Disney Shows From The 90s - The Famous Jett Jackson

Disney Shows From The 90s - The Famous Jett Jackson

The Famous Jett Jackson was a Disney Channel Original Series coming of age television series about a boy

named Jett Jackson (Lee Thompson Young) who plays a teenage secret-agent on a fictional TV show-within-a-

show called Silverstone. Jett lives and films Silverstone in his fictional hometown of Wilsted, North

Carolina, where his father is the sheriff. However, the actual series, The Famous Jett Jackson, was filmed

in Brooklin, Ontario.

Plot

Jett Jackson previously lived with his publicist mother in Los Angeles, but missed his home and his

friends. Longing for a relatively normal life, Jett succeeds in getting the production of Silverstone moved

to Wilsted, North Carolina, thus providing jobs to townspeople while affording Jett the chance to live with

his father, Sheriff Wood Jackson, and his great-grandmother, Miz Coretta (whom Jett calls Nana).[1] Keeping

in touch with his mother Jules by video link on his computer (though by the third season she also moved to

Wilsted), Jett now spends part of his time with family, friends and school, and the rest living the life of

a working actor and celebrity. In doing so, Jett often ends up in sticky situations, usually aided and

abetted by his best friend, J.B., his not-quite girlfriend Kayla, and sometimes by Cubby, Silverstone’s

wacky special effects wizard. In the second half of the series, Jett’s new co-star, Riley Grant, is added

to the mix.

The show within the show, Silverstone, is about a spy who works for Mission Omega Matrix in order to save

the world from villains like Dr. Hypnoto and the Rat. In contrast to Jett, Silverstone has no family, only

his mentor, Artemus, and eventually his partner Hawk (”played” by Riley Grant).

History and related series

The Famous Jett Jackson is notable for being the first of the original series created by Disney Channel in

the late 1990s. Show creator Fracaswell Hyman reportedly devised the character before casting Lee Thompson

Young for the role. Like Jett, Young was raised in a single parent home in the South, and decided on an

acting career at an early age. Young went on to write one of the episodes produced for the series.

The series included both young guest stars such as Hayden Christensen, Britney Spears and Destiny’s Child

and veteran stars such as Eartha Kitt, the latter of whom played the new coach of Wilsted’s minor league

baseball team in one episode.

The relative realism of Jett’s home life sometimes gave way to fantasy or paranormal elements, such as one

episode in which Jett learns about a shameful incident in Wilsted’s history with a little prodding from the

ghost of a key figure in the buried scandal. Other episodes dealt with issues in a more realistic and

contemporary way, such as when J.B.’s father’s family-owned store is threatened by the arrival of high-

powered, “big box” competition, and another in which Jett’s English teacher, Dr. Dupree, runs afoul of

local attempts at censorship of a class reading assignment. Other episodes dealt with such topics as

bulimia and the question of whether Jett, with his relatively sheltered and pampered home life, can truly

understand or cope with the problems of other African Americans.

Although it was well-received and regarded as a success, the series ended on June 22, 2001, allegedly due

to Disney’s unstated policy of making only 65 episodes per series. It was followed by a Disney Channel

movie in which Jett finds himself trapped in Silverstone’s world, and vice versa. In that movie he takes on

Silverstone’s role for real and is able to muddle through while Silverstone does the same thing in Jett’s

world until Miz Coreta finds out the truth and he returns home and sends Jett back as well. The movie ends

with Jett returning to Silverstone’s world and helping him complete his mission by rescuing Silverstone

from Kragg and then defeating Kragg alongside his hero alter-ego. The series was in re-runs on Disney

Channel throughout 2002 at 12:30 AM eastern/Pacific.

Many of the regular and recurring cast members from The Famous Jett Jackson have since appeared in another

Canadian television series, Strange Days at Blake Holsey High, as stars or guest stars. The most obvious

examples of this are Jeff Douglas (Cubby) as Professor Noel Zachary, a.k.a. Professor Z., Lawrence Bayne

(Dr. Hypnoto) as Victor Pearson, Tony Munch (The Rat) as The Janitor, and Valerie Boyle (Vice Principal

Niad) as Principal Amanda Durst.

Director Shawn Levy (Cheaper by the Dozen, The Pink Panther, Night at the Museum) did a few episodes of the

series and has since then cast members of the cast in minor roles in his big-budget films.

Critical reaction

Response to the show was generally positive. Laura Fries of Variety, the Hollywood trade paper, noted in

her review of Jett Jackson: The Movie that “Young serves as an appealing role model, much like Sarah

Michelle Gellar’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer –someone who can fulfill young, action craving audiences

without the gratuitous violence. There’s a sense of empowerment associated with these sort of roles, and

handled correctly, they function as an excellent allegory for the confusing teenage years.” Although she

mentions “contrived plot devices”, she also refers to the series as “clever” and “an extremely entertaining

concept”.

Film

Jett Jackson: The Movie

Awards and nominations

The series The Famous Jett Jackson and its young cast were nominated for Young Artist Awards, presented by

the nonprofit Young Artist Foundation, in several categories in the course of the show’s run:

1998-1999 (21st Annual Young Artist Awards)

* Lee Thompson Young, BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV COMEDY SERIES: Leading Young Actor (nominee, lost to

Thomas Dekker)
* Ryan Sommers Baum, BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV COMEDY SERIES: Supporting Young Actor (nominee, lost to

Andrew Ducote)
* Kerry Duff, BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV COMEDY SERIES: Supporting Young Actress (WINNER)
* The Famous Jett Jackson, BEST FAMILY TV COMEDY SERIES (nominee, lost to Freaks and Geeks)

1999-2000 (22nd Annual Young Artist Awards)

* Lee Thompson Young, BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV DRAMA SERIES: Leading Young Actor (nominee, lost to

Robert Clark)
* Ryan Sommers Baum, BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV DRAMA SERIES: Supporting Young Actor (nominee, lost to

Miko Hughes)
* Kerry Duff, BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV DRAMA SERIES: Supporting Young Actress (nominee, lost to

Michelle Trachtenberg)

2000-2001 (22nd Annual Young Artist Awards) (for Jett Jackson: The Movie[7]

* Kerry Duff, BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV MOVIE (Comedy or Drama): Leading Young Actress (nominee, lost to

Kelsey Keel)

In addition, the Parents’ Choice Foundation presented a “Silver Honor” medal to The Famous Jett Jackson as

part of its 2001 Parents’ Choice Awards.