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On Television |
 "Jack & Bobby" premieres on The WB 9-10:05 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 12; repeats 9-10:05 p.m. Thursday Sept. 16. |
One of them will become
U.S. President one day
By DONNA J. PLESH
of TheColumnists.com
|
What if we had the chance to watch a future President
of the United States grow up? That's the premise of The WB's "Jack & Bobby," the story of the bond between two brothers and how it impacts their lives and the future of the country. Set in the present, but told via flashbacks from 2049, the drama is set in a small Missouri college town where Jack (Matthew Long) and Bobby McCallister (Logan Lerhman) live with their single mom, Grace (Christine Lahti). Jack's the elder, an athlete, natural born hero, big man on the high school campus--and doesn't see eye to eye with mom. Bobby is the younger brother, beginning his scary first year in high school. An asthmatic, he's smart, shy, unsure of himself and the apple of his mother's eye. Mom's a college professor--opinionated and trying to weather her rocky relationship with Jack while having a problem letting Bobby go to find his own way. Into the mix comes Courtney (Jessica Pare), the daughter of the new college president Peter Benedict (John Slattery). Her relationship with the brothers will last decades. The relationships between the characters and how they mold the lives of the McCallisters sets the tone for this fine drama. Lahti gives her usual standout performance--Grace is tough-as-nails outside, but not so in those moments when she retreats to a room to smoke pot to calm her down. Long's brooding Jack takes issue with his mother for keeping Bobby too close to her and not letting him find his own way. Stuck in the middle is Bobby, loving his brother and mother, and trying to find a way to please both of them--and finding it just can't be done. The WB has put a lot of time and effort into promoting this series, including inserting a DVD of the entire first episode in an issue of Entertainment Weekly. Sometimes too much publicity backfires (anyone remember last season's "Coupling" on NBC?). But Jack & Bobby is a show worthy of publicity and viewers. Quality dramas on commercial TV are few and far between, but luckily for viewers "Jack & Bobby" is one of them. |
©2004 by Donna J. Plesh. The logo art from "Jack & Bobby" is courtesy of The WB.
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