The Real Reason Drake & Josh Was Canceled Despite Being One Nickelodeon's Biggest Hits
Drake Bell and Josh Peck both got their start on Nickelodeon with guest appearances on The Amanda Show, but soon they paired together for their own series. Drake & Josh, which made its television debut on the network in January 2004, featured the comedians as the main characters.
Drake & Josh was canceled by Nickelodeon after four seasons and approximately 60 episodes. At least, that's what the fans thought until one of the show's creators and executive producers finally spoke out and explained why Drake & Josh was canceled.
Drake & Josh Was A Massive Success From The Start
On January 11, 2004, the first episode of the sitcom premiered. Drake Bell portrayed Drake Parker, while Josh Peck played Josh Nichols.
As Parker's mother weds Nichols' father, the two families are thrust together, forcing Parker and Peck to get along. Parker is the popular kid at school, while Nichols is the shy academic. Their differences are striking.
Their differences are exaggerated for fun, and the two become fast friends. According to Entertainment Weekly, Drake & Josh chronicled the humorous mishaps of Bell and Peck as stepbrothers with contrasting personalities as they attempted to adjust to their new family dynamic.
“The show aired on Nickelodeon and proved popular among viewers, making stars out of its leads and Miranda Cosgrove, who played the pair’s mischievous younger sister, Megan.”
There was an instant spike in the show's ratings. Variety reports that almost 3 million people saw the premiere. Over the course of its four years, it steadily improved.
“It’s Nickelodeon’s highest-rated series in almost 10 years and ranks at the top of live-action series with kids 2-11,” explained another Variety report at the time.
In addition to yielding three movies, a number of successful songs, a video game, and a book series, Drake & Josh has won numerous Kids' Choice Awards over the years.
Fans were shocked when the show was abruptly terminated after broadcasting its final episode in September 2007. The two stepbrothers won a dance contest at the end of their senior year in high school, and this last episode served as the season four finale.
Why Was Drake & Josh Canceled?
According to creator Dan Schneider, the decision to stop Drake and Josh after four seasons and 57 episodes was made by the creative team as a whole.
Dan Schneider disclosed on his personal Blogspot page that there was more truth in the season four ending than might initially meet the eye, despite the fact that fans had believed Nickelodeon had canceled the beloved sitcom for years.
Not only were the imaginary characters graduating from high school, but so were the actors.
“Drake & Josh was never canceled by Nickelodeon,” he explains. “The term ‘canceled’ usually applies to a network ending a TV show due to poor ratings. That never happened with Drake & Josh. In fact, Drake & Josh got its highest ratings during its final season. And the last episode, ‘Really Big Shrimp,’ was the most-watched episode of the entire series run.“
In its place, he opted to cancel the show since Bell and Peck were eager to move on to something fresh. “They had been with Nickelodeon for over eight years,” Schneider notes. “Drake & Josh ended because of a mutual decision by the stars, the network, and me. We were all very sad to say goodbye to the show, but we had a lot of fun two years later making ‘Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh.'”
The actors may have decided it was time to call it quits because of creative differences, but they cashed out nicely and are now free to pursue more ambitious projects.
The pair received $20,000 for each episode (there were 87 in total). Both actors have made bank and built a pretty impressive net worth for themselves. After gaining prominence on "Drake & Josh," Miranda Cosgrove landed the lead role on "iCarly," where she earned $180,000 per episode.
The Drake & Josh Reboot Was An Absolute Failure
According to an Instagram post by Drake, he and his ex-wife Janet have started a podcast called Drake & Janet. A number of listeners noticed right away that the podcast's name, font, and logo were all remarkably similar to those of Drake & Josh, leading many to speculate that it would provide new details about their relationship between the stars.
Though Drake and Josh have had a pretty rough go as friends (or not?), there were also rumors that Drake & Josh might return with both actors on board. Sadly, this reboot never saw the light of day. Drake and Janet talked about how they had intended on making a sequel series to Drake & Josh but had to scrap those plans.
In 2019, two years before he pleaded guilty to child endangerment and was sentenced to two years of probation, Drake initially teased the project in the media.
In an episode of their podcast, Janet revealed that she and Drake had "pitched a Drake & Josh relaunch program called Josh & Drake." The pair claims that the project was abandoned due to disagreements in approach. Both of them felt unsatisfied with Josh's script.
"It wasn't the best," Janet declared. "Josh wrote Drake as a failed musician and Josh wrote himself as a real estate agent. OK, that's fine, but Drake is a musician in real life, so it wouldn't make sense."
For instance, Josh supposedly wanted to rewrite the show's signature "Hug me, brother" phrase to "Hug yourself, f*ckhead" for a fresh, humorous arc. But, as the pair reads farther into Josh's script, they see that negative perceptions of Mexicans are central to the story.
Janet's home country is Paraguay, which is located in South America. Moreover, Drake is now known by his infamous surname, "Campana," and has begun posting in Spanish on social media.
Drake said, “When I read the script, I was like, 'Man, I can’t represent Mexican people like that.'” Both he and Janet consider Josh's script to be a "direct insult" to everything they've worked for in Mexico.
Drake had contacted Josh and asked him to make a few changes to the script, but Josh was unable to comply. Drake and his ex-wife ultimately put a stop to the relaunch because of artistic differences.
There has been no further word of a possible revival since then. In fact, in an interview with ComicBook.com from August of 2021, Josh appeared to put an end to any hope of a rebirth.
While it is not yet official, the boys have expressed interest in returning to television together. It's impossible to say what the future holds.
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