They don't make them as frequent as Disney Channel, but they're starting to pump them up on Nick. I'm only including the live action original movies Nick has since Disney Channel only has live action too.

They kind of go back to the 90's with shows that had movies like Alex Mack, Shelby Woo, Allen Strange, Kenan & Kel, and Cousin Skeeter. But they just started to make them more frequent last year. With Shredderman Rules (starring Ned Bigby of "Ned's Declassified") and The Last Day of Summer

Most recently is the new movie "Spectacular" premiering in January. The movie looks a lot like a couple of certain musicals from Disney Channel. You know, the ones about a boy either doing a drama play instead of basketball or a rock star going to a music filled camp to shape up his bad attitude. Yeah, this movie may be a lot like those.

Nickelodeon is also seeming to make Miranda Cosgrove into another MC (from Disney channel) with her singing career.

"Spectacular" is set to premiere February 16th (Presidents Day).

Sighting the shows that you listed, it seemed Nick could had made more live-action tv movies/films. I always wondered why Nick went the cartoon route(Rugrates, Thronberrys, Spongebob, etc) for films, instead of their more popular live-action tv shows? I mean back in the day an Alex Mack or Afraid Of The Dark tv movies or films would had rocked! Some of those shows had a good fanbase but instead it was an oversaturation of Rugrats; and now its Spongebob.

Sure there been lots of Drake and Josh tv specials but considering what Disney has put out and the variety of its tv movies, well Nick can hardly compare. Nick library is full of old-school or later shows that could be revamp, updated, or given a special just because. To see them go the HSM route is kinda lame and uninspiring no matter who's starring.

Last I knew though there were plans to spawn Spectacular into a series of sorts. Not that it would be called Spectacular exactly, so much as it would be a show with a similar type premise (involving singing at some sort of preppy type school) which would serve them as a launching pad for star Victoria Justice. For those who aren't familiar with Victoria, she played Lola in Zoey 101 and she is Nick's newest it girl that they are determined to launch. Victoria, not so coincidentally plays a supporting role in Spectacular. If anything I feel like this new movie is mostly to test the waters for their new series.

They aren't trying to hide it either. They're pretty much outright saying, "Hey, DC has been really successful with it's musicals, we want a piece of that action, so here ya go."

From the promos, Spectacular doesn't look as cheesy-good as HSM, or even Camp Rock. But it will probably be successful. And could the lead guy pout any harder? They are really selling this "angsty teen rebel who want to rock" thing hard.

Oh, and there's a rumor that Nick is already showing interest in doing another Drake & Josh movie, which isn't surprising considering how well Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh did. It was the first Nick live-action flick to break 8 million viewers, putting it right up there with DC's top original movies.

My early prediction is that Spectacular will also top 8 million. Maybe. Probably. :D

When I first saw the topic, I thought of Nicks theatrical outings, starting with Harriet the Spy. I remembered seeing the first Rugrats movie with my friends wayyyy back in 98.

Disney and Nick are really going head to head on President's Day. Nick is showing a new iCarly, new True Jackson, and then Spectacular. Disney has a new Hannah Montana, new Wizards of Waverly Place, and then their new DCOM Dadnapped. I understand it can be a big day (since all of the kids have off), but has kids' programming always been this "big" on President's Day.

Not that I've noticed, especially over at DC. Disney Channel usually shows their first DCOM of the year in January, then it's a few months (anywhere from 2 to 5) until their next one. Under normal circumstances, Dadnapped would've aired by now.

But I think they are purposefully counter-programming against Spectacular. Nick has really started nipping at DC's heels in the original movies department. In fact, at least two Nick originals were right up in DCOM territory in 2008.

1. Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh (Nick - 8.95 million viewers)
2. Camp Rock (DC - 8.86 million viewers)
3. iCarly: iGo to Japan (Nick - 7.83 million viewers)
4. Minutemen (DC- 6.48 million viewers)
5. The Cheetah Girls: One World (DC - 6.2 million viewers)

I'm thinking DC isn't exactly thrilled by this. And Spectacular has the potential to be right up there too. By putting Dadnapped right up against it, DC seems to be going for two things. If Dadnapped wins in the ratings, it'll show that DC is still top dog when it comes to tween movies. Even if Dadnapped doesn't win it will, at the very least, take some viewers away from Spectacular, and keep it from rating as highly as it would have without the competition.

I think Nick's current programming could be a threat to Disney. On one night this past November, both iCarly and True Jackson VP combined scored 11 million viewers. That's saying something. And I think Disney is trying to do something with premiering Dadnapped on at the same time as Spectacular, because don't DCOMs usually premiere on Fridays? Disney is going to compete.

Now that you mention it, you're absolutely right. DC always premieres their DCOMs on Fridays. If they ever premiered one on any other night, it was years and years ago. So that's one more unusual thing about their scheduling of Dadnapped.

You know, I suddenly want these movies to hurry up and air so we can see the ratings. :D

Apparently, it's going to be a Nick vs. Disney all out battle on Presidents Day.

Schedules for Nick/Disney Feb. 16th 7-8pm

7:00pm: New True Jackson VP vs. New Wizards of Waverly Place
7:30pm: New iCarly vs. New Hannah Montana
8:00pm: Spectacular vs. Dadnapped

And now I really want to see the ratings for Feb. 16th.

I'm surprised to see Nick has flipped TJVP and iCarly. In their regular slots, iCarly airs first. But iCarly has the bigger audience (as far as I know), and I'm guessing they think it'll make a better lead-in for Spectacular.

So, what did you all think of Spectacular? I thought it was a good movie. And original compared to HSM and Camp Rock.

I'd have to agree. It was not the greatest, but I liked it better than HSM and Camp Rock. I thought the songs were catchy. It was fun mindless entertainment.

Unfortunately, Disney beat Nickelodeon the whole night and Dadnapped beat Spectacular in the ratings (4.6 million viewers vs. 3.3 million). All info from tvbythenumbers.com.

I still think that Nick did strong though (TJVP had 3.1 million while iCarly supposedly did well and Spectacular had over 3 million), but of course using things like the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus new video, and a sneak peek for Witch Mountain movie lured more to Disney.

Man, Spectacular tanked. I was expecting it at least to get in the 6 millions. (Maybe even 8 million if it didn't have all that competition.) But while 3.3 million viewers might be good for a typical Nick original (although two Nick originals passed the 7 and 8 million viewer marks just months ago) it's not great for a movie hoping to be the next big phenomenon/franchise a la HSM. I just can't consider Spectacular's ratings strong, not when Cheetah Girls: One World scored 6.2 million viewers last year and was considered a flop by some.

I'm sure Dadnapped hurt Spectacular a little. But even if Dadnapped hadn't aired at the same time, and every single person who watched Dadnapped had tuned in to Spectacular instead (highly unlikely) it still wouldn't have had blockbuster ratings.

You have to understand though, that Disney lured people in with a new WOWP (opposite new TJVP), a new HM (opposite new iCarly), and new video premieres from it's Disney stars (Miley Cyrus, Zac Efron and the Jonas Brothers) along with sneak peeks for the new Jonas Brothers 3D movie, the HM movie and the upcoming Witch Mountain remake. I think Nick was more classic in they're programming. And IMO, they still did strong compared to the competition.

And CG:OW was a flop considering that the previous two movies had much higher ratings and One World didn't have Raven Symone in it, when she was the headlining star for the previous two. Compared to the popularity of the other two Cheetah movies, One World wasn't very popular. Disney is more known recently with the marketing tactics (moreso Overmarketing). I think Nickelodeon should continue to fight.

But, like I said, even if DC hadn't done that, and all of those viewers had tuned in to Nick instead, Spectacular still wouldn't have been a blockbuster hit. And, sure, DC through every marketing advantage they had at Feb. 16th. So did Nick. DC just had more going for them.



Well, since DC was their main competition (in terms of target audience), and DC beat Nick for the night, I don't think Nick exactly did strong compared to the competition.



And some might say CG:OW did pretty well considering they did lose their headlining star.

Considering where the Cheetah Girls are now, I wouldn't say that worked out well enough (though Raven isn't doing that well herself).

I don't see the difference. Nick lured people, or attempted to, with episodes of True Jackson and iCarly. Disney did it with WOWP and Hannah. The movies went head to head. Even though I had no interest in seeing Spectacular, I actually thought it would do better than Dadnapped ratings wise just because Dadnapped was more of an old fashioned DCom (no singing or dancing) and Spectacular was far flashier. I'm glad I was wrong, but I have to agree that with or without whatever Disney pitted against Spectacular, the latter wouldn't have done well.

Also you have to consider the night it aired. It seems Fridays are a lot better for premiering things like this. Not every kid had President's Day off and the ones that did had homework for the next day. I mean, Dad-napped didn't pass 5 million, and I think that's the lowest-rated premiere for a DCOM yet. I was hoping Nickelodeon would win this, I'm getting sick of the pimping of the Disney stars (GTFO the Grammys, Cyrus!) and Nickelodeon has never really thrusted their stars into the mainstream.

I noticed in that press release on TV By The Numbers, while Hannah Montana did well, they didn't mention it beating iCarly so it's safe to assume iCarly won that time period. So at least it's proven that anything Disney has can't touch iCarly, yet. That makes me happy, especially when you consider how Miley Cyrus is everywhere and Nickelodeon hasn't pushed Miranda Cosgrove a 1/10th as much.

Yeah, from what I know about iCarly vs HM in the ratings battle, iCarly has been beating HM for long time now. iCarly has been consistently in the top 5 in cable ratings and one of their reruns "iKiss" bea a new episode of HM. Not including iCarly's 1 hour special iGo to Japan, iCarly can do up to 6 million viewers.

I tried watching Spectacular and got a half hour into it before the girl's eyebrows and acting bugged me too much I had to shut it off. Also, the main actor dude doesn't have "it" and I got bored really quickly.

The songs were okay though.

I intend to see Spectacular at some point. I just can't seem to work up a whole lot of interest in it yet. But who knows. It might really like it.

I do wonder how the ratings will effect whatever "spin-off" ideas Nick had in the works for Spectacular. They seemed to be looking at it as sort of a launching pad for some other stuff, but they might be cooling on that idea right about now.

Apparently, Disney didn't win the whole night. According to LATimes, the new iCarly beat Hannah Montana in the ratings (5 million vs. 4.4 million). i'm not surprised Disney didn't mention that in the ratings.

Wow, so the kids changed the channel from the Disney Channel to Nickelodeon and then changed it back. I think maybe if Nickelodeon had more known Nick stars in Spectacular, it would've gained a bit more interest in the kiddies. The thing about HSM is that Disney pushed and promoted that film like no one business before the premiere and Nickelodeon was always been a bit conservative IRT to pushing their kid stars into the mainstream.



They will probably go ahead with a sequel, and Victoria Justice has her own show coming up.

Not necessarily. WOWP, HM and Dadnapped had almost exactly the same number of total viewers. So DC's ratings were pretty rock steady across the board for the entire night.

On the other hand, viewership over at Nick fluctuated wildly.

Tru Jackson, VP - 3.1 million viewers

iCarly - 5 million viewers

Spectacular - 3.3 million viewers

So there was definitely a lot of channel-changing going on over at Nickelodeon.

It was a given that iCarly beat Hannah based on the Disney press release alone and while that I suppose is a silver lining for Nick, it's not exactly bragworthy that they had 5 million people tuned in to watch iCarly and more than a million and half of those folks switched the channel afterwards to watch something else.

As for Nick not pimping their own shows, it depends what you watch. I've been seeing countless Spectacular promos and music vids for months. But that's only because I watch "The N" which has been promoting it nonstop. I realize these stations are all run by the same people, but it's not like Spectacular was getting no promo. I'm not exactly sure what kind of viewership The N brings in these days, but it sure seemed like every other commercial on that net was for Spectacular.

Something tells me that the actual Next Big Blockbuster wouldn't lose a third of its lead-in. (Specifically, 5 million for iCarly vs. 3.3 million for Spectacular when HM and Dadnapped did virtually equal numbers.)

I think one reason that Dadnapped did well was because it had quite a few Disney stars in it. I am a fan of the old fashion DCom, but I had no interest in Dadnapped. I tried to watch it, but quit after about twenty minutes in.

Now I am not too familiar with Nick Original Movies, but weren't the last two Nick Original Movies film versions of iCarly and Drake and Josh? I can see how they would pull in more viewers, since they already have a following. Does anyone know how Spectacular stacks up against the non-television show Nick movies?

From what I know, the last two (the one with the Gym teacher and Last Day of Summer) didn't do that well in the ratings, so there is a big possibility that this movie was they're highest rated original, that wasn't already from a hit series.

I also think it's intresting that iCarly did 5.1 million viewers against HM's 4.4 million but Disney didn't mention it in they're recent press release, in which they also call Spectacular! a original musical knock off. Disney is very competitive but then again, that's business.

The movie was most likely promoted all across the MTV Networks (MTV, Nick, The N, Comedy Central, etc) but with HSM, Disney made damn sure that movie just wasn't promoted on their network but friggin EVERYWHERE and even after it premiered they kept the momentum up with the concert tour and ice shows, and the reality show on ABC, a book series...Nickelodeon just couldn't really touch it.

And that's a great point. It's not that Nickelodeon is above promoting their stuff out the wazoo. They just don't have the same resources and reach that Disney has. (Among other things, Nick isn't tied to a major broadcast network like Disney is to ABC.) But that doesn't mean Nick doesn't use whatever marketing reach they do have, and I'm sure they're looking at ways to get more.

I have nothing against Disney marketing the heck out of their network and stars using every resource they can, any more than I'd hold it against an athlete for using every ounce of their skill and talent to win the championship. I mean, why shouldn't they? Of course, they risk a backlash if they go overboard.

I just wish Disney would use talented people to market, not the oversaturation of the tween market of they're current manufactured stars (Miley, Zac, Vanessa, Selena, Demi, the Jo Bros, etc.) and waste it on piss poor quality shows and movies. At least Nick is making a comeback in making quality stuff nowadays. And with talented stars.

I have a strange feeling that Nolan Gerard Funk will be the next Zac Efron.

I'll say this for Spectacular-- I'm already more interested 15 minutes in than I was through the entirety of Dadnapped.

The part that still gets me is that there were 9 1/2 million watching iCarly and Hannah Montana right before the two heavily-promoted Original Movies, and Spectacular only got about a third of that total audience.

People are never going to agree on who is talented and who isn't, but honestly I don't find the Disney talent any worse than the Nick talent. People just get sick of the Disney talent quicker since they are cross promoted and all over the airwaves. Miranda Cosgrove, Victoria Justice, the cast of Spectacular? These are not people to write home about talentwise either IMO. This is a net that is building a show around Victoria Justice next, which shows me that they are pretty much doing the same as Disney. Finding a relatively pretty young girl to market as a singer/actress. In her case the singing will be incorporated into the show.

Whether Nick has the resources or not, they have the resources to advertise all over MTV Networks, which are the networks that get young viewers anyway. It still doesn't explain why Dadnapped outdid Spectacular, since Dadnapped wasn't the kind of thing getting pimped all over the regular nets. Emily did appear on The View that morning, but that was about it. So while Dadnapped did have known DC actors and actresses, they aren't the ones getting pimped to high heaven all over the television airwaves.

""Neither was Spectacular, save for Nick and the-N.

Like spanana, I don't find the current Nick stars any more talented, or the shows any higher in quality, than those on Disney Channel.

As for ratings for other Nick originals, I think 3 million viewers is considered pretty good for a typical Nick original. The difference is that Nick was consciously trying to launch their own HSM-like super franchise. Or at least a modest success like Camp Rock.

Also, I saw plenty of marketing for Spectacular, including various articles and reports about how it was primed to be the next HSM. In comparison, the marketing I saw for Dadnapped seemed pretty typical for a DCOM, and didn't seem to go that far beyond Disney Channel.

I haven't seen Spectacular yet (I'll watch it on Friday Night). But judging what I've been seeing in the previews, this guy is a complete poser. I'm flat out shocked that he actually has fans. There is nothing unique or special about him.

Besides, I have never heard of Nolan Gerard Funk before Spectacular. At least, I've heard of Zac Efron before High School Musical. He was on Summerland being Nikki's friend (Cameron) & he was very irritating on that show (Which is why I started despising him in the first place.).

I think the real difference between the Nick kids and the Disney kids is the relatability. Nick kids seem more real IMO.

I can think of two reasons Disney might have done better:
1. Ending time. Dadnapped ended earlier, maybe easier to sway with mom and dad.
2. Repeats. I watched Dadnapped because I knew I could watch Spectacular later on Nick2 and I saw some repeats scheduled. Not sure if Dadnapped is being replayed that often.

I enjoyed Spectacular way more the Dadnapped.

Spectacular! was Craptacular!

I don't even buy the relatable factor in terms of Nick talent over Disney talent. If anything, some of them might only come off more relatable in the sense that these kids just aren't as famous. I'm not saying it's a bad thing that they aren't as famous, but hence if they were as omnipresent as the Disney kids, they would be facing the same backlash over talent and likeability and things of the sort. If Nick could market their kids the way Disney can, they totally would. It's not like they are above whoring their stars out.

As for repeats, both nets show repeats of their movies fairly regularly. I haven't checked the schedule, but I'm sure there are subsequent repeat airings of Dadnapped, in addition to the fact that I believe you can watch it on Disney on Demand.

I just can't see holding a net that gave a show to Jamie Lynn Spears as being too concerned about quality.

They're reairing Dadnapped on Friday.

This is what I love about Nick and why I watched it all the time as a little kid. I could imagine those guys on TV being my friend and there was a large "kids being kids" mentality of the shows. This is in part why Spectacular! didn't feel at all like a Nickelodeon production. I didn't know who the audience was other than High School Musical fans.

Actually, that's not really true about the first HSM. The original High School Musical was treated like any other DCOM, and was marketed accordingly. It was supposed to air, hopefully do nicely in the ratings, maybe spawn a sequel (DC has always loved those), and that's it.

Also, the only actor in the cast who could be considered "known" was Ashley Tisdale (who was doing Suite Life of Zack and Cody at the time.) And even she wasn't exactly a "star," or even the biggest star on DC. And Zac Efron hadn't done Hairspray yet, and the only thing he was known for was Summerland, a short-lived series on the WB.

Nobody, including Disney, was expecting the first HSM to do as well as it did. And it was only after it became such a hit that we got the ice shows, and the concerts, and the theater productions, and the tie-in novels, and a dozen different "special edition" DVD releases, etc. Because if there's one thing Disney knows how to do, it's capitalize on a good thing.

HSM2 was a different story. Disney already knew they were dealing with a phenomenon and were, like I said, capitalizing on a good thing. But the original HSM wasn't pushed anymore than Spectacular. In fact, I'd say Spectacular was pushed much more, because DC thought they were just airing a new DCOM, while Nick was trying to create a phenomenon of their own.

I have to agree with Bitterswete. The promotion for the first HSM really wasn't all that outlandish and the stars of HSM weren't exactly known entities at that time either. They were made stars by HSM and then eventually the Disney machine. I remember when I first started hearing about it, it really just seemed like another DCom and I didn't recognize a name on the cast list outside of Ashley Tisdale, who as already mentioned wasn't exactly one of Disney's big stars yet.

IMO, HSM became a hit mostly of its own accord--and from there Disney marketed the shit out of it. Mind you I say as someone who doesn't even particularly like HSM.

If anything it seems Nick was really trying to emulate the success of HSM even more so, right down to casting mostly a bunch of no names and hoping that they would catch on and become big stars.

I think that iCarly is one of those shows that has a pretty decent sized audience outside of the usual Nick viewership. People who'd tune in specifically for that show, then switch over to one of the network shows that they already watch every Monday at 8pm.

In that respect I don't know if it's fair to compare Spectacular's viewership to iCarly, Tru Jackson is probably more indicative of the real "baseline" lead-in of viewers that they actually had a chance of keeping in prime time on a Monday.

I think they'd have been better off waiting to show Spectacular on a Saturday when some of those iCarly viewers might've been more likely to stick around.

Or a Friday, those nights just seem to be a lot better for these types of events.


True Jackson holds quite a bit of iCarly's audience after the show goes off...but obviously looking at Monday night that True Jackson still needs that iCarly lead-in. Both The-N and Nickelodeon are rerunning it more often so it stands a chance of growing.

I think Nickelodeon will learn their lesson for the sequel and have some established Nick stars in it, and by then Victoria Justice will be in her own show.

I've finally saw Spectacular last night. I don't know who was the director of Spectacular (I know that its not Kenny Ortega) , but it was awful. At least, High School Musical 1 (despite Zac Efron) kept me entertained throughout the entire movie. Spectacular will never be as special, popular, or a classic like High School Musical. I don't know why Nickelodeon wants to do a sequel on this. It probably will be just as bad.

Spectacular wasn't any special & there was nobody to like in the movie. Nolan Gerard Funk (Nikko) was a complete tool throughout the movie (He makes Zac Efron look classy.), Tammin Sursok (Courtney) was annoying, & Victoria Justice (Tammi) is just horrible. I'm still not understanding how Nolan Gerard Funk & Victoria Justice could have any fans.

Because of this, I'm not looking forward towards Victoria Justice having her own show (whatever it is). I don't know why Nickelodeon thinks she has any sense of talent. She was terrible on Zoey 101 (One of the main reasons why I stopped watching in the 2nd season) & her singing isn't any better. Vanessa Hudgens & Ashley Tisdale can sing & act better than Victoria.


I don't know what Nickelodeon Original Movie is coming next, but I hope that its better than Spectacular.