The Naked Brothers Band (TV series) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Naked Brothers Band
Genre	Teen/children Rock-mockumentary Musical comedy
Created by	Polly Draper
Written by	Polly Draper (21 episodes) Magda Liolis (12 episodes) Bob Mittenthal (10 episodes) Michael Rubiner (8 episodes) and 2 others
Directed by	Polly Draper (2007–09) Melanie Mayron (2007–08) Jonathan Judge (2008–09) and 2 others
Starring	Nat Wolff Alex Wolff Thomas Batuello Allie DiMeco David Levi Qaasim Middleton Cooper Pillot Jesse Draper Michael Wolff
Opening theme	"If That's Not Love" by Nat Wolff
Composer(s)	Nat Wolff Alex Wolff
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	37 (+5 specials) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Albie Hecht Polly Draper
Production location(s)	Kidzhouse Entertainment at Broadway Stages in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York
Cinematography	Ken H. Keller
Editor(s)	Craig Cobb and 2 others
Running time	Approx. 30 min. (Episodes) Approx. 1 hr. (TV movies)
Distributor	Kidzhouse Entertainment Worldwide Biggies Nickelodeon Productions
Release
Original network	Nickelodeon
Picture format	4:3 SD/ProRes 422 codec
Original release	February 3, 2007 (2007-02-03) – June 13, 2009 (2009-06-13)
Chronology
Preceded by	The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie

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 rock band in New York City. As a mockumentary, the storyline is an embellished parody 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 love interest (portrayed by 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—feature 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 spinoff 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 the executive producer, and often writer and director. Albie Hecht, former president of Nickelodeon and Spike TV, is also the 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 the consulting producer.

When the show debuted on the channel, it aired two episodes, garnering exactly 3.7 million viewers. Viacom announced that 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 series was nominated for several awards, earning a Broadcast Music, Inc. Award and one Writers Guild of America Award. It concluded after three seasons because the network began placing high shooting demands on the family that would disrupt the siblings' schooling.

Plot

List of The Naked Brothers Band episodes

Pilot

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—which premiered as a TV movie special on January 27, 2007. 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).

Season 1: 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.

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 10 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 advise 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.

Season 2: 2008

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 11, 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. 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 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 the Wolff family's dear friends 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.

Season 3: 2008–09

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 12, 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".

Cast

Main cast

• Nat Wolff stars as himself, who is the incisive, lead singer-songwriter and keyboardist for the band. He plays guitar, though, for such songs as "Taxi Cab", "I'll Do Anything", "Curious", and "I Feel Alone". Nicknamed "The Girl Magnet," his crush on bandmate Rosalina emboldens his love songs, and she even kissed him on the lips in his dressing room during the first season. In the second season, Nat and Rosalina go to prom together, then on a triple date, and in the final TV movie "Polar Bears", the two become a couple. However, by the third season, their relationship becomes strained when Rosalina embarks on a six-month boat cruise around the world.
• Alex Wolff stars as himself, the dark brown, puffy curly-haired younger brother of Nat's, who portrays the outfit's highly energetic drummer. He switches to keyboards for the following songs he writes and sings: "Changing", "Why", "Jesse", and "All I Needed". Because of his exuberance, he has a number of fake tattoos; Alex also wears socks tied around his ankles, and a red, white and blue do-rag on his head during the first season. Throughout the series, he has a deep affection for Jesse and considers her to be his girlfriend. He also disapproves of her dating other men, including The Timmerman Brothers.
• Thomas Batuello stars as himself, playing the group's cellist. In the show, he often coordinates mischievous acts with David. During the first season, Thomas and David claim not to take an interest in girls; they often ridicule Nat because of his feelings for Rosalina too. By the second season's episode "Cleveland", Thomas, nonetheless, becomes envy of Nat for obtaining all of the affection from their female fans. After Rosalina leaves for a six-month cruise around the world during the third season, Thomas becomes the band's temporary bassist.
• Allie DiMeco stars as Rosalina, the bassist and Nat's highly noted female interest. Because of her perplexing relationship with Nat, she quits the band twice. First, after becoming involved with a manipulative con artist named Bobby Love—lead singer for the punk rock group The LA Surfers, she encounters an internal dispute with Nat and subsequently leaves the group. After Bobby pilfers her lyrics sheet and performs their song live at the "Battle of The Bands" competition, however, his true identity is revealed and Rosalina instantly approaches Nat sobbing in his arms while asking for his forgiveness, thus rejoining the outfit during the first season. When Rosalina returns from her long cruise in the third season, she and Nat have an internal dispute about her being depicted in the newspaper kissing a French man and subsequently breaks up with Nat, thereby quitting the band again. Under Cooper's guidance, the outfit develops a nationwide singing competition to replace Rosalina, choosing Kristina as their new bassist. As soon as the reconstructed band settles in, an abrupt Rosalina asks to rejoin and so she becomes their second guitarist.
• David Levi stars as himself, a blond-haired boy with glasses who plays the band's keyboardist. In addition to his involvement in all of Thomas' pranks, David admires his own dog, E.T.
• Qaasim Middleton stars as himself, an African-American child with dreadlocks who portrays the group's guitarist. In the show, he is known for being quite skillful at flirting with girls and is highly intelligent.
• Cooper Pillot stars as himself and is the band's manager, dressing in a suit, as well as wearing large sunglasses. In the first and second seasons, Cooper has a crush on a girl named Patty Scoggins.
• Jesse Draper stars as Jesse Cook, the band's babysitter and tutor who tends to wear mini-skirts and has many tattoos. Because Jesse is not very intelligent, Rosalina and Qaasim grade the band members' school assignments for her. She calls Alex her "little boyfriend," and much to his noted disapproval, Jesse dates the Timmerman Brothers—Donnie, Johnny, and Billy.
• Michael Wolff stars as Dad (also known as "Mr. Wolff" or "Sonny"), Nat and Alex's inept accordion-playing widowed father. He embarrasses his sons on many occasions; for example, he sometimes tries to appear in the band's performances by playing the accordion. Sonny has performed at the Hoboken Rathskeller restaurant, and dates an estranged woman named Betty, but she later breaks up with him for his twin brother Miles.

Recurring star

(In order of appearance):

• Daniel Raymont plays the role of the music video director, appearing and talking quite similar to Borat Sagdiyev in the first season; Wing during the second season; and Abdul in the third-season episode titled "Valentine Dream Date".
• Tim Draper portrays Joe Schmoke, the principal of Amigos Elementary, Middle, and High School.
• Billy Draper, Adam Draper, and Coulter Mulligan play the roles of Billy, Donnie, and Johnny Timmerman, all of whom are nonsensical. Together, they formed The Timmerman Brothers, an initially quite successful musical group whose popularity diminished after their voices deepened during puberty.
• Teala Dunn stars as Juanita, Alex's skateboard buddy and female interest.
• Catherine Curtin portrays Betty, the noted estranged lady who wears a blonde wig. Although initially being hired by Cooper as a maid, she made excuses by explaining how she is technically a "cleaning specialist," and therefore, does not "actually clean"; rather, she "guides others on how they should clean." Betty then dates Sonny and plays the ukulele in their two-member band, The Honey Bunnies. However, the other characters strongly dislike their music. In the second-season episode "Uncle Miles", Betty leaves Sonny for his jazz musician twin brother Miles before reappearing again in the third-season episode "Valentine Dream Date".
• Emily Richardson plays Patty Scoggins, Cooper's romantic interest. Initially known as "Ms. Scoggins," she first appears as the manager for The LA Surfers in the first season TV movie "Battle of The Bands".
• Eleanor Draper and Lisa Mulligan portray Tessy and Bessy, Jesse's sisters and the dancing girls in few of the band's music videos during the second season.
• Kristina Reyes stars as herself, first appearing in the third season TV movie "Naked Idol". When she is chosen to fulfill Rosalina's spot as the band's bassist, Nat initially acts disrespectful to her because he is upset about the departure of, and his break up with, Rosalina. However, Nat and Kristina have a talk and a friendship forms between them. During their chat, she explained to Nat how she always dreamed of playing in the band and admired him dearly after hearing his song "Rosalina" broadcast on the radio when she was ten years old. In the TV movie "The Premiere", Rosalina asks to rejoin the band and they decide to keep Kristina as the bassist, with Rosalina returning as their second guitarist.

Special appearance

The series often features celebrities making cameo appearances, most of whom play themselves.

See also

In Spanish: The Naked Brothers Band (serie de televisión) para niños