Joshua Kaye

The Naked Brothers Band is an American musical comedy television series created by Polly Draper, which aired on Nickelodeon from February 3, 2007, to June 13, 2009. It depicts the daily lives of Draper's sons, who lead a faux world-renowned children's rock band in New York City. As a mockumentary, the storyline is an embellished satire of their real lives, and the fictional presence of a camera is often acknowledged. The show stars Nat Wolff and Alex Wolff, the lead singer-songwriter and drummer, respectively. Nat's fictional female interest (Allie DiMeco) and real-life friends Thomas Batuello, David Levi, and Cooper Pillot, as well as Qaasim Middleton—who has no prior acquaintance with the family—are featured as the other band members, with Draper's jazz musician husband Michael Wolff as his sons' widowed accordion-playing dad and her niece Jesse Draper portraying the group's babysitter.

The series is a spin-off of Draper's film of the same name that was picked up by the network, premiering in January 2007. Draper, known for her starring role in Thirtysomething, is executive producer; she serves as showrunner, and often writer and director. Albie Hecht, former president of Nickelodeon and Spike TV, is the other executive producer, under his Worldwide Biggies tag. Michael Wolff, who led the band on The Arsenio Hall Show, serves as co-executive producer and music supervisor, with Draper's brother Tim as consulting producer.

When the show debuted on the channel, it aired two episodes, garnering 3.7 million viewers. Viacom announced, the "series delivered Nickelodeon's highest-rated premiere in seven years" and it became favorable for children aged 6–11. Following the show's premiere, the band's song "Crazy Car" was placed on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, and the first and second season soundtrack albums were on the top 200 Billboard charts. The Naked Brothers Band was nominated for several awards, earning a Broadcast Music, Inc. Award and one Writers Guild of America Award. The series concluded after three seasons because the network began placing high shooting demands on the family that would disrupt the siblings' schooling.

The series' title derived from an incident when the brothers were very young: they came out of the bathtub and said, "We're the naked brothers band!" Although Nat revised the band's title to The Silver Boulders in preschool, Polly Draper revived it as she felt it would be more suitable for the show.

Nat's music, which he has been composing at the piano from the time he was 5, emboldens the scripts Draper writes for most episodes. She also acknowledges how the series differs from other children's shows in terms of not using a laugh track.

Draper explains the events that precede the show: "Nat decided he wanted to film his own sitcom, so we did a film called Don't Eat Off My Plate. I pretended to interview his friends and do a documentary." Following the home video, Draper had the idea of making a mockumentary film about the band; she decided to introduce them as music icons like the Beatles. Filmed in mid-2004, the movie was originally independent, and interior scenes were vastly filmed in the family's apartment. Draper's brother, Tim, a venture capitalist, invested in the shoot, and she and her husband Michael Wolff's famous celebrity friends are featured making cameo appearances.

In late 2005, Draper and Wolff entered the film at the Hamptons International Film Festival, where it received high applause from the audience.[10][11][12] Albie Hecht, former president of film and television entertainment for Nickelodeon, attended the screening; he sold the film to Nickelodeon, and proposed developing a television series based on it.[13][14] The network was eager to buy the film after Hecht and his agent conducted market research by designing an animated video of Nat's song "Crazy Car" that revealed substantial success with children,[15] but when urging the family to start working on the series, Draper and Wolff were initially reluctant to allow their children in the industry. The family later decided to proceed, however, under certain conditions, which Nickelodeon approved.[16][17]

Principal photography takes place at Kidzhouse Entertainment, the stage one division of Broadway Stages in Brooklyn, New York over the summer and early fall. That way, the boys are able to continue attending private school throughout most of the year.[12][17][18]

Being the showrunner—or leading executive producer,[19] Polly Draper oversees the casting, manages the writers room, edits scripts, and conveys storyline ideas for each episode. In addition to Draper serving as head writer,[17] the other writers for the series previously scripted other TV shows for Nickelodeon; they include Magda Liolis, and Michael Rubiner and Bob Mittenthal. Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi also penned the script for the first season, two-part episode TV movie "Battle of the Bands", and by the third season, Mittenthal emerged as a senior writer, earning the title of co-executive producer.

Albie Hecht is the other executive producer; his production company Worldwide Biggies distributes the series, in association with Nickelodeon Television.[12][19] Michael Wolff, a jazz musician often noted for leading the band on The Arsenio Hall Show, also serves as co-executive producer, with Tim Draper as consulting producer. Production facilities producers Ken H. Keller—also the cinematographer, and his wife Caron Rudner own the filming studio, Kidzhouse Entertainment, which is another distributor for the show.[12]

Polly Draper and Melanie Mayron, both known for co-starring in Thirtysomething,[20] were the directors for the first season. During the second season, Jonathan Judge was added on as a third director. The last episode Mayron directed for the latter season, and thus the series, featured her as a fan on the radio (by providing the voice over). By the third season, Draper and Judge directed every other TV movie, with Mark Salisbury directing the initial animated special, and Rosario Roveto, Jr. directing the concluding episode.

Draper managed to also keep an eye on her two boys. For example, the cast was filming an episode that featured the band recording a video; Nat, who did not want to make out in the scene due to his crush Rosalina watching, mistakenly smooches her. He then confesses to his mother that he was puzzled as to what the instructions were. The scene being filmed was that of the first season's ninth episode "First Kiss (On the Lips, That is)", which was directed by Melanie Mayron.[21] In another instance, during production for the fourth episode of the second season, as the boys play restlessly on a purple sofa, their mother (who was not directing the episode) admonishes them over the loudspeaker by saying, "Both of you, try to smile more."[17]

According to New York Times author Felicia R. Lee, the siblings act "chatty, guileless, fun-loving", much as they do in their genuine lives. She also notes that, of the show's characters, "no one over 18 has much sense." Draper's role as creator[17]—the developer of the original characters—allowed her to contemplate her boys' fictional birth mother as deceased; her name is never revealed.[22][23] However, in the show, the boys' father is infatuated with an estranged lady named Betty.[23] Moreover, although portraying fictional characters, the ensemble cast—including Qaasim Middleton, as well as real-life friends David Levi, Joshua Kaye, Thomas Batuello, and Cooper Pillot—keep their full names on-screen. Nonetheless, Allie DiMeco plays Rosalina; the siblings' cousin Jesse Draper portrays Jesse Cook; and Michael Wolff plays the siblings' father, Sonny, the latter whom Draper notes she wrote similar to that of a child.

The Timmerman Brothers—a band no longer famous—consists of three siblings, who in real life are Polly's nephews, Nat and Alex's cousins, and thus Jesse's brothers and cousin. In addition, Jesse's real-life father, Polly's brother, and thus Nat and Alex's uncle reoccurs as the school principal. Jesse's sister and cousin have been added as recurring stars during the second season. They play Jesse's sisters named Tessy and Bessy who appear as the dancing girls in Alex's new music video.

In addition, Qaasim's real-life mother, the actress and singer-songwriter Toni Seawright, as well as his younger brother Kahlil (also an actor and musician) appear as themselves during the second season, while Seawright reprises her role in the third season. Thomas' real-life younger brother, John, also reoccurs as himself during the second season.

During a family interview in January 2008 by New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg, Nat notes the French bulldog E.T., who plays David Levi's dog in the show, belongs to the Draper-Wolff family in real life.

Craig Cobb is the picture editor for the series; he was also the assistant editor for Sex and the City.[24] Cobb worked with supervising sound editor Louis Bertini, who had been the editor for Sex and The City.[25] Of the editing process, Bertini explains that editing the show was not much different from editing Sex and the City; they brought a similar "approach and constriction to the audio elements", although unlike Sex in the City, the show had a "larger cartoon element". However, Cobb considered the editing to be a challenge because he felt that a certain degree of unscripted "magic on set" existed that required more work. Because most of the children on the series are not professional actors—in addition to the music that was to be added—the editing process created a situation that was somewhat "messy". Nonetheless, Cobb believed the combination of factors created a "magic" of its own "and it's what makes this show really shine".

When an episode completed filming, Cobb edited on the Final Cut Pro application, which normally took four days to complete. Bertini—who spent the same amount of time editing—then converted unnecessary script and added sound effects. Cobb says, "The 16:9 SD workflow was the plan for the 2008 season, but that has changed. We're working in 4:3 SD with the ProRes 422 codec, so we're cutting in a broadcast-quality format that we'll later output without having to recapture all the footage."

According to Cobb, it is very difficult to coordinate the television's screen-framing:

Nat and Alex sing, compose, and perform all of the show's music, with Nat's song "If That's Not Love" serving as the theme song. Their father contributes the underscore and supervises the music; he also produces it with Michael A. Levine. The series' music editor, John Davis coordinates the songs' musical numbers, and Amy Cervini and Russ Spiegel are the music instructors.[26][27]

The pilot was originally an independent film shot in mid-2004 depicting Nat and Alex Wolff when they were nine and six years old respectively, along with Nat's friends and the other band members Joshua Kaye, David Levi, Thomas Batuello, and Cooper Pillot. They film a documentary about their world-renowned band, The Silver Boulders, as they fracture due to Nat's song about a girl named Rosalina (Allie DiMeco). Later on, the band ends up adding Rosalina and Cole Hawkins, reuniting as The Naked Brothers Band.

Famous celebrities either acknowledge they are huge fans of the band or appear with other supporting roles; in real life, they have either worked or are friends with the Draper-Wolff family. These special guests are Cindy Blackman, Ann Curry, Arsenio Hall, Ricki Lake, Cyndi Lauper, Julianne Moore, Brent Popolizio, Tony Shalhoub, Lauper's husband David Thornton, Uma Thurman, jazz singer Nancy Wilson, and the ensemble cast of Thirtysomething (particularly, Timothy Busfield, Draper, Mel Harris, Peter Horton, Melanie Mayron, Ken Olin, and Patricia Wettig).

It premiered as a TV movie special on January 27, 2007.

The first season aired 13 episodes and 1 TV special. It debuted in February 2007 and originally concluded with the tenth episode, "The Song", in June; however, a two-part episode, television movie "Battle of the Bands" and one additional episode titled "Alien Clones" broadcast that following October.[17]

The first season features Nat and his younger brother Alex, who are 11 and 8 years old, respectively. David, Thomas, and Cooper are also 11. Qaasim is 12 and Rosalina is 13. Daniel Raymont plays the role of the music video director, and Tuffy Questall portrays Tuffy, the driver of the band's psychedelic bus. The first season also has guest appearances by radio host Matt Pinfield, rap artist Snoop Dogg, comedian George Lopez, and actor and musician Keli Price.

The first season's premise is that the group is recording their first studio album as well as starring in several music videos to promote it. In the first episode "VMAs", Alex is horrified by his horoscope Jesse reads to him, and the band's music video for their song "Banana Smoothie" wins an MTV Video Music Award at the end. In later episodes, Nat's initial attempts at stand-up comedy fails before receiving advice from George Lopez. Throughout the season, Nat does not like when David and Thomas ridicule his affection for Rosalina. Although neither admits their feelings for each other, it becomes quite obvious that Nat and Rosalina like each other. As time goes on, Rosalina kisses Nat on the lips in his dressing room.

Moreover, Alex becomes mad and runs away when Jesse dates The Timmerman Brothers. Along the way, Alex becomes friends with an orphan named Juanita at a skatepark. When the boys' father arrives back from his overnight vacation, he starts dating an estranged lady named Betty, who Cooper and Jesse initially hired to clean the mess in the Wolff family's apartment without much success. In addition to a "Battle of The Bands" between The Naked Brothers Band and The LA Surfers (the latter featuring lead singer Bobby Love, a manipulative con artist who tries to steal Nat's girl friend), the season ends with Nat and his band performing at a charity event they put together for Juanita and her foster family.

During the second season, 13 episodes and 2 TV specials aired, beginning with the two-part episode, TV movie "Sidekicks" in January 2008 before ending that following June with the three-part episode, TV movie "Polar Bears".

In the second season, Nat is 12 and Alex is 9. Rosalina is 14, Qaasim is 13, and Thomas, David, and Cooper are 12. Guest stars for the season include syndicated cartoonist Jules Feiffer, musician Joel Madden, skateboarder Tony Hawk, George Lopez, Matt Pinfield, and musician Phil Collins. During the first half of the season, Daniel Raymont portrays Wing with Teala Dunn and Emily Richardson returning as Juanita and Patty Scoggins, respectively. When the band goes on tour, the tour driver Tuffy (Tuffy Questall) takes on more of a lead recurring role.

The second season begins with a school masquerade party and prom.[28] In later episodes, Nat, Alex, and Cooper have dates at a local movie theater; during a live talk show, the siblings, alongside Joel Madden and a girl, who is a critical news reporter, compose a song together at the piano; Cooper has a Bar Mitzvah; and Mr. Wolff's girl friend rejects him after meeting his twin brother, Miles, who is a successful jazz pianist. In addition, the band starts prepping for their tour[28] with several band rehearsals. Prior to leaving on their tour bus, the band members are conflicted with personal issues: Mr. Wolff is still coping from his break up with Betty, David is upset about leaving his dog, E.T. behind, and Rosalina is worried about the possibility of not saying "good bye" to her father. Nonetheless, all of their concerns work themselves out: George Lopez advises Mr. Wolff to continue his passion for playing the accordion despite his break up, Tuffy ends up allowing David to bring his dog, and Rosalina's father makes it to the stop before the bus leaves.

Following several concert performances (including one at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, as well as a state county fair), the TV movie "Polar Bears" depicts the ending of the band's tour in New Orleans, Louisiana, where they — along with their babysitter, Jesse — reunite with the siblings' father and old family friends of the Wolffs' who are victims of Hurricane Katrina. On the ride down there, Jesse accidentally has Alex watch An Inconvenient Truth and, after viewing it, he becomes very concerned about the polar bears potentially becoming extinct due to global warming. During their visit, Mr. Wolff's friend's older daughter, as well as Nat, Qaasim, and Rosalina encounter misinterpretations over their romantic interests before they are resolved, and the band ends up donating the money raised from their performance at an elaborate-styled ballroom to a charity supporting climate change.[citation needed ]

The third season began with the television movie "Mystery Girl", which premiered in October 2008. It also aired 3 other TV movies, 1 animated TV special, 1 special webisode, and 3 other episodes, concluding with "No School's Fools Day" in June 2009.

In this season, Nat, Thomas, David, and Cooper are 13 with Qaasim being 14, while Alex is 10 and Rosalina is 15. The season features an array of celebrities making cameo appearances, including actresses Miranda Cosgrove and Whoopi Goldberg, singer Natasha Bedingfield, and musicians David Desrosiers and Simon Kirke. Other celebrity appearances include musicians Tobin Esperance and Questlove, actor and musician Leon Thomas, actress Victoria Justice, and talk show host Dave Attell. Daniel Raymont, Tuffy Questall, Teala Dunn, Catherine Curtin, and Matt Pinfield all return, with Andrew Keenan-Bolger portraying Christophe, the director of the new Magical Mystery Girl Movie.

The new season depicts the band shooting their initial theatrical film called the Magical Mystery Girl Movie. Nat stars as Daniel, Rosalina as herself, Miranda Cosgrove as Daniel's girl friend, Alex as Oliver, Juanita as the girl in Oliver's new music video, with Mr. Wolff and Jesse playing themselves and Principle Schmoke and Tuffy portraying sumo wrestlers in diapers. Christophe is the stubborn director; he is later overthrown and replaced by Cooper, the producer of the movie. Christophe appears again in "The Premiere" when he pilfers the movie's metal film cassette.

On the other hand, Rosalina temporarily leaves the band to travel on a worldwide cruise. During her trip, the band members read the newspaper and the front cover depicts Rosalina kissing a French man. When Rosalina returns to visit, she and Nat have an internal dispute and Rosalina subsequently quits the band. Because of this, the group must find a new bass player. Cooper calls for a "Naked Idol" contest and the outfit selects Kristina Reyes as their new bassist. However, Nat later makes up with Rosalina and she rejoins the band while retaining Kristina as well. "The Premiere" TV movie ends with them watching the Magical Mystery Girl Movie in the theaters as well as the band performing Nat's new song "Just a Girl I Know".

(In order of appearance):

The series often features celebrities making cameo appearances,[29][30][31] most of whom play themselves.

Albie Hecht foreshadowed the success of the series after watching the film at the Hamptons International Film Festival. In an article, he told New York Times reporter Felicia R. Lee: "They're just real: real brothers, real friends; it's all the stuff kids do when they're hanging out on the playground. The idea that you're watching a documentary is so much fun. Then you put them into that fantasy of being a world-famous rock band, and that's the sauce that makes it work."

Moreover, before the show's debut, "a fan recognized Nat and Alex in a Florida hotel. She sent them a note: 'Are you the Naked Brothers?' 'They were so excited,' Polly Draper recalled. 'The show hasn't even aired yet and now walking down the streets kids are calling out their names. They can't believe it.' "[14]

According to Nat,[17] "After the show came on, people began to really treat us like huge rock stars. They'd scream on the street, and we'd look behind us to see what they were screaming about, because we didn't realize it was us." The family encountered an incident in the past; they had to delist and change their phone number in Lower Manhattan because fans worldwide were calling their apartment relentlessly.[16][17] Draper recalls,[16] "Little girls would call and say, 'Helloooo, is [Nat] there? We just love him.' The only thing that's comforting is, they're pretty harmless at that age."

On January 25, 2007, Felicia R. Lee from The New York Times called both the film and television series, "an ebullient mock documentary", while Variety reporter Laura Fries states,[12] "the band does its best to re-create the frenetic whimsy of The Monkees while maintaining its kid-like sensibilities. The plots are of little consequence and, like The Monkees, the show is an amalgam of silent movie shenanigans, music videos and cartoon-like antics." She also acknowledges[12] how "satire for kids is tricky business, especially when the target audience is still grappling with issues regarding truth and imagination vs. reality. This fake rock 'n' roll world these young kids are thrown into makes for a creative premise, but often puts the stars a little too close to adult situations. [T]he physical comedy and gross out humor works, although at times, 'Naked Brothers Band' can feel like an inside joke gone awry."

In regard to the songs featured in the series, Laura Fries notes,[12] "The songs, actually written by Nat, may not top the charts, but they're far more tolerable than Kidz Bop and are hard to shake once the show is over. Amazingly, all of the kids here [are] real musicians. If Draper really wants to create a show business legacy, she should sell her secrets on how to get kids to practice their musical instruments." According to a review of the first season soundtrack album by Entertainment Weekly reporter Jonathan Bernstein,[33] "If you're the parent of a preteen, you'll assume the Nakeds are this century's Hanson. Yet after perpetual exposure, you'll appreciate the difference — the Nakeds have more psychedelic leanings, and Nat has a McCartneyesque way with a melody — and ultimately agree that they're cuter than anything ever." The Associated Press even states[34] that "Nat's knack for hooks and harmonies is impressive for fans of any age. Clearly inspired by their heroes, [T]he Beatles and Bob Marley, the boys paint a vast musical landscape, ranging from the introspective, Nat-penned ballad 'I Indeed Can See' to the whimsical electronic comic relief of 'Alien Clones', courtesy of Alex."

On October 23, 2005, The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie won the audience award for a family feature film at the Hamptons International Film Festival.[10][11][12] Of Hecht's attendance, he said, "I could see there was an audience for this. They're real kids, real brothers, making real music."

Draper received a Writers Guild Award nomination for the episode "Nat is a Stand-Up Guy" in the section of Children's Episodic and Specials in 2008.[35] The following year, in 2009, the TV movie "Polar Bears" won Draper a WGA for Children's Script — Long Form or Special; it was the only one nominated in the category.[36] In 2007, Nat was nominated for Best TV Actor at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in the United Kingdom.[37] Moreover, the adult Wolff and his sons received a Broadcast Music, Inc. Cable Award for their work on the show's music. In 2008, the series' cast performed at the KCAs in United States; the following year, Nat was nominated for Favorite TV Actor.[38]

On February 17, 2007, "Crazy Car" sold more than 100 thousand downloads online; it was placed on the Billboard Hot 100 charts for seven weeks, and the track was featured on Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice, Vol 3.[39] The first and second season soundtrack albums, The Naked Brothers Band (2007) and I Don't Want to Go to School (2008), also ranked the 23rd spot on the top 200 Billboard charts,[40] accumulating over 500 thousand sales.[41] The producers of the albums were Michael Wolff and Michael A. Levine, and distributed by Nick Records and Columbia Records.[34][42][43]

On October 8, 2007—the day before The Naked Brothers Band debut album released into stores, the band had an autograph signing for 1,500 fans at Virgin Megastore in Times Square, New York City; they also performed their original song "I'm Out" to a live audience on Good Morning America. Additionally, the group's first MTV music video released for their song "If That's Not Love".[42] To praise the release of their second season soundtrack album, the band performed their song, "I Don't Want to Go to School" live on the NBC morning show Today.[43]

During the same month, Nick.com's message boards had 5.3 million pages viewed, causing online madness.[42] The show has three video games online that have been played about 24 million times.[42] Moreover, fans have downloaded over 800 thousand podcasts.[42]

Their unreleased soundtrack, titled Throwbacks, for the third season was made available free of a charge on their website as an online download in October 2013. The album artist is Nat and Alex Wolff, but it took four years to develop due to the series ending in June 2009.

The film premiered on the network to 2.7 million viewers, and placed the top 10 spot on the Nielsen VideoScan children's non-theatrical DVD charts.[42][44] It was also broadcast four times, producing a total viewership of 14 million.[45]

When the show debuted on the channel, it aired two episodes, averaging out to a total viewership of 3.7 million. The first, "VMA's", drew 3.5 million viewers. "Wolff Brother's Cry Wolff" then followed which garnered a total of 3.8 million viewers; the episode gave the channel its most favorable ratings in seven years, and was among the quickest starts for the network.[17][46] It also acquired the channel as favorable for children aged 6–11; Nielsen Media Research calculates—of in that age range—2 million have tuned in to the series' premiere, with 1.3 million watching the following 8 episodes.[17] For all ages, most of the first season attracted 2.8 million viewers per week.[34] From February 12 to 15 in 2007, repeats for the series garnered 4 million viewers; it was the second most-viewed program on the network, and among the top six shows for the week in the 6–11 and 9–14 age groups.[47] According to a PRNewswire article in 2007,[42] the series "quickly became one of the top programs for tweens on television".[17]

For all ages, the season one TV movie "Battle of the Bands" was quite successful, garnering a viewership of 3.8 million.[48] The premiere of the second season TV movie "Sidekicks" aired to a total of 3.6 million viewers,[49] with the season's finale TV movie "Polar Bears" drawing 1.7 million viewers for children aged 6–11; the latter was the second most watched show for the week in that age group.[50] The series flourished the most with the debut of the third season TV movie "Mystery Girl", producing a total viewership of 4 million.[51] A month later, the TV movie "Operation Mojo" was broadcast to an audience of 2.8 million viewers.[52] When the season three episode "Valentine Dream Date" aired, it was also successful; 3.2 million people watched it.[53]

Although the show's viewership ratings were still high after three seasons, network bosses wanted the family to shoot 30 TV movies for the fourth season. Nevertheless, prior agreements had already been made between Draper, Wolff, and the management at Nickelodeon that filming would not interfere with the boys' school schedule by shooting 13 episodes each season. Network executives chose no longer to conform to the family's demands, prompting Draper and Wolff to cancel the series in 2009. Of the cancellation, no details were publicized by either the family or network until Nat disclosed the incident to the press in 2013.[54]