Drake & Josh: Seasons 1-4 (2004)

Drake & Josh is a well-done kids' TV show from Nickelodeon that has a particular appeal to preteen boys as well as girls. Under the show's premise, teen hearthrob Drake Bell has a band and a series of bubblegum hit songs, while alternately in cahoots or on the outs with his nerdy stepbrother Josh, who is pretty much his total opposite. (Drake is the smooth, cool ladies' man who kisses and dates every pretty girl he sees and coasts through life without a care, while Josh is the put-upon schlub who always gets a raw deal in life and looks forward to playing bingo with his grandmother on Friday nights.) Every episode begins with humorous alternating monologs where each brother tells the same story from his contrasting perspective. (Josh: "One of the things I like to do..." Drake: "My brother Josh is such a nerd...") With his happy-go-lucky sense of entitlement, Drake constantly takes advantage of worrywart Josh, who eventually snaps and puts his foot down. Josh even briefly gets a girlfriend of his own -- in an academic rivalry that suddenly twists in his favor. The boys' blended-family father comes off as sincere but vapid because he's an also-ran TV weatherman with also-ran hair. The best part of the show after the boys themselves is Miranda Cosgrove as their 10-ish kid sister. "She's evil!" as Josh frequently exclaims. She is always able to ingeniously scheme and successfully prank the boys -- then act blithely innocent and cry so her parents chastise the boys and never believe them. (In one episode, the boys even discover a video wall full of video monitors and electronic controls hidden behind a panel in her bedroom, which naturally they can't find when they try to expose their sister for the evil genius she is.) Physical humor, hyperbole, and overacting are very big here, but then it is a preteen show. All in all, the chemistry on the set is very good. My preteen son loves this show as well as the made-for-TV movies and I have to admit I've become a fan too. Enjoy! 4 stars. (4-17-2009, posted 7-16-2016)