Instant Star

*Instant Star*
Instant Star
Genre	Teen drama; comedy; musical;
Created by	Linda Schuyler
Starring	Alexz Johnson; Kristopher Turner; Tim Rozon; Laura Vandervoort;
Theme music composer	Jody Colero; Jim McGrath; Stephen Stohn;
Country of origin	Canada
Original language	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	52 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Linda Schuyler; Stephen Stohn;
Producer	Stephen Stohn
Production locations	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Production company	Epitome Pictures
Original release
Network	CTV (Canada); Noggin (The N block; U.S.);
Release	September 15, 2004 –; July 28, 2008

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

Instant Star was created by Linda Schuyler, who also co-created Degrassi. In Canada, the show aired on CTV. In the United States, it aired on Noggin as part of its teen-oriented block, The N.^[1] Epitome Pictures produced the show, and both CTV and The N were involved in the production and financing.

Four seasons of the show (each with 13 episodes) were made. CTV and The N both pulled funding following the fourth season, despite plans by Epitome Pictures to continue with a fifth season.^[2] The fourth and final season ended on June 26, 2008 in the United States.

Overview

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

Season	Episodes	Originally aired
Season	Episodes	First aired	Last aired	Network
1	13	September 15, 2004 (2004-09-15)	April 24, 2005 (2005-04-24)	CTV
2	13	February 10, 2006 (2006-02-10)	May 12, 2006 (2006-05-12)	Noggin
3	13	February 16, 2007 (2007-02-16)	May 18, 2007 (2007-05-18)
4	13	June 2, 2008 (2008-06-02)	July 28, 2008 (2008-07-28)

Cast

Main

Alexz Johnson as Jude Harrison
Kristopher Turner as Jamie Andrews
Tim Rozon as Tom Quincy
Laura Vandervoort as Sadie Harrison
Barbara Mamabolo as Kat Benton (season 1; recurring, season 2)
Tracy Waterhouse as Georgia Bevans (season 1)
Matthew Brown as Shay Mills (season 1)
Andrea Lui as EJ Li (season 1)
Wes Williams as Darius Mills
Tyler Kyte as Vincent Spiederman (recurring, season 1; main, seasons 2–4)
Cory Lee as Karma (seasons 3–4)
Zoie Palmer as Patsy Sewer (recurring, season 2; main season 3)
Mark Taylor as Kwest (recurring, seasons 1-2; main, seasons 3–4)
Christopher Gaudet as Wally Robbins (recurring, seasons 1–2; main, seasons 3–4)
Ian Blackwood as Kyle Bateman (recurring, season 2; main, seasons 3–4)
Craig Warnock as Paegan Smith (season 4)
Tatiana Maslany as Zeppelin (season 4)^[3]
Cassie Steele as Blu (season 4)^[4]
Kyle Riabko as Milo Keegan (season 4)^[5]

Recurring

Katrina Matthews as Eden Taylor (season 1)
Simon Reynolds as Stuart Harrison

Supporting

Supporting cast
Season	Actor	Character
1
	Jane Sowerby	Victoria Harrison
	Miku Graham	Portia Mills
2
	Jane Sowerby	Victoria Harrison
	Miku Graham	Portia Mills
	Nicholas Rose	Mason Fox
	Vincent Walsh	Liam Fenway
3
3	Miku Graham	Portia Mills
4
4	Kristin Fairlie	Megan

Guest stars

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
Christopher Ralph	Chaz Blackburn	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

The Instant Stars

Instant Stars
Season	Winner	Runner-Up
1	Jude Harrison	Eden Taylor
2	Mason Fox
3	Karma	Bobby
4	Milo Keegan	Kadijah

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.

Broadcast

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
Canada	MuchMusic
Croatia	RTL Kockica
Estonia	TV3
Finland	Sub
France	FillesTV
France	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:	Noggin (The N block), Primo TV
Ukraine:	K1
Venezuela	Televen
Vietnam	HTV3

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

Reception

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.^[10]

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").

References

^ "Soul and star searching for teens". Los Angeles Times. July 2005.
^ "instantstar-online.net ... Your #1 source for all things Instant Star". Archived from the original on 2008-09-13.
^ dlsmodsquad (25 August 2007). "Instant Star Season 4 Interview". Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 24 December 2017 – via YouTube.
^ dlsmodsquad (25 August 2007). "Instant Star Season 4 Interview". Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 24 December 2017 – via YouTube.
^ dlsmodsquad (25 August 2007). "Instant Star Season 4 Interview". Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 24 December 2017 – via YouTube.
^ "Instant Star: Season 1". 22 May 2007. Retrieved 24 December 2017 – via Amazon.
^ "Instant Star: Season 2". 4 December 2007. Retrieved 24 December 2017 – via Amazon.
^ "Instant Star - Echo Bridge Entertainment". Archived from the original on 2011-10-04. Retrieved 2011-05-25.
^ "Instant Star Season 4 - Echo Bridge Entertainment". Archived from the original on 2011-10-04. Retrieved 2011-05-25.
^ "Canada's Awards Database". The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2006-11-13.