[jsrocks]

She does and many other cast members too.

I never listen to any news or opinions about shows staying for going until I hear it Officially announced. Before that, it's just speculation and I don't care about that.

[deathofacat]

I do, and it makes me miserable........

[violetvoiced]

From a San Francisco Chronicle article online where it grades tv networks:

WB: Grade: F. Oh, the carnage. Into a thicket of not-very-good teen angst programming, the WB decided it would add "Blue Collar TV," a Drew Carey retread idea, a sitcom from reality guru Mark Burnett that was so bad it never aired and a wonderfully nuanced, slightly preachy series about politics, academia and family called "Jack & Bobby" that few people (No. 185 in the Nielsens) ever saw.

Talk about not knowing your audience. But that may have something to do with the WB not really knowing what it wants to be. It will need a miraculous content infusion and clear identity to turn things around.

Strengths: A creatively resurgent "Gilmore Girls" and enough sap in shows like "Everwood" and "One Tree Hill" to keep the kids hooked.

Weaknesses: Lack of identity; idiotic forays into reality programming.

ABC was the only network to receive an A. UPN got an F too.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...DGGICIRDV1.DTL

After reading that LJ post, I have to say that I am extremely disappointed in the WB and believe that it does deserve an F for canceling its most mature and most critically-acclaimed series while keeping tv shows that are so obviously past their prime such as 7th Heaven and Charmed. I agree with the article that the WB does not know what kind of network it wants to be since the WB has repeatedly stated that it wants to attract older viewers. But, then, they cancel a series that IMO accomplishes that feat very well. Furthermore, it seems that the WB gave up on this show a long time ago, for it has promoted this series nowhere near as much as Gilmore Girls and One Tree Hill even though J&B is up against American Idol and The West Wing. Thus, it is like the network hasn't even given this show a fighting chance. I mean, at least NBC gave American Dreams 3 seasons before canceling it while UPN has already renewed the also ratings-challenged Veronica Mars, and Fox gave Arrested Development a 2nd season. If the WB had renewed J&B, the network would have looked mature and like it was concerned with quality as well as ratings. Yet, since it probably won't, the WB rightly deserves an F.

Oh yeah, and Christine Lahti should definately get an Emmy nomination.

[MissCongeniality]

Weaknesses: Lack of identity; idiotic forays into reality programming.

Wow, we're not the only ones who were thinking this.

Thanks so much for posting this article. I totally agree with the reviewer and your post. The WB deserves an F, for sure.

[deathofacat]

F-!!!!!!!!!!

[MissCongeniality]

F-.

J&B is making everybody's "finales not to miss" lists here and here.

The following is not really news, but it got sent to me and I found it to be pretty cool. Click me.

[deathofacat]

Thanks, Candy!

[MissCongeniality]

You're welcome. I love actually finding news to post here. Speaking of which, I'm posting these knowing the risk of sounding redundant, so click here and here.

[deathofacat]

Hee!

[jsrocks]

WE NEED A 2ND SEASON

[deathofacat]

N.O.W.

Ooh, 'nother preview for the finale!

[arabesque]

Here's an article from Zap2it.com about Lou Diamond Phillips doing the finale.
http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271|95222|1|,00.html

Phillips Comes Off the Bench for 'Jack & Bobby' Finale
(Tuesday, May 10 01:42 PM)
By Kate O'Hare
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) As of this writing, there's no word yet from The WB whether there will be a sophomore season for the future-president drama "Jack & Bobby," which airs its first-season finale on Wednesday, May 11, at 9 p.m. ET.
Just in case the jury's still out, producers have gone for some heavy hitters, including someone who's used to being called into games already in progress.

"I'm starting to believe I'm the go-to guy for long-lost relatives," quips Lou Diamond Phillips. "I was a long-lost brother on 'George Lopez.' I was a long-lost son on 'Resurrection Blvd.' Now I'm a long-lost dad."


In "Legacy," Phillips plays Juan Roberto, the father of teens Jack (Matt Long) and Bobby (Logan Lerman) McCallister, who were raised by their single mother, Grace (Christine Lahti), a Missouri college professor. As fans know from flash-forward interstitials throughout the season, Jack dies prematurely, and Bobby goes on to become the U.S. president.
The episode outlines Jack's fate, featuring Tim Robbins as the voice of President Robert McCallister, and producer Norman Lear ("All in the Family") as an older version of college president Peter Benedict, played in the series by John Slattery.

The story's present-day plot follows the McCallisters as they go to visit Juan Roberto in prison in Texas, with Grace finally revealing the full story of their relationship and his imprisonment.

"I didn't get to work with Logan," Phillips says, "but I worked with Matt. What a beautiful, handsome young man. He's talented. I'm just thrilled that he's got is head on straight and is taking this all in stride. The work we did the other day was just beautiful.

"The writing was also amazing. It was an opportunity to work with Christine, to do something that's pretty special."

Although he doesn't want to reveal Juan Roberto's secrets, Phillips approves of what the writers concocted.

"It is a bit on the ambiguous side," he says, "and it certainly lends itself to further investigation, but it's definitely believable. It lets you know why the boys never knew about their father.

"The beautiful thing is, you're never sure whether to believe Grace or not, but the truth becomes fairly self-evident. Strangely, even though he's the boys' father, this is the beginning of their relationship. He as out of the picture when Jack was two, and never saw Bobby."

While the show's future apparently still hangs in the balance, Phillips says, "I have high hopes it will come back, because, obviously, it's an incredible show, but I have my own selfish reasons. I'd like to come back and see what happens to this guy."

Phillips is used to dropping in. This season, he appeared in CBS' "Numb3rs," and he's already mentioned his earlier stints on "The George Lopez Show" and "Resurrection Blvd."

He also did a couple of episodes of "24" during its first season, which reunited him with old "Young Guns" cohort Kiefer Sutherland.

"The one thing that's similar about all of my guest appearances is I'm taking an opportunity to come in and play with some old friends," Phillips says. "With me and Kiefer, it's obvious. They didn't even have a script, and they asked me to come in and do it. I called up Kiefer on set and said, 'Hey, they want me to do this, is that cool with you?' He said, 'Yeah, come on.'

"With 'Resurrection Blvd.,' Tony Plana was at my screen test for 'La Bamba.' As far as 'Numb3rs' and 'Jack & Bobby,' you have Rob Morrow, Christine Lahti, David Krumholtz. You have a lot of people that I have admired for a long time, that I've either had a passing acquaintance with or met briefly.

"I'm at the point in my career where if I get a chance to work with some people I admire or people who've had careers as long as mine, it's very little to ask to come in and play for a day or a week or whatever."

Asked if he gave any sage advice to Long, who made his TV debut with "Jack & Bobby," Phillips says, "A little bit. I was so impressed with the kid; there wasn't a whole lot I felt I needed to pass onto him, other than the attaboys.

"I was 24 when I did 'La Bamba,' and I told him, 'It's great that you're living your life and keeping this in perspective, doing things to surround yourself with people who knew you when and care about you and are supportive of you and will never let you forget who you are.'

"But just getting to hang out with him and watch his demeanor, I think the kids got a lot on the ball. It's beyond talent and beyond his obvious good looks, it's the fact that he's got a great heart, and he's obviously well grounded."

[deathofacat]

He sounds so cool!

[violetvoiced]

A New York Times article about the finale and the series:

May 11, 2005
The Life and Drama of a Boy Who Would Be President
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
When teenagers go astray, their parents ground them. But it would be better if instead they grounded them in good television - ordering them to watch WB's "Jack & Bobby" for two weeks straight instead of Fox's sexy melodrama "The O.C."

As summer reruns approach, series compete for the most sensational season finales. The quietly intriguing end to "Jack & Bobby" tonight is a helpful reminder that there are plenty of good shows for children and parents to watch. If the infraction was bad enough to warrant dire punishment, they could even insist on watching it together.

The WB has a number of dramas that engagingly use mythic small towns to examine teenage angst and family ties, from the complicity and competition of mothers and daughters in "Gilmore Girls" to the resentments between fathers and sons on "Everwood." But on "Jack & Bobby" those eternal tensions are blended into a more intriguing canvas: one of the two McCallister brothers grows up to be president in 2040. Their adolescence unfolds in "Citizen Kane"-style flashbacks woven into a documentary in which White House aides and the former first lady reminisce about the beloved president, known as "The Great Believer."

Fictional and real-life public figures are intentionally blurred. On tonight's episode, Gore Vidal makes a cameo appearance as the documentary's host, an authoritative Sir Kenneth Clark type, who delivers a psychohistorical insight that informs the episode - and the McCallister presidency. "The critical choice to transform himself from a private to a public person," Mr. Vidal says in a deep portentous voice, "can be traced directly back to a day when McCallister traveled to Huntsville, Tex., in the spring of 2005."

The first scene shows the boys' intelligent, neurotic single mother Grace (Christine Lahti), a college professor packing for what she says is a yearly getaway visit with her two best girlfriends in Huntsville. Bobby (Logan Lerman), the younger son, begins to question why the women keep returning to a barren place like Huntsville, a town best known as the "prison city of Texas." The truth comes out, but slowly and circuitously.

Like mothers sneaking spinach into a child's pasta dinner, "The O.C." on Fox cleverly slips serious issues into a gauzy tableau of sex, sun and bare bellies. The striptease on "Jack & Bobby" is intellectual, a slow, seductive unveiling of secrets that no sooner exposed, reveal another layer of mystery underneath.
In the pilot, viewers were left guessing whether Jack (Matt Long), the track star and natural leader or his eccentric little brother, Bobby, became president. Once it was revealed that Jack died young, a war hero, and it was Bobby who ran for president, other mysteries surfaced, including why Bobby ended up a Republican when his brother was a liberal Democrat. The show does reflect a certain West Coast sensibility: the war that so traumatized the nation is not about oil, terrorism or North Korea, but water. The United States gets pulled into a conflict with its southern neighbors in what is known as "The War of the Americas."

"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 - a trait attributable to one of its executive producers, Thomas Schlamme, who was a director and executive producer of "The West Wing." Despite the coy reference to the Kennedys, McCallister's presidency is depicted as a restoration of hope to a demoralized nation - more Franklin D. Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan than John F. Kennedy. Those 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.' " )

And that balance helps explain the series's popularity with the more political voices of show business: Norman Lear, the creator of "All in The Family," also has a cameo role as the elderly Peter Benedict, Grace's boss at the university and the president's father-in-law, and Tim Robbins does the voice of President McCallister as an adult.

Sex, romance and betrayal can be found in any show for teenagers. "Jack & Bobby" takes it all the way to the White House.


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/11/ar...on/11stan.html

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An article comparing Veronica Mars and J&B:

A tale of two teen TV dramas
'Veronica' will be back, but future of 'Jack' is less certain Commentary


By Charlie McCollum
KRT News Service


Since they premiered last fall, UPN's "Veronica Mars" and the WB's "Jack & Bobby" have traveled similar paths.

Both have proven to be smartly written series that explore family dynamics with remarkable clarity.

Both have developed characters that viewers care about, as defined by very strong ensemble casts.

Each has a singular performance at its center: young Kristen Bell as Veronica Mars and Christine Lahti as Grace McCallister, the mother of teens Jack and Bobby.

Sadly, both also have been viewer-deprived, ending up among the least-watched shows on network TV each week.

This week, though, as the shows air their season finales, the paths of the two series are likely to diverge. Despite the miserable ratings, UPN has renewed "Veronica Mars" for a second season, since it fits nicely into the network's programming for young women.

But tonight's episode of "Jack & Bobby" (at 9 p.m. on cable's WB30) will most likely be its last as the WB scrambles to rethink its lineup for next season.

The "Veronica" finale, which aired Tuesday, is yet another example of why UPN ought to be applauded for sticking with this addictive show. A touching episode resolved the mystery (who killed Veronica's best friend, Lilly Kane) that has been the narrative drive of the series and does so in a way that should satisfy those who have invested in the show.

While the easy way to describe Veronica Mars is as a post- modern Nancy Drew - the high-schooler works for her father's detective agency - the show really has about as much to do with solving mysteries as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" had to do with vampires and demons.

Like "Buffy," the heart of the series is its contemplations of the horrors of high school, the pain of first love, the joys of friendships and the agony of loss.

Which means the emotional payoff of the finale - called "Leave It to Beaver" - was not the apprehension of Lilly Kane's killer but the psychic impact it has on those who knew her, including Veronica.

Like "Veronica," "Jack & Bobby" was never quite what it seemed on the surface. It had all the trappings of a traditional teen drama but framed its episodes with flash-forwards to a documentary about a time in the future when Bobby McCallister had become president of the United States.

The innovative device allowed it to explore both what Bobby and his brother Jack had become - and how they became who they were as adults.

This series also ends its season with style and class. The producers have said they knew cancellation was a real possibility, so they've given those who did watch some lovely and poignant parting moments that are satisfying in their way.

Most of the episode is devoted to Jack and Bobby McCallister (Matt Long and Logan Lerman) meeting their father (Lou Diamond Phillips), who has been much discussed but never seen.

In addition to Phillips, the fin-ale is loaded with guest stars, including TV icon Norman Lear as the older Peter Benedict, the college president played by John Slattery in modern times, and Gore Vidal as the narrator of the "documentary" about the McCallister presidency. Tim Robbins turns up as the voice of President McCallister.

The finale should erase any lingering questions - if there really were any - that "Jack & Bobby" deserved a better fate.

It is likely to end up like "Freaks and Geeks": unwatched in its time and much-discussed after its passing.

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...0320/1055/news

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Oh, and J&B's (hopefully) season finale wasn't mentioned at all in TV Guide online's Watercooler (not even the Channel Surfing section), so vote for J&B in their poll!
http://www.tvguide.com/tv/watercooler/

J&B is actually in 4th place right now- American Idol is 1% ahead of it.

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Sorry for the long post but had to mention that J&B only got 2.10 million viewers for the finale..is that less than last week's? If it is, then it's not looking very good for J&B.

From Mediaweek.com:

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/newslett...ider/index.jsp

At 9 p.m., and opposite American Idol and the second hour of Elvis, ABC’s Alias perked up to a 7.4/11 in the overnights (#3), 10.14 million viewers (#3) and a 4.1/10 among adults 18-49 (#2). On NBC, the once promising Revelations averaged a typical 6.6/10 in the overnights (#4), 8.27 million viewers (#4) and a 3.2/ 8 among adults 18-49 (#4), while the season, or series, finale of the WB’s competing Jack & Bobby remained in the cellar at a 1.8/ 3 in the overnights, 2.10 million viewers and a 0.9/ 2 among adults 18-49. UPN’s competing, and also on-the-fence, Kevin Hill was a typical No. 5 in the hour at a 2.7/ 4 in the overnights, 2.82 million viewers and a 1.4/ 3 among adults 18-49.

[MissCongeniality]

I was annoyed that the show wasn't featured in The Watercooler too. Thanks for posting all these articles.

Sucks that the ratings weren't any better.