This year’s holiday season could be the best ever for Drake & Josh fans, as Nickelodeon reunites Drake Bell and Josh Peck to deliver a brand-new, original TV movie, Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh today 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.
The TV-movie presents guest stars Henry Winkler and MMA fighter Kimbo Slice respectively as a fair-minded judge and good-hearted ex-jailbird who help Drake and Josh keep their Christmas promise to a family of foster kids. Merry Christmas Drake & Josh is written and executive produced by Dan Schneider.
The TV-movie will showcase the classic buddy comedy viewers have come to expect in a big, bright, music and heart-filled holiday package, said Marjorie Cohn, Nickelodeon’s EVP for Development and Original Programming.
Bell and Peck wear co-producer hats for the project, which reunites the whole Drake & Josh cast of regulars, including Miranda Cosgrove as the boys’ mischievous, prank-pulling sister Megan and Jerry Trainor as Josh’s co-worker, erratic movie theatre usher Crazy Steve. On a merry, musical note, Bell rings in the season and engages the foster kids and his band with rocking renditions of Jingle Bells and The 12 Days of Christmas.
The comic adventure unfolds as a mall Santa and his sack of toys (alias Drake and Josh) promise an adorable girl that her foster parents and siblings will have the best Christmas ever. It’s a pledge that will change their holiday and their lives — and one that’s tough to keep after Drake’s antics at a holiday party land responsible Josh in the slammer. Both boys are hauled into court after Drake tries to break his brother out of jail, and the Christmas promise prompts Judge Newman (Winkler) to rule that if little Mary Alice (Bailee Madison) and her family don’t have the best Christmas ever, it’s back behind bars for Drake and Josh. Little sis Megan’s clever pranks keep a heartless parole officer at bay, but the guys bump heads and clash on the path to make good on their unbreakable promise, leaving kids to expect the unexpected — including Josh’s ex-cellmate Bludge (Kimbo Slice) making an appearance as a rather unusual Santa.
In the series, Bell plays charming, work-averse ladies’ man Drake Parker, who pulls his responsible and sensitive stepbrother Josh Nichols (Josh Peck) into hi-jinks. Both are hoodwinked by Cosgrove’s Megan. Shared antics cement a growing brotherly bond, while perennial teen issues and dilemmas come to light.