The Awesome Tales of the Tweens

ON a hot June day, Jamie Lynn Spears's bangs kept falling in her face. The 14-year-old actress was shooting a scene for her Nickelodeon show "Zoey 101" at Pepperdine University in Malibu, where the series is filmed. In the complicated segment, she had to ride a scooter, take off her helmet and tie her co-star's shoelaces together. But her hair was causing continuity problems. "Why don't we just cut it off?" Ms. Spears asked helpfully, after the fifth time a stylist came to try to tame her bangs.

As the modish and athletic Zoey, Ms. Spears -- yes, she's Britney's younger sister -- is one of Nickelodeon's most valuable commodities. On all of television, there is only one show more popular than "Zoey 101" with tweens -- the get-them-while-they're-young demographic from 9 to 14 that many advertisers love. And that's a little show on Fox called "American Idol."

Over all, according to Nielsen Media Research, Nickelodeon is a dominant No. 1 among tweens, beating cable competition like the Disney Channel and Cartoon Network. That supremacy is due to Nickelodeon's TEENick block, which in addition to "Zoey 101," features scripted, live-action series like "Drake & Josh," "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide," "Romeo!" and "Unfabulous." To capitalize on the shows' successes, Nickelodeon has announced that there will be a "Zoey 101" apparel line in the fall, as well as an "Unfabulous" soundtrack, which is scheduled to be released in late September. All the series have been shooting new episodes this summer for fall premieres.

As a rule, these shows use actual young people -- as opposed to network series like "The O.C.," where teenage characters are usually played by actors in their 20's. As a result, they have a lifespan of three or four years before the cast gets too old. In order to grab young viewers' attention, the shows present fantasy worlds of school and home life, where tweens fill their leisure time with a multiracial group of friends, clothes and gadgets. Songs are another fundamental element, particularly if the star of the show is musically inclined. And increasingly, these series cast the relatives of very famous people.

"Zoey 101" features all of these prerequisites. The series made its debut in January and takes place at a fictional, elite boarding school that has admitted girls for the first time. Ms. Spears's character and her friends face the middle-school challenges typical for tween television: make your backpack look cooler, get out of gym, settle differences among pals. Ms. Spears sings the theme song, of which her sister was a co-writer.

During an interview on the set, Dan Schneider, the creator of "Zoey 101," said, "There's no brilliant combination to it." Mr. Schneider was himself a child actor -- he was Dennis Blunden on the ABC sitcom "Head of the Class" from 1986 to 1991 -- and currently has two other shows besides "Zoey 101" on Nickelodeon, "Drake & Josh" and "All That," a sketch comedy program.

To gauge the response of his viewers, Mr. Schneider said, he reads Internet message boards. "I think that they want to see kids that reflect what their friends are like," he said. "But they also want to see kids that are like the friends they wish they had. I can't tell you how much work we put into casting this show."

The show was built around Ms. Spears, who was already in the Nickelodeon stable, as Mr. Schneider cast her on "All That" when she was 11. He had first auditioned her after a Nickelodeon executive asked him if he would like to meet with Britney Spears's sister. "I said, 'Sure,"' Mr. Schneider recalled. "You know, I'm not stupid, I knew that would bring a lot of attention to 'All That,' and it would be a good thing. I was just hoping she'd be good."

The ensemble show "All That," which has been on Nickelodeon since 1995, was created by Mike Tollin and Brian Robbins -- Mr. Robbins was also on "Head of the Class" and hired Mr. Schneider to be an executive producer. It has evolved into the channel's equivalent of the minor leagues. Over the years, the show has spawned "Kenan & Kel," "The Amanda Show" and "The Nick Cannon Show." The stars of those series have gone on to adult fame -- Kenan Thompson is a regular on "Saturday Night Live"; Amanda Bynes is in movies and WB's "What I Like About You"; and Nick Cannon has a successful film and music career.

In the middle of Ms. Spears's second season on "All That," Mr. Schneider said, another Nickelodeon executive called him to ask if he had any ideas for a spinoff series for her. "And again, not being stupid, I said, 'Absolutely,"' he said.

And now there's "Zoey 101."

"Unfabulous," another TEENick hit that begins its second season in the fall, also stars a famous family member. Emma Roberts, the 14-year-old niece of Julia and daughter of Eric, plays Addie, an awkward girl who writes music about the woes of her inelegant life. The songs are written by the singer/songwriter Jill Sobule; Ms. Roberts sings them on the show, and plays the accompanying guitar. "It's all about girl angst," said Cyma Zarghami, the president of Nickelodeon Television, about the series' approach to tween life.

As Ms. Roberts tried on clothes for the coming season at the Nickelodeon studios in Los Angeles, she talked to a reporter. "This is my Spice Girl pose," she said, sticking her hand in the air as a wardrobe person took pictures.

Ms. Roberts said she became interested in acting after doing a play at camp. Then at the age of 10, she was in the 2001 movie "Blow" with Johnny Depp. "I've always wanted to do TV," she said. "I had a meeting with Nickelodeon, and they thought 'Unfabulous' would be a good thing to do, so they had me audition a couple of times."

Sue Rose, the creator of the show, said, "Nickelodeon said right out, 'Emma Roberts,' but I didn't think about that publicity angle." Ms. Rose was happy to meet her. "We had auditions with tons of girls, and everybody that came in had to sing a song. Watching the way that her face emoted, and her mouth moved in her songs, it was adorable."

Romeo, the son of the hip-hop mogul Master P, was already famous when his show "Romeo!" began in 2003: as Lil' Romeo, he had released his first record two years before at the age of 11. Tom Lynch, the show's executive producer, was less agreeable than Mr. Schneider and Ms. Rose when Nickelodeon -- for which he had also created "The Secret World of Alex Mack" and "Caitlin's Way" -- asked him to meet Romeo.

"All my other shows had come out of a fresh place," Mr. Lynch said recently from Los Angeles. But after Master P, who is also on "Romeo!," agreed to do the soundtrack, he changed his mind. "I had a great star and somebody that was going to deliver incredibly good music," he said. "I thought, 'This is an opportunity I don't want to pass up."'

Mr. Lynch's "Alex Mack" was one of Nickelodeon's biggest hits 10 years ago, the first year it was the No. 1 cable channel in all-day programming -- which it has been every year since. As a veteran of writing for adolescents, he described what distinguishes the genre's storytelling. "To me, a tween show is about identity, and it's about hope," he said. "Their world is ahead of them. And it's awesome."

The pleasures of wish fulfillment that these shows peddle appeals not just to their audience, but to their actors. About her life as Zoey, Ms. Spears said: "I get to play this character that I would dream to be in real life. It's fun to pretend like I go to this awesome boarding school. Do you know what I mean?"