The Naked Brothers Band is an American musical comedy television show created by Polly Draper for the Nickelodeon cable channel, depicting the daily lives of Draper’s sons, who front a fictional world-famous rock band. The show is a mockumentary. The plot line of the musical TV show, according to all the rules, is an embellished reflection of the characters’ real lives, and the fictional presence of a video camera is also often acknowledged. Nat and Alex Wolff starred in the series.
The latter plays the role of lead singer, songwriter, and drummer. Another unique feature of The Naked Brothers Band is that the family lives in Brooklyn, but the musical comedy television show was filmed in Greenpoint. All the details are here: brooklynski.info.
History of creation
From the very beginning, it was known that both the band and the whole story were fictional. In general, the musical show The Naked Brothers Band was a serial adaptation of the film of the same name, which in turn became a family parody of rock films. Even more so, the American entertainment weekly Variety called it an independent quasi-documentary.
It should be noted that the plot is full of intrigue. At first, the viewer follows the brothers as they break up with their old band and form a new one. Then a bit of tragedy is added to the series — they begin to struggle with one of the brothers’ addiction to lemon-lime soda.
And at the very end, the viewer is treated to a happy ending — the guys become world-famous with their band. In the TV series, the Wolf brothers played characters with the same names as in real life, and they became the prototypes for their characters, while their real father appeared in the TV series as “Dad.”
An interesting detail was that these two were not just ordinary teenagers, as some might think. The boys were children of show business, the sons of jazz musician Michael Wolf and actress Polly Draper. Polly Draper, an American actress, director, screenwriter, and producer, became the executive producer of the series, and sometimes she also served as screenwriter and director.
Nate’s fictional girlfriend, Ellie DiMech, and their real-life friends, such as Thomas Batullo, David Levy, and Cooper Pillot, including guitarist Kaasim Middleton, who was previously unfamiliar with the family. Nate and Alex play the roles of the other band members. The role of their father was also real, as he played the head of the family who was widowed. The father, by the way, played the accordion. Well, the role of the band’s nanny was entrusted to another relative, Jessie Draper, her niece.
A few words about the main characters and the twists and turns of the show. When Nat Wolff was still attending preschool and his brother Alex was two and a half years old, the brothers decided to start a band. The band’s name, the Naked Brothers Band, comes from the fact that its founders were indeed brothers, and at such an early age, they often had to remain naked.
At the same time, Nat already had a knack for playing the keyboard, and Alex for playing the saxophone. Later, the duo invited their friend Cole to join the band because he played the guitar. The three played together for several months until Cole had to leave the band because he appeared in a Cheerios commercial and moved to Connecticut.
At this time, Nat decided to improve the band’s image, so he invited his preschool friends David, Josh, and Thomas to join. He then changed the name of the band to the Silver Boulders. Nat also wrote amazing songs for the band, such as Motor Mouth and Crazy Car. After that, the young musicians’ talent received real recognition when John B. Williams signed them to his label, Who’s The Man Records.
Polly Draper and other relatives
If we have a closer look at Polly Draper, it should be noted that she was nominated for an Emmy Award and is generally known for her work in film and television. Among the well-known films and series in which she has appeared are Dirty Games and Destruction. Polly became the star of the film Thirty Something, after which she attracted attention with her debut screenplay, The Tick Code. She was the first executive producer of the series.
Elbie Gecht, former president of Nickelodeon and Spike TV, became the second executive producer. Speaking of everyone involved in the production of this music television show, it is worth mentioning Polly Draper’s husband, jazz musician Michael Wolff. He became known for leading the ensemble on The Arsenio Hall Show. In addition, Wolf was the music supervisor and co-executive producer of the series. But the involvement of relatives in the production of the TV show did not end with her husband. Draper’s brother, Tim, became his consulting producer.
In 2007, the film that preceded the musical television show was purchased by the cable channel Nickelodeon, followed by the television series itself. It should be noted that the series ran for 40 episodes until 2009, despite being a spin-off of the film of the same name, Polly Draper, which the network literally picked up and made very popular.
Debut success
The music television show first aired in the United States in early February 2007. At that time, the series was watched by an audience of 3.7 million viewers. The major American entertainment company Viacom announced that The Naked Brothers Band was the highest-rated premiere on its subsidiary Nickelodeon in seven years. The show was especially popular with children aged 6 to 11.
According to New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg, the series’ popularity is equivalent to such well-known and beloved Disney Channel shows as Hannah Montana and Cory in the House. What’s more, after the show’s debut, the song by the band Crazy Car made it onto the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and the soundtracks from the first and second seasons made it into the top 200 of the Billboard charts.
Since this series is also a music show, it makes sense to mention some of the band’s most popular songs from that time. Among those that were featured in the show are Crazy Car, If That’s Not Love, I’m Out, Girl of My Dreams, I Don’t Want to Go to School, Proof of My Love, I’ll Do Anything, and Your Smile.
For 12-year-old Nat and 9-year-old Alex, as well as for Michael Wolff, who either played their father in the series or was him in real life, spending time on the set became a good habit. All three of them worked especially hard during the filming of the second season, as everyone wanted to repeat the stunning success of the first season of this American musical comedy television series. It began in February and ended in June.
Second season
Overall, the series had one of the most successful launches in Nickelodeon’s nearly 30-year history, allowing it to successfully compete with Nickelodeon’s main competitor, Disney Channel.
Ultimately, the entire project brought a lot of unity, broadening the understanding of parenthood. Mr. Wolff helped Nat create songs, which he writes mostly while playing the family piano. But Nat, who was influenced by everyone from the Beatles to Sting and Motown, set strict limits.
In particular, his parents were not allowed to change his lyrics. After the show ended, the real Wolff brothers continued to perform together, naming their band Nat & Alex Wolff, which was no longer fictional but real.
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