History YMMV / DrakeAndJosh

* TheScrappy:
** Mrs. Hayfer isn't very loved despite having her star in some of the best episodes of the series ("Mean Teacher", "Honor Council", "Little Sibling", and "Vicious Tiberius") due to her reasoning for hating Drake. Namely, that it is ''never explained at all'' (aside from [[BookDumb the obvious]], of course). Again, her hatred of Drake is played for laughs.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Walter and Audrey in "Steered Straight". We're supposed to side with them when Drake and Josh get caught using fake [=IDs=] to get into a club, but the way they go about this is rather questionable. They sign the two up for "The Steered Straight Program", which shows ''children and teenagers'' what it's like to get arrested. While the false [=ID=] cards are understandable, the parents also mention the Gary Grill incident, burning down their neighbor's kid's treehouse, and Drake's speeding ticket (first off, they didn't know that the grills were stolen; second, burning down the treehouse was an accident, and they tried to rebuild it; and thirdly, the ticket was already taken care of). But the parents' plan backfires when, on the way to the program, the cop stops at a nearby gas station and a real criminal hijacks the car, taking the two boys with him. In reality, Blaze would've hurt the boys or, worse, had them both ''killed''. At the end, only Walter ends up getting LaserGuidedKarma when he's forced to miss his date, handcuffed by his own sons, and shoved into a closet, while Audrey ends up being a KarmaHoudini. When the boys explain their situation, she remarks, "Well, how were we supposed to know you were going to get tangled up with ''real'' criminals?", indicating she shows little to no remorse and only displaying concern for Walter when the duo forgot that they shoved him in a closet.

** Mrs. Hayfer isn't very loved despite having her star in some of the best episodes of the series ("Mean Teacher", "Honor Council", "Little Sibling", and "Vicious Tiberius") due to her reasoning for hating Drake. Namely, that it is ''never explained at all''. Again, her hatred of Drake is played for laughs.

** In 2021, Drake Bell was charged with and pleaded guilty to attempted child endangerment and disseminating material harmful to children following an incident with a 15-year-old girl in Cleveland, Ohio, as well as later sexual abuse allegations Bell made against Nickelodeon dialogue coach Brian Peck. This has made a few episodes a bit uncomfortable to rewatch.

** In 2021, Drake Bell was charged with and pleaded guilty to attempted child endangerment and disseminating material harmful to children following an incident with a 15-year-old girl in Cleveland, Ohio. This has made a few episodes a bit uncomfortable to rewatch.

** In the episode "The Demonator," Josh's crazy WWII vet of a grandpa mistakes Craig and Eric for Germans and repeatedly attacks them. The gag becomes considerably less funny a few episodes later when a one-off line by Drake informs us that Craig and Eric are [[AmbiguouslyJewish Jewish]].

*** "Josh Is Done," in which Josh gets sick of Drake's behavior and stops being his friend, leading to a string of misfortune for Drake, spiritually reflects how Josh Peck had been doing quite well after the show finished, while Drake Bell has gotten in multiple controversies, and the two have been rather distant toward each other in recent years.

** Wendy, the little girl with a crush on Drake from the episode "Number One Fan", is played by a young Alyson Stoner. She would go on to play [[WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb another member of a scout troop with an obsessive crush on the protagonist. Said protagonist also has a sister and a stepbrother!]]

** "The Affair" is another controversial episode. Many fans vilify the ending of the boys being blamed for costing their dad a massive promotion when they had every reason to believe their dad was having an affair. Another group thinks that as bad as the ending was, it also contained some of the funniest scenes in the show's history (namely the "I do not control the speed at which lobsters die" and the universally-beloved cumin waffle scene), and that gives it enough merit to not be among the most despised episodes.

* BrokenBase: "Josh Is Done" is one of the most well-known episodes due to the mature subject matter involving [[UnexpectedlyDarkEpisode Drake and Josh becoming estranged from one another]]. With that said, some people feel that the show tackled the issue very well in one episode, while others believe a multi-episode arc would have been more poignant. Additionally, Drake's HumiliationConga within the episode has been the subject of debate. Many fans side with Josh's decisions in the episode and feel that they were LaserGuidedKarma towards Drake for how often he would take Josh for granted, while some do feel that Drake's treatment veered towards KarmicOverkill.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKmtlJi3_gU "I do not control the speed at which lobsters die"]], a very strange sentence from Josh that started as an anti-meme, and then spurred its own meme ''genre'' ([[https://www.reddit.com/r/SpeedOfLobsters/ r/SpeedOfLobsters]] was named from this) where people edit and splice a line to make their punchline.

---> '''Josh:''' OH DO YA?!

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Walter and Audrey in "Steered Straight". We're supposed to side with them when Drake and Josh get caught using fake [=IDs=] to get into a club. But the way they go about this is rather questionable. They sign the two up for "The Steered Straight Program", which shows ''children and teenagers'' what it's like to get arrested. While the false [=ID=] cards are understandable, the parents also mention the Gary Grill incident, burning down their neighbor's kid's treehouse, and Drake's speeding ticket (first off, they didn't know that the grills were stolen; second, burning down the treehouse was an accident, and they tried to rebuild it; and thirdly, the ticket was already taken care of). But the parents' plan backfires when, on the way to the program, the cop stops at a nearby gas station and a real criminal hijacks the car, taking the two boys with him. In reality, Blaze would've hurt the boys or, worse, had them both ''killed''. At the end, only Walter ends up getting LaserGuidedKarma when he's forced to miss his date, handcuffed by his own sons, and shoved into a closet, while Audrey ends up being a KarmaHoudini. When the boys explain their situation, she remarks, "Well, how were we supposed to know you were going to get tangled up with ''real'' criminals?", indicating she shows little to no remorse and only displaying concern for Walter when the duo forgot that they shoved him in a closet.

** Megan. Many find her unbearable for her KarmaHoudini status in harassing her brothers for no reason, while others find her [[LaughablyEvil rather amusing in her own right]] and consider Megan to be a good StarMakingRole for Creator/MirandaCosgrove.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Walter and Audrey in "Steered Straight". We're supposed to side with them when Drake and Josh get caught using fake [=IDs=] to get into a club. But the way they go about this is rather questionable. They sign the two up for "The Steered Straight Program", which shows ''children and teenagers'' what it's like to get arrested. While the false [=ID=] cards are understandable, the parents also mention the Gary Grill incident, burning down their neighbour's kid's treehouse and Drake's speeding ticket (first off; they didn't know that the grills were stolen, second, burning down the treehouse was an accident and they tried to rebuild it and thirdly, the ticket was already taken care of) But the parents' plan backfires when on the way to the program, the cop stops at a nearby gas station and a real criminal hijacks the car, taking the two boys with him. In reality, Blaze would've hurt the boys or worse have them both ''killed.'' At the end, only Walter ends up getting LaserGuidedKarma when he's forced to miss his date, handcuffed by his own sons and shoved into a closet while Audrey ends up being a KarmaHoudini, and when the boys explain their situation, she remarks "Well how were we supposed to know you were gonna get tangled up with ''real'' criminals", indicating she shows little to no remorse and only displaying concern for Walter when the duo forgot that they shoved him in a closet ([[CruelToBeKind granted that it was the only way to keep him away from the criminals]]).

** Crazy Steve was meant as a one-time gag, with the seemingly stoned (and mulleted) Gavin being the recurring weird buddy. Jerry Trainor hit that role so well that he was kept on and was brought on to ''Series/{{iCarly}}'' as the main character.

** Both Drake and Josh are portrayed as in the wrong for accidentally ruining Walter's chance at a new weatherman job by Walter due to how they treated Walter's new boss by pouring spaghetti on her. Thing is, they only did that because [[MistakenForCheating they assumed she was trying to commit adultery with him]], which was made to seem even more likely given how Walter, in an attempt to surprise his family with the new job, did so in ways that made it seem like he was up to no good. Such examples included: Sneaking into the house quietly late at night, ending a phone call when Drake entered the room, making up contradictory excuses for arriving home late, and secretly meeting his potential new boss in a park. To top it off, the boss spoke in an ambiguous way that sounded like she was happy to steal away a married man with no concern for his family. If anything, it's Walter who should be held responsible for giving suspicious signals.

** Walter. You can't help but feel sorry for everything that happens to him: Megan constantly disrespects him, his ''own'' son and step-son treat him as inferior, and the world seems to just ''hate him''. The only one who seems to like him is Audrey, but even ''she treats him like crap at times''. He's constantly compared to Bruce Winchell, who's considered a better weatherman than he is (and is made fun of repeatedly by his children because of his vain attempts to be better than Bruce) and even Audrey shows more interest in Bruce as well. It doesn't also help that Dan Schneider has later on started including other characters in his shows (''Series/{{iCarly}}'' and ''Series/{{Victorious}}'') that serve no purpose other than to be laughed at.

** Walter. You can't help but feel sorry for everything that happens to him: Megan constantly disrespects him, his ''own'' son and step-son treat him as inferior, and the world seems to just ''hate him''. The only one that seems to like him is Audrey, but even ''she treats him like crap at times''. He's constantly compared to Bruce Winchell, who's considered a better weatherman than he is (and is made fun of repeatedly by his children because of his vain attempts to be better than Bruce) and even Audrey shows more interest in Bruce as well. It doesn't also help that Dan Schneider has later on started including other characters in his shows (''Series/{{iCarly}}'' and ''Series/{{Victorious}}'') that serve no purpose other than to be laughed at.

** Drake. Fans either consider him a lovable {{Narcissist}} with his JerkWithAHeartOfGold moments in between or an unsympathetic jerk who uses [[ButtMonkey Josh]] for his own benefit. A bit like [[Series/KenanAndKel Kel Kimble]], his [[TookALevelInDumbass nlosing several levels of intelligence]] and becoming TheMillstone towards Josh in later seasons certainly did not help matters.

** Drake. Fans either consider him a lovable {{Narcissist}} with his JerkWithAHeartOfGold moments in between, or an unsympathetic {{Jerkass}} who uses [[ButtMonkey Josh]] for his self-benefit. A bit like [[Series/KenanAndKel Kel Kimble]], him [[TookALevelInDumbass losing several levels in intelligence]] and becoming TheMillstone towards Josh in later seasons certainly did not help matters. His actor getting convicted in real life certainly hasn't done anything to help, either.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Drake. Fans either consider him a lovable {{Narcissist}} with his JerkWithAHeartOfGold moments in between, or an unsympathetic {{Jerkass}} who uses [[ButtMonkey Josh]] for his self-benefit. A bit like [[Series/KenanAndKel Kel Kimble]], him [[TookALevelInDumbass losing several levels in intelligence]] and becoming TheMillstone towards Josh in later seasons certainly did not help matters. His actor getting convicted in real life certainly hasn't done anything to help, either.

* HypeBacklash: Even after many years, the show is still remembered by many and it's praised as Creator/DanSchneider[='s=] best work. If you look deep into the internet, you will find a vocal minority who, although they did enjoy it, doesn't consider it that great, especially considering [[SadistShow the amount of trauma the boys go through]] and of course, [[CreatorsPet Megan]].

* FranchiseOriginalSin: This show was the start of the Dan Schneider trend of using the nerd as the ButtMonkey. Here, it was better received, as Josh Peck was such a good pratfall with excellent comedic timing, that it was more about not wanting such talent to go to waste. The general narrative of the show gave Josh due credit when he deserved it and condemned characters if they actually inflicted serious damage, such as "Dune Buggy", "Josh Runs Over Oprah", and "Josh Is Done". Later works like Series/ICarly, {Series/Victorious}, and Series/SamAndCat were considered less successful as the harsher treatment of the more nerdy characters wasn't regarded as funny and was more so punishing them for existing.