''The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo'' is a

children's A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

television series that ran on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

between 1996 and 1999. A total of 41 episodes of 30 minutes each were produced. Episodes from the first three seasons were taped at

Nickelodeon Studios Nickelodeon Studios was a production studio and theme park attraction run by the television network Nickelodeon at Universal Studios Florida. Opening on June 7, 1990, as ''The First World Headquarters for Kids'', the studio attracted young tour ...

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

, and was one of the few single-camera productions there, while the final season's episodes were shot in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada.

History

The series first aired in March 1996 as a six-episode test run, since Nickelodeon usually produced one major new series at a time and they were already producing ''

Space Cases ''Space Cases'' is a Canadian science fiction television series that aired on Nickelodeon for two seasons. Created by Peter David and Bill Mumy, it premiered on March 2, 1996 and ended on January 27, 1997 with reruns until 1998. It aired for a t ...

''. The success of the test run prompted Nickelodeon to re-introduce the series on SNICK in January 1997, along with seven new episodes. During the show's third season, production stopped after eight of a proposed thirteen episodes were filmed due to a crew strike, as the show's budget did not cover the

International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada, known as simply the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE or ...

's demands, partly due to the decision to shoot film instead of videotape. Production resumed in Montreal in February 1998, after

Cinar Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc. (also known as Cookie Jar Group and originally known as CINAR; renamed as DHX Cookie Jar Inc. from 2012 until 2014, or simply just Cookie Jar) was a Canadian media production and distribution company owned by DHX ...

agreed to co-produce the series. As a result, the show's setting changed from

Cocoa Beach, Florida Cocoa Beach is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The population was 11,539 at the 2018 United States Census. It is part of the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. History The first non-native s ...

to Boston, Massachusetts. Starring

Irene Ng Sze Irene Ng () (born July 28, 1974) is an American actress, teacher, banker and founder and director of Mencius Mandarin Preschool in Greenwich, Connecticut. She is best known for her role as Shelby Woo in ''The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo''. ...

as the title character, the series revolves around the adventures of a

Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...

teenage girl who lives with her innkeeper grandfather and works as a non-sworn

intern An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...

at the local police department where she helps out with odds and ends around the office. Occasionally an intriguing case comes to Shelby's attention, prompting her to apply her unique insight and enlist the help of her friends to solve it. Her supervisors, however, do not appreciate her help, as she is only a teenager. Her grandfather also does not want her getting involved in cases, often reminding her "We are not detectives with warrant badges, we are innkeepers with brooms." Many of the stories, with three clear suspects, keep the audience guessing until the truth is ultimately explained.

Cast

Primary characters

* Shelby Woo (

): Main protagonist of the show, who solves mysteries and is an overachiever. She lives in

in Seasons 1-3 and moved to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

with her grandfather in Season 4. Despite Shelby being portrayed as a teenager, in reality, Ng was 21 when the series began and was close to 25 by the end of the series. Shelby's parents aren't seen though are mentioned in episode "Hot Seats" to be in China after Shelby receives a package from them. * Michael "Mike" Woo (

Pat Morita Noriyuki "Pat" Morita (June 28, 1932 – November 24, 2005) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for his roles as Matsuo "Arnold" Takahashi on ''Happy Days'', Mr. Miyagi in ''The Karate Kid'' film series, Captain Sam Pak on the sitco ...

): Shelby's loving grandfather and legal guardian who is looking after Shelby while her parents are in China. He's a practical retired detective with the San Francisco PD. Mike doesn't want Shelby to solve mysteries because he's afraid that she'll get hurt. * Cindy Ornette (Preslaysa Edwards): Shelby's perky best friend in Cocoa Beach; like Shelby, she likes getting involved in cases. Cindy is close to her cousin Wayne. * Noah Allen ( Adam Busch): Shelby's other best friend in Cocoa Beach; he doesn't like getting involved in cases. Noah wants to be an actor. * Detective Whit Hineline (Steve Purnick): Works at the Cocoa Beach PD; he is Shelby's sarcastic former boss and doesn't like her interfering in his investigations. Detective Hineline does care about Shelby's well-being. * Detective Sharon Delancey (

Ellen David Ellen David is a Canadian actress. She was co-nominated for a 2007 Gemini Award for Best Ensemble Performance in a Comedy Program or Series in '' The Business'' episode ''Check Please'' and nominated for a 2005 Prix Gemeaux for Meilleur rôle de ...

): Works at the Boston PD, and is Shelby's new boss. While she isn't thrilled with Shelby's help, she is more accepting of it than Detective Hineline was. * Angela "Angie" Burns (

Eleanor Noble Eleanor Noble (born June 15, 1980) is a Canadian actress. She is President of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA). Career She voiced Lori Mackney in later episodes of ''What's with Andy?'' following Jaclyn Lin ...

): Shelby's new best friend from Boston who replaces Cindy; very good at science and applies that knowledge in certain cases. * Vincent "Vince" Rosania (Noah Klar): Shelby's other new best friend from Boston who replaces Noah; originally a suspect in one of Shelby's first cases in Boston. He becomes Shelby's love interest.

Recurring characters

* Detective Muldoon (

Angelo Tsarouchas Angelo Tsarouchas () is a Canadian comedian, actor, and writer living in Los Angeles. He is known for incorporating Greek culture into his stand-up comedy routines, and has been called the "King of Greek Ethnic Comedy." He organized World Dafni D ...

): heavy set detective who assists Shelby in a few cases in Detective Delancey's absence; does needlepoint * Will (

Joshua Harto Joshua Denver Harto (born January 9, 1979) is an American actor, television producer and writer. Early life and education Harto was born in Huntington, West Virginia. He is a graduate of the Dreyfoos School of the Arts. Career As an actor ...

): works at CJ's burger joint where Shelby and her friends hang out in Cocoa Beach; known for breaking things or coming up with poorly-thought-out ideas * Christie Sayers (

Jennifer Finnigan Jennifer Christina Finnigan (born August 22, 1979) is a Canadians, Canadian actress, best known for her role as Bridget Forrester in the American soap opera ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' from 2000 to 2004, for which she won three Daytime Emmy Aw ...

): Shelby's nemesis who is determined to solve a case before she does and fails each time; only appears in season 4

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (1996)

Season 2 (1997)

Season 3 (1997–98)

Season 4 (1998–99)

Broadcast

On December 28, 2011,

TeenNick TeenNick is an American Pay television, pay-TV channel that is operated by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Aimed primarily at teens and tweens, its programming includes a variety of live-action series inherited from si ...

aired the episode "The Smoke Screen Case" on

The '90s Are All That NickRewind (formerly The '90s Are All That, The Splat, and NickSplat) was an American late night Block programming, programming block that broadcast nightly over the channel space of TeenNick. The block showed reruns of mid-late 1980s, 1990s, ...

block. The series began airing on a more permanent basis in late October 2015 on ''The '90s Are All That's'' successor block,

The Splat NickRewind (formerly The '90s Are All That, The Splat, and NickSplat) was an American late night Block programming, programming block that broadcast nightly over the channel space of TeenNick. The block showed reruns of mid-late 1980s, 1990s, ...

Home media

All 12 episodes from seasons 1 and 2 are available for purchase on the

iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

and

Amazon Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pri ...

. Season 2 is available for purchase on

Vudu Vudu is an American digital video store and streaming service owned by Fandango Media, a joint-venture between NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery. The company offers transactional video on demand rentals and digital purchases of film ...

. On November 24, 2014, the entire series was released on DVD exclusive to

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...

in region 1.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mystery Files Of Shelby Woo, The 1990s American mystery television series 1990s Nickelodeon original programming 1996 American television series debuts 1996 Canadian television series debuts 1999 American television series endings 1999 Canadian television series endings Canadian mystery television series English-language television shows Television series about teenagers Television series by Cookie Jar Entertainment Television shows set in Florida Television shows set in Boston Television shows filmed in Montreal Chinese American television