Before Gossip Girl and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and EuroTrip, Michelle Trachtenberg — who tragically passed away this morning at 39 years old — was a Nickelodeon icon. She was Nona F. Mecklenberg on The Adventures of Pete and Pete, a.k.a. Twin Peaks for kids, and played the title role in the first Nickelodeon Movies production: Harriet the Spy. The film received mixed reviews from critics, but for millennials like myself, it’s a coming-of-age classic with a hilarious, heartfelt performance from Trachtenberg.
If it’s been awhile since you last watched Harriet the Spy (or you want to show it to your kids for the first time), the film isn’t streaming on Netflix or Hulu or Paramount Plus. But it is on Pluto. You can also rent Harriet the Spy on Prime Video and YouTube. Be sure to check out our oral history, too.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Sixth grade outcast Harriet (Michelle Trachtenberg) is an only child who has mostly been raised by her nanny, Golly (Rosie O’Donnell), rather than her materialistic parents. Harriet wants to be a writer when she grows up, and only Golly encourages her creative pursuits. Meanwhile, Harriet dons a yellow raincoat and a belt full of gadgets to spy on everyone around her, including her eccentric neighbor with a lot of cats and the other kids at school. Carefully taking notes in her private notebook, Harriet makes clever and cruel observations about her subjects, including her best friends, would-be scientist Janie (Vanessa Lee Chester) and overburdened Sport (Gregory Smith). Harriet’s world begins to change when Golly leaves, signaling that it is time for her to grow up. Then a snobby girl at school, Marion, gets her hands on Harriet’s special notebook and makes its contents known to the whole school. Soon everyone is against Harriet, and she must concoct a plan to get even.
You can watch the original trailer below.