Drake & Josh
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Drake & Josh | |
|---|---|
 (Left to right) Drake Bell and Josh Peck |
|
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Creator(s) | Dan Schneider |
| Starring | Drake Bell Josh Peck Miranda Cosgrove Nancy Sullivan` Jonathan Goldstein |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 53 (??unaired) including the TV Movie: Drake and Josh Go Hollywood |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Dan Schneider |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Nickelodeon |
| Original run | January 11, 2004 – Present |
| Links | |
Drake & Josh is a Nickelodeon sitcom. The show stars Drake Bell as Drake Parker and Josh Peck as Josh Nichols. Both stars are from The Amanda Show, and from movies, as is Nancy Sullivan, who plays Audrey Parker-Nichols. Miranda Cosgrove plays Megan Parker, Drake and Josh's sister. The show debuted on January 11, 2004.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Drake & Josh is about two teenage boys with contrasting personalities living in a suburb of San Diego, California who become stepbrothers when Josh's father, Walter Nichols, played by Jonathan Goldstein, marries Drake's mother, Audrey Parker, who is played by Nancy Sullivan. The differences between the boys, and their difficulties in adjusting to each other, form the themes for many episodes. Drake is portrayed as popular in school (and with girls) and is often seen with his guitar. Josh is more of a responsible, studious character, who likes magic tricks and has a crush on Oprah Winfrey. Josh is the guy who is looked at as "almost cool", despite becoming a little less goofy as the show has progressed. The show also features their sister, Megan Parker (Drake's birth sister) played by Miranda Cosgrove, who loves torturing her older brothers with her pranks.
At Nickelodeon's 2006 Kids' Choice Awards, Drake & Josh beat American Idol to win the orange blimp-award for Favorite TV Show.
Drake Bell also won for Favorite TV Actor.
[edit] Theme song
The theme song for the show is "I Found a Way," written by Drake Bell and Michael Corcoran. The song is performed by Bell. A split-second shot of Bell singing the theme song from one episode in season one is seen in the opening sequence for seasons one and two, whilst another filmed version remains for season 3, and another for season 4. The song can also be found on the show's official soundtrack, Drake & Josh: Songs from and inspired by the hit TV show, and on Drake Bell's albums, Telegraph and It's Only Time
[edit] Characters
[edit] Main characters
- Drake Parker (Played by Drake Bell)
Main article: Drake Parker
Drake's mother, Audrey Parker-Nichols married Josh's dad, Walter Nichols. He is a popular teenager, a gifted musician, but his ignorance is a running gag in the series.
- Josh Nichols (Played by Josh Peck)
Main article: Josh Nichols
Josh generally serves as the comedic foil to Drake and Megan. Though highly intelligent, he is not as socially adept as Drake. While Drake is quite popular, the best Josh can do is be "almost cool."
- Megan Parker (Played by Miranda Cosgrove)
Main article: Megan Parker
Megan is the boys' younger sister (Drake's biological sister) who enjoys tormenting them. It is rare that her older brothers will get the better of her. She likes to call her brothers "boobs" and calls her father Walter instead of dad, a habit Drake picked up later.
- Walter Nichols and Audrey Parker-Nichols (Played by Jonathon Goldstein and Nancy Sullivan)
Walter is Josh's father and Audrey is Drake's and Megan's mother. Josh's father is a weather man who often is wrong about the weather and his rival is Bruce Winchill. Walter is often clumsy, Out of date, and empty headed and has a bad handle on the children too. In the movie his empty headedness was revealed when he thought the Titanic was a fake movie. Audrey was mentioned of having a job several times in the shows and explains why she is never home but it never specified what profession she is. Audrey is a lot more smarter, up to date, and on the ball than Walter and has a better handle on the kids too.
[edit] Recurring characters
- Helen Dubuois (Played by Yvette Nicole Brown)
- Helen Dubuois was introduced in "Movie Job" as the manager at The Premiere, a movie theater where Josh has a job. Helen is known for her loud voice and orders for her employees, namely Josh. Whilst Helen is not particularly fond of Josh (though she does get him a birthday present – a nose hair clipper), she seems to adore Drake, even saying in one episode, "Drake Parker, I love you like the son I never wanted." Helen was once a child actress, as mentioned in the episode "Helen's Surgery," in the (fictional) show Happy Times. Primarily played by Yvette Nicole Brown, the character was briefly played by Frances Callier in the episode "Little Diva."
- Mindy Crenshaw (Played by Allison Scagliotti-Smith)
- Mindy Crenshaw was introduced in season two as Josh's foremost "enemy"; she had beaten Josh at their school's Science Fair every year. However, in her next appearance ("Mindy's Back"), the couple realized that they actually liked each other. The two had been dating for a while before Josh finally met her parents. A dinner at Mindy's parents house was, all in all, a disaster, as was the majority of the dinner at Josh's house. Despite this, Mindy's parents have allowed her to continue dating Josh.
- Finally, Mindy told Josh she loved him. Josh was completely surprised and you can tell because he slammed the door into Mindy's face saying,"See you in chemistry!!!" After Drake talked to Josh in school, and seeing as the science fair was coming up, Josh foolishly believed that 'I love you' was just a tactic to make him feel the need to let her win. When the science competition actually came up, they both invented photon cannons, and Josh's outperformed Mindy's, so Josh won. Josh then confronted Mindy telling her he "knew" what she was trying to do by telling him she loved him. She then revealed the hidden power of her cannon which showed that she actually let Josh win and was sincere about what she said. Then the two agreed that they are inexperienced at dating and felt that they rushed things, so they agreed to see other people to see if they were truly the right people for each other, but are still friends. However, when Mindy Shows up at a party at Josh's house and at the Premiere with a boy who Josh thinks is her new boyfriend, he goes crazy with jealousy. When he finds out the boy is just her cousin, a fight ensues, and it ends with them kissing.
- Eric Blonnowitz (Played by Scott Halberstadt) and Craig Ramirez (Played by Alec Medlock)
- Eric Blonnowitz and Craig Ramirez are two stereotypical 'nerdy' honor students that are always being exploited by Drake and Josh, mostly due to Drake's hare-brained schemes. The character of Eric was introduced before the character of Craig; Eric has made more appearances in the show than Craig. Eric is seen in the crowd at the fight, in the first ever episode of the series. Both characters have been mentioned as being Jewish. Even though Josh took advantage of them as much as Drake did, in the episode "Josh Runs into Oprah", Josh, Craig and Eric are seen as being good friends. (Despite Josh not being stated as "un-popular", anymore) Starting with the episode, The Demonator, Eric and Craig's appearances have been becoming more and more often (Eric appeared in 2 out of the last 3 episodes of the show's third season, Craig appeared in 1. Out of the 10 episodes aired so far in Season 4, Eric has appeared in 6 of them and Craig has appeared in 5.). It is also revealed in the episode, Eric Punches Drake, that Eric is a pacifist.
- Mrs. Hayfer (Played by Julia Duffy)
- Mrs. Alice/Linda Hayfer was first seen in the episode "Mean Teacher" as Drake and Josh's English teacher. She is from New Jersey and she puts the state in many of her unfunny jokes, and became Mrs. New Jersey 1976 but absolutely hates Mrs. America (possibly because she lost). Mrs. Hayfer dislikes Drake because of his poor efforts in school and lack of responsibility. She displays this by reminding him that she hates him and counting all his answers wrong, even if they are based on his opinion or correct; an example of this is when Mrs. Hayfer asked Drake what his favorite 20th century novel was. When Drake replies, "The Catcher in the Rye," she says, "Wrong." And also, when Mrs. Hayfer asked Drake in class "In which language was "The Odyssey" written in he replied Greek even though it was the right answer, said he was wrong, asked another student who answered it was Greek and said the other student was right.
- Gavin (Played by Jake Farrow)
- Gavin has a mullet like haircut and is always telling Josh to clean something unusual in the theater bathrooms. He then eventually cleans up the mess himself - his response (and catch-phrase) being "I got it". The so-called messes included a wig stuck in a toilet bowl, a diaper stuck on a wall, gum in his perm, rat traps in the basement, and a hippie washing his feet in a theater. He is quite a lazy employee, and has been known to take naps on the roof of the theater. During season 4, he changed his hair from a mullet to a "per-mullet" (a mullet with a perm). He has also developed a crush on Drake's mom, and continually asks Drake to measure her. Appears to enjoy salsa-dancing with Helen.
- "Crazy" Steve (Played by Jerry Trainor)
- "Crazy" Steve is an employee at The Premiere movie theater. He is hard working and pretty calm at times, until someone (namely Josh) critiques his work, that is when he goes crazy. He yells in a straining voice and many of the other employees are afraid of him including Helen. In the episode "The Storm", he visted Drake & Josh's house to attend a party and was unbelieveably polite to their mom while yelling at everybody else there. Strangely he seems to enjoy watching Dora the Explorer as he forced Craig to operate a hand-cranked TV so he could watch an episode of the show, and went crazy when anyone (except Drake and Josh's mom) attempted to change the channel or get in his way, but screamed orders to Dora in his normal straining voice.
[edit] Other characters
- Dr. Glazer (Played by Roark Critchlow)
- Dr. Jeff Glazer lives across the street from Drake and Josh. He is always called on whenever a serious emergency happens at their house. Although he seems kind during the medical procedure, he is always charging a high bill for his services. He charged $300 for inspecting Drake's rash in "The Bet", $500 for putting child star Ashley Blake to sleep in "Little Diva", and $100 for explaining how a lamb got in Drake and Josh's room in "Sheep Thrills" with a $50 extra to not tell their parents there was a sheep in their room. He also seems to like wheat squares (which is a parody of "Frosted Mini Wheats").
- Grammy (Played by Randee Heller)
- Grammy Nichols is Josh's grandmother and Walter's mother. In her first appearance ("Grammy"), Drake dislikes her at first, because she doesn't respect him fairly. However, by the end of the episode, he starts to be more respective of her for returning his money that he gave her earlier during a bet between the two. Grammy also has been known to send Josh various presents and gifts; on one occasion, she gave Josh a Gamesphere three months prior to its release in "The Bet" and a "Mono-Rocket" in "Tree House". She is also mentioned as having hormonal imbalances in the episode "Playing the Field", most notably a moustache - Drake makes fun of this, with Josh defending her. Although the character is mentioned frequently by both Drake and Josh, Grammy has only appeared once, in the aforementioned episode "Grammy".
- Papa Nichols (Played by Alex White)
- Papa Nichols is Josh's great-grandfather, Walter's grandfather, and is the father-in-law of Grammy. He is 81 years old and had surgery before the events of "The Demonator" and was on heavy medication that made him relive World War II during the episode. He mistook Eric and Craig (who were looking after him at the time) for two Nazi soldiers referring to them as German nerds (managing to attack them both), mistook his bedroom slipper for a walkie-talkie, and thought Eric's cell phone was a weapon. He also punched his grandson (Josh's father) at the end of the episode because the medication had not yet worn off, and then ran off saying, "I got you, you stinking German," and chants "USA! USA! USA!". He is also mentioned later in Season 4 in the episode "The Wedding".
- Gary (Played by Dan Mott)
- Derek is the drummer for Drake's band starting in Season 4. So far, he has only appeared in "The Storm". He appeared to have to borrow his sister's blouse for Drake's concert because all of his clothes were dirty, but then his sister comes in saying, "Derek! Give me my shirt back!", so he had to borrow a shirt with a panda on it from Megan, considering he likes pandas. His uncle appears to have a boat which he was going to use for Drake's concert's stage that was completely underwater because of the storm, but it is later revealed that his uncle sold the boat. He also called Josh's dad a nitwit with the stupid hair style for being wrong about sunny weather, but then Drake's mom says, "Hey! That nitwit happens to be my husband!" and he replies, "And that's my fault?". Also, in the beginning of the episode, he asks Drake for sunblock and Drake reacts by squirting sunblock in his face.
- Rina (Played by Molly Orr)
- Rina is a member of Drake's band, and plays bass guitar. The character is played by Molly Orr, who was a member of The Amanda Show cast, appearing in the Moody's Point sketches as Misty Raines; Drake & Josh is a spin-off of The Amanda Show, which were both created by Dan Schneider. In the episode "Josh Runs into Oprah", Drake mentions that a guy named Julio plays bass guitar for his band.
- Paul (Played by Jeremy Ray Valdez)
- Paul is a member of Drake's band, and plays rhythm guitar.
- Scottie (Played by Johnny Lewis)
- Scottie Wilson is the drummer for Drake's band and is shown to be unintelligent. He has one brother, Trevor, who seems to be as unintelligent as Scottie himself. In the episode "Megan's New Teacher", Drake mentions that he needs a new drummer to replace "Mitch" - Scottie is not mentioned in this episode, and only appeared during season one, like Drake's other two bandmates Paul and Rina. He apparently thought it was legal to photocopy tickets to a music concert (landing him, Drake, and their band into a lot of trouble with the police). In the episode "The Storm", a guy named "Derek" is the drummer in Drake's band.
- Trevor (Played by Taran Killam)
- Trevor Wilson is one of Drake's friends and is Scottie's brother. He was also apart of the The Amanda Show cast. He appears to be as unintelligent as Homer Simpson, like his brother. He gave Drake and Josh a dune buggy, which he "fixed" himself. His parents make him take a head examination every month. He is often mentioned, but so far he has only appeared in "Dune Buggy". He also has a Chevrolet El Camino made in 1979, which gets engulfed in flames at the end of The Wedding.
[edit] Guest Stars
- John O'Hurley
- Erik Estrada
- Gary Coleman
- Richard Biggs*
- Ted Lange
- Wesley Mann
- Paul Gleason
- Gabrielle Carteris
- Larry Thomas
- Maggie Wheeler
- Josh Server
- Chelsea Brummet
- Torrey DeVitto
- Emma Roberts
- Alyson Stoner
- AnnaSophia Robb
- Ashley Drane
- Julie Gonzalo
- Vanessa Anne Hudgens
- Kimmy Robertson
- Kaylee DeFer
- Brittany Curran
- Tony Hawk in Drake & Josh Go Hollywood
*Biggs guest starred in the episode "The Gary Grill", but died in May 2004 before it premiered. The episode was dedicated in his memory.
[edit] Crew
- Dan Schneider - creator/executive producer/writer
- Joe Catania - producer
- Robin Weiner - producer
- Virgil Fabian - occasional director
[edit] Episodes
[edit] Later seasons
The fourth season, which contains 20 episodes, premiered on September 24, 2006 with the episode Josh Runs into Oprah.
Drake Bell was involved in a car accident on a Los Angeles freeway exit December 30, 2005; three episodes of the fourth season were filmed prior to the accident, and production of the rest of the episodes was postponed until Bell healed from his injuries. Production of the show resumed in March 2006 and continued into July. [1] Also, there seems to be a new movie in the works for Drake & Josh; this may be some kind of sign that the show will be ending after the current season(4). The movie right now is being labeled as the "Untitled Drake & Josh Project."
Before Season 3, Drake and Josh usually learned a lesson at the end of an episode, such as in the "Blues Brothers" Season 2. In this episode, Drake teaches Josh to not care what people think of him. In another episode, also from Season 2 "First Crush" Josh learns that he doesn't need to lie to a girl to make her like him back.
[edit] Merchandise
There is a soundtrack, Drake & Josh: Songs from and inspired by the hit TV show, that was released on March 8, 2005 on Nick Records.
Four episodes from season one have been released on DVD titled Suddenly Brothers. A second volume, titled Suddenly Family was planned to be released on September 13, 2005 [2], but was withdrawn for unknown reasons. On January 31, 2006, Drake & Josh Go Hollywood was released on DVD, with two episodes from the beginning of the third season included as bonus material ("Helen's Surgery" and "Mindy's Back".) Also, the episode "We're Married" was included in the TEENick Picks DVD.
There are a series of Drake & Josh chapter books. The books are entitled Kid Trouble, Go Hollywood, Blues Brothers, and Sibling Revelry. These books are based on episodes from the series.
THQ released a Drake & Josh video game on the Game Boy Advance on March 5, 2007.
[edit] External links
- Drake & Josh on YTV, Tuesdays at 7:00pm ET
- The official Drake & Josh page on Nick.com
- Drake Bell's official website
- Megan Parker's website, seen in the episode Honor Council (Takes you to Zoey 101 site)
Categories: 2000s American television series | 2000s Nickelodeon shows | 2004 television program debuts | American children's comedy series | Celebrity duos | Children's television series | Comedy television series | Drake & Josh | Sitcoms | Television series named after fictional characters | Television shows set in California | Television spin-offs | The Amanda Show | YTV shows
