TV — Jack & Bobby

McCallister for America

The angst of a 13-year-old President

By Amy Diaz [adiaz@hippopress.com]

Jack & Bobby

Sunday, 9 p.m., on The WB

Sweep + angst = saga.

Storytellers have given this particular equation a workout since the beginning of time—since The Odyssey, which would basically be a story about a guy who is really bad with direction if it weren’t for the sweep of war and Greek gods and the angst of a family in peril.

Jack and Bobby, one of the latest combinations of attractive actors and a story about an angst-ridden family on The WB, goes that extra step in an attempt to elevate itself from the Everwood/ One Tree Hill/ The Mountain masses. This one-hour drama dresses up itself with sweep, the sweep of history to be exact (which is the very best kind of sweep).

The titular Jack (Matthew Long) and Bobby (Logan Lerman) are the McCallister boys, who live in Hart, Missouri, circa now. Despite their first names, they are no relation to the and Bobby of legend but one of them is headed for the White House in 2041.

The brothers have a mildly difficult existence, due in large part to their near-manic mother Grace (Christine Lahti), a history professor at the local college. High school junior Jack is an angry little track star who forever rebels against his strident mother and eighth grader Bobby is a sensitive, asthmatic nerd who needs to start cutting the apron strings. Despite is fathery role as Bobby’s protector, Jack still wants a bit of the high school experience in the form of Courtney Benedict (Jessica Pare), an unbelievably haughty new girl who has beguiled young Jack.

Which one will grow up to lead our fair nation?

Well, Bobby, actually. We learn this in the first episode (which aired Sept. 12). We also learn that Jack doesn’t live long enough to see it and that, despite the obviousness of the lie, Grace continues to insist that her husband was a martyred Chilean professor, not just a Mexican busboy who left her.

The angst is thick and the sweep is whompingly melodramatic, all soaring string-heavy scores and speeches about greatness. Of course, what else would you expect from Thomas Schlamme, one of this show’s producers who also did a good bit of directing on The West Wing? (Schlamme is also Lahti’s husband, which may explain why she has a surprising amount to do in this otherwise teen-heavy drama.) But while the show comes nowhere close to the truly enjoyable excesses of those first seasons of The West Wing, Jack & Bobby does have a certain aw-shucks charm.

Matthew Long’s Jack, for all his petulance, is a teenage hottie whose imminent death could make him an interesting, darker-than-normal character. Long is sort of cloying in his precociousness, but I’m willing to give any character who wants to start a space club a chance.

Lahti, of course, is the real screen stealer. Her pot-smoking, administration-angering Grace is a complete nut job. All screechy tirades and emotionally unstable leaning on her oldest son, Grace’s brand of lunacy is certain to keep the show interesting,

Whether or not this series will be voted back for another season remains to be seen—the pilot episode did not exactly blow me away. However, it does have the quirkiness and the charm to stumble along until it finds a steady dramatic footing.   

- Amy Diaz