If you’re going to pick an actress to be the first woman president you could do worse than Geena Davis. I’ll say that much in favor of ABC’s Commander-In-Chief (CiC). I’ll also say this – it ain’t no West Wing. Even though that show has suffered a significant drop in quality since the departure of creator Aaron Sorkin, West Wing is going to be the gold standard for political drama for some time to come.
CiC comes across as West Wing Lite, as if it decided that it was going to be the poltical drama for the folks who slept through their American History classes. As Tom Shales noted in his review, they need to get over the “Golly gee, she’s the first woman president” and get to the business of being an actual tv show.
Most unrealistic and disappointing is the fact that Davis’ character, Mackenzie Allen, is… an independent. The right-wing Republican president picks an independent woman to help him win election? Come on. West Wing doesn’t ever mince words about the fact that yes, President Bartlett is a Democrat and his opposition is Republican and Dems are good and Republicans are bad. CiC could have done the inverse and still have a good show, but instead they took the weasel way out. The only show to have done the independent thing well was the short-lived Mister Stirling, and even he was probably a conservative Democrat.
The West Wing – The Complete First Season
“West Wing doesn t ever mince words about the fact that yes, President Bartlett is a Democrat and his opposition is Republican and Dems are good and Republicans are bad. CiC could have done the inverse and still have a good show, but instead they took the weasel way out.”
You’re right about one thing, Oliver: They took the weasel way out.
As for the rest of it (CiC could have done the inverse) — that (what you call “nonexistent”) left wing bias makes that damn near genetically impossible. You might as well ask them to make the President an extremely intelligent southern black woman — like, say, Condoleezza Rice!
Yuk,yuk!
That show is nowhere close to Sorkin-era “West Wing” quality.
Maybe they need to get their writers to start smoking ’shrooms and also have every, single conversation that takes place in the White House occur between two people briskly walking down a hallway.
Ha. Ha.
“West Wing doesn t ever mince words about the fact that yes, President Bartlett is a Democrat and his opposition is Republican and Dems are good and Republicans are bad.”
Come back Kitty! Come back kitty. Get back in that d*mn bag! Now, who…
Dugger
I think it would be really cool if, early in the series, Geena Davis all of a sudden realizes that she’s not really who she thinks she is, that she’s actually a lethal assassin that had temporarily lost her memory.
then, along with Chief of Staff Samuel L Jackson, they embark on a journey to find out who’s trying to kill her.
What amovie that would make! =:-)
Especially if she were prebiously brainwashed to assassinate herself when she gets orders from someone carrying a deckof cards…
“How about a game of solitaire?”
West Wing doesn t ever mince words about the fact that yes, President Bartlett is a Democrat and his opposition is Republican and Dems are good and Republicans are bad.
I disagree; I think West Wing showed more interestingly shaded Democrats and Republicans than that. It wasn’t always black and white, Democrats good, Republicans bad.
And to the guy who made the comic remark about Sorkin’s drug bust: Did ’shrooms and wrote West Wing, Sports Night and The American President?
To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, get me the name of his dealer.
If it’s good enough for the real prez to be a alky druggie, it should be good enough for Sorkin.
Isn’t it interesting that Bush 43 has never called himself an “alcoholic” (after all, you never stop being one, even with 20 years on the wagon)?
bryan : I thought that the left prided itself on being the party of understanding and tolerance. Apparently your understanding and tolerance is only extended to those people that share your political ideology?
Bryan: WTF is an “alky drugggie”? Do you know anything about substance abuse?
As for George Bush calling himself an alcoholic, maybe he should introduce his speeches by saying, “My name is George, and I’m an alcoholic and a President.”