21 Jump Street: Seasons 1 and 2
By: Patrick Vu | Category: Television DVD | 04/11/05 | 03:07 AM
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Grade: A | Genre: Drama Series
Summary: In its heyday, 21 Jump Street was special because it was the only show focused on serious matters that teens faced. Such bold topics like teen pornography, drug trafficing, and AIDS were regularly addressed and had America's youth, including myself, captivated. |
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Starring: Johnny Depp, Dustin Nguyen, Peter DeLuise, and Holly Robinson, and Steven Williams
Network: Fox
 Before Beverly Hills 90120 and similar programs slanted toward youth culture, there was a show known today as being the launching pad for a young Johnny Depp. Dig deeper and you'll find a drama with a loyal cult following thanks to its edgy story lines focused on teen drama.
At the time, 21 Jump Street was the FOX network's only hour-long program that also took risks by touching on mature social issues such as sexuality, drugs, and suicide.
The premise of 21 Jump Street revolves around a promising rookie, Tom Hanson (Depp), a baby-faced police officer too young looking to be taken seriously by his peers and the criminals on whom he enforced the law. In order to utilize Hanson, the Captain of the department decides to transfer him to a special undercover unit aimed to thwart juvenile crime. Upon arrival, he meets fellow officers Harry Ioki (Nguyen), Doug Penhall (DeLuise), and Judy Hoffs (Robinson), and together the four form the core unit of the Jump Street program under Captain Fuller (Williams).
In its heyday, 21 Jump Street was special because it was the only show focused on the serious issues that teens faced. Such bold topics like teen pornography, drug trafficking, and AIDS were regularly addressed and had America's youth, including myself, captivated.
The chemistry that the four displayed was very genuine, especially between Hanson and Penhall, which gave the show a more human quality and allowed us to become more comfortable with the team.
The first season was finally released on DVD last October and season two last month. After watching both, it's interesting to see how the show evolved to find itself and its bearings. Johnny Depp's Hanson probably goes through the biggest transformation from a clean cut-by the book-police officer to a laid back-anything goes-cop. He was "grunge" before there even was "grunge."
Fans of the show will appreciate the opportunity to relish in 80's youth culture from the horrid clothes, hair, and slang to the particularly awful music that has us wondering how we never noticed it before. You'll also see a lot of familiar faces just starting out like Peter Berg, Jason Priestly, Christina Applegate, Brad Pitt, and of course, "Boner" from Growing Pains.
Look out for season 3 of 21 Jump Street due out in August.
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