The Naked Brothers Band (TV Series) - Reception

Reception

When the film premiered on the network, it was seen by an average of 2.7 million viewers; it placed the top 10 spot on the Nielsen VideoScan children's non-theatrical DVD charts. The band's hit song "Crazy Car" sold more than 100,000 downloads online; it was placed on the top 100 Billboard Charts for seven weeks and the track was featured on the Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice, Vol 3.

The family had encountered an incident in the past; the family had to change their phone number because fans were calling their house relentlessly. Draper recalls, "Little girls would call and say, 'Helloooo, is Nat there? We just love him.' The only thing that's comforting is, they're pretty harmless at that age."

According to a 2007 PRNewswire article, the show "quickly became one of the top programs for tweens on television". The executive vice president of development and original programming for Nickelodeon, Marjorie Cohn explains: "The Naked Brothers Band series has exploded and continues to grow in popularity as a multiplatform and international property for Nickelodeon." She also notes, prior to broadcasting the second season, that "Nat and Alex are bonafide rock stars who have captured the hearts of kids everywhere with their original music and we're excited to kick off a brand-new season of their hit series. This season finds the band prepping for their tour while still having the same ups and downs of kid-dom that their fans at home are experiencing. It's this authenticity that's the appeal of the show - plus the music is irresistible."

Ronnie Sheib from Variety praised the film, stating that it is: "Convincingly faithful to kids' rhythms and speech patterns, and featuring several catchy if one-chorus numbers, this bouncy, feel-good kid pic, with targeted release strategy, could rock peers and parents alike." Tami Horiuchi from Amazon.com said that the film is a "funny spoof of the Hollywood rockumentary genre is so over-done that some viewers might find it distasteful, offensive, and/or inappropriate for children" and recommends an age group between the ages of 9–13. Commonsense Media suggests that the film is age appropriate for children 10+ and gave it a two out of a five star rating. Felicia R. Lee from The New York Times called, both the film and the television series, "an ebullient mock documentary."

The premiere of the series acquired the channel as favorable for children aged 6–11; Nielsen Media Research calculates—of in that age range—approximately 1.3 million people have watched the first 10 episodes of the series. It was one of the quickest starts in about three decades for the network—giving the channel the most favorable ratings in seven years. The series is in a popular category, along with Disney Channel's Hannah Montana and Cory in the House. By October, 2007, Nick.com's message boards had 5.3 million pages viewed, causing online madness. The show has three video games online that have been played about 24 million times. Moreover, fans have downloaded over 800 thousand podcasts.

Despite the show's prosperity—in terms of its viewership ratings, as it came close to wrap up filming for the third season, network bosses urged the family to lengthen the season from 13 episodes to 60. Nevertheless, prior agreements had already been made between Draper, her husband and Hecht's agents that shooting would not interfere with the boys' school schedule. Network executives chose no longer to conform to the family's demands, prompting Draper and Wolff to cancel the series in mid-2009.