Jack & Bobby

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Jack & Bobby
GenreDrama
Created by
Starring
ComposerBlake Neely
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes22
Production
Executive producers
ProducerPaul Marks
Running time60 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkThe WB
ReleaseSeptember 12, 2004 (2004-09-12) –
May 11, 2005 (2005-05-11)

Jack & Bobby is an American drama television series created by Greg Berlanti, Vanessa Taylor, Steven A. Cohen, and Brad Meltzer. It aired on The WB from September 12, 2004, to May 11, 2005. The series’ title is a reference to real-life political brothers John and Robert Kennedy.[1] The series starred Matt Long and Logan Lerman as Jack and Bobby McCallister, respectively; two teenage brothers in Missouri of whom one would become the president of the United States from 2041 to 2049. The series also starred Christine Lahti as their mother, a college professor, as well as Jessica Paré, John Slattery, Edwin Hodge, Keri Lynn Pratt, and Bradley Cooper. Episodes would generally focus on the boys' family and school lives, with flash-forwards of a documentary about President McCallister used as a framing device. While it received critical acclaim, Jack & Bobby struggled from low ratings on the network and was cancelled on May 17, 2005.[2]

Premise

The series follows the lives of fifteen-year-old Jack and thirteen-year-old Bobby McCallister, two teen boys being raised by their strong-willed mother Grace in a small Missouri college town. Grace is a history professor at the local university and has an unconventional approach to parenting, which includes discouraging her sons from watching TV. Elder brother Jack is popular and a star on the track team, while Bobby is nerdy and asthmatic. Each episode is interspersed with flash-forwards from a documentary about the life of President McCallister, who would take office in the 2040s. The documentary clips feature interviews with members of the McCallister administration reflecting on the president's years in office and how his formative experiences shaped his later life and how he governed. It is not revealed which of the McCallister brothers would later become president until the end of the pilot episode.

Cast and characters

Main cast

Recurring cast

  • Dean Collins as Warren Feide, Bobby's best friend
    • Harry Groener guest starred as an adult Warren Feide in one episode
  • Mike Erwin as Nate Edmonds, Courtney's former boyfriend
  • Cam Gigandet as Randy Bongard, Missy's on-and-off boyfriend
  • Kyle Gallner as BJ Bongaro, Bobby's "frenemy"
  • Kate Mara as Katie, Jack's former girlfriend
  • John Heard as Dennis Morgenthal
  • Ed Begley, Jr. as Reverend Belknap, Missy's father
  • Jeanette Brox as Dex Truggman, Bobby's former girlfriend

Development

The idea for the series was conceived by novelist Brad Meltzer and Steve Cohen, the latter who served as deputy communications director in Hillary Clinton’s office during her husband's tenure as president.[3] In 2002, Meltzer and Cohen pitched their idea to Thomas Schlamme, then an executive producer on The West Wing. The WB agreed to produce the series and Schlamme brought on Dawson’s Creek alum Greg Berlanti as well as Berlanti’s Everwood colleague Vanessa Taylor to pen the pilot episode.[3] Taylor said her writing on the pilot was informed by her feelings about current events, particularly the Iraq War and the failed search for weapons of mass destruction. Taylor said at the time, "I just feel that we've come into an era in which there's a certain brazenness about lying to the American public. Which, in turn, has fostered a certain degree of cynicism and apathy."[3] The show's title is meant to "evoke the hopefulness of the Camelot era."[1] Berlanti said he intended to eschew the use of the words “Democrat” and “Republican” in the pilot to “avoid criticism…based on partisan politics.”[3] He added that the show’s emphasis on the boys’ formative years “underscores how life's seemingly insignificant events can ‘have ripple effects on the future that are exponential.’”[3] Though the character of Grace does not steer her sons towards a particular ideology, the series creators said the show would not avoid taking stands on certain issues. Said Schlamme, "Besides the personal stories, [Jack & Bobby] allows us to talk about thematic elements that are existing in 2004 America, which is race, which is religion, which is war, and kind of get: How did these little snapshots of his life right now affect the future of the world? And then we get to see how, in fact, they could affect the future of the world."[1] The WB ordered 13 episodes of Jack & Bobby prior to mid-May 2004 when TV networks traditionally unveil their fall season lineups, which garnered the new series advance buzz as the first show to be picked up for the 2004 fall season.[3] The WB acquired the show as part of a wider attempt to cultivate older audiences beyond teenagers.[4]

Episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateU.S. viewers
(millions)
1"Pilot"David NutterStory by : Greg Berlanti & Vanessa Taylor and Steven A. Cohen & Brad Meltzer
Teleplay by : Greg Berlanti and Vanessa Taylor		September 12, 2004 (2004-09-12)4.71[5]
Jack and Bobby McCallister are two bright young brothers growing up in Hart, Missouri, under the watchful eye of their eccentric single mother Grace, a college professor whose strong personality helps shape both of these young men's lives and secure one a place in the history books - as President of the United States. Grace and Jack's temperamental mother/son relationship takes a dangerous toll on Bobby as he gets caught in their rival forces, prompting a major change in the McCallister household. The arrival of a new college president, Peter Benedict, and his daughter, Courtney, makes an impression on the McCallister boys. In the year 2049, a documentary about the life of President Robert "Bobby" McAllister examines the photograph that would come to define his presidency.
2"Better Days"Mick JacksonStory by : Greg Berlanti & Vanessa Taylor
Teleplay by : Vanessa Taylor		September 19, 2004 (2004-09-19)3.08[6]
Grace and Bobby help with a College Democrats rally. Jack explodes after catching Grace smoking pot again and gives her an ultimatum. One of Grace's co-workers gets fired, and Grace goes to bat for her without all the facts in hand. Jack continues to explore his relationship with Courtney while attracting the attention of his ex, Missy Belknap. Meanwhile, Bobby tries to help make things better for Jack, both with Courtney and in school, but only succeeds in making things worse. Future interviews reveal President McCallister's surprising political allegiance.
3"The Kindness of Strangers"David NutterMichael GreenSeptember 26, 2004 (2004-09-26)3.25[7]
Bobby joins the "challenge program" at school and learns a powerful lesson. Jack plans a party at the house while Grace is away. Grace is conflicted on what to do when she finds out her student TA plagiarized one of her papers and in a separate instance, Grace is startled by news from Bobby's teacher regarding Jack. Lastly, the flash-forward segments reveal how a surprising ally helps President McCallister at a critical moment in his political career.
4"A Man of Faith"Peter MarkleMaggie FriedmanOctober 3, 2004 (2004-10-03)2.46[8]
Bobby's interest in religion is piqued when he helps Warren study for his Bar Mitzvah and asks why Grace never took him to church. Elsewhere, Grace insults Hebba, an Arab-American female student with deep religious beliefs, which prompts a campus-wide boycott of her classes. Jack gets a chance to rejoin the track team when the coach needs a replacement runner for Marcus, who is on academic probation. In the future, President McCallister struggles with his faith.
5"The First Lady"David PetrarcaJonathan LiscoOctober 10, 2004 (2004-10-10)2.53[9]
The future reveals a dark secret about the soon-to-be First Lady. Back in the present, Jack offers to escort a depressed Courtney to her father's work fundraiser leading to an unexpected confession and kiss. Bobby is having problems with another school bully. Meanwhile, much to the consternation of her sons, Grace offers to let a homeless man stay at their house for a few days until she can find him a better place to live.
6"An Innocent Man"Thomas SchlammeMarc GuggenheimOctober 17, 2004 (2004-10-17)2.25[10]
Grace is stunned after Benedict informs her that her colleague and good friend has been accused of sexually harassing a student. Grace immediately defends her co-worker but must re-think her loyalty when new evidence arises. Meanwhile, Bobby is spending so much time with his new girlfriend causing him to neglect his school work. Under pressure from Grace to succeed, Bobby cheats on his test. Still reeling from the guilt of kissing Courtney, Jack is horrified to discover she has become friends with Missy. In the future, a gesture of forgiveness from President McCallister helps to heal his cabinet, but the decision comes at a price.
7"Valentino"John David ColesSteven A. Cohen and Brad MeltzerOctober 27, 2004 (2004-10-27)3.02[11]
Bobby's relationship with Dex continues to grow until Grace walks in on them kissing in her study. After failing to convince Bobby to break it off with Dex, Grace and Jack take matters into their own hands. Meanwhile, Peter shows his overprotective side when Courtney considers going out with a college frat boy, and though he has Courtney's best interests at heart, it ultimately causes her embarrassment among her peers. In the future, the oldest of President McCallister's four sons, Jack, has a troublesome encounter with the Secret Service.
8"Election Night"Keith SamplesErik OlesonNovember 3, 2004 (2004-11-03)2.34[13]

Bobby is heartbroken over his break-up with Dex and decides to get even with Jack after finding out he was responsible for their split. To get even, Bobby's subsequent actions cause Jack, Missy and Courtney much embarrassment and anger, resulting in a feud between the brothers. Meanwhile, Grace, waiting to see who won the 2004 presidential election, sneaks out of the election night party to smoke pot with Tom, which proves to be a terrible mistake for Grace and her family. In the year 2049, political leaders talk about the night President McCallister won the 2040 election by only a few votes.

Three different endings were filmed to coincide with the actual results of the 2004 U.S. presidential election.[12]
9"Chess Lessons"David PetrarcaJonathan LiscoNovember 10, 2004 (2004-11-10)2.52[14]
Grace promises to be on her best behavior when she and Jack go to Missy's house for dinner, but she loses her cool after Reverend Belknap starts attacking her political ideals. Upset by the event, Grace turns to Tom and the two share a romantic moment. Bobby intentionally loses at chess games with Peter in order to spend more time with him. Courtney uses Marcus to get back at Jack. In the future, President McCallister uses chess as his way of strategizing a war.
10"The Lost Boys"Bryan GordonBarbie KligmanNovember 17, 2004 (2004-11-17)2.83[15]

Reception

Critical reception

The show was acclaimed by multiple critics and outlets. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the show has a rating of 88% based on 16 critical reviews.[16] Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote Jack & Bobby is "undoubtedly the most grown-up series" aired by the youth-skewing WB network and called it "an absorbing drama with hints of the idealism found in early seasons of 'The West Wing.'"[1] Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times wrote the show "could have been just another coming-of-age tale of teenagers growing up in a small town with an overbearing single mother," but its historical framing sets it apart.[17] She wrote, "'Jack & Bobby' is unusual in many ways, and one is that unlike so many modern shows it is cynical about television but deeply romantic about politics and public service...moments of misty patriotic yearning are leavened with sharp dialogue and self-mocking asides, including some at the expense of other WB series. (On tonight's episode, Jack sarcastically tells his mother that their family is ‘straight out of '7th Heaven’).”[18] Stanley praised Christine Lahti’s performance in particular, writing “Ms. Lahti is an actress who works the underlayers of each role and resists the pull of easy sentiment. Grace is a complicated, strong woman who is sympathetic without being quite likable, and that makes both her bond with Bobby (he helps her match her outfits) and her tensely hostile relationship with Jack plausible.”[17] Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Gillian Flynn gave the show a grade of A− and said, "On a grand scale, 'Jack & Bobby' reflects the American obsession with picking apart our childhoods ad nauseam for clues to the adults we become."[19] In The New Yorker, Nancy Franklin likened the show to a mix between The Wonder Years and The West Wing, concluding it “is most emotionally effective when the lines that are drawn between Bobby’s boyhood and his adulthood meander through unexpected oxbows.”[20] James Poniewozik of Time found the documentary flash-forwards to be distracting, but said it’s “a smart, well-written show that constantly subverts our expectations, and it takes a rare demographic risk.”[21] A plot line about the parentage of Jack and Bobby, in which the mother had hid the fact that the boy's father was "just a Mexican dishwasher", received criticism from the Los Angeles Times[22] and was described by The New Yorker as implausibly convenient.[20]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Recipient Result Ref.
2005 Art Directors Guild Awards Excellence in Production Design for Single-Camera Series Dina Lipton and Marc Dabe for "An Innocent Man" Nominated [23]
Casting Society of America Outstanding Achievement in Dramatic Pilot Casting Patrick J. Rush for "Pilot" Nominated [24]
GLAAD Media Awards Episode: "The Lost Boys" Won [25]
People's Choice Awards Favorite New Television Drama Jack & Bobby Nominated [26]
Golden Globe Awards Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series — Drama Christine Lahti Nominated [27]
Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Nominated [28]
Young Artist Awards Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) - Leading Young Actor Logan Lerman Won[lower-alpha 1] [29]

Cancelation

Despite critical acclaim and a strong start,[30] the show was not a successful ratings draw for the network,[31] averaging only 2.7 million weekly viewers,[4] and was canceled by The WB on May 17, 2005. This has been partly attributed to its airing in the same Sunday night time slot as popular primetime series Desperate Housewives.[20][32][33][34] The WB changed its time slot to Wednesdays,[35] though the ratings did not improve as it was then competing against The West Wing, The Bachelor, and American Idol.[34] To date, physical home media for the series has not been released, but it has intermittently been made available for digital purchase on Amazon and iTunes.[36][34]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Tied.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Owen, Rob (September 11, 2004). "TV Review: 'Jack and Bobby' shows a maturing WB". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  2. ↑ Schneider, Michael (May 18, 2005). "Frog looks for big leap with shakeup". Variety. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Frutkin, A. J. (May 9, 2004). "Presidential Seedlings". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Elber, Lynn (February 18, 2005). "Low-rated shows struggle to survive". Associated Press. pp. E3–E4. Retrieved May 27, 2022 – via Observer Reporter.
  5. ↑ "Weekly Program Rankings". ABC Medianet. September 14, 2004. Archived from the original on January 25, 2012. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Weekly Program Rankings". ABC Medianet. September 21, 2004. Archived from the original on December 21, 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Weekly Program Rankings". ABC Medianet. September 29, 2004. Archived from the original on July 18, 2014. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Weekly Program Rankings". ABC Medianet. October 5, 2004. Archived from the original on December 27, 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Weekly Program Rankings". ABC Medianet. October 12, 2004. Archived from the original on February 14, 2015. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  10. ↑ "Weekly Program Rankings". ABC Medianet. October 19, 2004. Archived from the original on November 5, 2014. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  11. ↑ "Weekly Program Rankings". ABC Medianet. November 2, 2004. Archived from the original on August 11, 2014. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  12. ↑ "'Jack & Bobby' Does Multiple Election Endings". Zap2it.com. October 22, 2004.
  13. ↑ "Weekly Program Rankings". ABC Medianet. November 9, 2004. Archived from the original on August 11, 2014. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Weekly Program Rankings". ABC Medianet. November 16, 2004. Archived from the original on October 10, 2014. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  15. ↑ "Weekly Program Rankings". ABC Medianet. November 23, 2004. Archived from the original on December 21, 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  16. ↑ "Jack & Bobby". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Stanley, Alessandra (September 10, 2004). "A President-to-Be and His Rosebud". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on May 9, 2022. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  18. ↑ Stanley, Alessandra (May 11, 2005). "The Life and Drama of a Boy Who Would Be President". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on May 29, 2015. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  19. ↑ Flynn, Gillian (September 17, 2004). "Jack & Bobby". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Franklin, Nancy (October 10, 2004). "Bringing Up Bobby". The New Yorker. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  21. ↑ Poniewozik, James (October 4, 2004). "Hear It from the Boys". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  22. ↑ Diaz, Alejandro J. (September 20, 2004). "The sting of an insult from 'Jack and Bobby'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  23. ↑ "ADG Awards Winner & Nominees | 2005". adg.org. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  24. ↑ "2005 Artios Awards". Casting Society of America. Archived from the original on May 1, 2021. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  25. ↑ "Honoring TV's Finest: GLAAD Media Awards". Multichannel News. June 25, 2005. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  26. ↑ "31st People's Choice Awards Coverage | DigitalHit.com". www.digitalhit.com. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  27. ↑ "Winners & Nominees 2005". www.goldenglobes.com. Archived from the original on January 19, 2018. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  28. ↑ "List of 2005 SAG Award nominees". CNN.com. February 6, 2005. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  29. ↑ "26th Annual Young Artist Awards". YoungArtistAwards.org. Archived from the original on March 4, 2008. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  30. ↑ Boedeker, Hal (September 12, 2004). "Impressive start for WB drama: Jack & Bobby". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on November 28, 2004. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  31. ↑ Littleton, Cynthia (September 14, 2004). "Partisan wins for WB's new 'Jack'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on September 21, 2010. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  32. ↑ Gonzales, Sandra (July 27, 2010). "Have you ever discovered a TV show too late to save it from cancelation?". EW.com. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  33. ↑ Clarendon, Dan (May 11, 2020). "Remembering Critical Fave 'Jack & Bobby,' Which Ended 15 Years Ago". TV Insider. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 "Television that Home Video Forgot: Jack & Bobby (2004)". PopOptiq. July 11, 2015. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  35. ↑ "'Jack & Bobby' moves to dodge 'Housewives'". USA Today. October 21, 2004. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  36. ↑ Xu, Bifen (June 20, 2012). "Overlooked: Jack & Bobby". W. Retrieved May 27, 2022.

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