The Zone is the flagship weekday afternoon programming block on the Canadian television channel YTV.
Occasionally, guests appear on The Zone, such as children's author Robert Munsch and environmentalist David Suzuki.
Currently, The Zone is unhosted; YTV dropped program jockeys in summer 2023 due to cuts from Corus CEO Doug Murphy.
Instead of filling the time with public service announcements or other filler material (which had been the previous practice of YTV in the late 1980s/early 1990s), the idea of devoting several minutes between programs to an interaction between live-action hosts was used and has proven successful to this day.
July 1994 saw the introduction of the animatronic character Snit (Atul N. Rao), which displayed a pair of moving teeth on a television screen covered with what appeared to be purple bubble gum.
[6] When a primetime version of The Zone, YTV Shift, was cancelled, its former host Paul McGuire joined Phil.
Eventually, a week of programming was devoted to a plotline that featured PJs Phil and Paul on a quest hunting for extraterrestrials and making a discovery.
When the New Year came, Jackson, McGuire, and Phil were found to not be "Y2K Compatible" and left The Zone on November 12, 1999,[10][11] venturing into other opportunities.
While Racicot and Kelly were hosts, they formed the band "Nuclear Donkey", which was featured at the end of the YTV's compilation album Big Fun Party Mix (with the exception of 7, 8, and 10).
[13] During February and March 2001,[14] a plotline emerged involving electronic insects known as Yokomites that were under the control of a mysterious chicken-man named Friendly Fowl.
He built a giant wooden crate in the studio parking lot and locked himself inside it as a protest until YTV hired a new co-host.
A plotline emerged where Beard would discover that one of the YTV's janitors was playing with the cameras during off-hours, clandestinely acting out as a host for The Zone.
Employing detective skills to track down this janitor, Beard eventually discovered Carlos Bustamante and invited him to become her co-host in 2002,[18] a position he held until 2018.
Beard and Bustamante hosted together from 2002-2007, introducing such segments as "A Dash of Sugar" and "Late Afternoon With Tito Lemmy", along with many characters such as Van Vogel, Pretty Tiffany, Johnny "The Brick" Wahl, and Wiwyam Birdie.
[19][20] Sugar's last "Nuclear Donkey" song, Z-Dot, appeared on Big Fun Party Mix 8, a compilation from YTV.
In fall 2009, The Zone returned to starting at 3:00 p.m. instead of 4:00 p.m.[citation needed] In October 2013, two new hosts were announced, The Next Star's Mark "Suki" Suknanan[23] and TFC's Rachel Bonnetta.
[citation needed] In November 2014, Bonnetta and Adam Christie left The Zone, and Lisa Gilroy from Undercover High got added to the team.
Around the same time, a brand new contest called "The Z-Head Zearch" was introduced asking fans to submit videos to be aired on The Zone.
When The Afterschool Zone began as a regular block on September 2, 1991, the set consisted of a multicoloured living room with abstract shapes and a map of Canada.
[38] From 1998 to late 1999, the set was changed to have a purple and black spiral floor with The Zone logo in the middle and green walls.