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Unfabulous

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Unfabulous
GenreTeen sitcom
Created bySue Rose
Starring
Theme music composerJill Sobule
Opening theme"Unfabulous" performed by Jill Sobule
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes41 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producerSue Rose
Camera setupFilm, Single-camera
Running time23 minutes
Production companyNickelodeon Productions
Original release
NetworkNickelodeon
ReleaseSeptember 12, 2004 (2004-09-12) –
December 16, 2007 (2007-12-16)

Unfabulous is an American teen sitcom that aired on Nickelodeon. The series is about an "unfabulous" middle schooler named Addie Singer, played by Emma Roberts. The show, which premiered on September 12, 2004, was one of the most-watched programs in the U.S. among children and teenagers between the ages of 10 and 16.[1] It was created by Sue Rose, who previously created two animated series Pepper Ann (for Disney) and Angela Anaconda, and co-created the character Fido Dido with Joanna Ferrone. The series ended on December 16, 2007, with the final episode titled "The Best Trip Ever".

Most of the episodes are narrated by Addie, and are told in flashbacks. The show's theme song is performed by Jill Sobule, who also wrote the songs performed throughout the show.

Premise

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Unfabulous's main character is a teenage girl named Addie Singer (Emma Roberts), who writes songs about her life in middle school. Her best friends are Geena Fabiano (Malese Jow), who is interested in fashion and designs her own clothes, and the environmentally committed school basketball player Zack Carter-Schwartz (Jordan Calloway). They all attend Rocky Road Middle School in an unspecified East Coast city. However, in episode 34 "The Birthday" when Addie receives a letter from when she was 7 years old the address is listed as "Pinecrest, PA". Addie's older brother Ben (Tadhg Kelly) works at Juice!, a smoothie bar where Addie and her friends often hang out after school.

Throughout the first season, Addie obsesses about her crush on Jake Behari[Note 1] (Raja Fenske), who already has a girlfriend.

For the majority of the second season, however, Addie is dating Randy Klein (Evan Palmer). They break up towards the end of the season and Addie realizes that she still likes Jake. The made-for-TV movie Unfabulous: The Perfect Moment focused on Addie and Jake getting together although Jake will be gone for the rest of the summer in Canada.

In the third season, Addie and Jake finally begin dating and Geena and Zack begin to have feelings for each other.

Episodes

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Main article: List of Unfabulous episodes
SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
113September 12, 2004 (2004-09-12)March 6, 2005 (2005-03-06)
215September 10, 2005 (2005-09-10)October 7, 2006 (2006-10-07)
313August 10, 2007 (2007-08-10)December 16, 2007 (2007-12-16)

Cast

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The cast (from left to right) Kelly, Flanagan, Jow, Roberts, Hagan, and Calloway

Main

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  • Emma Roberts as the 13-year-old main character Addie Singer.
  • Malese Jow as Geena Fabiano, Addie's best friend who is interested in fashion and designs her own clothes, which are usually provocative and therefore she receives daily lectures from the school principal.
  • Jordan Calloway as Zack Carter-Schwartz, Addie's other best friend who is on the basketball team and an environmental advocate that wears sandals
  • Tadhg Kelly as Ben Singer, Addie's older brother
  • Molly Hagan as Mrs. Sue Singer, Addie's mother
  • Markus Flanagan as Mr. Jeff Singer, Addie's father
  • Emma Degerstedt as Maris Bingham,[Note 2] a mean girl.
  • Chelsea Tavares as Cranberry St. Claire,[Note 2] Maris' best friend.

Recurring

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  • Dustin Ingram as Duane Oglivy
  • Mary Lou as Mary Ferry
  • Raja Fenske as Jake Behari
  • Bianca Collins as Patti Perez. Another mean girl who joins Maris & Cranberry and ex-girlfriend of Jake who tries to make Addie jealous & humiliate her.
  • Sarah Hester as Jen Stevenson-Ben's girlfriend and co-worker at Juice!
  • Harry Perry III as Manager Mike
  • Stephen Ford as Chad
  • Mildred Dumas as Principal Brandywine
  • Evan Palmer as Randy Klein
  • Sean Whalen as Coach Pearson
  • Brandon Smith as Mario (season 1)
  • Miracle Vincent as Ellie
  • Shawn McGill as Freddy
  • Carter Jenkins as Eli Pataki (season 1)
  • Shanica Knowles as Vanessa
  • Lourdes Pantin as Becca

Other appearances

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The show's main character, Addie Singer, also appears in a cross-over episode of Drake & Josh called "Honor Council", in which she helps Megan play a prank on Josh for a video Megan makes for her website. The episode aired in November 2004, a few months after both series had debuted.

Broadcast

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The series aired on Nickelodeon and premiered in the United States on September 12, 2004. The final episode aired on December 16, 2007. After the series ended, reruns aired on TeenNick until 2015.

Unfabulous has also previously aired on Nickelodeon Canada and Nickelodeon Teen in France. As of 2021, the show is not available on Paramount+. However, it is available on the company's free streaming Pluto TV counterpart.

Home media

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TEENick Picks, Volume 1 released on April 18, 2006 – features "The Little Sister" (Season 1, Episode 11)

Title Release date Episodes
The Complete 1st Season September 23, 2008[2] (USA) 1-13
Three-disc release, all 13 episodes, exclusively released on Amazon.com, as a "CreateSpace" program of "Burn-On-Demand" DVDs.[3]
Title Release date Episodes
The Complete 2nd Season September 23, 2008[4] (USA) 14-28
Three-disc release, all 15 episodes, exclusively released on Amazon.com, as a "CreateSpace" program of "Burn-On-Demand" DVDs.[3]

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Recipient Result Ref.
2005 Young Artist Awards Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) – Leading Young Actress Emma Roberts Nominated [5]
Best Performance in a Television Series (Comedy or Drama) – Recurring Young Actor Carter Jenkins
Outstanding Young Performers in a TV Series Jordan Calloway
Bianca Collins
Dustin Ingram
Mary Lou
Carter Jenkins
Malese Jow
Emma Roberts
Brandon Smith
Chelsea Tavares
Teen Choice Awards Choice TV Breakout Show Unfabulous [citation needed]
Choice TV Breakout Performance – Female Emma Roberts
2005 Australian Kids' Choice Awards Fave TV Show Unfabulous [6]
Fave Rising Star Emma Roberts
Casting Society of America Best Casting – Children's Programming Harriet Greenspan
2006 Young Artist Awards Best Young Ensemble Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) Jordan Calloway
Bianca Collins
Emma Degerstedt
Dustin Ingram
Mary Lou
Malese Jow
Carter Jenkins
Emma Roberts
Brandon Smith
Chelsea Tavares 		[7]
Casting Society of America Best Casting – Children's TV Programming Harriet Greenspan
2007 Young Artist Awards Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) – Leading Young Actress Emma Roberts [8]
Best Young Ensemble Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) Jordan Calloway
Malese Jow
Emma Roberts
Chelsea Tavares
Emma Degerstedt
Dustin Ingram
Mary Lou
Best Family Television Series (Comedy) Unfabulous
Teen Choice Awards Choice TV Actress: Comedy Emma Roberts [citation needed]
2007 Kids' Choice Awards Favorite TV Actress Emma Roberts [9][10]
2007 Australian Kids' Choice Awards Fave Nick Show Unfabulous [11][12]
2007 UK Kids' Choice Awards Best TV Actress Emma Roberts [13]
Casting Society of America Best Casting – Children's TV Programming Harriet Greenspan
2008 Young Artist Awards Best Performance in a TV Series – Leading Young Actress Emma Roberts [14]
Best Performance in a TV Series – Supporting Young Actress Malese Jow
Best Young Ensemble Performance in a TV Series Jordan Calloway
Bianca Collins
Dustin Ingram
Malese Jow
Mary Lou
Emma Roberts
Chelsea Tavares
2008 Kids' Choice Awards Favorite TV Actress Emma Roberts [15][16]

Merchandise

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Along with the start of the second season in September 2005, Nickelodeon also began selling different types of Unfabulous-related merchandise, beginning with the album Unfabulous and More (see Soundtrack below). In November 2005, the album was followed by two books tying into the show, Keepin' It Real (ISBN 0-439-79666-0) and Split Ends (ISBN 0-439-80179-6), both written by Robin Wasserman, and the first items in a line of clothes based on Addie's wardrobe on the show.[17] Four more books were released in February 2006, Starstruck (ISBN 0-439-83157-1), Jinxed! (ISBN 0-439-83158-X), Meltdown and Just Deal. The last book released in 2007 was based on the two-part episode, The Perfect Moment, by Samantha Margles. The books are narrated by Addie herself in her own words depicting each storyline.

Before the launch of the third season, a video game based on the show was released for the Game Boy Advance by THQ on September 25, 2006.[18]

All episodes from the first and the second season (including The Perfect Moment) were available for download in the iTunes Store in the U.S. since fall 2006, but are now not available anymore. They have since been put back for download as of 2012.

Soundtrack

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Main article: Unfabulous and More

On September 27, 2005, shortly after the premiere of the show's second season, Columbia Records and Nick Records released the album Unfabulous and More, which serves as both the show's soundtrack and as Emma Roberts' debut album.

The album includes several original songs (among them "Dummy" and "I Wanna Be", both of which were also released as music videos, "I Have Arrived", and "This Is Me", which was co-written by Roberts), as well as some of Addie's songs from the first season (however in newly recorded versions), including "Punch Rocker" and "New Shoes" (both from the episode "The Party"), "94 Weeks (Metal Mouth Freak)" (from "The Bar Mitzvah") and "Mexican Wrestler" (which had previously appeared on Jill Sobule's 2000 album Pink Pearl and in the Unfabulous episode "The 66th Day").

The album peaked at #46 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums.[19]

Notes

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  1. ^ The character's last name is spelled both Behari and Bahari by Nickelodeon.
  2. ^ a b Added to the main cast at the beginning of the second season.

References

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  1. ^ "For teens & tweens, 'Chris' is still cool". Media Life Magazine. Archived from the original on May 1, 2009. Retrieved November 10, 2005.
  2. ^ "Unfabulous: The Complete First Season (Three-Disc Edition): Movies & TV". Amazon. 23 September 2008. Retrieved 2012-01-08.
  3. ^ a b "Site News DVD news: Amazon and Nickelodeon/Paramount Strike Deal for Burn-on-Demand Titles". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-15. Retrieved 2012-01-08.
  4. ^ "Unfabulous – Season 2 (3 Disc Set): Movies & TV". Amazon. 17 September 2008. Retrieved 2012-01-08.
  5. ^ "26th Annual Young Artist Awards - Nominations / Special Awards". Youngartistawards.org. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  6. ^ "Kids' choice - Guy". The Age. Melbourne. September 21, 2005.
  7. ^ "27th Annual Young Artist Awards - Nominations / Special Awards". Youngartistawards.org. 2006-03-25. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  8. ^ "28th Annual Young Artist Awards - Nominations / Special Awards". Youngartistawards.org. 2007-03-10. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  9. ^ "2007 Host/Nominees Release / Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 2007 Press Kit". Nickkcapress.com. 2007-02-05. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  10. ^ "2007 KCA Winners Release / Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 2007 Press Kit". Nickkcapress.com. 2007-03-31. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  11. ^ "Microsoft Word - Voting Open 140807.doc" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  12. ^ "Nickelodeon's Australian Kids' Choice Awards / 2007 KCA Around the World / Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 2007 Press Kit". Nickkcapress.com. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  13. ^ "In full: Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards UK winners - Showbiz News". Digital Spy. 2007-10-20. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  14. ^ "29th Annual Young Artist Awards - Nominations / Special Awards". Youngartistawards.org. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  15. ^ "Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 2008 Press Kit". Nickkcapress.com. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  16. ^ "Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards – 2008 Winners List – Pictures and Video". Allie is Wired. Archived from the original on 2014-07-06. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  17. ^ Petrecca, Laura (October 4, 2005). "TV fans can now dress the part". USA Today. Retrieved October 31, 2005.
  18. ^ "Unfabulous for Game Boy Advance". GameSpot. Retrieved September 20, 2006.
  19. ^ "Emma Roberts Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
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