90s Kids Everywhere Rejoice, Josh Peck is Officially Back On Television
https://instagram.com/p/2n_2nEG-HH/?taken-by=grandfathered That’s right, 20-somethings everywhere, your favorite chubby stepbrother to watch when your parents finally let you stay up for the "mature" TV shows on Nickelodeon is gracing your television screens once again in the new sitcom “Grandfathered” on Fox.
“Grandfathered” is about a wealthy restaurant owner named Jimmy, played by John Stamos, who is a serial bachelor and is currently caught up in a mid-life crisis over how to make sure he and his restaurants stay hip. His world is rocked when a son, Gerald (Josh Peck) that he didn’t know existed shows up with his toddler daughter, Edie, making Jimmy go from playboy to father… and also to grandfather in a mere instant.
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much from this show aside from cute baby scenes and some cheesy comedy, but although that assumption was pretty accurate at times, the show’s pilot overall impressed me… especially Josh Peck’s performance.
When I saw the previews, I was pretty pumped to see Peck reemerging on the small screen. I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that Josh Nichols from Drake & Josh was one of my all-time favorite TV characters as a child. He was the adorably plump stepbrother to the gorgeous Drake Parker (don’t act like you weren’t in love with him too), who I could always count on to be spastic and hilarious (and constantly in fear of Megan). The scene where he hit Oprah with his car on his birthday is downright the highest form of comedic gold ever written on a Nickelodeon show, and in my opinion, is practically Emmy-worthy.
From watching Drake & Josh, we watched Josh Peck mature for four seasons. We saw him go from the overweight, sweaty, awkward kid to a slimmed down, borderline hunk (but still the twitchy, high strung guy that he ended the series as).
For this reason, tweens everywhere were devastated when he seemed to drop off the face of the Earth. Aside from the Drake & Josh movies, some TV cameos and voice work, it seemed like the actor may have waved goodbye to his Hollywood career, and frankly, most of his old fans sort of forgot about him.
Weirdly enough, we started seeing his adorable face again on a different screen... our phones. When Vine blew up last year and people went crazy over the sevend-second videos, Peck gained a huge following by using his account to promote his comedy sketch videos. Peck's videos were so popular that they became, what the young people are calling these days, “Vine Famous.” At that point, most kids who didn't grow up with the blessing that was Drake & Josh most likely knew Josh Peck from the app (which is a damn shame).
With this new role on a Fox show, I sincerely hope that the actor can be restored to a respected comedic actor in Hollywood once again. I think that “Grandfathered” is a perfect comeback role for Peck, as many of the kids who worshipped him on Nickelodeon in their adolescence are now in their early 20s and watching shows on other networks. Although he isn’t playing a character with crazy outbursts and an endless string of catchphrases, he's still playing the funny guy while also showcasing a more serious side of his acting abilities, which is refreshing to see from a formerly typecast actor.
Josh, you were definitely missed and we’re happy to see you doing your thing again. Here’s to hoping that, this time, you're here to stay… at least on TV.