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Written by Mark Caliber
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Monday, 03 August 2009 |
Okay, you’ve seen this show before. This is the typical fashion house sit-com where 90% of the scenes take place in one of 5 settings.
There’s the typical fish-out-of-water new employee/protagonist.
Then you have the quirky boss who’s seemingly out of it.
You also have the typical older bitter antagonist.
And lastly we also have the omniscient receptionist who’s clearly the smartest person on the set.
True Jackson VP
Staring Keke Palmer
Okay, on the surface, you’ve seen this show before. This is the typical fashion house sit-com where 90% of the scenes take place in one of 5 settings.
There’s the typical fish-out-of-water new employee/protagonist.
Then you have the quirky boss who’s seemingly out of it.
You also have the typical older bitter antagonist.
And lastly we also have the omniscient receptionist who’s clearly the smartest person on the set.
At a quick glance this is a show you’ve seen dozens of times and has been canceled faster than you can forget the characters.
I literally stumbled across this show while flipping through channels and found it on Nickelodeon.
First off, this is a delightfully done show. The characters, though carbon copy stereotypes (for the fashion show template), are actually fleshed out with unique quirks. PLUS, the actors have each embraced their characterizations and have embraced them.
Let me go down the list one by one.
True Jackson, our titled protagonist, played by Keke Palmer was through a quirk of fate, hired to be the VP for our fashion plate as a teenager. Jackson is definitely way out of her league, but has the tenacity to take her duties seriously, and to put her best efforts into anything she does. Yet, she is also cognizant to the fact that she doesn’t remotely know enough. In short she’s a solid, level headed character who’s trying to do everything right, but had enough ignorance to make enough mistakes to keep the show interesting.
The show also features Jackson’s two best friends.
Lulu is nominally Jackson’s receptionist, and she embraces all of the tropes of the worst receptionist possible. She is often used as a ‘moral of the story’ early in the series, as she unintentionally causes most of the problems motivating the omnipresent comedy of errors. In her defense, she is the typical clueless teenager who’s dropped into a modern professional environment. (High School kids, take note! You are all in for a rude awakening once you get out of school! Lulu is a good example [early] on what NOT to do at work!)
Ryan is Jackson’s other friend and he as all of the plausibility of a guy who just hangs out at the office. Ryan’s character is exclusively used for comedy relief. He spouts implausible nonsense, and features a lot of bizarre puns with physical mishap comedy. Ryan is a hoot to watch. Alone he’s not enough to carry the show, but with Lulu and Jackson setting him up and reacting to Ryan to perfection he steals the scene.
Max is the clueless boss. He’s quirky and eccentric and his decision processes don’t often make sense. Alone this would be enough for most fashion shows, but they went one further and when you see the episode progress, you actually get some insight into Max’s reasoning, and in the end he usually morphs into the cunning mentor. Usually this mentorship is directed toward Jackson, but often he will also pull Lulu or Ryan under his wing (in spite of their dubious employment status) and render meaningful advice and wisdom.
Oscar is the most stereotypical fashion show character, without too much modification. Although he does have the lemon squares. Since the show spends a good 40% of their time in the lobby, Oscar is usually in the center of the show. He generally knows everything and 90% of our plots would be resolved if the key players simply asked Oscar what need to happen, rather than issuing their erratic edicts. Oscar is a good guy, but he does tend to play favorites from time to time, and his open and honest reactions (usually being ignored by others) are delightful.
My personal favorite is Amanda. Amanda caries herself is a stately, serene manner but her character is also petty and arrogant. Amanda is the typical foil for True Jackson and Danielle Bisutti embraces this character 100%. There are times when True and Amanda reconcile, but being an episodic formula the enmity remains consistent (and ergo the primary motivation for the Fashion formula.)
I can’t go without mentioning Kopelman. Kopelman has one function in the show. He gets kicked out of each meeting. He is the character who every episode, will tick Max off for no particular reason, and then Max will obligatorily kick Kopelman out of the meeting. It’s always bizarre. It never makes sense, but each episode, that scene hits you and you genuinely laugh as Kopelman shuffled out of the meeting room.
Again there’s nothing new to this show. It’s a fashion show, and being directed to teenagers, they tend to throw in a moral of the week story to better the kids with, but the actors all gel well together, and pull off a brilliant performance.
In the end, this isn’t a terribly unique or innovative, but it’s very well done. I’m rating this one as a solid 6 out of 7. True Jackson VP is good for a quick laugh and the performances are brilliant but otherwise, the show is not too innovative.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 07 January 2010 )
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