Jessie

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Jessie is a Disney Channel original situation comedy, which debuted on September 30, 2011. The series stars Debby Ryan as the title character Jessie, an 18-year old who moves from Fort Hood, Texas to New York City and ends up haphazardly (after getting thrown out of a taxicab because she couldn't pay the fare, landing on the sidewalk of a posh New York apartment building) becoming the nanny for the Ross family, a film director and his business mogul wife who have four children: the oldest and the only biological child 13-year old Emma (Peyton R. List) and three adopted children: 12-year old Luke (Cameron Boyce), 10-year old Ravi (Karan Brar) and 7-year old Zuri (Skai Jackson). The butler, Bertram (Kevin Chamberlin), and the doorman Tony (Chris Galya) help her from time to time.

The series, created by Pamela Eells O'Connell (The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, The Suite Life on Deck), is notable for having its lead character be in her late teens (roughly around college-age) from the start of the series (a first for Disney Channel); whereas Disney Channel comedies typically center around lead characters of middle/junior high or high school age.

Not to be confused with Jesse, the short-lived NBC show starring Christina Applegate.

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Tropes

• Actor Allusion: Jessie's father is in the military, so was Debby Ryan's father.
• Affably Evil: Dale Davenport, the bully at the kids' school. Very mean and tough, but requests healthy snacks for himself and his victims.

Dale: Tomorrow you better bring me some carrot juice.(in a nice voice) )And bring some for yourself too. Your body is a temple, (in a mean voice) don't make me knock it down!

• Agony of the Feet: In an unusual reversed example, a little person store detective undercover as one of Santa's Helpers kicks Luke, causing him to hop on one foot.
• Alliterative Name: Dale Davenport the school bully.
• Bilingual Bonus: Whenever Ravi ends up angrily shouting in Hindi. He also has some Hindi writing on his bedroom door.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Emma, Zuri and Jessie.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Zuri.
• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Jessie once describes Agatha's shopping list as "bread, milk, and Eye of Newt".
• Catch Phrase: Mrs. Chesterfield always calls Zuri "strange little girl."
• Cheerful Child: Zuri and Ravi.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Zuri.
• Cool Big Sis: Jessie tends to act as this for Emma
• Crack! Oh, My Back!: Bertram, helping the kids decorate the tree.
• Creepy Child:
  • Zuri is this In-Universe, according to the landlady.
  • "Creepy" Connie Thompson as well. That nickname is well-deserved.
• Curse Cut Short: One of the ways they're Getting Crap Past the Radar.
• Cute Bruiser: Jessie knows a few military moves that she shows when she subdues Emma's punk boyfriend
• Daddy's Girl: Both Zuri and Emma.
• The Danza: Christina Ross is played Christina Moore.
• A Day in The Limelight: The family pet, Mr. Kipling, had the second episode pretty much dedicated to him.
• Deadpan Snarker: A lot of characters are shaping up to be this, especially Bertram, but Emma pulls off a rather hilarious example of snark in episode two:

Jessie: My boyfriends have to be at least 18 (Beat) and human. Emma: Wow Luke, you're 0 for 2.

• Directed By Cast Member: Kevin Chamberlin directed "Are You Cooler Than a 5th Grader?" (which explains why he doesn't appear in this one).
• The Ditz: Tony.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Tony, and to an extent, Luke.
• Do-It-Yourself Theme Tune: Debby Ryan sings "Hey, Jessie", the show's opening.
• Dope Slap: Mr. Kipling does this to Ravi, Luke and Emma with his tail when they fail to realize that he could be the pet for their cool pet viral video.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Jessie starts out like this, but she softens up by the end of the first episode.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Debby Ryan dyed her hair auburn for this role.
• Fat Bastard: Bertram.
• Five-Token Band: You can practically smell the focus testing.
• Funny Foreigner: Actually avoided, while Ravi does act foreign, most of his jokes aren't ethnicity based.
• Genius Ditz: Emma is pretty smart, and actually does well in school, but still acts pretty goofy.
• Genki Girl: Emma.
• Hot Mom: Mrs. Ross.
• Imaginary Friend: Zuri has at least one of these; subverted in the episode "The Talented Mr. Kipling", when Zuri actually has an imaginary bully who she claims had hit her and ripped the head off one of her dolls.
• Incredibly Lame Pun: Emma makes Jessie's "a salt" joke into one of these by pointing out how Tony's laughing at it was fake and that it wasn't really that funny.
• Insult to Rocks:

Ravi: Luke has the personal hygiene of a wolverine. Bertram: That's an insult to wolverines, At least they occasionally lick themselves clean!

• Jerk With a Heart of Gold: Bertram.
• Jerkass: Luke
• Latin Lover: Again, Luke. At least he tries to be.
• Little Boy Seeks Big Girl: Luke is this to Jessie...sometimes.
• Little Miss Snarker: Zuri.
• Malaproper: Mrs. Chesterfield calls Jessie "Bessie" and her friend Darla "Marla".
• Motorcycle Jousting
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: It's pretty obvious that the Rosses are a parody of the Angelina Jolie-Brad Pitt family.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: In Universe, Jessie will occasionally slip into a Texas drawl.
• Pluto Is Expendable: In the pilot Jessie is carrying Emma's model of the solar system (her science fair project), she trips and destroys the model. During the judging of the science fair Emma wins, because Pluto falls off right before and the judges like that she remembered that Pluto is no longer a planet.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Mr. Kipling, until you get to know him.
• Sassy Black Woman: Zuri.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Ravi and Luke.
• Servile Snarker: Bertram.
• Shipper On Deck: Emma and Zuri towards Jessie and Tony.
• Ship Tease: Jessie with Luke and/or Tony.
• Shout-Out:
  • Luke's huge crush on Jessie is reminiscent of the Zack-Maddie pairing from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.
  • Creepy Connie tears apart Luke's stuffed animal Kenny the Koala. Luke's reaction upon discovering this? "They Killed Kenny!"
  • Ravi calls a jar of hot peppers he is carrying in the park "hotter than Selena Gomez".

Ravi: (aside) I love you, 'Go-Go'!

• • • He later states that they are one of the hottest peppers in the world. Which further explains the comparison.
  • In the same episode, Mrs. Chesterfield says the peppers are hotter than Anderson Cooper.
  • In "The Princess and the Pea Brain", Bertram says that his Butler's Association will be holding a roast for their colleague, Alfred Pennyworth.
• Sitcom Villain: Agatha is shaping up to be this.
• Spiritual Successor: The Nanny, due to the fact (like Fran Fine in that series) the main character is hired as the nanny to a wealthy family through pure happenstance; coincidentally, Jessie creator/executive producer Pamela Eells O'Connell was one of the original writers for The Nanny.
• Stalker With a Crush: Connie to Luke, in the episode "Creepy Connie comes a Callin".
• Suspiciously Specific Denial:

Landlady: What's going on? Tony: Whatever it is, it does not have to do with a giant lizard.

• • While Jessie is talking to Creepy Connie, she accidentally reveals that Luke sleeps with a stuffed animal.

Jessie: I didn't know Luke could go sleepy-by without Kenny the Koala, which certainly is not a stuffed animal that he still sleeps with, because that would be a inappropriate thing to reveal!

• Take That:
  • In the episode "Star Wars", when Jessie and Jordan are hounded by the paparazzi, she says "... that they might not be after him, there is girl downstairs that looks like Justin Bieber." YMMV on whether its a true Take That or Played for Laughs, but his fans sure thought so.
    • It could be a reference to Dani Shay, a real life girl who indeed looks like Justin Bieber.