Instant Star is a Canadian television program and a Gemini Award winner starring adolescent music competition winner Jude Harrison portrayed by Alexz Johnson. After its release, the program's popularity rose amongst teenagers, particularly in the United States and Canada. The show chronicles Harrison's experience in the recording industry whilst focusing upon character development.
Linda Schuyler and Stephen Stohn of Epitome Pictures produce the show. The program began to air on CTV in Canada prior to being picked up by Viacom-owned teen network channel The N in the United States. The show became the second most popular program on The N with Degrassi: The Next Generation, 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 (Jude Harrison); 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 has again been nominated for Best Performance (for the episode, "I Fought the Law"); and there are 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) have been produced so far. The new season of Instant Star premiered Monday, June 2 at 8pm ET on The N. CTV and The N both pulled funding following the fourth season and the execs chose to end the show. Upset fans have started a petition.[2] The 4th and final season of the show concluded on June 26, 2008.
Cast
Cast Photo - Instant Star ( Credit to Epitome Pictures)
Starring
Supporting cast (Season 1)
Supporting cast (Season 2)
Supporting cast (Season 3)
Supporting cast (Season 4)
Guest stars
Instant Stars
- Season 1
- Season 2
- Season 3
- Winner: Karma
- Runner-Up: Bobby
- Season 4
- Winner: Milo Keegan
- Runner-Up: Kadijah
Series plot
In each episode of the show, Jude Harrison must deal with the problems 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, such as Tommy Q., Jamie, Spiederman, and Shay, 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.
Possible Spinoff
There are rumours that the show will be spun off. However, this has yet to be confirmed. If confirmed, it is likely that casting would take place around 2009. Alexz Johnson has not said anything about her future with the show and reprising her role as Jude Harrison, as her album will be released and promoted around that time.
Episodes
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Music
Each episode of the series features a new song performed by Alexz. Usually, the song is about something that occurs in the episode, however, in some episodes there is no direct explanation to the lyrics. 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.
Alexz Johnson has done the vocals on both soundtracks, while even co-writing some of the songs with her brother Brendan. For the third soundtrack, it has been mentioned that Alexz will not be featured for all of the songs on the CD, because of the release of her upcoming debut album.
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 "Backstage Pass NYC", singing two of the songs from each season of the show, accompanied by her band from the show, Spiederman Mind Explosion.
Soundtracks
Broadcasters
Instant Star is broadcast in over 120 countries.
Availability on DVD
The DVD for Season 1 of Instant Star was released on May 22, 2007.
The DVD for Season 2 of Instant Star was released on December 4, 2007.
The DVDs for Seasons 3 and 4 of Instant Star have yet to be released.
References
External links
Official websites
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