Big Time Rush[2] (commonly abbreviated as BTR[3]) is an American television music-themed teen sitcom based on the band of the same name. The series chronicles four high school friends from Minnesota — Kendall Knight (Kendall Schmidt), James Diamond (James Maslow), Carlos Garcia (Carlos Pena, Jr.) and Logan Mitchell (Logan Henderson) — whose lives are changed when they move to Los Angeles and become a hit-making, chart-toppingboy band.
The series became the second highest-rated Nickelodeon sitcom after less than a month on the air — behind iCarly by 600,000 viewers — and attracts an average of more than three million viewers per episode debut.[4]
The show was created by showrunner and executive producer, Scott Fellows, forNickelodeon, who also created the former Nickelodeon sitcom Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide. The show incorporates original music created for the show/band, due to a partnership between Nickelodeon and Sony Music to produce the series. This is the second Nickelodeon series featuring a boy band, after The Naked Brothers Band.
The hour-long pilot episode, "Big Time Audition", aired as a "sneak preview" on November 28, 2009. The regular series debuted January 18, 2010 at 8:30 pm ET with the episode "Big Time School of Rocque", to 6.8 million viewers. New episodes usually air on Friday nights at 8:00 pm, with occasional episode debuts on Saturday nights. Reruns also currently air each weekend afternoon on Nickelodeon's spinoff channel, TeenNick.
The series soon became the number-one live-action series on Nickelodeon, according to BigTimeRushTV.com.[5]
==Premise== Four hockey friends from Minnesota, Kendall Knight (Kendall Schmidt), James Diamond (James Maslow), Carlos Garcia (Carlos Pena, Jr.), and Logan Mitchell (Logan Henderson) get the opportunity to become famous and successfully try out to be the "next great boy band."[6] They move to Los Angeles, California, where they live at the "Palm Woods Hotel" and attend the "Palm Woods School", a special school just for actors, actresses, singers, and other performers. The boys routinely come into conflict with their overbearing, outrageous, hard-driving (but successful) producer, Gustavo Rocque (Stephen Kramer Glickman), and his well-meaning assistant Kelly Wainwright (Tanya Chisholm), while trying to impress Gustavo's boss, Arthur Griffin (Matt Riedy), so that they can become successful.
Griffin is portrayed as an executive who is largely clueless about the music industry, although he is often the final decision maker, and he is also surrounded by yes-men and is overly caught up in the trappings of executive "perks". The boys also frequently come into conflict with "Mr. Bitters" (David Anthony Higgins), the manager of the Palm Woods, a self-important middle manager who delights in catching Palm Woods residents in the act of breaking the (many) Palm Woods rules. He constantly threatens to evict the boys (and various other residents) for rule violations. They
Main cast
- Kendall Knight (Kendall Schmidt) - Kendall is the "proclaimed leader" of the group and is normal, understandable, and smart. According to Kelly in Big Time Audition, Kendall is tall, blond, and all eyebrows. Gustavo chose Kendall as his singer in Big Time Audition, but Kendall talked Gustavo into letting him, James, Carlos, and Logan become a singing group so he wouldn't have to leave his friends behind. Kendall was supposed to be the cliché bad boy of the band in the episode Big Time Bad Boy, but refused to succumb to a stereotype that didn't fit him (or any of the boys, for that matter). For example, in the episode Big Time Fever, Kendall is the only one in the band without "Hollywood Fever" because he is always a normal kid, and he is also the one who makes sure the guys remembers where their roots were when they had all changed from "Hollywood Fever" -- which they find out is actually just a term for home sickness. He is also known for himself ending up in awkward situations. For example, in the episode "Big Time Sparks" he would be caught with Jordin Sparks on all of the dates he sets up with Jo. In Big Time Concert, he is described as "The Complete Package", strong-headed, and hard to control. Kendall is dating Jo and they had their first kiss in "Big Time Concert."
- James Diamond (James Maslow) - James is the pretty boy of the group who originally wanted to be a popstar. He is apparently obsessed with his hair and good looks and always keeps his lucky comb in his jacket and takes personal head shots of himself. According to Carlos in the episode Big Time Love Song, James always gets the girls: he declares himself the "pretty one." In the episodeBig Time Dance James accidentally asks out several girls to the school dance in an attempt to help Logan ask Camille to the dance. All of the girls said they'd go with him. James is upset when Griffin's daughter Mercedes sequentially picks everyone else in the band to be her boyfriend (and summarily dumps each one shortly thereafter) but doesn't ever pick him. But after wards, he feels better when she admits she doesn't date anyone prettier than her. James is obsessed with bandanas and always suggests wearing them, as seen in Big Time Crib. As a result of his obsession, he has an alter ego called "Bandana Man", also seen in Big Time Crib; the costume consists of wrapping himself in several purple bandanas. According to various episodes, he thinks he is "the face", but this lessens after Big Time Jobs, in which when he fails a modeling job, he says to Katie (his assistant manager) in Minnesota he was "the face", and that he is now a "handsome grain of sand on an extremely beautiful beach". He, alongside Carlos, strives to be the "Hollywood Super Party King of Hollywood", shown in Big Time Party. He is shown to get nervous before auditions (as seen in Big Time Audition when he tried stalling his audition, and in Big Time Break when he claimed to have butterflies in his stomach right before his movie audition) In Big Time Concert, he is described as extra pretty, having a solid voice, and being "driven beyond belief".
- Carlos Garcia (Carlos Pena Jr.) - Carlos is the jokester of them all and always wears his hockey helmet. His dad is a cop who takes his job seriously and has gone through sensitivity training nine times. Carlos has never had a real girlfriend, although Mercedes Griffin forced him to be one of her short-lived "boyfriends" in the episode Big Time Demos. Carlos seems to be very easygoing, and whenever the others start to get into a fight, he suggests thinking "happy thoughts about kittens", as seen in Big Time Audition. He strives to be, alongside James, the "Hollywood Super Party King of Hollywood", as shown in Big Time Party. Carlos also thinks being carried by Freight Train, Gustavo's huge new bodyguard, is "kinda fun." In Big Time Concert he is described as energetic, a good dancer, and "wearing a helmet for no apparent reason".
- Logan Mitchell (Logan Henderson) - Logan is the sensible one in the group. He is also the smart one of the group but panics under pressure. Whenever the others are doing something bad and they tell him to join them, he always says "I've gotta get new friends", as in the episode Big Time Audition, but still joins them afterward. Logan seems to like Camille, an actress also living at the Palm Woods. It was initially unclear if Logan knew about Camille's deep crush on him, but when she kissed him pretending it was for an audition for One Tree Hill, he said he was pleasantly surprised. Logan returned her crush, Camille being quick to forgive him when he attempted to be with her and Mercedes Griffin at the same party (Mercedes having forced him to be one of her short-lived "boyfriends", just as she had with Kendall and Carlos). When they had a school dance, Logan's first choice for a date was Camille. She, however, stated that she wished to be asked in a more memorable way. After several failed attempts, Logan showed up on a "horse" (Kendall and James in costume), and she finally agreed to be his date to the dance. Logan has a learner's permit. He is the most level-headed and realistic of the four and always sees the downside to the others' schemes. In Big Time Concert, he is described as "the smart one", and indecisive. It's also stated in 'Big Time Mansion', that he like cats. In Big Time Concert, Logan said that he wanted to be a doctor on the show.
- Katie Knight (Ciara Bravo)[7] - (Absent for one episode) is Kendall's precious little sister who sometimes helps the boys out. For example, in Big Time Break, when Kendall is the only one (out of the whole band) that still is determined to win the affection of a girl named Jo, Katie found out Jo was lying about having a boyfriend when she overheard a phone call between Jo and her mother. Katie revealed this to Kendall and helped him get a date with Jo. After the events in episode Big Time Dance, to Jo's surprise, Kendall revealed he thought that they were together, and now they are indeed a couple. Katie is always shown to have more tricks up her sleeve than her mother, who is portrayed as being very naive with regard to Hollywood machinations. Katie is bossy, clever and tricky, which is a big help when getting involved in the boys' plans. She is like Megan from Drake and Josh in many ways.
- Gustavo Rocque (Stephen Kramer Glickman) - Gustavo Rocque is a world-renowned record producer who meets the boys in Minnesota and offers Kendall a chance to come to Los Angeles with him, when Kendall turns the table around and convinces him to bring the others too. Gustavo was previously successful but hasn't had a hit in nine years, and believes the boys are his ticket back to the top. He is cliché, mean and always has a frown on his face while the boys are performing, even when he likes the song. In the episode Big Time Crib, he states that "All talent, are dogs" and calls them that; he also calls the boys "monkey dogs." Even so, when he tells the boys that a song wasn't as good as he wanted it to be, they always manage to call his bluff. He admits to liking the boys after dealing with an absolutely perfect boy band that he hated because they were so perfect, despite in Big Time Video, he briefly whispers to himself, "I hate those dogs" when they steal the set of their video for theirs. When the boys were house-sitting his mansion, they wrecked the house and had Kendall's mom clean it up (but not fully). Gustavo then accidentally wrecks his own house, but nevertheless tells the boys he likes them afterwards. Gustavo is seen to have serious anger issues and his blood pressure can skyrocket. An example is in Big Time Auditionwhen he breaks a tea cup to pieces and destroys a few things outside after Kendall rejects his first offer.
