''Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide'' (sometimes shortened to ''Ned's Declassified'') is an American

live action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

that debuted on the Nickelodeon Sunday night TEENick scheduling block on September 12, 2004. The series' original

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in television in the United States, United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a te ...

aired on September 7, 2003, without many of the current version's main characters, and it was ordered to series by Nickelodeon in early 2004. The one-hour special movie

series finale A series finale is the final installment of an episodic entertainment series, most often a television series. It may also refer to a final theatrical sequel, the last part of a television miniseries, the last installment of a literary series, or ...

aired on June 8, 2007. The show was produced by Apollo ProScreen GmbH & Co. Filmproduktion KG in association with Jack Mackie Pictures. Its main

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights ...

and creator is Scott Fellows, the head writer for ''

The Fairly OddParents ''The Fairly OddParents'' is an American animated television series created by Butch Hartman for Nickelodeon. The series follows the adventures of Timmy Turner, a 10-year-old boy with two fairy godparents named Cosmo and Wanda who grant him ...

''.

Premise

''Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide'' follows the lives of Ned Bigby, Jennifer "Moze" Mosely, and Simon "Cookie" Nelson-Cook. The first season takes place during the first semester of seventh grade, the second season covers the second semester of seventh grade, and the third season takes place during eighth grade. Throughout the series, Ned builds up a number of 'tips' for his "survival guide", and uses the tips to help himself and his classmates cope with the standard struggles of middle school. Each individual episode relates to a topic in the guide, such as popularity, grades, or sports, as well as developing other plots (such as Ned's love life) throughout.

Episodes

Cast

* Devon Werkheiser as Ned Bigby * Lindsey Shaw as Jennifer "Moze" Mosely *

Daniel Curtis Lee Daniel Curtis Lee (born May 17, 1991) is an American actor, comedian and rapper, best known for portraying Simon "Cookie" Nelson-Cook on the Nickelodeon series ''Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide'' from 2004 to 2007. Overview Early l ...

as Simon "Cookie" Nelson-Cook *

Jim J. Bullock James Jackson Bullock (born February 9, 1955) is an American actor and comedian of stage, television, and motion pictures. He starred in the sitcom ''Too Close for Comfort''. Early life Bullock was born in Casper, Wyoming, and raised in Odessa, ...

as Mr. Monroe (main role, season 1; recurring role, seasons 2–3) * Daran Norris as Gordy (recurring role, season 1; main role, seasons 2–3)

Locations

The show takes place at the fictional James K. Polk Middle School, named after the 11th President of the United States, James K. Polk. The exterior of the school was filmed at La Mesa Junior High in

Santa Clarita, California Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-largest city by population in Los Angeles County, the 17 ...

. The school's colors are gold and green and its

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as ...

is the

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

, which is a common theme throughout the school's interior. During the first season, all of the show's action took place within the school or its grounds, and with the exception of one or two notable occasions, everything happened indoors. However, during season 2, the show's producers decided they wanted more exterior scenes, so more outdoor shots were used, and on certain occasions, the show took place off school property. The show's finale, for example, took place almost entirely off the school grounds.

DVD releases

In the USA there have been four DVD releases made for the series. * TEENick Picks, Volume 1 released on April 18, 2006 – features "Guide to: Computer Labs and Backpacks" (Season 1, Episode 9) * Special Field Trip Edition released on August 28, 2007 – features "Field Trips, Permission Slips, Signs, and Weasels" and "Guide to: Dismissal and The School Play." * The Best of Season 1 and The Best of Season 2 both released on September 23, 2008 exclusive to Amazon.com. The first season of ''Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide'' was released on DVD in the Netherlands, Australia, and Belgium on April 9, 2009. The Netherlands also released the second season, although both seasons were only released with Dutch dubbing. It's unknown if there will follow more places in Europe, or someplace else. Alliance Home Entertainment has released the first two seasons on DVD in Canada only. The third and final season was supposed to be released on February 7, 2012 in Canada only, but again the production was delayed.

Reception

Ratings

The debut of ''Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide'' on September 12, 2004, received a 4.5 rating, with 914,000 tween viewers, which was described as "healthy, but not as stellar" ratings by ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

''s Denise Martin.

Critical

Robert Lloyd of ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' upon reviewing the series finale of ''Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide'' remarked that it was "one of the best series on television — a show that took genre conventions and ran them through unpredictable changes".

Proposed spin-off

In June 2008, Werkheiser signed a development contract with Nickelodeon for a spin-off that would deal with his character's adventures in high school. The show was never greenlit to production, due to the other major actors from the original series being busy with their own projects – creator and executive producer Scott Fellows was working on another Nickelodeon show, ''

Big Time Rush ''Big Time Rush'' is an American musical sitcom television series created by Scott Fellows that originally aired on Nickelodeon from November 28, 2009, to July 25, 2013 and is currently available in Paramount+. It focuses on the Hollywood mi ...

'';

was committed to

Disney XD Disney XD is an American pay television channel owned by the Disney Branded Television and Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution units of The Walt Disney Company. The channel is aimed primarily at older children ages six to eleven yea ...

's '' Zeke and Luther''; and Lindsey Shaw was working as the lead on ABC Family's ''

10 Things I Hate About You ''10 Things I Hate About You'' is a 1999 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Gil Junger and starring Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Larisa Oleynik. The screenplay, written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirs ...

''.

References

External links

* (Archived) * {{Former Nickelodeon original series 2000s American teen sitcoms 2000s Nickelodeon original programming 2004 American television series debuts 2007 American television series endings English-language television shows Middle school television series Single-camera television sitcoms Television series created by Scott Fellows