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[via press release]

Instant Star’s Jude Harrison Returns From Her Tour and Struggles to Hold on to Her Musical Identity on Season Two of The N’s Original Teen Drama Instant Star February 10

NEW YORK, Jan. 19 – The N, the nighttime network for teens, will kick off season two of the network’s hit music series, Instant Star beginning Friday, February 10 at 8:30 p.m. (ET). The network will roll out 13 new half-hour episodes Friday nights from February through May. The series will air regularly Friday nights at 8:30 p.m. (ET), only on The N.

Fame and stardom isn’t all what it’s cracked up to be in the second season, Instant Star Jude Harrison faces a new set of challenges: this year’s new Instant Star winner; her best friend Jamie, who recently became her boyfriend; her close friend Kat who is tired of coming in second place to Jude’s career; her parents as they fight for control over her career; her sister Sadie’s relationship with her producer Tommy; and the constant struggle between creating the music she loves and pleasing her record label.

In the season two premiere, “No Sleep Till Brooklyn,” Jude is back from a summer tour with her band Spiederman Mind Explosion (SME) and comes home to find a very different G Major. The record label is now run by media mogul Darius Mills and the fur flies when Jude doesn’t play by his rules at a music showcase. Meanwhile, Tommy is busy trying to appease Darius and has no time for girlfriend Sadie when she returns from Europe.

In its inaugural season, The N’s newest original Instant Star became the network’s second-highest rated program, behind only the network’s hit signature series Degrassi: The Next Generation. Instant Star also ranked number one among female teens in its regularly scheduled Friday premiere (8:30 – 9:00 p.m. ET) time period among all broadcast and ad-supported cable networks.

Instant Star depicts the life of 16-year-old Jude Harrison, a singer/songwriter who is propelled to superstardom after she wins a national American Idol-style talent competition. Jude is played by real life singer/songwriter/actress Alexz Johnson, who has written and recorded several of the original songs featured in the season one of Instant Star. Each episode of Instant Star features a new, original song performed by Johnson. The Instant Star soundtrack, which features all the hit songs from season one, is now available nationwide.

Jude’s recording contract and newfound fame have transformed her life forever. She’s wading through a world bigger than her wildest rock n’ roll dreams — parties and publicity, groupies and paparazzi, managers, producers, release dates and concerts. Any way you slice it, normal teenage life is complicated enough without worrying about where your single charted or what the tabloids are saying about you. And when your parents are fighting over tour dates, you’re having boyfriend trouble, and your record company is threatening you to produce a hit, getting famous almost seems like the easy part. Those helping her along the journey to stardom include: her hot young producer and former boy-band heartthrob Tom Quincy, aka Lil’ Tommy Q (TIM ROZON), boy-next-door best friend Jamie Andrews (KRISTOPHER TURNER), Jude’s older jealous sister Sadie (LAURA VANDERVOORT), her uncensored friend Kat Benton (BARBARA MAMABOLO), and her parents Victoria (JANE SOWERBY) and Stuart (SIMON REYNOLDS), who have issues of their own to work out. This season Jude must answer to the new head of G Major, media-mogul Darius Mills (WES WILLIAMS), and his Vice President Liam Fenway (VINCENT WALSH).

Alexz Johnson hails from Vancouver and has a four-octave range and eight years of operatic training. The sixth of 10 children, Alexz began performing when she was just six years old and went on to appear at Vancouver’s New Year’s Eve festivities at Planet Hollywood at the age of 12. Her acting credits have since included the lead in Disney’s So Weird and a principal role on the hit series The Chris Isaak Show. Named an “It Girl” in 2005 by alloy.com, Alexz has made a name for herself in the United States by playing Jude Harrison on Instant Star, which Entertainment Weekly selected as one of the hottest shows of Summer 2005. She has written and recorded several of the original songs featured in the series’ soundtrack and plays “Erin” in New Line Cinema’s feature thriller Final Destination 3, slated for release this year.

Instant Star is produced in association with CTV by Toronto-based Epitome Pictures, producers of Degrassi: The Next Generation. The series was created by Linda Schuyler, co-creator of the original Degrassi series. Schuyler and Stephen Stohn serve as Executive Producers of Instant Star.

The N, the nighttime network for teens, is a programming arm of MTV Networks and is currently available in 45 million households via cable, digital cable and satellite television. The N’s mission is to be the authentic voice for teens and help them figure out their lives with relevant, topical programming on-air and online at the network’s web site www.the-n.com. The N airs everyday from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. (ET). The N and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.