Drake & Josh

*Drake & Josh*
Drake & Josh
	File:Drake&joshcast.jpg (Left to right) Drake Bell, Miranda Cosgrove, Nancy Sullivan, Jonathan Goldstein and Josh Peck
Created by	Dan Schneider
Starring	Drake Bell; Josh Peck; Miranda Cosgrove; Nancy Sullivan; Jonathan Goldstein
Country of origin	USA
No. of episodes	40 (as of April 8, 2006)
Production
Executive producer	Dan Schneider
Running time	22 minutes
Original release
Network	Nickelodeon
Release	January 11, 2004 –; present

Drake & Josh is a Nickelodeon sitcom that stars Drake Bell as Drake Parker and Josh Peck as Josh Nichols. Both stars are from The Amanda Show, as is Nancy Sullivan (Audrey Parker). Miranda Cosgrove from School of Rock plays Megan Parker, Drake and Josh's sister.

Drake & Josh debuted on January 11, 2004, and is Nickelodeon's highest rated live-action launch in 10 years.^{[citation needed]}

Overview and general information

Drake & Josh is about the various antics of two teenage boys living in a suburb of San Diego, California with contrasting personalities who become stepbrothers when Josh's father, Walter Nichols, portrayed by Jonathan Goldstein, marries Drake's mother, Audrey Parker, who is played by Nancy Sullivan. Drake is a popular guy who likes to play the guitar and sing in his band. He also likes to date as many girls as possible, while Josh is a responsible, studious character who is unpopular in his school. Because of this, there are many problems that are used for episode topics. 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.

It was revealed on the show that the boys met briefly when they were both eight years old at a baseball park. They both got into a fight over buying a foam finger at a stand. Drake and Josh met again in the fourth grade when Josh wanted to show Drake a magic trick. They did not particularly like each other, as Drake was the "cool kid" in school and Josh sat at the "unpopular" lunch table.

At Nickelodeon's 2006 Kids' Choice Awards, Drake & Josh won the orange blimp-award for Favorite TV Show. Drake Bell also won for Favorite TV Actor.

Theme song

The theme song for the show is "I Found a Way", written by Drake Bell and Michael Corcoran and performed by Bell. A split-second shot of Bell singing the theme song from one episode in Season 1 is seen in the opening sequence for seasons one and two, whilst another filmed version remains for season 3. The song can also be found on the show's official soundtrack album, Drake & Josh: Songs from and inspired by the hit TV show, and on Drake Bell's album Telegraph. The Telegraph album also includes other songs sung by Bell, such as "Circles" (performed on All That) and "Highway to Nowhere" (performed on Zoey 101).

Characters

Main cast

Drake Bell as Drake Parker: Drake shares a bedroom with his stepbrother Josh, and sometimes blame each other into various schemes launched by Drake's sister, Megan. Drake currently does not work, and appears to have a habit of "collecting" as many girlfriends possible. Even though he has poor grades in all of his subjects, it has been implied that Drake has an aptitude for math; he received 87 on his algebra test. In addition, Drake managed to calculate how long they could ride the Demonator and get home before their parents. Then again, he may not be too bright in math, as he is seen forgetting and misplacing a decimal in a simple division problem. He also appears to be skilled in chemistry, albeit with the help of Josh. Drake merely does not bother to put any effort into his studies, or much of anything else (including mispronouncing "America" and coming up with medical excuses featuring impossible medical problems). Drake has a low I.Q., as he does not know what a transcript is, who Mark Twain was, the difference between cumin and cinnamon, or how to spell "television." Drake is a poor driver; he had taken his driving exam six times before finally getting his license. In the process, he nearly killed himself, Josh, and Megan by not failing to look at the road and almost crashing into a truck. He drives a red van. Drake regularly performs and rehearses with his band (he plays lead guitar). His favorite band is the fictional Zero Gravity, whose lead singer, Devon Malone, he met at a Zero Gravity concert.

Josh Peck as Josh Larry Nichols: Josh moved into Drake's house when his father married Drake's mother in 2004. Since that time, Josh has acquired a job at The Premiere, a movie theater in which he has always wanted to work (see Movie Job). Josh thinks that Drake lacks responsibility and always gets annoyed by Drake's bad habits, such as having a party at Josh's boss' house or ruining his relationship with his date. Josh has a girlfriend, Mindy Crenshaw - however, the two did not always get along; starting at 12 years old, the two often battled against each other in their school's annual Science Fair. It was only until Mindy and Josh paired up for a project in their class that they discovered they liked each other. Josh once had a pet turtle named Sheldon, who passed on when he was five years old, and was replaced by a lizard named Milton. He also appears to have a transmitter on his backside which Megan uses for the amusement of electrocuting him. Josh is also shown to be an obsessive fan of Oprah Winfrey; he has a photograph and a large cardboard cut-out of Winfrey, and he also met her in the episode Josh Runs into Oprah. He is allergic to rather random items, such as celery, cats, shrubs, and cheese puffs. He had perfect attendance from pre-school days to the eleventh grade. Josh probably has almost no musical talent (except for his playing of the harmonica and slide whistle). Several episodes claim his middle name is "Larry". His favorite flower is the daisy. Josh drives a blue station wagon. He is not good at sports, as he is seen being terrible at basketball (ball hits his face every time) and football (ended up as the equipment manager after almost failing tryouts) and even biking (says he has to use twelve training wheels to ride).

Miranda Cosgrove as Megan Parker: Megan is Drake's sister and has a mass supply of spyware. She is known to get her brothers into various accidents and schemes, since her spare time consists of new ideas to prank both Drake and Josh. These include purchasing a sheep over the internet and later acting as if she hadn't seen it before, thus framing her brothers. Another example of Megan's numerous pranks is putting a bomb into Josh's salsa and making it explode, again framing her brothers. Megan also has her own website. She plays the oboe and soccer. Her only weakness is her allergy of cats - likewise Josh.

Nancy Sullivan as Audrey Parker-Nichols: Audrey is Drake's birth mother, her profession is never specified. She always treats Megan like a "little angel", unaware of her daughter's large–and growing–collection of spyware and ability to fool her brothers. Audrey is known to give in to Drake's requests, though it is usually somewhere between the fourteenth and seventeenth times Drake has asked her.

Jonathan Goldstein as Walter Nichols: Walter is Josh's birth father, and he is a weatherman at the local TV station. Walter had almost become the weatherman for Good Morning Today, however, he did not get the job; Drake and Josh, thinking that the senior producer of the program was having an affair with Walter, ended up throwing food on her, thus ending Walter's chance of becoming "the most watched weatherman in America". His rival is Bruce Windchill, whom both Megan and Audrey seem to have crushes on. Walter thinks ships do not sink, as well as believing that the film Titanic was not based on a true story. He is allergic to cumin and seems to forget his wife's birthday. He is immature, childish, and somewhat absentminded. The outside members of the family seen on the show (Grammy and Papa Nichols) are from his side of the family.

Recurring cast

Allison Scagliotti-Smith as Mindy Crenshaw: 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.
Yvette Nicole Brown as Helen Ophelia Dubuois: 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, she seems to adore Drake. Primarily played by Yvette Nicole Brown, the character was played by Frances Callier in the episode Little Diva.
Julia Duffy as Mrs. Hafer: Mrs. Alice Hafer was first seen in the episode Mean Teacher and introduced as Drake and Josh's English teacher. Mrs. Hafer dislikes Drake because of his poor efforts in school and lack of responsibility. She always reminds him that she hates him, whilst she seems to be fond of Josh because of his truthfulness. Her husband, Gerald, works at the Little Sibling foundation. Drake once had dated Mrs. Hafer's daughter, Kelly.
Scott Halberstadt as Eric and Alec Medlock as Craig: Eric and Craig are two nerdy honor students that are always being exploited by Drake and Josh, mostly due to Drake's dishonest hare-brained schemes. The character of Eric was introduced before the character of Craig; Eric has made more appearances in the show than Craig. Both characters have been mentioned as being Jewish.
Jake Farrow as Gavin Harrison: Gavin is an employee at The Premiere movie theater. He has a mullet-like haircut and is always telling Josh to clean something unusually gross in the theater bathroom. He then eventually cleans up the mess himself - the so-called messes included a wig in the toilet bowl and a diaper stuck on the wall. On occasion, Josh has called him "Crazy Joe".
Roark Critchlow as Dr. Jeff Glazer: Dr. 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 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 is a sheep in their room.
Randee Heller as Grammy: Grammy is Josh's grandmother. 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 likes 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. Although the character is mentioned frequently by both Drake and Josh, Grammy has only appeared once, in the aforementioned episode Grammy. She is also mentioned as having hormonal imbalances in the episode "Playing the Field," most notably facial hair (i.e. / esp. a moustache). Drake brings her moustache up, and Josh angrily defends his grandmother.
Unknown as Papa Nichols: Papa Nichols is Josh's great-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, and also mistook his bedroom slipper for a walkie-talkie, and Eric's cell phone as a weapon, managing to attack both Eric and Craig.
Molly Orr as Rina: 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. Drake & Josh is a spin-off of The Amanda Show, both created by Dan Schneider.
Jeremy Ray Valdez as Paul: Paul is a member of Drake's band, and plays rhythm guitar.
Johnny K. Lewis as Scottie Wilson: Scottie 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.
Taran Killam as Trevor Wilson: Trevor is one of Drake's friends and is Scottie's brother. He gave Drake and Josh a dune buggy, which he fixed himself. His parents make him take a head examination every month because he appears to be as unintelligent as Homer Simpson, like his brother. He has an ingrow on his back. He is often mentioned, but so far he has only appeared in Dune Buggy.

Guest stars

Crew

Dan Schneider - Creator/Executive Producer/Writer
Joe Catania - Producer
Robin Weiner - Producer

Episode guide

Later seasons

It has been confirmed that a fourth season of twenty episodes will air in the United States, commencing August 2006. Drake Bell was involved in a car accident in Los Angeles on a freeway exit in December 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. At the Kids Choice Awards, he accepted his award with Josh Peck, and the fourth season has resumed being filmed. The fourth season is also rumored to be the last of the series.

Trivia

The high school that Drake and Josh go to, Belleview, is the name (parodied) of the real-life Bellevue High School of Bellevue, Washington, notorious for ending De La Salle High School's 151-game football winning streak. Belleview is also the name of a high school in South East Texas.
In the episode The Guitar Josh must purchase a new Fender Stratocaster for Drake after accidentally destroying his. When leaving Guitar World (a parody of the chain Guitar Center) a poster on the wall is advertising a film called Super Market Cop III. This is a reference to a fictional movie that was filmed in Kenan & Kel, a similar Nickelodeon show.
The Premiere is a fictional cinema from the series. It was first mentioned in the show's second season, in the episode Movie Job, where Josh begins to work there. The exterior shots seem to be from the Camino Real Cinemas. The cinema also seems to be connected to an outdoor mall called "The Premiere Galleria". This is revealed when the people there think Josh is the "Theater Thug".
- Yvette Nicole Brown plays the role of Helen, the manager of The Premiere; however, in the episode Little Diva, Helen was played by Frances Callier.
The program parodies several films on posters outside on the marquee as well as the posters inside the theater for spoofs on The Empire Strikes Back with The Empress Fights Back (which includes the logo from that film on the poster) and A Walk to Remember with A Walk to Forget, Finding Texas parodies Finding Neverland among many others, including Puppet Fever, Ick Glokmah, Buckets of Blood, Ghost Monsters, Monsters From the Drain, Hobo: The Movie, The Six Cents and TV the Movie.
Josh Nichols is a big fan of Oprah Winfrey, and appears to have a crush on her.
Drake Parker's favorite band is the fictional Zero Gravity.
In a few episodes, in scenes of the camera closing in on The Premiere, there is a wide enough angle showing a building to its right, appropriately named Schneider's Bakery, the company of Drake & Josh creator, Dan Schneider. However, in Movie Job, the sign above the building reads Schneider's Pizza. In several exterior shots of buildings, you can see the word "Schneider" in the name. Examples include "St. Schneider's Hospital" in Paging Dr. Drake and "The Four Schneiders Hotel" in The Drake and Josh Inn.
Megan has a room full of high-tech computers and spy gadgets. She has a button that she can press to give Josh an electric shock, a monitor that can view what is going on in every room in the house, and a device that records everything that the boys say in their room.
In Alien Invasion, Josh says two figures of speech, "I am whipped up" and "I am going to fix her wagon". Drake takes both of these literally.
In Honor Council, it is revealed that Megan has a website, MeganParker.com. In the video on her website, on the right, you can see Emma Roberts as her Unfabulous character Addie Singer.
Drake and Josh both have cars. It took Josh one test to get his license but it took six times for Drake to get his license.
There is a Parker street that meets with Nichols street in Ludlow, Massachusetts. "Parker" and "Nichols" are Drake and Josh's respective last names.
Dr. Phyllis is an obvious parody of Dr. Phil.
Mocha-Cola is an obvious parody of Coca-Cola.
Mountain Fizz is a parody of Mountain Dew, but it looks like Canada Dry.
The fast food restaurant, In-N-Out is found on the western part of the United States, like California. Since the show takes place in San Diego, the "Inside-Out Burger" that Drake bought for his driving instructor in Driver's License is an obvious parody of that restaurant.
Drake has used different guitars in the seasons. He has used a Fender Stratocaster and two Gibson Les Paul's (one Wine Red, one Ebony) along with many acoustics.
Yudonia, the country mentioned in the episode We're Married, is fictional.
In Sheep Thrills, the website Josh refers to in one part of the episode, www.thesheepstore.com, actually leads to the Drake and Josh part of the Nickelodeon website.
The show has parodied popular games consoles among other things:
- Josh has a Gamesphere; this seems to be a parody of the Nintendo GameCube
  - Drake is seen using different game system controllers for the Gamesphere (Nintendo 64 and the XBOX controller).
- Megan has a Pintendo GS; this seems to be a parody of the Nintendo DS
- The G-O and iBot seem to be parodies of the iPod, though the G-O could also be a parody of Rio, the now-defunct MP3-player company.

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 the first season have been released on a DVD titled Suddenly Brothers. A second volume, titled Suddenly Family was planned to be released on September 13, 2005 [1], 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.

There are a series of Drake & Josh chapter books. The books are entitled Go Hollywood, Blues Brothers, and Sibling Rivalry. These books are based on (in full or part) episodes from the series.

External links