Instant Star

Instant Star is a Canadian musical comedy-drama television series which aired from September 15, 2004 to June 26, 2008. The series starred Alexz Johnson as teenage singing competition winner Jude Harrison. The show chronicles Harrison's experience in the recording industry whilst focusing on character development.

Instant Star
GenreTeen drama/comedy/musical
Created byLinda Schuyler
StarringAlexz Johnson
Tim Rozon
Laura Vandervoort
Kristopher Turner
Simon Reynolds
Mark Taylor
Tyler Kyte
Wes Williams
Cory Lee
Tatiana Maslany
Narrated byAlexz Johnson
Theme music composerJody Colero, Jim McGrath & Stephen Stohn
Country of originCanada
Original language(s)English
No. of seasons4
No. of episodes52 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)Stephen Stohn
Producer(s)Stephen Stohn
Production location(s)Toronto, Ontario
Running time30 minutes
Production company(s)DHX Media
DistributorAlliance Atlantis (2004-2007)
CTVglobemedia (2007-2008)
Release
Original networkCTV (Canada)
The N (United States)
Original releaseSeptember 15, 2004 (2004-09-15) –
June 26, 2008 (2008-06-26)
External links
Website
Cast photo – Instant Star (Credit to Epitome Pictures)

Linda Schuyler and Stephen Stohn of Epitome Pictures produced the show. The show began to air on CTV in Canada before being picked up by Viacom-owned teen channel The N, now TeenNick, in the United States. The show became the second most popular series on The N with Degrassi: The Next Generation, another show also produced by Schuyler and Stohn, ranking as most popular.

In 2005, after its first season, Instant Star was nominated for three Gemini Awards in the category of Best Children's or Youth Fiction Program or Series. Nominations included: (1) Best Series; (2) Best Performance (Alexz Johnson); and (3) Best Direction (Graeme Campbell). The show won the award for Best Direction for the episode You Can't Always Get What You Want.[1]

On August 28, 2007, the show received three more Gemini Award nominations in the category of Best Children's or Youth Program or series. Alexz Johnson was again nominated for Best Performance (for the episode, "I Fought the Law"), and there were two more nominations for Best Direction - Graeme Campbell (for "I Fought the Law"), and Pat Williams (for "Personality Crisis").

Four seasons of the show (each with 13 episodes) were produced. CTV and The N both pulled funding following the fourth season, and the execs chose to end the show. The show was initially ended after its fifth season. Upsetting fans started a petition.[2] The fourth and final season of the show ended on June 26, 2008, in the United States. Reruns continue on CTV in a Saturday morning timeslot.

Cast
Starring
Actor Character
Alexz Johnson Jude Harrison
Tim Rozon Tom "Tommy Q" Quincy
Laura Vandervoort Sadie Harrison
Kristopher Turner Jamie Andrews
Simon Reynolds Stuart Harrison
Wes Williams Darius Mills
Mark Taylor Kwest
Tyler Kyte Vincent Spiederman
Supporting cast
Season Actor Character
1 Barbara Mamabolo Katarina "Kat" Benton
Andrea Lui E.J. Li
Ian Blackwood Kyle Bateman
Jane Sowerby Victoria Harrison
Katrina Matthews Eden Taylor
Tyler Kyte Vincent Spiederman
Matthew Brown Shay Mills
Miku Graham Portia Mills
Tracy Waterhouse Georgia Bevans
Christopher Gaudet Wally Robbins
2 Christopher Gaudet Wally Robbins
Ian Blackwood Kyle Bateman
Jane Sowerby Victoria Harrison
Miku Graham Portia Mills
Nicholas Rose Mason Fox
Vincent Walsh Liam Fenway
Tyler Kyte Vincent Spiederman
Zoie Palmer Patsy Sewer
3 Christopher Gaudet Wally Robbins
Cory Lee Karma
Ian Blackwood Kyle Bateman
Miku Graham Portia Mills
Tyler Kyte Vincent Spiederman
Craig Warnock Paegan Smith
Zoie Palmer Patsy Sewer
4 Cassie Steele Blu[3]
Christopher Gaudet Wally Robbins
Cory Lee Karma
Ian Blackwood Kyle Bateman
Kyle Riabko Milo[4]
Tatiana Maslany Zeppelin[5]
Tyler Kyte Vincent Spiederman
Craig Warnock Paegan Smith
Kristin Fairlie Megan
Guest stars
Actor Character Season Episode number Episode name
Stacey Farber Herself 2 8 Personality Crisis
Drake Himself 2 8 Personality Crisis
Christopher Ralph Chaz Blackburn 1 11 All Apologies
2 5 Viciousness
Corey Sevier Hunter 3 8 18 Part 1
10 Nowhere To Run
11 Celebrity Skin
Jordan Todosey Helen 2 10 Problem Child
John Ralston Don 2 4 Miss World
2 5 Viciousness
2 7 Stranger In The House
2 11 Mother's Little Helper
Shawn Singleton T-Bone 1 5 You Can't Always Get What You Want
1 7 I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
2 2 No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn: Part 2
Instant Stars
Season Winner Runner-Up
1 Jude Harrison Eden Taylor
2 Mason Fox
3 Karma Bobby
4 Milo Keegan Kadijah

Series plot

In each episode of the show, Jude Harrison must deal with the issues and challenges of both her musical career and her personal life, as one weaves into the other. She also faces dilemmas and choices in her relationships, dividing her feelings between the loves in her life, while also recording with G-Major Records. These people are important to her music – the one thread that ties her life together. Her best moments are when she is working with others in creating and performing her music. In addition to her music and her loves, there is much else going on in her personal life and in the lives of those around her.

Episodes
Main article: List of Instant Star episodes

Music
Other article: Instant Star soundtracks

Each episode of the series features a new song performed by Alexz Johnson. Usually, the song is about something that occurs in the episode. However, in some episodes, there is no direct explanation to the lyrics; sometimes it's just a song. Some episodes can feature more than one song, but there is only one song per episode that is to be featured on the soundtrack for that season. For instance, there are 13 episodes per season, which means there are 13 main songs. One of the songs, "Perfect," was written by Canadian synth pop artist Lights.

Alexz Johnson recorded the vocals on the first and second soundtracks, while even co-writing some of the songs with her brother Brendan. For the third and fourth soundtracks, Alexz wasn't featured for all of the songs because of the release of her debut album and conflicts with prior record labels.

Just before the broadcast of the second season on The N, viewers had a chance to see Alexz Johnson in concert in a show called Instant Star: Backstage Pass, singing two of the songs from each season of the show and accompanied by her band from the show, Spiederman Mind Explosion.

Broadcasters

Instant Star was broadcast in over 120 countries.

Coverage
Country Broadcaster
Australia Nickelodeon
Austria ORF
Belgium Ketnet
Brazil Multishow, Boomerang
Bosnia and Herzegovina FTV
Bulgaria NovaTV
Canada CTV
MuchMusic
Estonia TV3
Finland Sub
France FillesTV
Virgin 17
Germany VIVA
Hungary Viasat3
Israel Arutz HaYeladim
Italy Italia 1
Latvia TV3
Lithuania Tango TV
Malaysia 8TV
Mexico MTV Latin America
Canal 4TV
Boomerang
Televisa Regional
Morocco 2M TV
New Zealand TV2
Norway TVNorge
Peru Boomerang Latin America
Poland ZigZap
Portugal MTV Portugal
Romania TVR 2
Russia MTV Russia
Serbia RTS 2
South Africa GO
Spain MTV Spain, 8Neox
Sweden: TV2
United Kingdom: Nickelodeon
USA: The N, MTV, Primo TV
Ukraine: K1
Venezuela Televen

Home releases

Funimation Entertainment released the first two seasons on DVD in Region 1 in 2007.[6][7]

Echo Bridge Home Entertainment acquired the rights to the series in 2010 and subsequently released the final two seasons on DVD, available in the US only.[8][9]

DVD Name Ep# Release date
Season One 13 May 22, 2007
Season Two 13 December 4, 2007
Seasons One and Two 26 April 7, 2009
Season Three 13 January 19, 2010
Season Four 13 July 27, 2010
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References
  1. "Canada's Awards Database". The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.
  2. "Save Instant Star". Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  3. dlsmodsquad (25 August 2007). "Instant Star Season 4 Interview". Retrieved 24 December 2017 – via YouTube.
  4. dlsmodsquad (25 August 2007). "Instant Star Season 4 Interview". Retrieved 24 December 2017 – via YouTube.
  5. dlsmodsquad (25 August 2007). "Instant Star Season 4 Interview". Retrieved 24 December 2017 – via YouTube.
  6. "Instant Star: Season 1". 22 May 2007. Retrieved 24 December 2017 – via Amazon.
  7. "Instant Star: Season 2". 4 December 2007. Retrieved 24 December 2017 – via Amazon.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-10-04. Retrieved 2011-05-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-10-04. Retrieved 2011-05-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

Official websites
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