Boston Globe - Boston,MA,USA
January 7, 2007

On Jan. 27, Nickelodeon will launch "The Naked Brothers Band," a series about real-life brothers Nat (12 years old) and Alex (9 ) Wolff and their rock band.

Cameras will follow the band members as they walk the red carpet, perform music on the roof of a New York apartment building , or just hang out in their kitchen. Michael Wolff, the boys' father and onetime music director for "The Arsenio Hall Show," plays their dad on screen as well.

The twist of the series is that Nat and Alex aren't famous. Nickelodeon is just pretending they are.

"This is our version of 'The Monkees,' " said Tom Ascheim, general manager and executive vice president of Nickelodeon, referring to a 1960s fast-paced comedy series about a rock quartet that had madcap adventures.

"Nat Wolff wrote all the music, which I think distinguishes the show," said Ascheim. "Sometimes I think you get a sense from bands that they are [faking it] like Milli Vanilli. This really is by kids and for kids."

"The Naked Brothers Band" may seem like a "Hannah Montana" re-do. (On the latter, country singer Billy Ray Cyrus appears as the father of his real-life daughter Miley Cyrus , a.k.a. Hannah ).

Nickelodeon insists it's not reacting to or duplicating the competition.

"I've never even seen 'Hannah Montana,' " said Polly Draper, the creator of "The Naked Brothers Band" series and the mother of Nat and Alex Wolff.

"The Naked Brothers Band" was presented as a 90-minute movie at the Hamptons International Film Festival two years ago, long before the Disney sitcom premiered, she added.

Draper, an actress who starred in the 1987-1991 drama "thirtysomething," didn't want her children involved in the business initially. "Nat kept putting signs on his door 'I want to be a child actor.' I said no, it's too brutal."

To appease him, Draper offered to make a mock documentary about his band as if it were a huge success. Calling on her celebrity friends, Draper got Cyndi Lauper, Uma Thurman, Tony Shalhoub, Julianne Moore, Ann Curry, Arsenio Hall , and others to appear on screen as themselves talking about or interacting with the band. Jazz artist Nancy Wilson even sang one of the band's songs, "Crazy Car."

Pleased with her directorial debut, Draper entered the film in the festival, where it won the audience award for best family feature.

Albie Hecht, a former president of film and TV entertainment for Nickelodeon who developed the megahit "SpongeBob SquarePants," was in the audience that day. "He said, 'Why don't we turn this into a TV series?' " recalled Draper.

Draper's film will air Jan. 27 at 8 p.m. as the series' pilot episode. New episodes will begin airing Feb. 3.

To promote the band, Nickelodeon has been airing Naked Brothers' music videos on its website, nickelodeon.com, since October. The videos have been played by viewers online more than 11 million times. One of those viewers recognized the Wolff brothers recently in a Florida hotel.

She sent over a note: Are you the Naked Brothers?

"They were so excited," Draper recalled. "The show hasn't aired yet and now, walking down the street, kids are calling out their names. They can't believe it." Nat and Alex were unavailable to comment.