NEW YORK, NY. (Top40 Charts/ Nickelodeon) - Nickelodeon's new "mockumentary" comedy series The Naked Brothers Band, which premiered with two back-to-back episodes on Saturday, February 3 at 8:30 and 9 p.m. (ET/PT), rocked with kids and reached a total of 4.7 million total viewers (P2+), delivering the network's highest-rated series premiere in seven years with kids 6-11. In addition, both telecasts ranked number-one in rating in their respective time periods on all of television (broadcast and cable) with kids and tweens, topping shows such as NBC's Law and Order: SVU and ABC's airing of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.
"The Naked Brothers Band is kid-genius at its best and we had no doubt that it would be an immediate hit with kids," said Tom Ascheim, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Nickelodeon Television. "We're extremely pleased with the premiere performance and look forward to the series continuing to rock."
The 9 p.m. telecast, "The Wolff Brothers Cry Wolf," was Nickelodeon's highest series premiere in seven years with kids 6-11 (since Caitlin's Way in 2000), earning a 10.0/2.0 million, up +68% versus last year's airing of All That. In addition, it earned a 7.3/1.5 million tweens 9-14 (up +57% over last year), a 7.6/2.5 million kids 2-11 (+62%), and 3.8 million total viewers (+47%).
At 8:30 p.m., The Naked Brothers Band "VMA's" averaged a 9.4/1.9 million kids 6-11, a 7.3/2.4 million kids 2-11, and a 6.6/1.3 million tweens 9-14. Among total viewers, the 8:30 p.m. play earned 3.5 million total viewers (P2+).
The next episode of The Naked Brothers Band, guest starring George Lopez, premieres on Nick on Saturday, February 10, 8:30 p.m. ET/PT. In "Nat is a Stand-Up Guy," Nat sets out to prove he has a sense of humor by trying his hand at stand-up comedy after the band's video director misinterprets one of his songs. When his jokes fall flat, Lopez helps him realize that the best material is right in his own home.
The episodes which premiered this past Saturday are available on iTunes beginning today. Even before hitting the television screen, The Naked Brothers Band performed well on a variety of platforms. The first single from The Naked Brothers Band series, "Crazy Car," received almost 25,000 downloads on iTunes in just two weeks of release. On TurboNick, Nickelodeon's broadband video player on Nick.com, The Naked Brothers Band has generated almost 15 million streams since January 1 (through February 4). It is the number-one message board on Nick.com with 1.9 million hits. In addition, the launch of the online game "Ready to Rock" on Jan. 15 has, to date, generated 2.6 million game plays. And the series raked in 36,500 podcasts on Nick.com.
Naked Brothers Band - The Movie will be released on DVD in Spring 2007 and will include a number of exciting bonus features for fans, such as an exclusive, extended play CD sampler with music tracks from the movie.
Inspired by the Wolff siblings' real-life, preschool-born band, The Naked Brothers Band follows a world-famous rock group, chronicling their fame, friendship, temporary break-up and adolescent experiences. The cameras track the charismatic, rock stars - led by dreamy, sensitive singer-songwriter Nat, 12, and energetic, unabashedly adorable drummer Alex, 9 - on and off stage, focusing, too, on their celebrity lifestyle with all of its perks and problems. Featured as well are the Wolff boys' real-life friends and band mates from pre-school days: cellist Thomas (Thomas Matuello) and keyboard player David (David Levi), along with guitarist Qaasim (Qaasim Middleton) and bassist - Nat's crush - Rosalina (Allie DiMeco). Cooper (Cooper Pillot), the band's pint-sized manager, completes the tween troop, and Jesse (Jesse Draper) is Nat and Alex's ditzy tutor/babysitter and real-life cousin.
Creator/executive producer/writer/director Polly Draper (thirtysomething) doubles as off-camera mom to Nat and Alex Wolff, who play superstar band leaders and write and perform all of the show's original music. Celebrated jazz musician/composer Michael Wolff (The Arsenio Hall Show) - the stars' real-life dad and Draper's husband - keeps it all in the family but plays against type as the screen tweens' musically inept father and serves as the series' music supervisor/co-executive producer. Albie Hecht (The Rugrats Movie, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events) is executive producer of the series in association with Nickelodeon Television.
Nickelodeon, in its 27th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in almost 92 million households and has been the number-one- rated basic cable network for almost 12 consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B).
