RIP "Jack and Bobby"

So the networks have given us the list. The verdict is in: "Arrested Development" gets a reprieve…but "Jack & Bobby" was cancelled.

Ignored by critics and under hyped by the WB, last season’s best new show (in my humble opinion) wasn’t given the shot it deserved. Every entertainment magazine and TV show was too busy stalking the cast of Desperate Housewives to notice a nice little liberal show on the WB.

And its a shame it had to go, because the cast of newcomers (Logan Lerman is quite a find as Bobby) and veterans (Christine Lahti chews scenery better than anyone), was one that "clicked" well with viewers. The show was nominated for a Golden Globe, a SAG and won a number of critical awards. It also had a number of fan websites and message boards tittering despite being a poor performer in the ratings. Go ahead and google "Jack & Bobby" and see what you find. Too bad the WB thought it would be better to add some other schlocky trash than keep its best original show since "Smallville" started.

"Jack & Bobby" had a great new concept and refreshing approach to storytelling that may lend itself better to a finite series. The show’s dual storylines, one told in the present and another told through snippets of a documentary about the future presidency of the now-13-year-old Bobby, were always compelling as they revealed bits of the future each week.

Though the “present day” storylines of the future heroes as teens are far from original, they provide the grounding to move the future plot along. In those future segments, we found out how older brother Jack grows up to be a hero in a future war with Latin America and later a popular Congressman. Only after Jack’s tragic death does his younger brother Bobby, a preacher, go into politics to eventually become president. But by the end of the season, the audience had learned so much about the future that there was little reason to show the present anymore. The final episode, seemingly aware of its own mortality, brought both storylines full circle, which made for a far more definitive and fitting end than the series finales of most longer-running television shows.

So, as much as I personally loved the show, I think it was for the best that "Jack & Bobby" lasted only one season. I don’t know if the series’ producers assumed they were getting the axe or not, but the entire season ended up having a definitive beginning, middle and end; so much so that it really ended up being more of a miniseries. A miniseries that, on DVD, would be giving its story more justice than the WB ever did.

All in all, I’m miss this show, but I honestly don’t see how that kind of careful storytelling could have lasted past one season anyway. So as a bit of remembrance of my short-lived favorite show, I give you the five best things about Jack & Bobby, may it rest on DVD soon.

1. Liberalism. In the same vein as “West Wing” (with which it shares a co-creator), the show was unabashedly liberal in how it presented its stories. In the world of “Jack & Bobby,” abortion is an option, religion is not an absolute and sex is out in the open. People are flawed, the middle class is oppressed and the Left is right. In this new burst of conservatism in TV dramas, it is refreshing to see a show stick with what is widely considered “dangerous” and “unpopular” territory.

2. No one ideology is considered wrong. Though Jack and Bobby’s mother, Grace is the driving voice of the show, her rabid liberalism is often presented in a negative light. As often as she pokes fun at the conservative and the religious, she is just as often proved wrong in her own blind belief in a cause.

3. Parents aren’t perfect. The most annoying thing about TV is how unrealistic most families are. They are either horrible or perfect, with little in between. The two parents most often featured on “Jack & Bobby”, Peter and Grace, aren’t the best parents, but they certainly aren’t the worst. They are selfish and driven, occasionally ignoring their children’s needs, but they still show their love without resorting to "7th Heaven"-style declarations and over-the-top support. They know what sort of hijinx their kids are up to…but they let them go with a few well-placed words of advice. Consider these parents the opposite of the aw-shucks Waltons.

4. Over-the-top teen drama coupled with future history. Consider the present day storylines to be the entirety of “Beverly Hills 90210”, set in the Midwest and crammed into one season. We had a teen pregnancy, a drunken driving accident, a sports injury, a mugging, lots of sex and betrayal…and sex. We all have our guilty pleasures….and this show had them in spades. But, on the flip side, it managed to tell a fascinating story of America’s future without any overbearing lessons for the present. The two storylines always had some recurring theme that usually, by episode’s end, had me sitting back and saying, “Ohhhh…..I get it.”

5. Great guest stars. In the segments of the McAllister documentary, the narrators were most often familiar faces. We have Tim Robbins as the voice of the future president, and Gore Vidal, Carrie Fisher, Norman Lear, Paul Sorvino, Neil Patrick Harris and John Heard as future players in the McAllister presidency. It was always exciting to see who would appear each week and in what future/past role.