How Jack & Bobby Could've Been Awesome

Jack & Bobby was a show a few months before the 2004 Presidential election. What was the premise? The lives of two boys named Jack and Bobby, the symbolism is not lost on the audience, are chronicled at present time and as a documentary of the life of a President McCallister. At the end of the first episode, you find out which McCallister boy was the President.

Now, the general concept was awesome. A show that went back and forth between the modern life of this future President and a documentary with interviews with those close to the President or who knew the President including Cabinet members, political opponents, and members of the media. It had promise, but instead it relied on terribly weak plot elements which turned it into something else entirely. This show could have been one of the best on television, ever. Instead...it failed and was canceled rather quickly. Here's how it could have been better.

First, never do a subplot involving the mother of the future President hooking up with one of her students. Ever. That plot was terrible, added nothing to the story, and added nothing to the characters. Have the mother continue to deal with her marijuana addiction in front of her children with no discussion of her job except that it begins to suffer because of it. She could have been a deep and intense character as part of the Jack and Bobby's lives without ever going much deeper into her job. Her job was unimportant, her relationship with her sons was. That needed to be developed more fully.

Next, do an entire string of episodes with from the opposite stance...start with the President dealing with a crisis and him looking back to specific moments from his childhood in brief flashbacks. Never lose the fact that this show is supposed to be about a man who will become President and how his current life molds him into the man he would become. Show the man he would become. Show how this Independent President changed America.

Also, they needed a set timeline to be established. This isn't a show that could go on indefinitely. It needed to be defined by clear cut events in Jack and Bobby's respective lives. Frankly, I think it should have been broken into a set of five seasons, each of them focusing in on a different portion of the President's life. Start as a child with the formative years around 2004. Jump to the end of high school. Jump to college. Jump to the beginning of his political career. And so on. Also, show the plot and the lives of the characters evolve over time. Each season can't end on a cliffhanger, either. It needs to be wrapped up in a bow in case the show ends then, giving the audience satisfaction that we know that much more about the future President's life.

My idea -- get Brian K. Vaughn, who writes the amazing Ex Machina, on staff and revamp this show from scratch. He's great at writing political dramas and could remold this show into something awesome.

That's it. I think with these tweaks and maybe some new writing, this show would have been amazing. Will my dream of seeing the history of future President Robert McCallister actually come true? I doubt it, but it'd be amazing to see happen.

Dinner Guest Realization

I just had another startiling realization. I must be a terrible dinner guest, as my favorite conversation items are politics and religion...oh, how taboo.

What If -- No Kennedy Assassination

This idea had originally been posited on a game I used to play entitled US Government Simulator, or USG for short. I developed, in short, what I thought would happen and initially posted it on my primary blog. Here's a repost of that same thought -- a bit tweaked --

1964 - In a wave of popularity surging from his near death experience, Kennedy wins in a strong mandate for President against Barry Goldwater (similar to LBJ's victory). Kennedy dumped Johnson for Governor Pat Brown of California, who recently defeated Nixon for Governor. Kennedy continues to stand by the Vietnam war, but in contrast to Goldwater sounds much less militant.

1965 - Vietnam continues to escalate, Kennedy's popularity starts to drop. Vice President Brown meets with South Vietnamese leaders in Hawaii promising full support for their independence.

1966 - Vietnam war continues to be mismanaged as it was in real life.

1967 - Nixon begins speaking tour of America and talking about Civil Rights. MLK speaks out against Vietnam war. Secretary of Defense admits that Vietnam strategy has been ineffective before Senate.

1968 - Vietcong sweep in surprising American and allied South Vietnamese forces. Support for the war reaches all time low. Nixon meets with MLK. MLK assassinated (no correlation to Nixon meeting). Nixon v. Brown v. Wallace -- Nixon wins by larger margin than in reality -- Wallace gained support in unexpected regions.

Nixon's Term - Nixon pushes for the Civil Rights movement and deescalates Vietnam as he pledged on the campaign trail. Civil Rights movement moves forward later than normal due to Kennedy's initial opposition to the affair, despite popular belief. The Watergate scandal happens as expected only swifter then in reality. Carl Albert becomes President until 1976. Albert finishes the push for Civil Rights reform

1976 election - GOP primary between Ronald Reagan and Nelson Rockefeller. Reagan barely wins in a hotly contested primary, setting the tone for the Republican party for the next 20 years. President Albert is primaried by George Wallace for the nomination. After losing a few early primaries, Albert comes out victorious and eventually takes on Southern Governor Jimmy Carter as a running mate. Reagan barely wins in 1976 with Robert Dole as his running mate. Iran hostage crisis shortens with the hardliner Reagan handling the situation. The OPEC scenario leads to drilling in Alaska and other parts of the US and a renewed effort into alternative fuel sources. The oil found domestically lets the OPEC boycot having a lesser effect on domestic affairs.

1980 election - Ted Kennedy runs against Jimmy Carter in the Democratic primary, as it does in reality Kennedy's skelleton's surface leading to Carter winning the primary. Reagan uses sound bytes from Kennedy in campaign ads against Carter. Reagan defeats Jimmy Carter in 1980 in a campaign similar to the RL 1980 election. Soviet talks were huge in the early 1980s.

Dole wins on the wave of Reagan popularity in 1984 and continues the policies of Reagan. He pickes Howard Baker as a running mate. By 1988 talks with the Soviet Union had been going so well that Dole swept into reelection by a smaller, albeit still large margin. The Soviet Union began to slowly fall apart and taxes were forced to be raised and, without the charisma of Reagan, Dole was unable to sell it to the American people leading to the same problems Bush had in the late 1980s. Dole gets us into the Gulf War and it ends as quickly as it begins. He handles it about as well as Bush does.

In 1992 VP Baker runs into a problem as eccentric millionaire H. Ross Perot decides to run for President. Popular Southern Governor William J. Clinton sweeps through the DNC primary leading to an interesting Presidential race in 1992. Clinton still wins.

1996 leads to a fragmented Republican primary torn between Pat Buchanan and Senator Phil Gramm. Buchanan barely squeaks by with a primary victory. Clinton wins in 1996 as he did in reality with a slightly larger margin.

In 2000, Popular Maverick Senator John McCain faces off against popular Southern Governor George W. Bush in a GOP primary. The Democrats rally behind VP Al Gore. McCain sweeps in the primaries and picks up Alan Keyes as a running mate. Despite questions about the selection of Keyes, McCain sweeps into office in 2000 with his plain talk defeating Al Gore. September 11, 2001 happens as it does in real life. US sweeps into Afghanistan handling it a bit more manageably than in reality. Intelligence is brought to President McCain that Iraq may have weapons of mass destruction - he waits it out while finishing up efforts on Afghanistan.

By 2003, Iraq becomes a threat and invasion becomes eminent. End of 2003 we invade Iraq. McCain as a wartime President defeats peace-hawk Howard Dean in 2004 in a larger margin of victory than George W. Bush did in reality. McCain is currently our President.