Welcome back to another edition of “Bring the old Disney back.” The fourth entry of this series will follow the iconic journey of “Jessie ” starring Debby Ryan, Peyton List, Cameron Boyce, Karan Brar, Skai Jackson, and Kevin Chamberlin. The series was aired from September 30, 2011, to October 16, 2015, lasting for approximately 4 seasons. The series follows Jessie Prescott, a young woman from a small town with a big dream who takes a job as a nanny and moves into a multimillion-dollar penthouse in Ney York City. Jessie becomes responsible for the four ambitious children: Emma, Rovi Zuri, and Luke. With a whole new world of experiences open to her, Jessie embarks on new adventures in the big city as she grows to rely on the love and support of the children in her care.
The series ended with Jessie heading to Hollywood after the Ross kids’ mom, Christina, cast her in a new TV show. But when the kids secretly followed her there, Emma, Luke, Ravi, and Zuri got stuck on the Hollywood sign. Thankfully, their nanny came to rescue them. In the end, Jessie said goodbye to the family and headed off to her starring role.
During its time, the show was nominated for several awards NAACP Award, Teen Choice Awards, BAFTA awards, and a Kid’s choice awards. The show was so successful that when it ended, a spinoff called Bunk’d was created and starred the same cast. Even after the series ended much of the cast went on to being household names within Hollywood.
And even though many of us only watched this show for laughter and the ridiculous skits, looking back I realized that this show taught me some especially important life lessons. One is that we are all different and that is what makes us unique. Each character on the show had their niche and traits that allowed them to stand out individually. Every one of the characters was likable in their way. Emma was the “diva of the family”, she was somewhat ditsy yet very goal-oriented. Zuri was a sassy, strong-willed, quick-witted, and talkative girl who was adopted from Uganda. Ravi was always the gentle, and courteous boy, born and raised for ten and a half years in India. Luke was the direct opposite of Ravi. He was more laid back, flirty, and very crafty in what he does.
The chemistry/bonding between Jessie, the Ross kids, and Bertram was very touching and one of the best parts of the show.
On a more sad note, A few years after the show ended, Cameron Boyce, whose character was Luke on the show unfortunately passed away. He was only 20 years old. Even after his death, many of his castmates continue to keep his legacy alive through his foundation. The Cameron Boyce Foundation honors the legacy of Cameron Boyce by aiming to cure epilepsy through funding research, education, and awareness campaigns while still supporting causes that were important to Cameron.
https://www.thecameronboycefoundation.org/
It’s tragic what happened to Boyce, and it’s very nice of you to include the foundation in honor of him. It really shows how much these shows meant to you outside of nostalgia and some laughs. Great work!
I love this show! Your blog is one of my favorites to read because I was always a Disney kid and loved all the shows you’ve talked about. This was such a good show, but honestly Jessie would annoy me a bit. She was a little too dramatic for my taste. Overall, a great show, though. It’s also so sad what happened to Cameron. I remember feeling shocked when I found out.
I watched way way way too much of this show. I had this Disney XD phase where I just would watch whatever was on, and this was always on for whatever reason. It was always extremely funny, although I thought that sometimes it was a bit low-effort. I’m a little surprised that it won that many awards.
I also heard about Cameron Boyce’s passing, and I hope that the Cameron Boyce foundation has been able to help people with epilepsy.
I watched this show with my younger sister a lot. She’s six years younger than me, so she really grew up watching this show. I honestly feel like this was the last really good show that Disney put on tv. The death of Cameron Boyce hit really hard, especially with it being unexpected and him being close to our age.
I loved Jessie in my tween years, and I was heartbroken when Cameron Boyce passed. It really made me stop and think about how short life really is. Although the show itself taught me life lessons, Cameron Boyce’s passing and the cast’s response taught me even more about love, remembrance, and family.
I still cannot believe that Cameron passed away. That was shocking to me and my sister because we grew up watching the show. I loved this show growing up. The actors and the plot were always really good. I also like how you pointed out how each of them completely different character traits. I think this is why they worked so well together.