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WB's new Sunday night drama, 'Jack and Bobby,' is a keeper.
By ROB HEDELT IF THE WB'S NEW "Jack and Bobby" were just your typical family drama, it would still be better than most of the shows on TV. But there's more going on in this Sunday, 9 p.m. show than the activities of a slightly unique family. There's also the fact that one of the two characters in the show, the Jack and Bobby of the title, is going to one day become president. No, not that Jack and Bobby, although the narrator notes that with names like that, a political future wasn't that surprising. The show's tag line: What if you could watch the next president of the United States grow up? That's the background notion that never leaves you when you watch this excitingly different drama. Though the show's creators aren't going to let on which of the two boys becomes president, each episode is going to look at the notion of how a leader's character and values are shaped by the early experiences in his life. So with every bump in the road, every joy and every lesson learned, we look to see what these two boys take forward. The boys themselves are good fits for the program. As a high school upperclassman, Matt Long is good as the troubled and constantly conscientious Jack McCallister. With a smart but nervously eccentric mother (Christine Lahti) who can't help but teach moral lessons at every turn, Jack feels the weight of bringing some normalcy to his younger brother's life. As the cute, innately good and forever troubled younger brother, Bobby McCallister, Logan Lerman is another welcome addition to the TV landscape. Lahti is her typical overwhelming self as the mom, Grace McCallister, and that's OK most of the time. Her character, a college professor raising the boys on her own, is supposed to be a bit over the edge. She sees seeds of greatness in both boys, though she dotes on Bobby so much that he's having trouble growing up. Other interesting characters add to the show: a college president who's the perfect intellectual and emotional match for Grace, and his daughter, who intrigues both boys.
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