Unfabulous is an American teen sitcom that aired on Nickelodeon. The series is about an "unfabulous" middle schooler named Addie Singer, played by Emma Roberts. The show, which premiered on September 12, 2004, was one of the most-watched programs in the U.S. among children and teenagers between the ages of 10 and 16. It was created by Sue Rose, who previously created two animated series Pepper Ann (for Disney) and Angela Anaconda, and co-created the character Fido Dido with Joanna Ferrone. The series concluded on December 16, 2007, with the final episode titled "The Best Trip Ever".
Most of the episodes are narrated by Addie, and are told in flashbacks. The show's theme song is performed by Jill Sobule, who also wrote the songs performed throughout the show.
Contents
Premise
Unfabulous' main lead character is a teenage girl named Addie Singer (Emma Roberts), who writes songs about her life in middle school. Her best friends are Geena Fabiano (Malese Jow), who is interested in fashion and designs her own clothes, and the environmentally committed school basketball player Zack Carter-Schwartz (Jordan Calloway). They all attend Rocky Road Middle School in an unmentioned East Coast city. However, in episode 34 "The Birthday" when Addie receives a letter from when she was 7 years old the address is listed as "Pinecrest, PA". Addie's older brother Ben (Tadhg Kelly) works at Juice!, a smoothie bar where Addie and her friends often hang out after school.
Throughout the first season, Addie obsesses about her crush on Jake Behari (Raja Fenske), who recently had his girlfriend (Bianca Collins).
For the majority of the second season, however, Addie is dating Randy Klein (Evan Palmer). They break up towards the end of the show's season and Addie realizes that she still likes Jake. The made-for-TV movie Unfabulous: The Perfect Moment focused on Addie and Jake getting together although Jake will be gone for the rest of the summer in Canada.
In the third season, Addie and Jake finally begin dating and Geena and Zack begin to have feelings for each other.
Cast and characters
Main
Emma Roberts as Addie Singer, the 13-year-old main lead.
Malese Jow as Geena Fabiano, Addie's best friend who is interested in fashion and designs her own clothes, which are usually provocative and therefore she receives daily lectures from the school principal.
Jordan Calloway as Zack Carter-Schwartz, Addie's male Black American best friend who is on the basketball team and an environmental advocate that wears sandals
Tadhg Kelly as Ben Singer, Addie's older brother
Molly Hagan as Mrs. Sue Singer, Addie's mother
Markus Flanagan as Mr. Jeff Singer, Addie's father
Emma Degerstedt as Maris Bingham, a mean girl.
Chelsea Tavares as Cranberry St. Claire, Maris' Black American minion.
Recurring
Dustin Ingram as Duane Oglivy
Mary Lou as Mary Ferry
Raja Fenske as Jake Behari, Addie's Asian boyfriend.
Bianca Collins as Patti Perez. Another Latina mean girl who joins Maris & Cranberry and ex-girlfriend of Jake who tries to make Addie jealous and humiliate her.
Sarah Hester as Jen Stevenson-Ben's girlfriend and co-worker at Juice!
Harry Perry III as Manager Mike
Stephen Ford as Chad
Mildred Dumas as Principal Brandywine
Evan Palmer as Randy Klein
Sean Whalen as Coach Pearson
Brandon Smith as Mario (season 1)
Miracle Vincent as Ellie
Shawn McGill as Freddy
Carter Jenkins as Eli Pataki (season 1)
Shanica Knowles as Vanessa
Lourdes Pantin as Becca
Other appearances
The series' main lead character, Addie Singer, also appears in a crossover episode of Drake & Josh called "Honor Council", in which she helps Megan (Cosgrove) play a prank on Josh for a video when Megan makes for her website. The episode aired in November 2004, a few months after both series had premiered in the same year.
Broadcast and home media
The series aired on Nickelodeon and premiered in the United States on September 12, 2004. The final episode aired on December 16, 2007. In Late 2006, aired on TeenNick (formerly The N) until 2015.
Unfabulous has also previously aired on Nickelodeon Canada and Nickelodeon Teen in France.
DVD and streaming
The DVD TEENick Picks, Volume 1 released on April 18, 2006 (via Paramount Media Ent) – features "The Little Sister" (Season 1, Episode 11)
All episodes from the first and second seasons (including The Perfect Moment) were available for download in the iTunes Store in the United States since Autumn 2006, but are currently not available anymore. They have since been put back for download as of 2012.
The series never added on Paramount+ nor Netflix USA.
Merchandise
Along with the start of the second season in September 2005, Nickelodeon also began selling different types of Unfabulous-related merchandise, beginning with the album Unfabulous and More (see Soundtrack below). In November 2005, the album was followed by two books tying into the show, Keepin' It Real (ISBN 0-439-79666-0) and Split Ends (ISBN 0-439-80179-6), both written by Robin Wasserman, and the first items in a line of clothes based on Addie's wardrobe on the show. Four more books were released in February 2006, Starstruck (ISBN 0-439-83157-1), Jinxed! (ISBN 0-439-83158-X), Meltdown and Just Deal. The last book released in 2007 was based on the two-part episode, The Perfect Moment, by Samantha Margles. The books are narrated by Addie herself in her own words depicting each storyline.
Before the launch of the third season, a video game based on the show was released for the Game Boy Advance by THQ on September 25, 2006.
Soundtrack
On September 27, 2005, shortly after the premiere of the show's second season, Columbia Records and Nick Records released the album Unfabulous and More, which serves as both the show's soundtrack and as Emma Roberts' debut album.
The album includes several original songs (among them "Dummy" and "I Wanna Be", both of which were also released as music videos, "I Have Arrived", and "This Is Me", which was co-written by Roberts), as well as some of Addie's songs from the first season (however in newly recorded versions), including "Punch Rocker" and "New Shoes" (both from the episode "The Party"), "94 Weeks (Metal Mouth Freak)" (from "The Bar Mitzvah") and "Mexican Wrestler" (which had previously appeared on Jill Sobule's 2000 album Pink Pearl and in the Unfabulous episode "The 66th Day").
The album peaked at #46 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums.
