Jack & Bobby

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!

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.

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!

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!

I was really drawn by the premise of this show, as well as by its loose allusions to the Kennedys, and funny, even though the acting leaves a bit to be desired and the dialogue sometimes approaches the Dawson's Creek zone. We've seen these situations before on the WB -- check out, for instance, one of Courtney's first lines when Jack tries to pick her up in the opener -- "you don't know anything about me" -- obviously implying she has some deeply-buried skeletons in the closet that will be uncovered in a later episode; very much like Andie McPhee's introduction to Pacey in Dawson's ... recycled material. However, unlike Dawson's Creek, which I watched religiously for three-plus years out pure amusement (you knew you couldn't take a show seriously in which every other line was some long-winded diatribe), there's something deeper, something more fascinating about "Jack and Bobby" that makes me keep coming back.

I believe that lies in the actual characters -- in some weird way, you really care about them. Maybe part of that has to do with the relationships -- they just seem so real. Jack has a strange love-hate relationship with his brother that actually reminds me very much of the relationship between my own brothers. Jack wants to push Bobby away because he's sick of being trailed by his annoying little brother, but at the same time subconsciously longs for his company, though denyingly embarrassed to say so. Grace is fighting to find the balance between smothering her sons and letting them do what they want. Some of the previous reviewers have criticised the show for not being explicit enough -- that Jack continuously refers to Bobby being "weird" but Bobby's actions don't support the accusation -- but they should look twice. How many of the outcasts in high school were truly those one-dimensional freaks you see portrayed too frequently in bad sitcoms? More often, the line between fitting in and being "different" is all too subtle -- I find it most interesting that Bobby is such a naive do-gooder at this point, he can't even internally comprehend what makes him so "different"... and because he can't see it, you can bet that it'll take time for the casual viewer to see it, too.

Another reason may be the flash-forwards -- you know this is not just some cheesy drama focusing on teens because they won't stay eternally young; everything they do in the here and now influences the people they will someday become, and the pieces are slowly and subtly being exposed, one by one. My greatest fear for the show is that, because we're learning about the future as we're learning about the present, the writers don't eventually get too boxed in, reveal too much about the future, and have to go back and "change" characters or take certain liberties in plot and time frame. If the writers can avoid such a pitfall week after week, there's little doubt in my mind that "Jack and Bobby" the show will be destined for greatness.

Seriously worth a watch. I can't wait for episode three.