21 Jump Street- The Powers That Be

21 Jump Street: The Powers That Be

(Writers, Directors, Producers, etc) (click on names to reach their IMDB Listing)

To look at a specific episode and find out the writer, director, guest stars, etc, visit the 21 Jump Street Episode Guide.

If you are one of these people and would agree to be interviewed about 21JS, please email me at jumpstreet-owner@yahoogroups.com

Why we think you should know about TPTB

(the powers that be, as they are called on the Internet):

A hit show is never the work of only one person. The end result is the work of many different people, particularly in this show. In the television business, each person works on her or his own area of expertise, trying to infuse each episode with the quality that a show becomes known for and expected to produce. 21 Jump Street was filmed in Vancouver, Canada, and produced by Stephen J. Cannell productions, for Fox Networks. Looking closely at the credits, it’s possible to learn a lot about how the show was produced.

21 Jump Street was three very important things. 1) It was a crime show - it had to be correct (at least for the most part), so consultants were often brought in to make sure the issues of undercover police work and law were written correctly. Shows often dealt with the ethics of undercover police work, or the consequences if arrests were not made correctly. 2) It was a continuing dramatic series, which means that viewers saw the same core characters week by week. This meant that there was a certain expectation of continuity - viewers want to be respected enough to not be thrown a different version of history every week, especially when there are so few main characters that it is easy to invest in them and want to know more about them. Usually this was handled very well, with a few notable exceptions. 3) Finally, it was a show geared for teenagers and young adults, so it had to have great music & visuals, a little bit of romance, a little bit of melodrama. The best dramas always have a bit of comedy, just as the best comedies always have a bit of drama, and 21 Jump Street found ways to inject comedy into some of the episodes, even if it was just a few lines of joking around, or to make whole episodes humorous, such as #46 "Woolly Bullies" and #78 "How I Saved The Senator." Penhall’s sometimes broad comedy, Hanson’s subtle wit, Hoffs way of telling someone off, and Booker, Joey & Mac’s cockiness relieved tension whenever possible.

Beyond the creators and executive producers, who were involved in every show, much credit has to be given to the actors, who had to keep their characters consistent even when faced with scripts written by different writers every week, along with a different director every week. There were a few core directors and writers that worked on many episodes, but more often than not, a writer or director would work on less than 5 episodes over the course of the 5 seasons. From what I can see while watching the episodes, the actors did this very well, with the exception (which we applaud, BTW) of Johnny Depp making Tom Hanson into a character he could live with. All in all, taking into consideration the large number of people who worked as writers and directors, and taking into consideration the fact that the shows were not usually broadcast in the same order they had been filmed, the end result was pretty remarkable.

Creators of 21 Jump Street: Stephen J. Cannell & Patrick Hasburgh

The Executive Producers:

Season 1: Patrick Hasburgh, Bill Nuss, Steve Beers

Season 2: Patrick Hasburgh, Bill Nuss, Steve Beers

Season 3: Bill Nuss & Steve Beers

Season 4: Bill Nuss & Steve Beers

Season 5: David Levinson

The Writers:

21 Jump Street had 37 different people who wrote or co-wrote scripts over the five seasons. Listed first are the ones who had the most impact on the show:

Patrick Hasburgh: Hasburgh was a creator and executive producer, and he wrote the pilot, as well as four other episodes: #6, #7, #20 and #26. #7 "Gotta Finish The Riff" is, of course, the one in which Captain Jenko is killed.

Bill Nuss: Another executive producer, Bill Nuss wrote or co-wrote more episodes than anyone else (14), mostly in the second and third season. His episodes include #24 "Christmas In Saigon" about Ioki’s past, #27 "Chapel of Love," #29 "Orpheus 3.3," #41 "Hell Week," #46 "Woolly Bullies" (co-written), #51 "High High, and of course the lead in show (#54 "Loc’d Out Part 1") to the 5 part recurring storyline of Hanson & Raymond Crane. He had other episodes, but these were ones in which he seemed to be showing Hanson’s complexities and giving Johnny Depp something to work with.

Clifton Campbell: Campbell also wrote several episodes, most notably #28 "I’m OK, You Need Work," #34 "Cory & Dean Got Married," and #43 "Blu Flu." His specialty seemed to be stories that didn’t take place in schools.

Paul Bernbaum: Wrote several episodes, with one of them being #17 "Two For The Road," which featured Capt. Fuller being arrested for drunk driving.

Jonathon Lemkin: wrote several episodes, mostly featuring Penhall. He co-wrote #27 "Chapel Of Love" and wrote "Best Years Of Your Life," in which we find out about Penhall’s mother killing herself. He also wrote the 2-parter, #15-16 "Besieged."

Erik Blakeney: Blakeney introduced us to Booker. He was also good at showing dark sides of the characters, in episodes such as #38"The Currency We Trade In," (Penhall) and #44 "Swallowed Alive" (Hanson). The two-part Season 3 cliffhanger in which Hanson breaks the law, becomes a fugitive and goes to prison (#54-55 "Loc’d Out") was co-written by Blakeney.

Michelle Ashford: Ashford’s contribution was fleshing out Judy Hoffs and showing us the way she thinks, in episodes such as #40 "Whose Choice Is It Anyway?" (abortion), #45 "What About Love?" (sexual harassment), #63 "Stand By Your Man" (rape) and #69 "A Change Of Heart" (homophobia). Besides these, Ashford co-wrote #71 "2245" (about the death penalty) and #54 "Loc’d Out Part 1."

Glen Morgan & James Wong: This well-known writing team wrote several excellent episodes of 21 Jump Street, such as #48 "A.W.O.L.," #52 "Blinded By The Thousand Points of Light" (about runaways), #67 "Things We Said Today" (about Ioki & a kid he had busted 3 years earlier), #73 "Everyday Is Christmas" (about corruption on the police force) and several others, including co-writing #71 "2245." There is a web site about these writers: "The Glen Morgan & James Wong Shrine."

Larry Barber & Paul Barber: These two were responsible for the El Salvador recurring storyline, and showing us Doug Penhall in love with Marta. They also wrote #77 "Shirts And Skins" (about Nazism) and #81 "Blackout," which is one of the few episodes where the Jump Street unit’s case gets out of control.

There are many other writers, most of which only wrote one episode. You can get the writers’ names from the episode reviews or from the 21 Jump Street Episode Guide.

The Directors

Directors decide what we see, how it looks, and how things happen. As with the writers, there were many directors, and most of them didn’t do more than two or three episodes. Here are some of the directors who put their stamp on many episodes.

Kim Manners: Manners directed more episodes than any other director, including the pilot. Most of his episodes were in Seasons 1 and 2, though he had some later ones, such as #71 "2245," #75 "Last Chance High" and #56 "Draw The Line," all of which showed Hanson's his rare unguarded moments of deep feeling. When I see "directed by Kim Manners" I know it's going to be a good one.

Bill Corcoran: Corcoran directed many episodes as well, including the 2 part #15-16 "Besieged," and several other typical episodes. He is the one who directed #46 "Woolly Bullies," in which children were cast to play Fuller, Booker, Penhall, Hanson and Blowfish in the past, and in which Dom DeLuise was featured as Penhall’s uncle.

James Whitmore, Jr.: Directed several episodes in the first two seasons but mostly in Season 3 - episodes involving Booker. He also directed the excellent #78 "How I Saved The Senator," in which the typical sets and plots were gone and we were treated to different versions of the same story, told in different film genres

Jefferson Kibbee: Directed many episodes in Seasons 3 and 4, most of which featured Penhall.

Jorge Montesi: Montesi handled several atypical episodes, such as #52 "Blinded By The Thousand Points of Light," #64 "Mike’s P.O.V.," #73 "Awomp Bomp Aloobomb Aloop Bamboom," #98 "Under The Influence" and #99 "Crossfire."

Some notable directors who worked on 21 Jump Street have been Mario Van Peebles (#51 "High High," #58 "Eternal Flame," and #62 "Out Of Control), Peter DeLuise (#70 "Back From The Future," #91 "Number One With A Bullet," and #93 "Film At Eleven), and Steven Williams (#103 "Second Chances"). There have been many other directors as well.

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