21 Jump Street: Season 05 on AllMovie

Canceled by the Fox network at the end of its fourth season, 21 Jump Street returns for an additional season's worth of episodes in off-network syndication. While the basic premise of the series remains the same -- a group of youthful-looking LAPD undercover cops posing as teenagers in order to bust grown-up criminals -- there have been some significant changes in the property during its transition from Fox to syndication. Former co-stars Johnny Depp and Dustin Nguyen have left the series, to be replaced by Michael Benedetti as Officer Tony "Mac" McCann and, briefly, David Barry Gray as Officer Dean Garrett. Also joining the Jump Street squad is former recurring character Joey Penhall (Michael DeLuise), estranged brother of Officer Doug Penhall (played, of course, by Peter DeLuise's real-life brother). Doug himself would undergo a near-death experience after being shot by a perp in the episode "Number One With a Bullet," and upon recovery he would leave the department and take over management of a bowling alley, not so much for his own well-being as for the sake of his orphaned nephew, Clavo (Tony Dakota). By the time the fifth and final season has come to an end, the only regular character remaining from the series' earliest episodes is Officer Judy Hoffs (Holly Robinson). Its budget pared down during the series' valedictory season, 21 Jump Street could no longer afford big names (or even moderately big names) as guest stars. However, star-in-the-making Jada Pinkett can be seen in a flashy role in the series' penultimate episode, "Homegirls."