I have to say that I’m impressed with “Jane by Design”. The characters, the storyline, the set and costume design, even the various locations that this series is shot, it’s working and I hope they can continue this synergy. Delightful, captivating and fun, “Jane by Design: Volume One” is definitely recommended!
© 2012 ABC Family. All Rights Reserved.
DVD TITLE: Jane by Design: Volume One
DURATION: 10 episodes (Duration: 435 Minutes)
DVD INFORMATION: Widescreen (1:78:1), Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
COMPANY: ABC Family
RATED: TV 14DSLV
RELEASE DATE: March 20, 2012
Directed by Phil Traill
Written by April Blair, John A. Norris
Producer: David Hartle
Executive Producer: Gavin Polone, April Blair, John Ziffren
Co-Executive Producer: Michael Lange, John A. Norris
Line Producer: Michael Cedar
Supervising Producer: Emily Fox
Music by Gabriel Mann
Cinematography by Mark Doering-Powell
Edited by Mitchell Danton, Amy E. Duddleston
Casting by Barbara Stordahl, Angela Terry
Production Design by Greg J. Grande
Art Direction by Richard J. Ramirez Jr.
Costume Design by Olivia Miles
Starring:
Erica Dasher as Jane Quimby
Nick Roux as Billy Nutter
Rowly Dennis as Jeremy Jones
India de Beaufort as India Jordain
Matthew Atkinson as Nick Fadden
Meagan Tandy as Lulu Pope
David Clayton Rogers as Ben
Andie MacDowell as Gray Chandler Murray
Ser’Darius Blain as Carter
Smith Cho as Rita Shaw
Karynn Moore as Harper
Rob Mayes as Tommy Nutter
Christopher B. Duncan as Judge Bentley Pope
ODed Fehr as Beau Bronn
Brookle Lyons as Birdie
When mistaken for an adult, sixteen year-old Jane (Erica Dasher) finds herself working for a high-powered executive (Andie McDowell) at a hip fashion house. From classes to couture, relive all the drama, romance and non-stop excitement as Jane juggles her life as a regular teenager and her job in the cutthroat world of fashion…all while trying to keep her true identity a secret. Bring home ABC Family’s Jane By Design: Volume 1, available on DVD March 20th, just two weeks after the season finale!
What happens when a teenager lands her dream job to work in the fashion industry by accident?
This is the premise of the new ABC Family series “Jane By Design” created by April Blair (“Private Valentine: Blonde & Dangerous”, “Lemonade Mouth”) and starring Andie MacDowell (“Groundhog Day”, “Short Cuts”, “Sex Lies and Video Tape”, “Four Weddings and a Funeral”) and featuring actress Erica Dasher(“The Lake”).
The series revolves around teenager Jane Quimby (played by Erica Dasher), intelligent and dreams of working in the fashion industry after high school. But Jane and her best friend Billy Nutter (played by Nick Roux, “Lemonade Mouth”, “Wizards of Waverly Place”) are looked at as the odd balls in high school and quite often, Jane is ridiculed for her fashion sense by the most popular girl at school, Lulu Pope (played by Meagan Tandy, Miss Califoria 2007).
Jane lives with her older brother Ben (played by David Clayton Rogers), who quit his dream to become a professional baseball player in order to raise his younger sister. But unfortunately due to the tough economy, Ben has had difficulty in finding a full-time job and now they are behind on bills.
For Jane, she knows that her older brother is having a difficult time and she doesn’t want them to lose the house. So, knowing that she needs to raise money, she figures that since it’s her final year in high school, she should prepare in looking for a job, but while she is still in high school, she can intern for a company in the fashion industry for now.
Jane applies for an internship at Donovan Decker and during her interview, human resources unfortunately mixes her up with an application for an internship for a job as an assistant to work for Gray Chandler Murray (played by Andie MacDowell), a world famous designer at Donovan Decker. So, Jane Quimby is mistaken as a qualified adult applicant as the assistant for world famous designer, receives a salary of $34,000 and working the dream job…illegally.
An immediately, Jane’s presence at Donovan Decker has been nothing but good luck to Gray and Donovan Decker..
But as Jane tries to live a double life, she finds herself trying to maintain her high grade point average, starting to develop a close relationship with the star baseball pitcher in high school and also trying to take part in school activities, but at the same time having to balance this secret life working at Donovan Decker, in which Gray is quite demanding and expects a lot from Jane. Which includes leaving school and home to take on activities and even traveling around the world.
But how long can Jane Quimby keep up the charade before people start to find out?
“Jane by Design” features the following characters:
- Jane Quimby (played by Erica Dasher) – The main protagonist. A high school teenager who lives a double life and is keeping her life as a fashion assistant to world-famous fashion designer Donovan Decker as a secret. The only person she trusts is her best friend Billy Nutter.
- Billy Nutter (played by Nick Roux) – Jane’s best friend who is known for his spiked up hair and black leather jacket. who also has a secret. While always assisting Jane whenever she is in trouble keeping her double life in sync, he is also secretly dating the one person that Jane doesn’t really like, her bully, Lulu Pope. Billy’s mother ran out and lives at home with his brother Tommy, a convicted felon.
- Ben Quimby (played by David Clayton Rogers) – The big brother of Jane. He quit his dream of becoming a professional baseball player in order to raise his younger sister. Ben eventually gets a job at her high school as an assistant coach and has fallen for guidance counselor, Rita Shaw. Ben is unaware of Jane’s double life but he is becoming suspicious as she is coming home late and is starting to slack off in school.
- Rowly Dennis (played by Jeremy Jones) – A famous fashion designer at Donovan Decker and has an off-an-on relationship with India. But Jeremy also starts to take a liking towards Jane.
- India Jourdain (played by India de Beaufort) – Jane’s colleague who is gunning for the top at Donovan Decker, thus is not trusted by Gray Chandler Murray. Because Jane often is good at solving problems, she is despised by India and appears to be sabotaging Jane’s efforts with Gray.
- Lulu Pope (played by Meagan Tandy) – Lulu is the popular girl at school and daughter of a strict judge. She is also having a secret relationship with Billy Nutter. She doesn’t like how Billy puts Jane first in his life and since they were children, she has always had a disdain towards Jane.
- Gray Chandler Murray (played by Andie MacDowell) – The world-famous designer and Donovan Decker. She is strict, blunt and is very demanding towards Jane. Gray expects Jane to be her beck-and-call but respects her from pulling her out of jam numerous times.
- Nick Fadden (played by Matthew Atkinson) – The star high school baseball pitcher that Jane likes. Nick wants to get closer to Jane and grow their relationship but her double life prevents her from meeting with him.
- Rita Shaw (played by Smith Cho) – The guidance counselor at Jane’s high school. When she was a high school student, she was teased by Jane’s older brother, Ben despite liking him a lot during that time. She often gives advice to Jane, Billy, Lulu and even Ben.
“Jane by Design: Volume One” features the following episodes (spoilerless summaries):
DISC 1:
- EPISODE 1: Pilot – Jane Quimby is mistaken as a qualified adult applicant as the assistant for world famous designer Gray Chandler Murray at Donovan Decker and is hired. Needing money, Jane lives a secret life as a high school teenager and an adult employee.
- EPISODE 2: The Runway – Can Jane attend the winter formal and also attend an important company preview party on the same night?
- EPISODE 3: The Birkin – Gray gives Jane a “to-do” list and good news for her big brother Ben.
- EPISODE 4: The Finger Bowl – Jane must help Jeremy win over a demanding fashion editor that could help or destroy his career as a fashion designer.
- EPISODE 5: The Look Book – Gray instructs Jane to keep a look-out book in her possession and not let go of it, but also to deliver it to her in Paris. But how can Jane do it if she has school?
DISC 2:
- EPISODE 6: The Image Issue – When India tries to come up with fashion for high school students, Gray has Jane work on the same project. Meanwhile, Billy tries out a new look in order to please Lulu’s father.
- EPISODE 7: The Teen Model – Jane is in charge of taking care of a teen model named Piper Grace (played by Lili Simmons). But what happens when Piper finds out Jane’s secret?
- EPISODE 8: The Wedding Gown – When socialite Charlotte Whitmore comes to Donovan Decker for a wedding dress, Jane is assigned to help Jeremy out. But what happens when India swipes her design and takes credit for it.
- EPISODE 9 – The Getaway – It’s time for the high school camping trip but Lulu feels that Billy puts Jane on top instead of her, meanwhile Nick feels that Jane puts her job first. Meanwhile, Ben is not liking the change in Jane and the fact that this internship is consuming all of her time.
- EPISODE 10 – The End of the Line – Ben confronts Jane about her illegal job and wants her to quit. But this is Jane’s dream to work in the fashion industry. Meanwhile, Tommy decides to rob a business and Billy gets dragged into it. Meanwhile, there is a mole at Donovan Decker, supplying secrets to another design company. Who is responsible?
VIDEO, AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Jane by Design: Volume One” is presented in widescreen (1:78:1) and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. I have to say that “Jane by Design” is possibly one of the most impressive looking ABC Family drama series out there.
For one, there are a lot of outdoor scenes, also…you don’t really get to see the stars leaving a set to go to Paris and video being shot in those locations. Because so many fashion icons have cameo appearances in “Jane by Design” (as they interact with Gray supposedly in other countries), it made me wonder if the series tries to film a lot of these industry professionals during various fashion week locations.
But “Jane By Design” is the best looking and stylish ABC Family series I have seen thus far. From location shots (the set for Donovan Decker is cool), the runway set, the costume and set design, everything really comes together for this series and it’s a quality you expect from a major network. But pleasantly surprised to see how much ABC Family has put into this series and it works!
Nevertheless, the set design is pretty awesome and overall, picture quality is great as one can expect on DVD. Audio is understandable, clear and heard no hiss or any audio problems whatsoever. If anything, this is a solid DVD set that I wish it was released on Blu-ray, because it looks good.
Subtitles are in English SDH.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Jane by Design: Volume One” comes with no special features.
EXTRAS:
“Jane by Design: Volume One” comes with a slipcover case.
A delightful drama series that captivated me from its stylish presentation, it’s clever and enjoyable storyline, its cool characters but also in ABC Family style, manages to maintain that family aspect with the world of fashion.
At first, I was skeptical about “Jane by Design”. For one, it’s a big stretch when the storyline revolves around a high school teenager mistakenly hired to become an assistant for a world-famous designer. But the more I watched the episodes of this series, I found quite a bit of positives of why this drama is working and why I couldn’t stop watching it.
For one, the series manages to capture locations, set design, costume design very well. The addition of Andie MacDowell is a plus, as the model/actress brings some depth and maturity to the series, but also to make things feel a bit more believable is the number of cameo appearances by those who work in the fashion industry. You see this often in film, but for a network TV series, not often. And for an ABC Family series, I was surprised about how much was put into the actual style, design and overall look to this series.
I enjoyed the chemistry between the characters, best friends Jane and Billy, these two almost act like a couple, but they’re not. Erica Dasher and Nick Roux definitely bring a synergy to this series. Also, it was great to see actress/singer India de Beaufort (of “Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire”) in this series and she does a great job of playing the co-worker rival at the workplace and also enjoyed the quirkiness of Jane’s big brother Ben (played by David Clayton Rogers). And as the series develops, we are starting to see more and more characters being developed.
Also, a major plus is the fact that characters are able to explore other worlds, where many other ABC Family series tend to focus within a circle. I love the fact that this series often introduces a new character, may it be a socialist, a party rockin’ teenage fashion model, etc. Also, I love the fact the series also features characters of various ethnicities, also that these characters actually have an impact on the series and are not just there for politically correctness. I enjoyed the Ben and Rita storyline and also the Lulu and Nick storyline as well. But it’ll be interesting to see how these characters come into play for the second half of the first season (and future seasons).
Another thing I love about the series is its featuring of a variety of locations. Typically when you watch an ABC Family series, there is a banality of where shots usually take place. Often inside a home, a gymnasium, at a school and while “Jane By Design” does retain that, we get to see these characters outdoors or at variety of locations.  I was surprised to see Jane in Paris, I was surprised to see how much attention to detail when it came to creating the set for runways and even the office of Donovan Decker, I was surprised to see a diner location, a restaurant location, hotel location, etc.
And so far, I have enjoyed each of the ten episodes of “Jane by Design”. They are well-written, the characters are fun and I absolutely love the drama that is featured and that it gives various characters their own storyline which is allowed to develop overtime., instead of being support characters that have no impact on the show or its overall storyline. It’s been a criticism of mine when it comes to ABC Family series, in the fact that you have so many characters, why not utilize them? Fortunately, “Jane by Design” and “The Lying Game” are two series that are able to utilize their ensemble cast effectively and I like that a lot!
But where an ABC Family series such as “The Lying Game” is able to extend various mysteries of its many characters overtime, for “Jane by Design”, how long can this charade last for Jane Quimby? It’s one thing to see her balance this secret life and being a high school teenager but it can only last so long. While I can see this double life existing for the protagonist for another season, it’s not something that can be stretched out for many years. So, it will be interesting to see how writers contend with this in the future.
I also want to emphasize that this no TV version of “The Devil Wears Prada”. Sure, there is a protagonist who runs around running many errands and has a straightforward boss and yes, it has its share of “backstabbing” but it does maintain the ABC Family standard of teen life, teen relationships, family relationships and so on.
As for the DVD, PQ and AQ are good as one can expect on DVD. It’s one of series that I wish it was on Blu-ray but for what its worth, the DVD looks and sounds very good and fans of the series, or those curious should be happy with the overall quality.
There are no special features, which is surprising as many ABC Family drama series do come with a featurette or some sort of special feature include on DVD. But considering this is volume one of “Jane by Design” and another second half of episodes still left to air on television, I’m really enjoying this series so far.
Overall, I have to say that I’m impressed with “Jane by Design”. The characters, the storyline, the set and costume design, even the various locations that this series is shot, it’s working and I hope they can continue this synergy.
Delightful, captivating and fun, “Jane by Design: Volume One” is definitely recommended!
