Cannon takes his best shot as impresario

Nick Cannon is aiming to be a pop culture impresario in the manner of Dick Clark or Ryan Seacrest or Diddy. He’s an actor, a comic, and a rap artist; but his ambitions are bigger, more vague, and harder to achieve – to introduce other talent to the world and, in the process, create a distinct imprimatur. He wants to be a solid, dependable host – no easy task in a world where audience trust is fickle.

The 29-year-old Cannon, whose marriage to Mariah Carey hasn’t hurt his visibility, currently hosts “America’s Got Talent’’ on NBC, as well as a New York radio show. He has created a multimedia company, NCredible Entertainment, to develop TV shows, films, and musical acts. And he is the chairman of Nickelodeon’s TeenNick channel (formerly The N), where he’s developing movie projects and hosting the Halo Awards that honor teens in community service. Far from his days on Nickelodeon’s “All That’’ and “The Nick Cannon Show’’ and on MTV’s improv series “Nick Cannon Presents: Wild N Out,’’ Cannon is now poised for ubiquity.

Interestingly, Cannon’s new pursuits represent a kind of resignation about his other careers. His movie roles, including a part in Emilio Estevez’s “Bobby’’ that won him “male revelation’’ honors at Cannes in 2007, haven’t quite lifted him to prominence. Indeed, his latest movie, “The Killing Room,’’ went straight to DVD. Cannon also hasn’t released a full album of material since his self-titled debut in 2003. Instead of making his own music, he has been directing videos for Carey and developing the trio School Gyrls, whose debut album is due next month.

Tomorrow night at 7, Cannon begins his TeenNick takeover in earnest by introducing “School Gyrls’’ in a short feature. Written and directed by Cannon, “School Gyrls’’ is essentially an hourlong video revealing the group and defining the characters, like an episode of “The Monkees.’’ It’s not a movie with a story and plot turns so much as a key step in Cannon’s careful plan to have the group conquer the world. A single, “Something Like a Party,’’ is already out in anticipation of the album and a spring tour; a series of novels based on the “School Gyrls’’ characters begins in the coming weeks; and a comic series from Archie Comics is due next month.

The “School Gyrls’’ setting is predictable and reminiscent of “High School Musical,’’ “Glee,’’ and “Gossip Girl.’’ Mandy Rain (Mandy Moseley), Jacque Nimble (Jacque Pyles), and Monica (Monica Anne Parales) are freshmen at an all-girls prep school. Thrown together repeatedly in detention, they form a friendship and go up against the resident mean girls, led by queen bee cheerleader Bambi (Lindsay Taylor). Mandy is good girlish, Jacque is all (annoying) hip-hop attitude, and Monica is the superficial one who learns to get real.

The three School Gyrls learn that they are natural performers together, as they hop, skip, and jump their way through bland Britney Spears-ish songs. And so they decide to take on Bambi at the annual stunt party – a talent show that features real-life guest stars Justin Bieber, Kristinia DeBarge, and Soulja Boy. Clearly, Cannon knows the best way to find the right audience for his trio and lure them in – a skill any impresario must have. If the School Gyrls take off and become stars, Cannon will obviously deserve much of the credit – or blame.

Along the way in “School Gyrls,’’ the Gyrls have curious adventures with an abusive hall monitor who has bad breath, the hard-nosed headmaster (singer Angie Stone), and her creepy twin daughters, who move and talk in perfect synchronicity. Also, Monica develops a crush on Bambi’s beau, an extremely tall guy with blond hair named Colin. But all the school-hallway activity comes down to nothing much. Nothing much, that is, except inspiring kids to keep an eye out for all the “School Gyrls’’ products to come.

Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com. For more on TV, visit www.boston.com/ae/tv/blog.

Source: Boston Globe