Investigating the Supernatural With a ‘Weird’ Traveling Teen

An obsessed paranormal investigator and a skeptical peer: Call it a junior “X-Files.”

In the Disney Channel’s new live-action series “So Weird,” which airs tonight at 7, 14-year-old Fiona, Fi for short, investigates UFOs, ETs, ESP and ghostly manifestations via computer. Her center of operations is her “Fi’s So Weird Website.”

The twist is that Fi (Cara DeLizia) conducts her spooky sleuthing while she, her doubting brother and a friend are traveling cross-country by bus with her ‘70s rock-star mom’s comeback tour.

The twist to the twist is that mom is played by Mackenzie Phillips, the “One Day at a Time” ’70s teenage sitcom star who left that hit show after a highly public struggle with drug addiction. She then performed for several years with her father, John Phillips, touring in a new version of ‘60s rock group the Mamas and the Papas.

Nearly two decades later, Phillips’ own comeback in a weekly series is the best thing about it. Her graceful presence as a hip but wholesome and caring mom adds needed dimension whenever she’s on screen, whether she’s reassuring Fi, singing onstage or interacting with her small entourage.

In tonight’s episode, Fi will find a girl who escapes her problems through astral travel; future episodes will have Fi discovering a Web site that predicts the future, aiding a Bigfoot, visiting a wormhole, meeting an angel and befriending an immortal.

Fi takes action in the face of skeptical carping from her brother Jack (Patrick Levis) and more benign support from their friend Clu (Erik von Detten), who’s on the tour as son of the band’s roadie (Dave “Squatch” Ward).

The story lines and the special effects should please the “Goosebumps” crowd, and Phillips would make the show worth tuning in for older viewers if upcoming shows give her more screen time. But will someone please let Fiona lighten up? What works for “X-Files’ ” morose, angst-ridden Agent Mulder looks alarmingly close to major depression here.

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“So Weird,” Disney Channel, Mondays, 7 p.m. The network has rated it TV-PG (may be unsuitable for young children).