Josh Runs Into Oprah

Josh Runs Into Oprah
Season 4, Episode 1
Air date	September 24, 2006
Written by	Ethan Banville
Directed by	Roger Christiansen
Episode Guide
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Josh Runs into Oprah is the first episode of the fourth season of Drake & Josh.

Plot

It is Josh's birthday, but Drake forgets and instead sets up a party for Tabitha, a girl he has been dating for 4 Days. Realizing his mistake, Drake gets tickets for Josh to see Oprah Winfrey, Josh's idol, and backstage passes to the show since she was going to be in San Diego the next day. However, when Josh exaggerates about parking a distance away and parking elsewhere near the entrance to prevent sweating, Drake causes Josh to run into Oprah. When they get to the hospital to apologize, they can't get past security so Drake tricks them and the whole hospital into believing Josh has a virus, which in return, causes him to get a chemical bath. In the end Drake makes it up to an enraged Josh by throwing him a party, with a signature from Oprah (in reality a signed restraining order from Oprah) and a new motor scooter. Meanwhile, Megan tries to take care of Toby, a virtual pet that belongs to her friend Jamie. The stress of it is too much and she ends up destroying it with a sledgehammer.

Cast

• Drake Bell as Drake Parker
• Josh Peck as Josh Nichols
• Miranda Cosgrove as Megan Parker
• Alec Medlock as Craig Ramirez
• Scott Halberstadt as Eric Blonowitz
• Yvette Nicole Brown as Helen Dubois
• Summer Bishil as Tabitha

Trivia

• This is the first episode featuring Josh with a significant weight loss and is as skinny as Drake.
• Starting with this episode, new episodes have been moved from Saturday to Sunday night.
• Audrey and Walter do not appear in this episode.
• The running gag of this episode is Drake continuously trying to make it up to Josh for a previous mishap Josh was involved in, but only leading into another mishap.
• Megan is nicer to Josh in this episode and makes him a cake for his birthday. Though she admits to making it explode, she says she would not deliberately poison him on his birthday.
• Radcliff Studios is likely a reference to actor Daniel Radcliffe from the Harry Potter film series.
• This is the first episode where Ethan Banville is credited as a writer. 
• When the cinema is shown, one of the movies is "Hungry Girl", a series made by Dan Schneider's wife, Lisa Lillien-Schneider.
• This is the first episode where Josh has normal hair.
• This is the first episode of the second and current generation.
• The plot of this episode is similar to an episode of "The Simpsons" "Bart Gets Hit By A Car" when Mr. Burns accidentally runs over Bart.
• It was originally scripted for Josh to kiss Drake on the cheek. Josh Peck may have inadvertently kissed Drake Bell on the lips.
• Drake and Josh kiss for the third time in the series. The first time was in Smart Girl, when Drake kissed Josh on the cheek. The second episode was in We're Married? when Josh kissed Drake on the cheek twice for giving him a good idea.
• The way Drake said "Did you just stun me?" to the bodyguard sounded similar to how Monica said "Did you just flick me?" to Rachel in "The One After the Super Bowl, Part 1" from Friends.
• This is the second time Drake desires to save Josh from something dangerous and harmful, but is distracted by something he craves. The first time was in Theater Thug.
• The doctor that said Josh had a big head and that he needed a chemical bath was the same doctor who helped Zeke Braxton in Football.
• When he comes home from the chemical bath, Josh's skin is slightly tinged with orange.
• The clip of Drake playing the bongos from this episode appears in the Season 4 opening, as well as the clip of them hitting Oprah.
• A (now defunct) Borders Bookstore is seen when Drake and Josh are driving.
• Although Josh does not get to meet Oprah, he does get her autograph at the end of the episode via a restraining order.
• Josh Nichols was in jail for stalking Oprah Kirk said in FOX's Grandfathered episode The Biter so it is likely that he violated his restraining order.
• This episode is only Josh (the character's) birthday, Josh Peck's actual birthday is November 10.
• When Josh accidentally hits Oprah, he also accidentally hits Helen next by throwing popcorn all over with the scooter Drake got him for his birthday at the end of the episode. It seems that Josh hit 2 people in this episode.
• When Drake comes into him and Josh's bedroom after his shower, his spiky hair is kind of back again from Season 1 except it's because he's a little wet.
• This episode is called "Josh Runs Into Oprah", the name of it could also be known as "Josh's Birthday".
• Drake asks Josh "K what up with the 'tude?", it actually means "K what up with the attitude?".
• This is the first episode Drake is back to having his bowl cut hair again from Season 2 and Josh with his Season 1 and 2 hairstyle again.
• This is the first episode in which Josh doesn't have his long curly hair anymore.
• There aren't any episodes about Drake's birthday.
• Zero Gravity's 'Over My Thumb' is a reference to the Rolling Stones' 'Under My Thumb' released in 1966.
• This is the first episode that has a widescreen version. Seasons 2 and 3 were filmed in widescreen but mastered in 4:3 only.
  • Season 1, however, was filmed in 4:3.
• Josh kissing Drake is cut out in some countries.

Goofs

• In the beginning of the episode, Craig and Eric sing happy birthday to Josh, followed by an argument between the two, at one point where Eric says to Craig "You want a pop on the chop?!", implying that he wants to start a physical fight, but in the episode Eric Punches Drake, it is revealed that Eric is a pacifist, someone who refuses to fight or start a fight. Maybe that was just sarcasm. 
• A crack used to split the bongos apart can be seen before Drake breaks them.
• When Josh hears Drake talking on the phone about the surprise, Trevor says he will come to the party. But when they are at the party, Trevor is not there. And even if he was there, he would be talking to Drake since they are best friends. It can be likely that Trevor later called saying he was unable to make it or maybe he did come probably just to stay for the set up although Drake said to come to the movie theater early.
• Josh says that Drake has been dating Tabitha since Tuesday however at Josh's supposed birthday party at the Premiere he says to Helen that he has known her for five days however if Drake started dating Tabitha on Tuesday then it was four days not five.
• The police officers were seen at the scene of Oprah's injury, but oddly, when Josh was being attacked by a bunch of women, the officers who saw it happening didn't do anything to stop the attack and arrest the women. So in reality, they could get fired for neglecting to save Josh from being attacked.
  • Also, if the women would have been stopped and arrested, they could be charged for assaulting a minor (Josh).
• Josh would need to be in court and have his signature in order to agree with the restraining order.
• Drake and Josh were tased by stun guns, and wouldn't have been able to recover as quickly as they did.
• After Josh breaks Drake's bongos, he walks out of the room, and he walks normally. But, when he walks into the room, he walks oddly, because he was bathed in acid. However, it's likely that the pain from the acid wore off a while.
• This episode is called "Josh Runs Into Oprah" but Drake was with him when they ran over Oprah with the car although Drake made Josh hit her so this episode should actually be called "Drake and Josh Run Into Oprah".
• Josh says Drake forgot his birthday, but didn't tell him. In the scene where Drake gives him tickets to see Oprah and for Josh to change his attitude right away, it's his birthday. In the next scene where Drake and Josh arrive at Radcliff Studios and accidentally run over Oprah, Josh mentions it's still his birthday and that he's having the worst birthday ever. At the end of the episode, Drake plans a surprise party for him at The Premiere where he had his girlfriend's birthday party. It's impossible how he has his birthday for the whole entire episode when the days change every scene.
• In the intro Josh says he does not have bad luck, but he did have bad luck in previous episodes.