From what I can remember, relating to the Zone, you got them all.

PJ Phil, PJ Jenn, PJ Paul, PJ Jenny (PJ Katie of PJ Katie's Farm), hereon out they dropped that moniker. To my recollection, there were ~ two or three other PJS. A white guy with short blonde hair, and maybe two others, on at various times of the day. I remember that Phil wasn't originally on the 'pre-Zone' block with Jenn, but rather, someone else was.
 * More than that, there was PJ Jan, who is Janis Mackey-Fryer of CTV fame. Also PJ Rob, who is Rob Stefaniuk better known now for Phil the Alien.  Not sure what happened to PJ Aashna. 74.12.80.240 04:40, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

pj Phil
I've been looking for a while for more info on him, as an actor and musician (Razed In Black).

History or Current
''In its early history, the Zone had featured a group of puppets known as Grogs as the co-hosts. A large television with a frame resembling a piece of purple bubble gum with eyes and other mechanical miscellany called Snit(Atul N. Rao) was once a "host" on The Zone; after him came Elvayz, a talking bust of Elvis Presley, although this character too has been removed.''

The above text in the Current Version of the Zone should be moved to the history section. -Vvuser 01:28, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Spelling of Carlos' last name
I have reasons to believe that his name is spelt incorrectly on Wikipedia. According to Issue 31, Spring 2007 of Whoa! Magazine, Carlos was listed as "Bustamante" instead of "Bustamente" under Ink Slingers. However, I'm not going to change this because it could have easily been a typo.

The correct spelling is "Carlos Bustamante" - Knowledge based on attending school and dance classes with Carlos as a child.

--Vvuser 15:13, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Thezone2002.png
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BetacommandBot 02:24, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Thezone2007.png
Image:Thezone2007.png is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 02:22, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Can Anyone Fix The Broken Carlos Link?
Under the pic of Sug and Carlos, his name is spelled wrong as "Bustamante" and that link goes to a scientist born in 1951. The right spelling according to Sug's site and YTV's magazine is Bustamente. However I can't find a way to correct the spelling in the caption under the pic. Does anyone know how to do this? Please fix it... Also I think Carlos needs his own article and it should be mentioned he was a background actor/dancer in that Lindsay Lohan movie Confessions of a Teen-age Drama Queen, which is quiet a good movie, you can see him right behind Lindsay on the stage in the rehearsal scenes. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.95.55.204 (talk) 06:05, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

The breakfast zone
should anyone mention this? I remember that they had the Zone in the early 90's in the morning like t 6 or something —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.81.73.43 (talk) 02:41, 22 September 2008 (UTC)
 * We should just say that there was a variant of The Zone in the mornings that had Celebrities and what not. Here's proof that the programming block existed: The Bzone video - '''Vhayes1992 17:49, 18 September 2010 (UTC)