Instant Star
Instant Star is a Canadian musical comedy-drama television series which aired from September 15, 2004 to June 26, 2008. The series starred Alexz Johnson as teenage singing competition winner Jude Harrison. The show chronicles Harrison's experience in the recording industry whilst focusing on character development.
Linda Schuyler and Stephen Stohn of Epitome Pictures produced the show. The show began to air on CTV in Canada before being picked up by Viacom-owned teen channel The N, now TeenNick, in the United States. The show became the second most popular series on The N with , another show also produced by Schuyler and Stohn, ranking as most popular.
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: Best Series; Best Performance ; and Best Direction. The show won the award for Best Direction for the episode You Can't Always Get What You Want.
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, and there were two more nominations for Best Direction - Graeme Campbell, and Pat Williams.
Four seasons of the show were produced. CTV and The N both pulled funding following the fourth season, and the execs chose to end the show. The show was initially ended after its fifth season. Upsetting fans started a petition. The fourth and final season of the show ended on June 26, 2008, in the United States. Reruns continue on CTV in a Saturday morning timeslot.
Cast
| Actor | Character |
| Alexz Johnson | Jude Harrison |
| Tim Rozon | Tom "Tommy Q" Quincy |
| Laura Vandervoort | Sadie Harrison |
| Kristopher Turner | Jamie Andrews |
| Simon Reynolds | Stuart Harrison |
| Wes Williams | Darius Mills |
| Mark Taylor | Kwest |
| Tyler Kyte | Vincent Spiederman |
| Season | Actor | Character |
| 1 | Barbara Mamabolo | Katarina "Kat" Benton |
| 1 | Andrea Lui | E.J. Li |
| 1 | Ian Blackwood | Kyle Bateman |
| 1 | Jane Sowerby | Victoria Harrison |
| 1 | Katrina Matthews | Eden Taylor |
| 1 | Tyler Kyte | Vincent Spiederman |
| 1 | Matthew Brown | Shay Mills |
| 1 | Miku Graham | Portia Mills |
| 1 | Tracy Waterhouse | Georgia Bevans |
| 1 | Christopher Gaudet | Wally Robbins |
| 2 | Christopher Gaudet | Wally Robbins |
| 2 | Ian Blackwood | Kyle Bateman |
| 2 | Jane Sowerby | Victoria Harrison |
| 2 | Miku Graham | Portia Mills |
| 2 | Nicholas Rose | Mason Fox |
| 2 | Vincent Walsh | Liam Fenway |
| 2 | Tyler Kyte | Vincent Spiederman |
| 2 | Zoie Palmer | Patsy Sewer |
| 3 | Christopher Gaudet | Wally Robbins |
| 3 | Cory Lee | Karma |
| 3 | Ian Blackwood | Kyle Bateman |
| 3 | Miku Graham | Portia Mills |
| 3 | Tyler Kyte | Vincent Spiederman |
| 3 | Craig Warnock | Paegan Smith |
| 3 | Zoie Palmer | Patsy Sewer |
| 4 | Cassie Steele | Blu |
| 4 | Christopher Gaudet | Wally Robbins |
| 4 | Cory Lee | Karma |
| 4 | Ian Blackwood | Kyle Bateman |
| 4 | Kyle Riabko | Milo |
| 4 | Tatiana Maslany | Zeppelin |
| 4 | Tyler Kyte | Vincent Spiederman |
| 4 | Craig Warnock | Paegan Smith |
| 4 | Kristin Fairlie | Megan |
| 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 |
| Christopher Ralph | Chaz Blackburn | 2 | 5 | Viciousness |
| Corey Sevier | Hunter | 3 | 8 | 18 Part 1 |
| Corey Sevier | Hunter | 3 | 10 | Nowhere To Run |
| Corey Sevier | Hunter | 3 | 11 | Celebrity Skin |
| Jordan Todosey | Helen | 2 | 10 | Problem Child |
| John Ralston | Don | 2 | 4 | Miss World |
| John Ralston | Don | 2 | 5 | Viciousness |
| John Ralston | Don | 2 | 7 | Stranger In The House |
| John Ralston | Don | 2 | 11 | Mother's Little Helper |
| Shawn Singleton | T-Bone | 1 | 5 | You Can't Always Get What You Want |
| Shawn Singleton | T-Bone | 1 | 7 | I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend |
| Shawn Singleton | T-Bone | 2 | 2 | No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn: Part 2 |
| Season | Winner | Runner-Up |
| 1 | Jude Harrison | Eden Taylor |
| 2 | Mason Fox | |
| 3 | Karma | Bobby |
| 4 | Milo Keegan | Kadijah |
Series plot
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
Music
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.
Broadcasters
Instant Star was broadcast in over 120 countries.| Country | Broadcaster |
| Australia | Nickelodeon |
| Austria | ORF |
| Belgium | Ketnet |
| Brazil | Multishow, Boomerang |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | FTV |
| Bulgaria | NovaTV |
| Canada | CTV |
| Canada | MuchMusic |
| Estonia | TV3 |
| Finland | Sub |
| France | FillesTV |
| France | 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: | The N, MTV, Primo TV |
| Ukraine: | K1 |
| Venezuela | Televen |
Home releases
released the first two seasons on DVD in Region 1 in 2007.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.
| 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 |