The Famous Jett Jackson
The Famous Jett Jackson is a coming-of-age television series for the Disney Channel. The show is about a boy named Jett Jackson who plays a teenage secret agent on a fictional show-within-a-show called Silverstone.
Premise
Jett Jackson previously lived with his actress 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 the fictional city of Wilsted, North Carolina, thus providing jobs to townspeople while affording Jett the chance to live with his father, Sheriff Woodrick "Wood" Jackson, and his great-grandmother, Miz Coretta. Keeping in touch with his mother Jules by video link on his computer, 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 childhood 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" . From the second season onward, the action sequences and Silverstone subplots became more prominent.
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, Mr. 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.
The series was followed by a Disney Channel original 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 Coretta 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.
Episodes
Cast
Main
- Lee Thompson Young as Jett Jackson/Silverstone
- Ryan Sommers Baum as J.B. Halliburton
- Kerry Duff as Kayla West
- Gordon Greene as Woodrick Jackson
- Montrose Hagins as Miz Coretta
- Melanie Nicholls-King as Jules Jackson
Recurring
- Jeffrey Douglas as Cubby
- Lindy Booth as Riley Grant/Hawk
- Nigel Shawn Williams as Nigel Essex/Artemus
- Andrew Tarbet as Deputy Booker Murray
- Robert Bockstael as Mr. Dupree
History and related series
The series included both young guest stars such as Hayden Christensen, Rachel McAdams, 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 series ended on June 22, 2001, due to Disney's unstated policy of producing 65 episodes per series.
The show's end theme, "It's Not What You Think", was performed by the band Youngstown in 1999; the full song includes lyrics from Young. The song was used for show credits in seasons 2 and 3.
One of the producers, Jim Steyer of company JP Kids, would go on to found Common Sense Media in 2003.