Keke Palmer Almost Had Her Own Disney Channel Show and You Have to See It to Believe It

Keke Palmer just shared that she starred in a pilot for Disney Channel that never got picked up in 2005 and there’s an amazing series of clips to prove it.

While she would go on to star alongside Corbin Bleu in Disney Channel’s Original Movie Jump In!, as well as lead a stellar ensemble in True Jackson, VP on Nickelodeon soon after that, we are just finding out that Keke Palmer could have starred in her own Disney Channel show all the way back in 2005.

15 years ago, the multi-faceted performer moved out to California with her family to pursue her dreams, and with the help of Ralph Farquhar, they just about did.

In a newly resurfaced series of clips posted to Keke’s Instagram, we see that Keke & Jamal was a family comedy –with Keke and her many talents at the front of it all – that was shot and pitched to Disney Channel. 

Keke explained, “When I first moved to California I was introduced to Ralph Farquhar (one of the creators of The Proud Family, Moesha, The Parker’s etc) he took a chance on me and he landed me this pilot with Disney Channel that didn’t get picked up called Keke & Jamal.”

“We filmed this on the old That’s So Raven set and that was when I first met Raven Symone. True dream come true for me and like a fairytale,” Keke Palmer wrote in her Instagram caption.

Keke (appropriately) played the role of Keke, actor Andre Jamal Kinney played her brother Jamal, and we even see a young Vanessa Hudgens in some of the scenes, would have been a co-star on the show, as well.

Unfortunately, the pilot did not get picked up, and nobody in 2020 can understand why after seeing 10-year-old Keke do exactly what she does best: entertain the masses.

The show was also loosely based on Keke’s very own life. It would have been about a young girl who had dreams of being an entertainer and wanted to pick up everything with her tight-knit family and pursue that dream. 

In just the opening scene alone, we see Keke take the welcome mat out from her front porch, bring it inside, and put it away into a closet.

“What are you doing with the welcome mat?” Her TV father, played by Earl Billings, asks. “Why lie?” Keke responds, drawing a laugh from the audience before the title sequence roles. 

Like the talented star she is and always has been, Palmer sang the theme song for the show, too. 

Ralph Farquhar was right when he spotted a star in the young, new actress that was Keke Palmer, and even though Keke & Jamal didn’t work out, her career flourished. And now they finally get to work together again on The Proud Family reboot for Disney+.

It’s hard not to love everything that Keke Palmer does – which really is everything for this singer, dancer, actress, voice actor, talk show host, model, spokeswoman, and activist. This show definitely would have been a hit.