The new Disney show "Zeke and Luther" (2009) is what would happen if "Drake and Josh" suddenly became skater boyz. Drake takes on the 1982 speech patterns of "Fast Time at Ridgement High's" surfer dude Jeff Spicoli and is named Zeke (played by Hutch Dano – perhaps an inside joke on "Starsky and Hutch" and "Hawaii Five-O"). Poor Josh is re-named Luther (Adam Hicks), he seems to have lost a lot of IQ points and to have acquired the vaguely irritating 1998 speech patterns of Seth Green's character in "Can't Hardly Wait". Megan keeps her fearsome personality but is now named Ginger (Ryan Newman).
"Zeke and Luther" is getting a lot of repeat play these days on Disney XD-the successor to "Toon Disney", so it should not be hard to track it down for viewing if the basic premise seems interesting to you.
The supporting characters are all caricatures to varying degrees and this fits nicely with the slightly off-kilter backlot production design of the show.
"Zeke and Luther" is a bit dumbed down relative to "Drake and Josh"; going after a younger and less sophisticated demographic, although there is some overlap.
The show does occasionally surprise and throws in some really clever stuff. Especially noteworthy were several scenes between Dano and Abigail Mavity in the "Donut Jockey" episode. Mavity appears in four short segments of this episode; each time playing a subtly different version of her character and each time effortlessly selling the new version. She is helped by nice work from the wardrobe and makeup people, plus excellent acting for the camera direction; but her acting skills are extremely impressive. Casting people would be wise to put Mavity very high on a short list of extremely talented young actors.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
