Pilot | |
Season 1, Episode 1 | |
Air date | January 11, 2004 |
Production Code | 101 |
Written by | Dan Schneider |
Directed by | L. Fabian |
Episode Guide | |
Previous: The Unaired Pilot |
Next: Dune Buggy |
Pilot (also known as Pilot Episode[1] and Hug Me, Brother[2]) is the first episode of Season 1 of Drake & Josh and the first episode of the series overall, guest starring Julie Gonzalo as Tiffany Margolis and Toshi Toda as Martial Arts Teacher.
Synopsis[]
When Drake uses Josh's secret advice column to impress the hottest girl in school, a case of mistaken identity results in Josh coming face-to-face with a jealous boyfriend.
Plot[]
In the opening comments, Drake and Josh introduce themselves. Drake is a cool and popular teenager, while Josh is a geeky teenager whom Drake describes as "unusual".
Drake's mom Audrey and Josh's dad Walter have been dating and announce to Drake, Josh, and Drake's devious little sister, Megan, that they are getting married. Josh is thrilled about having a new stepbrother, but Drake is not. Drake is even less excited when he finds out that Josh is Miss Nancy, the anonymous advice columnist for the school newspaper, and that Josh believes he must dress like a woman to adequately write his advice.
Drake then uses this knowledge to his advantage in order to score a date with Tiffany, who wrote to Miss Nancy asking for relationship advice. But Josh gets in trouble when her angered boyfriend Buck thinks she is on a date with Josh instead and challenges him to a fight. Josh trains all day under a karate instructor, but still ends up getting knocked out with one punch. Drake eventually apologizes and helps Josh realize that he can give good advice without wearing his Miss Nancy dress. At the end, both make up and accept each other as brothers.
During the end credits, after Tiffany clarifies to Buck that Drake was the one who she dated, Buck punches Drake, knocking him out.
Cast[]
- Drake Bell as Drake Parker
- Josh Peck as Josh Nichols
- Nancy Sullivan as Audrey Parker-Nichols
- Jonathan Goldstein as Walter Nichols
- Miranda Cosgrove as Megan Parker
- Julie Gonzalo as Tiffany Margolis
- Joey Medicino as Buck
- Scott Halberstadt as Eric Blonowitz (cameo)
- Toshi Toda as Martial Arts Teacher
Full Episode[]
Trivia[]
- This episode has not aired on TeenNick since June 2021.
- Miss Nancy is a parody of Abby from Dear Abby, which is a common advice column that's usually seen in numerous newspapers.
- Audrey and Walter are the first to share a kiss in the series.
- Josh says "Hug me, brothah!" for the first time.
- Walter seems relatively good at basketball (although he smashes a lamp while passing the ball to Drake). It's possible that Josh's grandmother taught him.
- This episode marks the first time someone cross-dresses (in this case, Josh).
- This is the first time a guy (Josh, in this case) puts something in his clothes to make it look like he has breasts. This occurs again in Steered Straight of season four (Walter, in this case).
- This episode is mentioned in Really Big Shrimp.
- Also, the cold open of this episode is similar to Really Big Shrimp.
- Eric Blonowitz makes a cameo in this episode. However, he doesn't make any official full appearances until Pool Shark.
- Megan plays her first prank on Drake and Josh by putting hot sauce in their spaghetti and iced tea in this episode.
- The martial arts teacher would later appear in First Crush with a new business.
- This is the first episode where Belleview High School makes an appearance.
- This is the first episode in which Josh is wearing an earring.
- During the montage, Lenny Kravitz's "Dig In" can be heard playing.
- This DVD releases of this episode features Nickelodeon's "lightbulb" ending screen, only the noise it makes plays 3 times as opposed to the usual 6 times.
- An alternate version of this episode has a different song replacing Lenny Kravitz's "Dig In", due to copyright issues.
- The hot sauce that Megan uses to put in Drake and Josh's spaghetti and drinks is actually Frank's Red-Hot Sauce, a sauce that is commonly known for not being too hot or spicy.
- There is an episode of "Friends" from season 2, The One With the Prom Video, that sees Chandler (Matthew Perry) throw a basketball into a lamp and breaking it similar to the exchange with Drake and Walter.
- In the US, the opening credits show Drake Bell first then Josh Peck, but in other countries the order is reversed.
- Megan's Prank: Puts excessive amounts of hot sauce on Drake and Josh's dinner plates and drinks, causing them extreme pain.
- An unaired pilot was produced in 2002 where Walter was portrayed by Stephen Furst, but the producers later decided to recast his role.
- This episode, along with Guitar, Dune Buggy, Blues Brothers, Driver's License, Number 1 Fan, and The Gary Grill are not available on any streaming services due to licensing issues with the material used in each episode.
Goofs[]
- After the opening comment, the camera shows a closeup of the house during the afternoon. However, when Drake enters the house, you can clearly see that it is actually nighttime outside.
- Josh says that he can't sleep on the couch due to lumbar problems, but in Smart Girl, he slept on the couch.
- When Drake first enters the bedroom, we can see Josh's actual hair coming out of the Miss Nancy wig, but when Drake is trying to keep the letter away from Josh, Josh's hair is completely in the wig. When Drake heads towards the window, we can see Josh's real hair again coming out of the wig.
- Josh says he is vegetarian when Buck threatens him, but when the martial artist asks if he and Drake like chicken tenders, Josh nods. He is also seen eating meat in later episodes.
- He likely quit being a vegetarian at some point.
- When Drake is talking to Tiffany, the back of her hair is completely straight. When the camera flicks back to the back of her head, her hair is messed up, then when the camera flicks back to the back of her head, her hair is all together, straight again.
- When Drake walks in on Josh as Miss Nancy, when he says, "You don't want to play any basketb-AAAHHHHH!!!", you can tell from the infection in his voice that he is gearing up to scream before he sees Josh.