Jack & Bobby

I viewed the WB's "Jack & Bobby" on a preview DVD of the first episode which is airing this Sunday. Got it from an insert in "Entertainment Weekly". I had seen the TV trailer on the WB, and thought the series conceit was a modern retelling of Jack and Bobby Kennedy. "One brother will become President of the United States." On the surface it is, and this series has the possibility of being breakthrough television. "Jack & Bobby" centers around the conversation of the origins of greatness in all people.

The first episode is expertly crafted, effective in it's retrospective narrative, i.e. from the future looking back. I don't know who wrote the episode, but he or she is visionary, having a noble cause.

The cast is powerful. Christine Lahti plays Grace McCallister, free-spirited college professor and single mom to her sons, Jack and Bobby. Matt Long plays Jack, the older brother. Jack is a high school sophomore, track star, smart cool loner, and popular with the girls. Logan Lerman plays Bobby. Bobby is the sensitive geeky asthmatic brother, who really doesn't much care about what other people think. He also has a strength of character that even he is yet unaware.

The first episode is a battle of wills between Grace and Jack over Bobby's future, and the possibility of the man he will become. Long and Lerman have a special chemistry which is the power of "Jack & Bobby". Jack and Bobby have an unconditional and unspoken love for each other, and see the other as great. In the narrative the future First Lady recalls that Jack and Bobby are like "two sides of the same coin". Rather each fills in the other's "missing". Jack inspires the strength and character in Bobby, that he himself has not yet distinguished. Bobby brings out the heart and compassion in Jack which he often chooses to dismiss or disguise. Ultimately, "Jack & Bobby" is a story about greatness, and those who inspire greatness. It is not a coincidence that "Jack & Bobby" focuses on the relationship between three strong, smart, and special people. "Jack & Bobby" has the possibility of greatness.

Of all places to discover a dramatic gem, the WB! The show started out strong, with good casting and writing, a promising premise, and a few surprises. After just 11 episodes, (the balance of them to begin Jan. 26,2005), the show has developed an extremely loyal fan base, and even garnered a Golden Globe Nom., for Christine Lahti. TV Tome has placed it in their best new shows category. And reviews from Entertainment Weekly, to local newspapers have spread the joy, that this is a show not to miss.

My own experience agrees with the critics and fans. I have laughed, shed tears, and had my mouth open catching flys. To think that the suits at the WB had enough sense to make this series, almost makes me think they have enough sense to renew it for another season. If you want quality television, you need look no further than this fine new series!

Jack & Bobby is a strange drama in that it is original without seeming so. Two brothers grow up under the gaze of their brilliant, breakable, over-controlling, liberal-professor mom, and one of them becomes president. Weird concept, unlikely to work. But the real shock of J&B is: it does. The actors are one of the main reasons. Lahti is out of this world as a woman who desperately needs to be loved, but won't let it come to her. Lerman and Long, both fairly new, bring their characters to life wonderfully. Slattey is pleasantly wry as a father who has lost his wife and must now raise his children. Pare and Hodge add as well, and Cooper gives a surprisingly deep performance that proves strangely real.

The plots are good too. Yeah, it's bothering that week after week, we have to see poor Grace "learn" her lesson, and be humbled, but it's TV: no one would watch if an intelligent person wasn't forced to be put down contantly. Another good moment features her affair with a TA, which comes off, not as a fling, but rather as a ripping, surprising romance. The boys too add their own mix. Teenager Jack is pretty stereotypical, but he's still real, and while overly good Bobby is a bit too good, he still comes off as sweet and impressionable.

My only hope is that the WB learns to appreciate what a gem they have. This one's a keeper, guys.

the first episode of jack and bobby moved me in such a way that i swore to myself i would watch every episode until production ended. so i was there for the second, and the third, and the fourth, and then...oh no, wait a second. no...NO...this can't be happening...it's turning into dawson's creek! when the relationships started flooding in - jack with courtney, then jack with missy, then jack with courtney, then missy with courtney, then bobby with dex, then the mom with the school president, then the mom with the TA...i was becoming so wary to the point of paranoia. every time one of the three leads gets close to a guy or a girl my brain goes...oh no, not a love triangle, not a wrong relationship....oh no! i mean, THIS IS A GREAT SHOW HERE,one with SO MUCH POTENTIAL...the actors are great beyond all expectations from TVland acting...but the writers had to stick with the Love angles?? goodness, there's SO MUCH MORE TO EXPLORE! COME ON! get on it already...how did bobby build such an extraordinary character? will jack and bobby's love/hatred for each other only root from girls?? there has GOT TO BE OTHER angles than these circles of relationships. the mom doesn't even have to have that angle! she could probably have that near the last season or something, but there's just so much boy and girl hoopla here that i can't seem to find the excellence, the passion, the greatness that was in the first episode. EXPLORE FRIENDSHIPS, REAL RELATIONSHIPS, for jack and bobby's sake. I OPEN THIS TO ALL THE PRODUCERS, THE WRITERS...go back to what you started in the first episode! there's so much more to this!

I watched the first episode of Jack & Bobby which airs tonight on a promotional DVD that was provided by Entertainment Weekly.

The show is innovative, it is a futuristic documentary that centers around the president of the United States between 2040-2048 and looks back to when he was a normal (or not so normal) kid in our present day. The show is pretty darn innovative, mixing some great creativity of our future, with some even more great realization of our current lives. It shows how one child, not too different from you and me can grow up to be president.

The cast is nice, great chemistry between all of the actors, and no significantly weak links among any of the cast, although the boy who plays Bobby's conformist friend could have stood some more acting lessons. The story for the pilot was great, it involved Bobby's mother and brother fighting over how he should be raised, and it deals with drugs in a smart gritty way, not how 7'th Heaven would deal with it. But again, most of all is how the show seems to blend Futuristic Political Documentary With Present-Day gritty drama, so seamlessly.

8/10 - I have high hopes for this one!