My (Undoubtedly Unpopular) Take on 21 Jump Street

So I've now watched all five seasons of 21 Jump Street.  As I mentioned in the first post on this blog, I'd never seen 21 Jump Street until recently.  When the series was at the peak of its popularity, I was transitioning from college and political activism to law school and if I ever stopped to flip on a television set it was to watch the news coverage of the Supreme Court ruling in Webster or something like that.

But in my weakened condition over the past couple of months, I've watched a lot of DVDs, and a couple of dozen of them were the complete 21 Jump Street series.  Despite feeling a little sheepish about that, I'm glad I watched the whole series--and not just because I met Booker there.  I'm glad I stuck it out because, for the first time I can ever remember, I liked the new guys they brought in as the series was dying out better than the original stars.

By the last season, Judy Hoffs (Holly Robinson) was the only original undercover operative left in the department. That should have been the kiss of death for me, because Hoffs was the only member of the original team that I actively disliked.  It bugged me that the only female regular was so damned dumb, and it bugged me even more that everyone kept talking about how smart she was while she was bumbling through every operation, telling everyone she met on every case that she was a cop twenty seconds after being introduced.

But things started to change in the last couple of seasons.  They may have brought in new writers, because the glaring gaffes we'd seen before in terms of shifting backstory, departures unmentioned and such dropped off considerably.  So, it may have been the writing and not the actors that made Mac and Joey more appealing to me than Johnny Depp and Peter DeLuise had been in their leading roles. Michael Bendetti, I'll admit, was exceptionally pretty, but more in an "aww, what an adorable kid" Kirk Cameron on Growing Pains kind of way than a "check out that hot guy" Richard Grieco as Booker kind of way. 

Anyway, I don't think that played much of a role.  These kids were just more likable.  And, whether through that dynamic or improved writing, Judy stepped up in their presence and became a much more likable, competent character herself.  Overall, I liked the show better with the substitute cast that signalled the beginning of the end. I have nothing against Johnny Depp and he's obviously done amazingly well since the Jump Street days, but after finally watching it I'm clueless as to why he's the one who walked away with the accolades and seems to be the only actor anyone remembers from this series.