Drake & Josh
| Drake & Josh | |
|---|---|
| File:Nick drake.jpg Drake & Josh logo | |
| Created by | Dan Schneider |
| Starring | Drake Bell Josh Peck Miranda Cosgrove Jonathan Goldstein Nancy Sullivan |
| Opening theme | "Found a Way" by Drake Bell |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 60 (including 2 TV movies) (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Dan Schneider |
| Production location | San Diego, California |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | Nickelodeon, The N |
| Release | January 11, 2004 – September 16, 2007 |
Drake & Josh is an American sitcom shown on the Nickelodeon television network, starring the two stepbrothers Drake Parker (Played By Drake Bell) and Josh Nichols (Played By Josh Peck). Both stars had already played roles in The Amanda Show, as had Nancy Sullivan, who plays their mother in the show. Jonathan Goldstein plays their father, and Miranda Cosgrove plays their little sister. Reruns of Drake & Josh are currently appearing on Nickelodeon and The N.
Summary
Drake & Josh focuses around the lives of Drake Parker (Drake Bell) and Josh Nichols (Josh Peck), two teenagers who become stepbrothers when Drake's mother, Audrey Parker Nichols (Nancy Sullivan), and Josh's father, Walter Nichols (Jonathan Goldstein), get married. Drake is portrayed as a somewhat simple, cool,attractive, lucky,and cute and Josh is portrayed as sensible unattractive, and nerdy. They are often harassed by Drake's younger sister, Megan Parker (Miranda Cosgrove), who constantly pulls pranks on the two. Walter is portrayed as a clumsy and out of date meteorologist, and Audrey is more stern, being the one to usually punish Drake and Josh. Throughout the series, Drake and Josh face various ordeals involving school, jobs, girlfriends, and other average teenage ordeals. They often have to do this while fending off Megan's manipulative nature and potential punishments from their parents.
Main Characters
Drake Parker (Drake Bell)
Drake is portrayed as a player, a somewhat simple, cool, girl crazy, lucky, and popular teenager, putting little thought into his decisions. He plays guitar in a band which throughout the series has had many different members, with Josh now acting as manager. Throughout the series, Drake has had many girlfriends. He is very popular and in the show, girls seem to fall over him and are always ready to go on a date with him. Drake is the older brother of Megan and he's also 2 weeks younger than Josh. Occasionally,he gets over protective of Megan. Though his actions tend to get Josh into trouble, Drake has been shown to do a number of unselfish things for his stepbrother as well. Not much is known about his Father.
Josh Nichols (Josh Peck)
Josh is the victim of many unlucky events, such as being falsely accused of things in which he was never involved. He is usually the sensible one, who was often taken advantage of by Drake and was portrayed as a nerd with little luck with girls during the first and second seasons. In later seasons, Josh becomes more confident and his goofiness was diminished as he began to lose significant amounts of weight; he was able to have ex-rival Mindy Crenshaw as his girlfriend and is shown dating. He often makes sarcastic remarks to Drake when Drake says something nonsensical. Nothing is known about his Mother.
Megan Parker (Miranda Cosgrove)
Megan is Drake's cute, sassy little sister and Josh's step sister. She continually pulls pranks on Drake and Josh, and enjoys seeing them suffer. As stated on season four, her schemes get more complex: from simply putting hot sauce in Drake and Josh's pasta in season one to firing paintballs at them from a custom made radio in season three. She usually calls her two brothers "boobs" as a way of saying they're dumb. She has also been shown to be quite sadistic, hurting her brothers through much of the series.
Walter Nichols (Jonathan Goldstein)
Walter is Josh's father, and Megan and Drake's stepfather, a meteorologist who is often wrong about the weather. Walter is often clumsy, out of date, even seemingly empty-headed (for example, he believed Titanic to be "just a movie" and not real, thought the word touché to be pronounced 'toosh', and thought the word capisce to be pronounced capise). As a result, he lacks the respect of his stepchildren, Drake and Megan. He is also quite clueless in regards to Megan's pranks which have caused Drake and Josh a lot of punishments.
Audrey Parker Nichols (Nancy Sullivan)
Audrey is the mother of Drake and Megan and the stepmother of Josh. She, too, upsets Walter because of her preference to Bruce Winchill, his rival weatherman. She is usually telling the boys to try not to be so stupid. Because Walter is unable to discipline Drake and Josh, she usually has to punish the boys. Her name, never mentioned on the show, appears only on the Nick.com webpage. She, along with Walter, always believes Megan instead of Drake and Josh, even when they are telling the truth. It is unknown what her profession is or even if she works, as her job is never mentioned throughout the series.
Recurring characters
- Craig Ramirez and Eric Blonowitz (Alec Medlock and Scott Halberstadt): Craig and Eric are two stereotypical "nerdy" honor students that are always being exploited by Drake, mostly due to Drake's hare-brained schemes. Drake often mixes their names. Eric looks "nerdier" than Craig, wearing a tucked-in button-up shirt, thick glasses, and pens in his pocket. Both, according to Drake, are Jewish. They appear a few times in Seasons 2 and 3, but appear more frequently in Season 4.
- Mindy Crenshaw (Allison Scagliotti-Smith): Mindy was introduced in the episode Honor Council as Josh's rival at school; in fact, she enjoyed reminding Josh that she had beat him in the science fair for five years straight. Despite this, she eventually became Josh's girlfriend. Though they broke up in Season 4's "Mindy Loves Josh," they get back together in Drake & Josh: Really Big Shrimp.
- Trevor Wilson (Taran Killam): Trevor Wilson is one of Drake's friends, who appears to be even more unintelligent than Drake. His only appearance is in "Dune Buggy" but he is mentioned a lot throughout the rest of the series.
- Helen Ophelia Dubois Baxter (Yvette Nicole Brown): Helen is the manager at the Premiere theater (a movie theater where Josh (and formerly Drake) has a job), connected to the Premiere Galleria, a mall. She is known for her intimidation factor, due to her loud voice and orders for her employees. She adores Drake but seems to dislike Josh, despite the hard work he puts in at the theater. Though Yvette Nicole Brown plays Helen normally, Frances Callier filled in for her and portrayed her in the episode "Little Diva".
- "Crazy" Steve (Jerry Trainor): "Crazy" Steve is an employee at The Premiere movie theater. He is hard working and pretty calm at times, that is, until someone (usually Josh) criticizes his work or does something he dislikes, and that is when he goes crazy. He is unusually nice and polite to Drake's mom. On Mondays, he goes particularly crazy, but calms down when She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain is sung and he gets a drink of milk (usually served warm). No one has an explanation why the song calms him down.
- Gavin (Jake Farrow): Gavin works with Josh at The Premiere, and has a mullet-like haircut (in Season 4's "Who's Got Game" he got a perm). A running gag throughout the series involved Helen asking him to tell Josh to clean something unusual in the theater. He then cleans up the mess himself - telling Josh "I got it." He also has a crush on Audrey, Drake and Josh's mother. He can apparently get away with anything at work, like taking a nap on the roof. He first appeared in "Driver's License" and made a final appearance in "The Storm", in which he also does an offstage farewell.
- Leah (Cathy Shim): Leah is a female Asian employee at The Premiere movie theater who appears in Seasons 3 and 4. She seems to get along well with Josh, but seems to be afraid of Crazy Steve.
- Mrs. Hayfer (Julia Duffy): Mrs. Alice/Linda Hayfer is Drake and Josh's English teacher who adores Josh (due to his hard-working personality) but loathes Drake because of his consistently poor performance in school. In fact, her catchphrase is "I hate you, Drake", with Drake responding, "I know." Mrs. Hayfer has a daughter named Kelly, who Drake briefly dated, much to the discontent of Mrs. Hayfer.
- Dr. Glazer (Roark Critchlow): Dr. Jeff Glazer is a doctor who lives across the street from Drake and Josh. He is always called on whenever a serious emergency happens at their house. Although he always seems kind while performing medical procedures for Drake and Josh, he always leaves the two brothers with a ridiculously high bill for his services (he once charged $100 for diagnosing a sheep as pregnant after she had her baby, and an extra $50 not to tell Drake and Josh's parents). He first appeared in "The Bet" and last appeared in "Sheep Thrills".
- Bruce Winchill: Bruce Winchill is a weather-man who works for Walter's competition's news station. He is never seen on the show, but is mentioned from time to time. He is described by Megan and Audrey as having good-looking hair and is hated by Walter so much that at times he orders his family never to mention his name in the house. Walter lost the Weather Man Award at the "News-ies" to him, because Winchill's forecasts were 100% accurate, compared to Walter's, which are 0-99%.
Crew
- Dan Schneider – creator, executive producer, and writer
- Joe Catania – producer
- Robin Weiner – producer
Occasional workers
- Virgil Fabian – occasional director
- Drake Bell – director of first half of "Really Big Shrimp"
- Josh Peck – director of episode "Battle of Panthatar"
Episodes
| Season | Ep # | First Airdate | Last Airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 6 | January 11, 2004 | February 22, 2004 |
| Season 2 | 14 | March 14, 2004 | November 28, 2004 |
| Season 3 | 20 | April 2, 2005 | April 8, 2006 |
| Season 4 | 20 | September 24, 2006 | September 16, 2007 |
DVD Releases
Drake & Josh: Vol. 1 Suddenly Brothers
(Release Date February 15, 2005)[1]
- Contains 4 episodes.
- The episodes are the first four episodes of season 1 in production order.
(Release Date January 31, 2006)[2]
- Contains the movie.
- Contains 2 bonus episodes.
Contains the "found a way" video by Drake Bell
Drake & Josh: Vol. 2 Suddenly Family
(Release Date September 13, 2008)[3] ("Coming soon")
Movies
Drake and Josh are left at home after their parents go on a cruise. They are told to bring Megan to the airport to visit her friend in Denver, but accidentally send her on a flight to Los Angeles. They go to Hollywood to get her back, and end up stopping a multi-billion dollar heist and booking a guest-spot for Drake on TRL. The movie aired on January 6, 2006, and, according to TV Guide, it became the highest rated program on all of cable during its opening week.
Spin City Records is wanting to sign Drake for their label. He is on the road to fame and fortune, but Josh's inexperience as a manager leads him to sign the contract without reading it (having been drooling over the really big shrimp), accidentally signing over creative rights for Drake's new song. Drake fires Josh, and a series of bizarre events follow. Meanwhile at the Premiere, Helen is getting married, so she gives Mindy Crenshaw the job as assistant manager, the job Josh was after for a long time. Later, Josh Nichols sneaks into Spin City Records and switches songs, which was against the law. This makes Drake a statewide superstar and his song "Makes Me Happy" gets played at Helen's wedding and at the Super Bowl. The movie aired on August 3, 2007. However, it is also considered an hour-length episode because it is treated like a typical episode with story elements based on films. The movie's premiere brought in 5.8 million viewers.[4]
Drake & Josh: Best Christmas Ever
A new Drake & Josh TV movie tentatively entitled "Drake & Josh: Best Christmas Ever" is set begin production in July 2008, with its premiere to be sometime in November or December 2008. Creator Dan Schneider is set to return as executive producer, with Marjorie Cohn and Lauren Levine co-executive producing. Michael Grossman is set to direct the feature. The film centers around Drake and Josh, who are working as Santa's helpers in a mall, as they promise a little girl that her foster parents and siblings will have "the best Christmas ever"—and then try to fulfill that promise.[5]
Books
A book series based on Drake & Josh has been published by children's publisher Scholastic since 2006. The books are generally based upon content from the show and essentially novelize two episodes of material, with one being a novelization of a feature length film.
The books are written by author Laurie Calkhoven.
- Blues Brothers, based on the episodes titled "Blues Brothers" and "Number One Fan"
- Sibling Revalry, based on the episodes titled "The Bet" and "Peruvian Puff Pepper"
- Drake & Josh Go Hollywood, based on the movie Drake & Josh Go Hollywood
- Kid Trouble, based on the episodes "Megan's New Teacher" and "Little Sibling"
- Alien Invasion, based on the episodes "Alien Invasion" and "The Demonator"
- Surprise!, based on the episodes "Josh Runs Into Oprah" and "Vicious Tiberius"
- Josh is Done, based on the episodes "Josh is Done" and "I Love Sushi"
- Brother vs Brother,based on episodes "Foam Finger" and "Dance Contest"
Awards
- 2006 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards Winner: Favorite TV show
- 2006 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards Winner: Favorite TV. Actor (Drake Bell)
- 2007 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards Winner: Favorite TV. Actor (Drake Bell)
- 2008 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards Winner: Favorite TV. Actor (Drake Bell)
- 2008 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards Winner: Favorite TV Show
References
Notes
- ^ http://www.amazon.com/Drake-Josh-Vol-Suddenly-Brothers/dp/B0006Q93C4/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1212415168&sr=8-1
- ^ http://www.amazon.com/Drake-Josh-Go-Hollywood-Movie/dp/B000BYRCCE/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1212415168&sr=8-2
- ^ http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Drake-Josh/3493
- ^ "Drake & Josh's Big Shrimp Nets Really Big Audience". TV Guide. 2007-08-07. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
- ^ "The Holidays Come Early for Drake & Josh Fans!" (Press release). Viacom. 2008-06-12. Retrieved 2008-06-12.