Janet Smythe (Nora Dunn) is the main villainess in the first season of the Disney Channel 2016 series "Best Friends Whenever". She is the CEO of the wireless technology company Globo-Digi-Dyne and is responsible for the Future Lab timeline that Cyd and Shelby saw. In 1991, a young Janet (Tamela D'Amico) became inspired to create wireless technology when she got shocked by a desk lamp in her garage.
Janet first appeared in "Jump To The Future Lab" when Cyd and Shelby snuck into Globo-Digi-Dyne to see if Shelby's dad who works in the company is envolved in the Future Lab. They later find out that he was just asking Janet for a promotion, but their actions resulted in him getting fired instead. Fortunately, they jump back to before the episode saving Shelby's dad from losing his job and he gets promoted to the Pelican Ballroom, which is revealed to be the Future Lab.
In "Cyd and Shelby Strike Back", Cyd and Shelby jump back to 1991 to stop Janet from finding Globo-Digi-Dyne by breaking the lamp in her garage before she gets shocked. Janet catches them and although they are able to escape, their inference in the past accidentally created an alternate timeline where Shelby is living in Alaska and Cyd is living in Peru. The girls plan to meet in Portland so they can jump back to find Shelby's dad a job so they can stay in Portland. While waiting for Cyd outside her old house, Shelby looks through the window and is horrified to find out that Janet Smythe lives there now. At first, Janet acts nice towards Shelby and seems to have no memory of them breaking into her garage in 1991. However, she immediately reveals the opposite and kidnaps them to figure out the source of their powers. She also kidnaps Barry, Naldo and Marci when they walk in. She forces Cyd into a machine that will rip apart her chromosomes and maybe even kill her just to extract the power of time travel from her. Shelby breaks free and gets stunned by several lasers from Janet, but manages to reach the machine anyway only to find Cyd seemingly dead. Just as she mourns her best friend, Cyd reappears alive and knocks out Janet. Shelby and Cyd return to 1991 to undo their actions but accidently behind tachyon particles which Janet collects and uses to create the Tachyometer.
In "Fight To The Future: Part 1", Shelby and Cyd travel 2 years later in a future when Janet gained the power of time travel and is ruler of the country. She took over their school, renaming it from Portland High to Janet Smythe Academy and froze anyone who doesn't follow the rules in suspended animation including Barry and Naldo. Shelby and Cyd try to jump back, but find that their powers don't work because Janet created a time blocker to trap them. Correctly deducing that the time blocker is in the new clock at the school, Shelby and Cyd trick Janet by pretending that they are about to duel each other with the electrified shin-wacking batons which they use to destroy the time blocker allowing them to jump back. In "Fight To The Future: Part 2", Janet invites herself to the Marcuses' home for dinner and reveals to Shelby and Cyd that she knows about them through the Tachyometer and plans on kidnapping them to steal their powers. Seeing how the power of time travel , Shelby and Cyd deem themselves no longer worthy of their powers and have Barry remove them at Globo-Digi-Dyne. Unfortunately, this backfires when Janet kidnaps Barry and Naldo and confiscates their lab equipment to force Barry to create time travel, even calling out the girls for their stupidity because they are now powerless against her. Shelby and Cyd eventually find out that Barry's laser and Naldo's hair were the source of time travel all along. They foolishly get themselves captured as well by going to Globo-Digi-Dyne and Shelby accidentally tells Janet the secret of time travel. Shelby and Cyd get their powers back and jump back a day ago, but Janet remembers their actions through the Tachyometer and kidnaps them at school. She blasts herself with the power of time travel and tries to jump back to stop Shelby and Cyd from ever meeting, but they block her from jumping and drain the power from her. Suddenly, future versions of Shelby and Cyd come through a time rift and beat up Janet's guards. They then kick Janet into the time rift where she is arrested in time jail for her crimes.