Kay McFadden / Times staff columnist
"Jack & Bobby" leverages fact into fiction

From left, Matt Long, Christine Lahti and Logan Lerman star in "Jack & Bobby."

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

Other links Search event listings

If television has taught us anything over the past few years, it's that Americans want more reality in our make-believe and more make-believe in our reality.

Created hits like "The Apprentice" and "The Swan" sweat to establish the humdrum before elevating it to fantasy. Conversely, presidential campaigns now get a Hollywood makeover before being judged audience-friendly enough to feel real. It's a perfect environment for The WB's new political/family drama "Jack & Bobby," which debuts at 9 p.m. Sunday and manages to leverage both fact and fiction to achieve the only truth that matters in series TV — artistic.

First, though, let's deal with the show's blatant capitalizing on Camelot legend.

For anyone over 35, the very phrase "Jack & Bobby" is inextricable from the Kennedys. When Sunday's pilot unfolds with the up-front revelation that one of the main characters is destined for the White House, your memories may feel exploited.

Chill. In a world where all is ripped from the headlines, this liberty is no worse than Norman Mailer pretending to be Marilyn Monroe, or "Captains and Kings," Taylor Caldwell's cheesy novel about an Irish American political dynasty.

In fact, it's more like calling your band Dead Kennedys and then making music that rocks. "Jack & Bobby" may be inspired by history, but it succeeds on its own merit.

Sunday's episode begins, audaciously, in 2049. A former presidential adviser is being interviewed about his boss, who has just left office. We see a black-and-white photo of the president silhouetted against a glow of light, face away, evoking similarly incandescent pictures of the late John F. Kennedy.

The image launches the series' premise. What goes into making a great president?

"Jack & Bobby" aims to pursue the answer in tandem, shifting between the future and present. A series of comments from someday political advisers and friends will set the tone for the action that takes place beginning in 2004.
 
The scene shifts to the fictional college town of Hart, Mo., where the McCallister family is introduced: two high-school-age brothers, the older Jack and the younger Bobby, being raised by their single mother, Grace.

The family dynamics are quickly established, and you needn't be a veteran of WB dramas to grasp the tensions. Grace (Christine Lahti) is an iconoclastic college professor, fiercely protective mother and deeply unhappy human being. She's first seen manipulating Bobby into buying a keyboard instead of the TV set he really wants.

Bobby (Logan Lerman) is trying to be like his mom, which isn't wise when you're a small 14-year-old just starting eighth grade at a high school where your brother, Jack (Matt Long), is Mr. Popularity. Jack would like his dorky kid sibling to fit in and stand up — another prescription for confusion.

"Jack & Bobby" is a finely meshed collaborative effort, and it shows in the structure. The narrative — high-flown, incisive, poetic — suggests the touch of Thomas Schlamme, also executive producer of "The West Wing."

Elsewhere, the emotionally intelligent dialogue and uncompromising rawness of family conflict reflect the signatures of creator Greg Berlanti ("Everwood," "Dawson's Creek") and producer-writers Vanessa Taylor and Mickey Liddel ("Everwood").

Now add some great acting led by Lahti, who makes herself into a human Eiffel Tower of strength and haywire communications. It's almost impossible to take your eyes off her in any scene — though that also presents a problem.

As skilled as Long and Lerman are for their relative youth, I found it hard to be quite so riveted to the screen when only they appear. Nor is this just a function of acting experience; it really does seem here as if The WB is shifting its point of view from teens to adults.

For a series called "Grace," that'd be OK. But given the show's title is "Jack & Bobby," the creators may have a bit of a struggle ahead ensuring that the future president doesn't pale beside his mother.

During one confrontation scene between Grace and Jack, we get to see what Long can do in the department of emoting. It's impressive.

Still, Bobby's character seems better delineated. He's clueless and cocky, a Bambi with self-assurance who will have to be taught how to get liked. That's a lesson not needed by his handsome, socially agile older brother.

Because there must always be a love interest, "Jack & Bobby" has provided two. One is Peter Benedict (John Slattery), the university's new president who is — mysteriously — charmed by the unknowing Grace's reference to him as a "money-grubbing whore."

The other is Courtney Benedict (Jessica Pare) the (wouldn't you know it!) university president's daughter. She's got her troubles, too, though one thing we know for certain from the flash forwards is that she'll end up as First Lady Courtney McCallister.

If all this isn't enough to make you watch — great acting, honest writing, connect-the-dots suspense — then how about sheer brass?

"Jack & Bobby" offers two major disclosures near the conclusion of Sunday's episode. One is vital to understanding the future of the McCallister boys.

The other, however, is the kind of revelation TV writers are supposed to put at the end of a series, not an episode. I'm trying to decide if it was a mistake, but you're going to have to watch.

TV Notes: Three years later, many of us are ready to move on from 9/11. But not so fast: At 9 tonight, "NOW with Bill Moyers" does us a big favor with a one-hour special called "9/11: For The Record," a synthesized analysis of the commission report, including events that fatal day and the warnings that led up to it. Must-see TV (KCTS-TV). kmcfadden@seattletimes.com