Drake & Josh

Drake & Josh
Format	Sitcom
Created by	Dan Schneider
Starring	Drake Bell Josh Peck Miranda Cosgrove Nancy Sullivan Jonathan Goldstein
Opening theme	"Found a Way" by Drake Bell
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	63 (including 3 TV movies) (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Dan Schneider
Location(s)	San Diego, California filmed in Hollywood, California
Running time	27 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Nickelodeon
Original run	January 11, 2004 – December 5th, 2008
Chronology
Preceded by	The Amanda Show
Related shows	Zoey 101 iCarly
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Drake & Josh is an American sitcom shown on the Nickelodeon television network, starring the two step brothers Drake Parker (Drake Bell) and Josh Nichols (Josh Peck). Both actors (along with Nancy Sullivan, who starred as Drake and Josh's mother) had played roles in The Amanda Show. Jonathan Goldstein plays their father, and Miranda Cosgrove plays their little sister. Reruns of Drake & Josh are currently appearing on Nickelodeon, YTV and the The N. The show ran from January 2004 to September 2007, but a "Christmas" TV movie was broadcast on December 5, 2008.

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), got married. Drake is portrayed as an easygoing, simple, lucky teenager, while Josh is a smart, unlucky and unpopular teenager. They are often irritated by Drake's pre-teen sister, Megan Parker (Miranda Cosgrove), who is evil to Drake and Josh. She never gets in trouble because she acts innocent around her parents. Walter, Josh's father, can be described as unlucky and clumsy, like Josh, and an outdated meteorologist, and Audrey, Drake and Megan's mom, is more strict than Walter, and is lucky and easygoing, like Drake. She is the only person in the family unaware of the torture they go through with Megan, as Walter begins to realize Megan is truly evil in seasons 3 and 4. Throughout the series, Drake and Josh go through many conflicts, misadventures, and misfortunes. The conflicts are mainly social, others include school, work and Megan, their devious "evil" sister.

Characters

Main characters

Drake Parker

Drake (portrayed by singer/actor/guitarist Drake Bell) is depicted as an easygoing, "hot", popular and self-absorbed teenager. Although he often appears unintelligent, his under-achievement seems to be caused by laziness and stupidity. Drake has a great interest in music; he plays the guitar in a band throughout the series and likes all forms of music, his favorite being rock music. Drake is usually good at getting what he wants. He has a lot of success with girls and much of the comedy on the show is derived from his effortless ability to get dates. drake, however, is slightly misogynistic. Drake (in the first few seasons) had felt embarrassed about his new stepbrother but has grown to accept Josh more as a brother and a friend. Despite his selfishness and laziness, Drake still remains a favorite character and ultimately redeems himself by doing the right thing.

Josh Nichols

Josh (Josh Peck) is the educationally successful one, but he is not even close (in the first few seasons) to being the socially successful one. Unlike Drake, he usually stresses over school a lot. Despite his good character, Josh is ironically prone to bad luck. Josh has a job at a movie theater, where he gets an average amount of customers; For a while, he has had very little luck with girls; later in the series, he begins to date Mindy Crenshaw, who is (or was) an academic rival. His hobbies include playing video games, cooking, and performing magic tricks (which Drake usually thinks is uncool). Josh also loves Oprah Winfrey. He usually suffers expense from Drake's carefree behavior, but has always come on to him like a friend since the beginning. Later in the series, Josh becomes more popular and gains better luck (and girls).

Megan Parker

Megan (portrayed by actress Miranda Cosgrove) is Drake's sassy and "evil" little sister and Josh's stepsister. She constantly pulls pranks on Drake and Josh, and enjoys seeing them humiliated and suffer. Drake and Josh have tried to foil her plans and convince their parents that she is a demon, but they are always unsuccessful. Megan is always one step ahead, and Drake and Josh grow more in fear of her. 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 and pulling pranks on her older brothers through much of the series, but she loves them, although she rarely admits it. She will also blame the brothers if she does something wrong or bad and she always gets away with it. She does love Drake and Josh and in one episode she says that she loves them and gives them a kiss on the cheek, even though she sometimes bothers them. Megan never gets in trouble and she always gets what she wants. Megan also plays the oboe, which is mentioned several times throughout the series, however she is never seen actually with an oboe until Helen's wedding in Really Big Shrimp, and she later receives a vintage oboe in Merry Christmas Drake & Josh.

Walter Nichols

Walter (portrayed by actor Jonathan Goldstein) is Josh's father and Megan and Drake's stepfather. He is a meteorologist for a local TV news program, but he is often wrong about the weather (mostly 100% of the time he's wrong). Walter has a rival in his career named Bruce Winchill, commented to have a better haircut and reputation. Although he struggles to outdo him, he never succeeds.Walter is often clumsy, even seemingly empty-headed. As a result, he lacks the respect of his stepchildren, Drake and Megan (they refuse to call him "Dad" in most episodes and instead calls him by his first name, which stepchildren commonly do). He is also quite clueless in regards to Megan's pranks which have caused Drake and Josh a lot of punishments, although in seasons 3 and 4, Walter slowly begins to notice Megan's evilness.

Audrey Parker-Nichols

Audrey (portrayed by actress Nancy Sullivan) 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 and not to be so immature. Because Walter is unable to discipline Drake and Josh, she usually has to punish the boys. Her first name, which is never mentioned on the show, is available on the Nick.com webpage and is also shown in the closed-captioning.

Recurring characters

• "Crazy" Steve (portrayed by actor Jerry Trainor): is an employee at The Premiere movie theater. He is hard working and pretty calm at times; however, once someone (usually Josh) criticizes his work or does something he dislikes, he loses his mind. When this happens, he does not calm down until She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain is sung and he gets a drink of milk (usually served warm). The song calms him down because of his father. It's likely Steve had a rough childhood, most likely because of his father, because in the television movie "Really Big Shrimp", he is able to vacuum the floor by thinking of the stains on the floor as his father. "This is for making me do mom's laundry!" He says many things like that in that instance. It is noted that, even when not at work, he always is wearing his Premiere uniform. In the TV movie Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh it is revealed that he owns an iPhone, a DeLorean DMC-12, with a licence plate that reads 'CRAZY 1' and a "girlfriend" named Sally, who is a woodchipper.
• 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 his hare-brained schemes. Drake often mixes their names.They appear a few times in Seasons 1 and 2, but appear more frequently in Season 3.
• 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 straight years. Despite this, she eventually became Josh's girlfriend. Though they broke up in Season 4's "Mindy Loves Josh," this did not stop them from hanging out and doing homework together. They get back together in Drake & Josh: Really Big Shrimp.
• Helen Ophelia Dubois (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 hates Josh, despite the hard work he puts in at the theater. She also starred in a hit television show as a child, called "Happy Times". Though Yvette Nicole Brown plays Helen normally, Frances Callier filled in for her and portrayed her in the episode "Little Diva". She became married to Buzz Baxter in the episode "Really Big Shrimp", but announces that she has divorced him in "Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh".
• Gavin Mitchell (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 Drake'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 "Dance Contest", but returned for "Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh".
• Leah (Cathy Shim): Leah is an Asian female employee at The Premiere movie theater who appears in Seasons 3, 4 and appears in Really Big Shrimp. She gets along well with Josh, but is 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 hates 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.She is last seen in Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh,when Drake ran over Mrs.Hayfer's lawn.
• 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, and charged $300 for diagnosing Drake's facial rash). 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, far more accurate than his.

Crew

Episodes

Main article: List of Drake & Josh episodes

TV movies

DVD releases

Drake & Josh: Vol. 1 Suddenly Brothers

(Release Date February 15, 2005)^[1]

Contains 4 episodes:

• Pilot
• Dune Buggy
• Believe Me Brother
• Taylor

Drake & Josh Go Hollywood

(Release Date January 31, 2006)^[2]

• Contains the movie.
• Contains 2 bonus episodes; Helen's Surgery & Mindy's Back
• Contains the Found a Way music video by Drake Bell

The Best of Drake & Josh-Seasons 1 & 2

(Release Date August 21, 2008)^[3]

• Contains The best Season 1 episodes
• Contains The best Season 2 episodes

The Best of Drake & Josh-Seasons 3 & 4

(Release Date August 29, 2008)^[4]

• Contains The best Season 3 episodes
• Contains The best Season 4 episodes

Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh

(Release Date: December 19, 2008)^[5]

• Contains the Drake & Josh Movie/Special

Movies

Drake & Josh Go Hollywood

Main article: Drake & Josh Go Hollywood

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.

Drake & Josh: Really Big Shrimp

Spin City Records wants to sign Drake for his new song " Makes me Happy " 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 at the meeting), 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 sneaks into Spin City Records and switches the 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.^[6] The premiere of the movie broke the record for the most views of a premiere of a Nickelodeon Movie. iGo to Japan has since beaten that record.

Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh

Main article: Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh

A new Drake & Josh TV movie tentatively entitled "Drake and Josh: Best Christmas Ever" began production in July 2008, and premiered on December 5, 2008. Creator Dan Schneider returned as executive producer, with Marjorie Cohn and Lauren Levine co-executive producing. Michael Grossman directed 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.^[7]

The TV movie was broadcasted in HD format, unlike previous film Drake & Josh Go Hollywood. It also featured Henry Winkler and MMA fighter Kimbo Slice. After the release of this film, however, the production of more Drake & Josh episodes is unlikely, as many of the primary cast members will continue working on other projects (e.g., Miranda Cosgrove on iCarly). But Rumours are going around that Drake & Josh may return without Megan, and the name of the show would be Drake & Josh: The College Years

In this episode, The Premiere has moved to a new location, inside of a mall, because it burned down in Drake & Josh: Really Big Shrimp but in Helicopter and Dance Contest,the Premiere was still shown prior to the fire.

Games

Two video games based on Drake & Josh have been released on the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. The games are based on the Drake & Josh series.

The list of games are published by THQ.

• Drake & Josh
• Drake & Josh: Talent Showdown

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"
• Really Big Shrimp, based on the episode "Drake & Josh: Really Big Shrimp"
• Mindy, based on the episodes "Honor Council" and "Mindy's Back"
• Sky Divers, based on the episodes "Helicopter" and "Tree House"

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
• 2008 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (UK) Winner: Favorite Kids TV Show
• 2008 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (UK) Winner: Favorite TV Actor (Josh Peck)
• 2008 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (GER) Winner: Favorite TV Actor (Josh Peck)

References

External links

• The official Drake & Josh page on Nick.com
• Nick UK - Drake and Josh