The original concept for the TV series was about the band playing concerts as a cover while working as government secret agents to save the world and was entitled "Jonas" (an acronym which stood for "Junior Operatives Networking as Spies"). At the same time, they tried to hide their double lives from their mother and Frankie. Meanwhile, Stella, ignorant of the Jonas' double lives, dated each of the famous brothers without informing the others and reported the details in her teen magazine column. Said Staub, "So pretty much the entire show, it's all of us lying to each other, and kind of everything backfiring, and us getting caught in awkward situations." She described the concept as, "like "The Monkees" and a little of bit of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith". There's going to be fun action sequences and still be a sitcom".