Instant Star

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.

Instant Star
Genre
  • Teen drama
  • comedy
  • musical
Created byLinda Schuyler
Starring
Theme music composer
Country of originCanada
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons4
No. of episodes52 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Linda Schuyler
  • Stephen Stohn
ProducerStephen Stohn
Production locationsToronto, Ontario, Canada
Production companyEpitome Pictures
Release
Original network
Original releaseSeptember 15, 2004 (2004-09-15) –
July 28, 2008 (2008-07-28)

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
Main article: List of Instant Star episodes
SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast airedNetwork
113September 15, 2004 (2004-09-15)April 24, 2005 (2005-04-24)CTV
213February 10, 2006 (2006-02-10)May 12, 2006 (2006-05-12)Noggin
313February 16, 2007 (2007-02-16)May 18, 2007 (2007-05-18)
413June 2, 2008 (2008-06-02)July 28, 2008 (2008-07-28)

Cast
Cast photo – Instant Star (Credit to Epitome Pictures)

Main

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