The Fresh Beat Band

The Fresh Beat Band (originally known as The JumpArounds) is an American live-action musical children's television series created by the husband-and-wife duo of Scott Kraft and Nadine van der Velde and developed by Kraft, van der Velde, and Alice Prodanou for Nickelodeon. The show stars Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer, Thomas Hobson, Shayna Rose (later Tara Perry), and Jon Beavers as the "Fresh Beats" (Kiki, Shout, Marina, and Twist), described as four best friends in a band who are determined to follow their dreams. Kraft and van der Velde additionally serve as executive producers of the series.

The Fresh Beat Band
The Fresh Beats' logo
Also known as	The JumpArounds
Genre	Musical fiction Children's television series Comedy
Created by	Scott Kraft Nadine van der Velde
Developed by	Scott Kraft Nadine van der Velde Alice Prodanou
Written by	Alice Prodanou (2009-13) Dan Danko (2009-10) Tom Mason (2009-10) Bradley Zweig (2009-10) Matt Sheppo (2009) John Ritchie (2009) Amy Keating Rogers (2009) Laurie Israel (2010) Rachel Ruderman (2010) Kerri Grant (2010) Carla Banks Waddles (2010-12) Kim Duran (2010-13) Scott Kraft (2010-13) Heather MacGillvray (2010-13) Linda Mathious (2010-13) Nadine van der Velde (2010-13) Ursula Ziegler-Sullivan (2010) Tom Saunders (2011) Calvin Leung (2011)
Directed by	Linda Mendoza (2009-10, 2011) Neal Israel (2009-11) Jonathan Judge (2009-11) Henry Chan (2009-11) James Wahlberg (2011-12) Jody Margolin Hahn (2011) Scott Kraft (2011-12) Savage Steve Holland (2011-13)
Starring	Jon Beavers Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer Thomas Hobson Shayna Rose (2009–2011) Tara Perry (2011–2013)
Opening theme	"The Fresh Beat Band!"
Ending theme	"The Fresh Beat Band!" (instrumental)
Composers	Matter Music Scott Kraft Nadine van der Velde
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	60 + 1 stand-alone special (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Nadine van der Velde Scott Kraft
Producers	Susan R. Nessanbaum-Goldberg Jim Kukucka Chris Robinson Heather MacGillvray (2010-13) Linda Mathious (2010-13) Kim Duran (2010-13)
Production locations	Paramount Studios, Hollywood
Cinematography	Tim Gonuos Carlos Gonzalez Brandon Mastrippolito Michael Franks
Editors	Mitchell Sinoway Cindy Parisotto
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	23 minutes
Production company	Nickelodeon Productions
Original release
Network	Nickelodeon (2009–2012) Nick Jr. Channel (2009–2016)
Release	August 24, 2009 (2009-08-24) – December 7, 2013 (2013-12-07)
Related
Fresh Beat Band of Spies

During the first season, Dan Danko and Tom Mason served as the head writers and wrote a majority of the episodes, with additional contributions from Prodanou (who also served as developer and story editor), Bradley Zweig, Matt Sheppo, John Ritchie, Amy Keating Rogers, Laurie Israel, Rachel Ruderman, and Kerri Grant. Kraft and van der Velde were only credited for developing the series for TV during the first season. Beginning with the second season, they took over the writing positions from Danko and Mason, who departed to work on other projects, while Prodanou retained her position as developer, with the story editor credit being dropped. Kraft and van der Velde ended up co-writing all of the episodes for the second season alongside Carla Banks Waddles, Kim Duran, and the duo of Heather MacGillvray and Linda Mathious. In addition, new writer Tom Saunders, as well as Kraft and Duran's eventual PAW Patrol collaborator Ursula Ziegler-Sullivan, were each credited for co-writing one episode. Kraft, van der Velde, Duran, MacGillvray, and Mathious all returned to write the episodes for the third season. Banks Waddles also returned to the writing team, but due to her commitments with other projects, she was only credited for writing three out of the 20 episodes. Calvin Leung, who additionally serves as script supervisor and coordinator with Grant, Linda Ota, Jennifer Farmer, and Dawn Dreiling, was hired to co-write one episode for the third season as an additional writer, alongside Duran, Kraft, MacGillvray, Mathious, and van der Velde. Additionally, beginning with their addition to the writing staff in season 2, MacGillvray and Mathious serve as consulting producers with Duran as executive consultant. Susan R. Nessanbaum-Goldberg serves as producer, and Jim Kukucka and Chris Robinson alternate as line producers.

During season 1, the majority of the episodes were directed by Linda Mendoza, Neal Israel, Jonathan Judge, or Henry Chan. Judge, Israel, and Chan all returned to direct episodes for season 2, joined by James Wahlberg, Jody Margolin Hahn, and co-creator, co-writer, and co-executive producer Scott Kraft. Season 3 marked the return of Mendoza to the directing crew after a hiatus from the show, as well as Judge, Wahlberg, Chan, Kraft, and, briefly, Israel. Animator and cartoonist Savage Steve Holland also joined the directing team for the third season.

In addition to serving as creators, developers, executive producers, and co-writers, Kraft and van der Velde also served as lyricists for a majority of the show's songs, including the opening theme, the closing theme "Great Day", "Bananas", "Get Up And Go Go", "Friends Give Friends A Hand", "Let's Play", "Let's Dance, Everyone", "School Day", "I Can Do Anything", "No Problem We Can't Solve", "Loco Legs", "Stomp The House", "Tap It Out", "Bounce!", "Freeze Dance", "Rock This Ride", "Shine", "Drum Party", "Good Times", "Cheer", "Here For You", "Fresh Start", "DJ Get The Party Started", "Every Little Thing", and many others. Kraft and van der Velde mainly worked alongside the composing trio of Christopher "Chris" Wagner, Dan Pinnella, and Ric Markmann, collectively known as Matter Music. In addition, Peter Zizzo, Andrew Schlesinger, Matthew Gerrard, Elizabeth Ashley Saunig-Gerrard, Chip Whitewood, and Phil Galdston wrote and produced several other new songs for season 3: Gerrard, Saunig-Gerrard, and Whitewood provided "Here We Go" (the successor of "Get Up And Go Go"), "Reach For The Sky", and "We're Unstoppable"; Zizzo wrote "A Friend Like You", "Another Perfect Day" (the successor of "School Day"), "Music (Keeps Me Movin')", and "Surprise Yourself"; Schlesinger wrote "Just Like A Rockstar"; and Galdston wrote "Born Ready".

The series aired from August 24, 2009 to December 7, 2013. In 2015, an animated television series, Fresh Beat Band of Spies, premiered on Nickelodeon. All four members of the band at the time (Gonzalez-Nacer, Hobson, Perry, and Beavers) lent their voices to their respective characters in the spin-off.

Also, in 2010, Gonzalez-Nacer, Hobson, Rose, and Beavers appeared in the Nickelodeon Mega Music Fest.

Premise

All episodes follow the same basic structure:

• Each episode begins with a song that foreshadows a problem that the band will solve.
• The band works together to solve the problem.
• When the problem is solved they perform a song with the problem and solution incorporated into the lyrics.
• Each episode concludes with a version of The Fresh Beat Band's closing song, "Great Day".
• The main characters dance to choreography by Blush, Mandy Moore; Sean Cheesman; Chuck Maldonado; Scotty Nguyen; Dreya Weber; Mary Ann Kellogg; Nakul Mahajan; Mihran Kirakosian; Susan Austin, and Fred Tallaksen.

Episodes

Main article: List of the Fresh Beat Band episodes

Season	Episodes		Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
1	20		August 24, 2009 (2009-08-24)	May 28, 2010 (2010-05-28)
2	20		August 30, 2010 (2010-08-30)	July 24, 2011 (2011-07-24)
3	20		June 24, 2011 (2011-06-24)	December 7, 2013 (2013-12-07)
Special			April 21, 2013 (2013-04-21)

During the buildup to the show's debut, the band was initially advertised as The JumpArounds. Commercials promoting the band under that name were in heavy rotation on Nickelodeon prior to the series debut. The change occurred approximately in mid July 2009. The name was revealed on NickJr.com, then made its debut on television.

Characters

Main

The show's main characters are: Kiki (Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer) – guitar, violin, vocals Shout (Thomas Hobson) – keyboards, vocals Marina (Tara Perry - who replaced Shayna Rose) – drums, vocals Twist (Jon Beavers) – turntables, beatbox, vocals

Recurring

• Harper the Pizza Maker – owner of the Singing Pizza Café, played by Shane Blades
• Melody the Smoothie Maker – owner of the Groovy Smoothie Shop, played by Dioni Michelle Collins
• Ms. Piccolo the Teacher – music school teacher, played by Monica Lee Gradischek
• Reed the Guitar Player – occasional guitar player and supplier of the Fresh Beats' instruments, played by Hadley Fraser (season 1) and Patrick Levis (seasons 2–3)

There are also four children known as "The Junior Beats" who are essentially the child equivalent of their grown-up counterparts. They sing, dance, and dress as a corresponding character.

Music

The Fresh Beat Band: Music From the Hit TV Show was released on January 31, 2012. The album sold 189,000 copies in the US that year. A second collection, Vol 2.0: More Music From The Hit TV Show, was released 10 months later on October 9, 2012. The soundtracks contain songs from multiple episodes of the series, as well as songs that did not get performed in the episodes. Most of these songs, including the opening and closing themes, were composed by the trio of Ric Markmann, Dan Pinnella, and Christopher "Chris" Wagner (collectively known as Matter Music), with lyrics by the series' creators and executive producers Scott Kraft and Nadine van der Velde. Other composers, lyricists, and producers included Matthew Gerrard, Elizabeth Ashley Saunig-Gerrard, Chip Whitewood, Peter Zizzo, Andrew Schlesinger, Shelley Rosenberg, Michael Smith, Matthew Tishler, and Phil Galdston.

Singles

Four singles were released to iTunes; "Great Day" was released on February 2, 2010, "Here We Go" was released on June 28, 2011, "A Friend Like You" was released on September 13, 2011, and "Just Like a Rockstar" was released on November 29, 2011.

Music from the Hit TV Show
The Fresh Beats’ album cover
Studio album by The Fresh Beat Band
Released	January 31, 2012
Recorded	2009–2011
Genre	Children's music pop rock
Length	40:13
Language	English
Label	Viacom International Inc., Legacy Recordings, KRU Music, Varèse Sarabande
Director	Thomas Hobson Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer Zendaya
Producer	Norman, Yusry, Edry
Compiler	Arena Wan
The Fresh Beat Band chronology
The JumpArounds (2007) ''Music from the Hit TV Show'' (January 31, 2012) Let’s Get Loud - EP (2012)
Singles from The Fresh Beat Band
"Great Day" Released: February 2, 2010 "Here We Go" Released: June 28, 2011 "A Friend Like You" Released: September 13, 2011 "Just Like a Rockstar" Released: November 29, 2011

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Fresh Beat Band Theme Song"	0:49
2.	"Here We Go"	1:53
3.	"A Friend Like You"	2:19
4.	"Just Like a Rockstar"	2:02
5.	"Reach for the Sky"	1:55
6.	"I Can Do Anything"	2:01
7.	"Bananas"	1:47
8.	"Music (Keeps Me Movin')"	2:09
9.	"Good Times"	2:00
10.	"Loco Legs"	2:37
11.	"Get Up and Go Go"	2:08
12.	"Another Perfect Day"	2:12
13.	"Shine"	2:19
14.	"Stomp the House"	2:15
15.	"Surprise Yourself"	2:10
16.	"We're Unstoppable"	2:06
17.	"Friends Give Friends a Hand"	1:20
18.	"Freeze Dance"	1:53
19.	"Great Day"	2:08
20.	"Sun Beautiful Sun" (Bonus track by the Bubble Guppies)	2:10

Home media

Retail releases

Name	Release Date	Number of Episodes	Episode Titles
The Wizard of Song	August 14, 2012	3	"The Wizard of Song" "Ghost Band" "Chimps in Charge"

Manufacture on-demand releases

Name	Release Date	Number of Episodes	Episode Titles
Season 1	March 6, 2012	5 (Disc 1) 5 (Disc 2) 5 (Disc 3) 5 (Disc 4)	Disc 1: "Loco Legs" "Stick Together" "Stomp the House" "Let's Boogie" "Hippity Hop" Disc 2: "Quack Shoes" "Bounce the House" "Band Together" "Freeze Dance" "Sing with Me" Disc 3: "Rock to Sleep" "Glow for It" "Hip Hop Hoedown" "Smoothies to Go Go" "March Our Way" Disc 4: "Rhyme Time" "Doggone It" "Rock the Luau" "Hocus Pocus" "Bubble Blast"
Season 2	March 6, 2012	5 (Disc 1) 5 (Disc 2) 5 (Disc 3) 4 (Disc 4)	Disc 1: "Jungle Jazz" "Balloon Buddy" "Honk Honk" "Camping with the Stars" "Circus Mojo" Disc 2: "Singin' in the Rain" "Presto Pants" "Giant Pumpkin" "Back to School" "The Case of the Missing Violin" Disc 3: "Fresh Beats in Toyland" "Zydeco Music Parade" "Car Wash Dance" "Follow the Leader" "Kiki's Kickin' Chorus" Disc 4: "Drum Party" "Mixed Up Musical" "Band in a Jam" "Step It Up"
Season 3	April 10, 2014	5 (Disc 1) 5 (Disc 2) 5 (Disc 3) 4 (Disc 4)	Disc 1: "Graduation Day" "Giant Pizza" "Dance Floor Superhero" "Cool Pool Party" "Snow Day" Disc 2: "Rock Star" "The Fresh Bots" "Chimps in Charge" "Pink Swan" "Hoop Dreams" Disc 3: "Bollywood Beats" "Yo Fresh Beats Go Gabba Gabba" "Ghost Band" "Veloci-Rap-Star" "Laughing Dance Master" Disc 4: "Royal Wedding" "Keeping It Green" "Dance-A-Thon" "The Wizard of Song"

Episodes on Nick Jr. compilation DVDs

Name	Release Date	Number of Episodes	Episode Titles
Nickelodeon: Rootin' Tootin' Wild West	January 29, 2013 (Walmart) August 6, 2013 (retail)	1	"Hip Hop Hoedown"
Nickelodeon: Once Upon a Rhyme	April 30, 2013		"Royal Wedding"
Nickelodeon: Celebrate Fall!	August 18, 2015		"Giant Pumpkin"

Episodes on Nick Jr. iTunes compilations

Name	Release Date	Number of Episodes	Episode Titles
To School We Go!	August 16, 2010	1	"March Our Way"
Haunted Halloween Vol. 3	October 25, 2010		"Glow for It"
Bundle of Love Vol. 2	January 31, 2011		"Freeze Dance"
Move to the Music	June 6, 2011		"Band Together"
Let's Learn Music	November 12, 2012		"Rock Star"
Let's Learn Science	November 12, 2012		"Keepin' it Green"
Let's Learn Weather	November 12, 2012		"Singin' in the Rain"
Circus	March 4, 2013		"Circus Mojo"
Let's Drive!	April 15, 2013		"Car Wash Dance"
Royal Playdates Vol. 1	July 8, 2013		"Royal Wedding"
Let's Go to the Rainforest!	July 29, 2013		"Jungle Jazz"
Back to School	August 13, 2013		"Back to School"
Happy Halloween	October 23, 2013		"Ghost Band"
Treasure Hunt Vol. 2	March 31, 2014		"The Case of the Missing Violin"
Bedtime Stories	September 29, 2014		"Rock to Sleep"

Reception

Critical response

Drew Magary of Deadspin describes the show as "pure evil, as much as an innocent and friendly show about good friends can be pure evil".

Nominations and awards

• 26th Annual Imagen Awards Nomination for Best Young Actress/Television : Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer in The Fresh Beat Band
• Parents Choice 2011 Award: The Fresh Beat Band – Fun Stuff (Ages: 2 – 5 years)

External links

• The Fresh Beat Band at IMDb