Drake & Josh is an
American sitcom that premiered on the
Nickelodeon television network on
January 11,
2004, which follows the lives of two stepbrothers, Drake Parker (
Drake Bell) and Josh Nichols (
Josh Peck). Both actors had played roles in
The Amanda Show, along with
Nancy Sullivan, who appears as Drake's mother in
Drake & Josh.
Jonathan Goldstein plays Josh's father, and
Miranda Cosgrove plays Drake's little sister. Reruns of
Drake & Josh are currently appearing on
Nickelodeon,
YTV, and coming soon to
TeenNick. The show ran from January 11, 2004 to September 16, 2007, but a third TV movie entitled
Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh aired on December 5, 2008.
Summary
Drake Parker (
Drake Bell) and Josh Straitus (
Josh Straitus) are two teenage stepbrothers who live in
San Diego, California when Drake's mother, Audrey Parker (
Nancy Sullivan), and Josh's father, Walter Nichols (
Jonathan Goldstein), get married. Drake is an easygoing, simple, lucky, lazy, popular, and attractive teenage boy who plays guitar and easily gets girls, while Josh is a diligent, unlucky, sarcastic teenager who constantly gets fed up by Drake's mischievous behavior. Both brothers are often tortured by their evil little sister, Megan Parker (
Miranda Cosgrove), who often plays pranks on them and never seems to get caught or punished by their parents. Walter, Josh's father, is an outdated weather man, who can be described as unlucky, fat and clumsy, like Josh, and Audrey, Drake and Megan's mother, is stricter than Walter. Throughout the series, Drake and Josh go through many conflicts, misadventures, and misfortunes. The conflicts are mainly social, often dealing with the relationship between the two brothers, while other themes include school, work, and Megan.
Cast
Main characters
| Character
| Actor/Actress
| Info
|
| Drake Parker
| Drake Bell
| A teenager who plays his guitar, but sometimes he copies his homework from Josh and thinks about himself. He is attractive and always gets the girls.
|
| Josh Nichols
| Josh Peck
| The hard working, responsible, and sometimes overreacting stepbrother of Drake. Josh has to deal with Drake's antics on constant basis.
|
| Megan Parker
| Miranda Cosgrove
| The little sister of Drake and the stepsister of Josh. Megan constantly pulls pranks on the brothers and cause them emotional and sometimes physical pain and torment.
|
| Walter Nichols
| Jonathan Goldstein
| The father of Josh and stepfather of Drake and Megan. Working as a professional weatherman, Walter can be described as a clumsy, lame, and sometimes embarrassing dad towards his kids. He gives somewhat practical advice to Drake and Josh, and on occasion, Megan.
|
| Audrey Parker-Nichols
| Nancy Sullivan
| The mother of Drake and Megan and stepmother of Josh. She is a hard working mother, and is the stereotypical housewife (where she is seen cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry around the house). She is fairly strict towards her 3 kids when trouble arises and she does not let them get away with anything.
|
Recurring characters
| Character
| Actor/Actress
| Info
|
| Helen Ophelia Dubois
| Yvette Nicole Brown
| The owner and manager of the Premiere movie theater that Josh works at. She often gives Josh a hard time, regardless of how hard working he is. Despite the age difference, she has a crush on Drake.
|
| "Crazy" Steve
| Jerry Trainor
| An employee at the same movie theater who has uncontrollable anger outbursts.
|
| Eric Blonowitz
| Scott Halberstadt
| A nerd who is one of Josh's good friends.
|
| Craig Ramirez
| Alec Medlock
| Another nerd who is one of Josh's good friends.
|
| Mindy Crenshaw
| Allison Scagliotti
| The know-it-all who had an on and off relationship with Josh.
|
| Gavin Mitchell
| Jake Farrow
| Another employee of the Premiere who is described as "sleazy" and somewhat oblivious about things. He has a mullet and often tells Josh to clean up gross messes at the Premiere even though after a few minutes he does it himself, usually followed by the phrase "I got it".
|
| Mrs. Hayfer
| Julia Duffy
| Drake and Josh's English teacher who loathes Drake, but adores Josh.
|
| Leah
| Cathy Shim
| Another employee of the Premiere and co-worker to Josh, she is also scared of "Crazy" Steve.
|
Crew
| Name
| Position
|
| Dan Schneider
| Creator
|
| Executive Producer
|
| Writer
|
| Joe Catania
| Producer
|
| Matthew Lee
| Supervising Producer
|
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
|
TV movies
DVD releases
| Name
| Release Date
| Contains
|
| Drake & Josh: Vol. 1 Suddenly Brothers
| February 15, 2005
| 4 Episodes: Pilot, Dune Buggy, Two Idiots and a Baby, First Crush
Never Before-Seen Outtakes
|
| Drake & Josh Go Hollywood
| January 31, 2006
| The movie
Bloopers
2 bonus episodes: Helen's Surgery & Mindy's Back
"Found a Way" Music video
|
| The Best of Drake & Josh-Seasons 1 & 2
| August 21, 2008
| Season 1 Episodes: Pilot, Dune Buggy, Two Idiots and a Baby, First Crush, Grammy
Season 2 Episodes: The Bet, Movie Job, Football, Pool Shark, Smart Girl, Little Diva, Number 1 Fan, Mean Teacher, Drew & Jerry, Honor Council
|
| The Best of Drake & Josh-Seasons 3 & 4
| August 29, 2008
| Season 3 Episodes: We're Married?, Paging Dr. Drake, Foam Finger, Girl Power, Megan's New Teacher, Little Sibling, Theater Thug, Alien Invasion, Dr. Phyllis Show
Season 4 Episodes: The Great Doheny, The Storm, Tree House, Megan's Revenge, Helicopter, Dance Contest
|
| Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh
| December 19, 2008
| The movie
Music Video "Jingle Bells" by Drake Bell
|
Movies
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. This is the first
Drake and Josh movie to be presented in HD, sans the laugh track.
Drake & Josh: Really Big Shrimp
Spin City Records wants to sign Drake and 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. Josh, having been drooling over the giant
shrimp at the meeting, accidentally signs 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. Mindy, played by
Allison Scagliotti, became Josh's girlfriend in later episodes of the series. Eventually, Josh sneaks into Spin City Records and switches the songs, which is 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. At the end, Drake and Josh fight against the shrimp at their room and later the flashback appears which is actually
The Amanda Show scene. The movie aired on August 3,
2007. However, it is also considered an hour-long 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.
[f] The premiere of the movie broke the record for the most views of a premiere of a Nickelodeon Movie.
iGo to Japan later broke that record, until the airing of
Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh, took the record back.
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. Although Drake and Josh aren't having the time of the lives their parents are having a worse time on their vacation because they have to stay in a hut and they have to cope with it in a hurricane.
The TV movie was broadcast in
HD format, unlike the previous films
Drake & Josh Go Hollywood and
Drake & Josh: Really Big Shrimp. It also featured
Henry Winkler and
MMA fighter
Kimbo Slice.
The premiere of
Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh broke the record of most viewers for the premiere of a Nickelodeon movie with 8.93 million viewers, a title previously held by
iGo to Japan.
[tvbythenumbers.com/2008/12/09/nfl-drake-josh-the-librarian-wwe-raw-and-leverage-lead-weekly-cable-viewing/9385]
Other media
Music
Drake & Josh has had some singles and a soundtrack. The music releases are shown below.
Games
Two video games based on
Drake & Josh have been released on the
Game Boy Advance and
Nintendo DS. Both of them released in the same year.
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.
| Book
| Author
| Info
|
| Blues Brothers
| Laurie Calkhoven
| Based on the episodes titled "Blues Brothers" and "Number One Fan"
|
| Sibling Revalry
| Laurie Calkhoven
| Based on the episodes titled "The Bet" and "Peruvian Puff Pepper"
|
| Drake & Josh Go Hollywood
| Laurie Calkhoven
| Based on the movie Drake & Josh Go Hollywood
|
| Kid Trouble
| Laurie Calkhoven
| Based on the episodes "Megan's New Teacher" and "Little Sibling"
|
| Alien Invasion
| Laurie Calkhoven
| Based on the episodes "Alien Invasion" and "The Demonator"
|
| Surprise!
| Laurie Calkhoven
| Based on the episodes "Josh Runs Into Oprah" and "Vicious Tiberius"
|
| Josh is Done
| Laurie Calkhoven
| Based on the episodes "Josh is Done" and "I Love Sushi"
|
Awards
