The Naked Brothers Band: Polar Bears (2008) Plot Summary

The pilot was originally an independent film shot in mid-2004 depicting Nat and Alex Wolff when they were nine and six years old respectively, along with Nat’s friends and the other band members Joshua Kaye, David Levi, Thomas Batuello, and Cooper Pillot. They film a documentary about their world-renowned band, The Silver Boulders, as they fracture due to Nat’s song about a girl named Rosalina (Allie DiMeco). Later on, the band ends up adding Rosalina and Cole Hawkins, reuniting as The Naked Brothers Band.

Several celebrities either acknowledge their admiration for the band or appear in other supporting roles. In real life, they have either worked or are friends with the Draper-Wolff family. These special guests are Cindy Blackman, Ann Curry, Arsenio Hall, Ricki Lake, Cyndi Lauper, Julianne Moore, Brent Popolizio, Tony Shalhoub, Lauper’s husband David Thornton, Uma Thurman, jazz singer Nancy Wilson, and the ensemble cast of Thirtysomething (particularly, Timothy Busfield, Draper, Mel Harris, Peter Horton, Melanie Mayron, Ken Olin, and Patricia Wettig).

It premiered as a television movie special on January 27, 2007.

The first season aired thirteen episodes and a television special. It debuted in February 2007 and originally concluded with the tenth episode, “The Song”, in June; however, a two-part episode, television movie “Battle of the Bands” and one additional episode titled “Alien Clones” broadcast that following October.

The first season features Nat and his younger brother Alex, who are 11 and 8 years old, respectively. David, Thomas, and Cooper are also 11. Qaasim is 12 and Rosalina is 13. Daniel Raymont plays the role of the music video director, and Tuffy Questall portrays Tuffy, the driver of the band’s psychedelic bus. The first season also has guest appearances by television personality Ryan Seacrest, radio host Matt Pinfield, rap artist Snoop Dogg, comedian George Lopez, and actor and musician Keli Price.

The first season’s premise is that the group is recording their first studio album as well as starring in several music videos to promote it. In the first episode “VMAs”, Alex is horrified by his horoscope Jesse reads to him, and the band’s music video for their song “Banana Smoothie” wins an MTV Video Music Award at the end. In later episodes, Nat’s initial attempts at stand-up comedy fails before receiving advice from George Lopez. Throughout the season, Nat does not like when David and Thomas ridicule his affection for Rosalina. Although neither admits their feelings for each other, it becomes quite obvious that Nat and Rosalina like each other. As time goes on, Rosalina kisses Nat on the lips in his dressing room.

Moreover, Alex becomes mad and runs away when Jesse dates The Timmerman Brothers. Along the way, Alex becomes friends with an orphan named Juanita at a skatepark. When the boys’ father arrives back from his overnight vacation, he starts dating an estranged lady named Betty, who Cooper and Jesse initially hired to clean the mess in the Wolff family’s apartment without much success. In addition to a “Battle of The Bands” between The Naked Brothers Band and The LA Surfers (the latter featuring 16-year-old singer Bobby Love, a manipulative con artist who tries to hit on Rosalina), the season ends with Nat and his band performing at a charity event they put together for Juanita and her foster family.

During the second season, thirteen episodes and two television specials aired, beginning with the two-part episode, television movie “Sidekicks” in January 2008 before ending that following June with a three-part episode, another television movie named “Polar Bears”.

In the second season, Nat, Thomas, David, and Cooper are twelve, Alex is nine, Rosalina is fourteen and Qaasim is thirteen. Guest stars for the season include syndicated cartoonist Jules Feiffer, musician Joel Madden, skateboarder Tony Hawk, George Lopez, Matt Pinfield, and musician Phil Collins. During the first half of the season, Daniel Raymont portrays Wing with Teala Dunn and Emily Richardson returning as Juanita and Patty Scoggins, respectively. When the band goes on tour, the tour driver Tuffy (Tuffy Questall) takes on more of a lead recurring role.

The second season begins with a school masquerade party and prom. In later episodes, Nat, Alex, and Cooper have dates at a local movie theater; during a live talk show, the siblings, alongside Joel Madden and a girl, who is a critical news reporter, compose a song together at the piano; Cooper has a Bar Mitzvah; and Mr. Wolff’s girl friend rejects him after meeting his twin brother, Miles, who is a successful jazz pianist. In addition, the band starts prepping for their tour with several band rehearsals. Prior to leaving on their tour bus, the band members are conflicted with personal issues: Mr. Wolff is still coping from his break up with Betty, David is upset about leaving his dog, E.T. behind, and Rosalina is worried about the possibility of not saying “good bye” to her father. Nonetheless, all of their concerns work themselves out: George Lopez advises Mr. Wolff to continue his passion for playing the accordion despite his break up, Tuffy ends up allowing David to bring his dog, and Rosalina’s father makes it to the bus stop before the bus leaves.

Following several concert performances (including one at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, as well as a state county fair), the television movie “Polar Bears” depicts the ending of the band’s tour in New Orleans, Louisiana, where they — along with their babysitter, Jesse — reunite with the siblings’ father and old family friends of the Wolffs’ who are victims of Hurricane Katrina. On the ride down there, Jesse inadvertently has Alex watch An Inconvenient Truth and, after viewing it, he becomes very concerned about the polar bears potentially becoming extinct due to global warming. During their visit, Mr. Wolff’s friend’s older daughter, as well as Nat, Qaasim, and Rosalina encounter misinterpretations over their romantic interests before they are resolved, and the band ends up donating the money raised from their performance at an elaborate-styled ballroom to a charity supporting climate change.

The third season began with the television movie “Mystery Girl”, which premiered in October 2008. It also aired three other television movies, a animated special, a special webisode, and three other episodes, concluding with “No School’s Fools Day” in June 2009.

In this season, Nat, Thomas, David, and Cooper are 13 with Qaasim being 14, while Alex is 10 and Rosalina is 15. The season features an array of celebrities making cameo appearances, including actresses Miranda Cosgrove and Whoopi Goldberg, singer Natasha Bedingfield, and musicians David Desrosiers and Simon Kirke. Other celebrity appearances include musicians Tobin Esperance and Questlove, actor and musician Leon Thomas, actress Victoria Justice, and talk show host Dave Attell. Daniel Raymont, Tuffy Questall, Teala Dunn, Catherine Curtin, and Matt Pinfield all return, with Andrew Keenan-Bolger portraying Christophe, the director of the new Magical Mystery Girl Movie.

The new season depicts the band shooting their initial theatrical film called the Magical Mystery Girl Movie. Nat stars as Daniel, Rosalina as herself, Miranda Cosgrove as Daniel’s girl friend, Alex as Oliver, Juanita as the girl in Oliver’s new music video, with Mr. Wolff and Jesse playing themselves and Principle Schmoke and Tuffy portraying sumo wrestlers in diapers. Christophe is the stubborn director; he is later overthrown and replaced by Cooper, the producer of the movie. Christophe appears again in “The Premiere” when he steals the movie’s metal film cassette.

On the other hand, Rosalina temporarily leaves the band to travel on a worldwide cruise. During her trip, the band members read the newspaper and the front cover depicts Rosalina kissing a French man. When Rosalina returns to visit, she and Nat have an internal dispute and Rosalina subsequently quits the band. Because of this, the group must find a new bass player. Cooper calls for a “Naked Idol” contest and the outfit selects Kristina Reyes as their new bassist. However, Nat later makes up with Rosalina and she rejoins the band while retaining Kristina as well. “The Premiere” television movie ends with them watching the Magical Mystery Girl Movie in the theaters as well as the band performing Nat’s new song “Just a Girl I Know”.