Commander in Chief: 9.27.05.

[TanisFrey]

There's a big difference between having five or ten different "cop shows" and having multiple shows about the White House. A cop show is a generic thing, that you can take in any number of directions - a show about the President of the US is, by definition, a lot more specific. Which is why I think they felt they went for a gimmicky premise to differentiate themselves from the West Wing.

The West Wing is heavy with librial poticals, they did make a small attempt to explan the oppistion view, they do try to slant it. This one started with concervitive Pres, and moves into a moderate Pres. The vart majority of US is moderate in view. C-in-C I think will try to be balanced between the two poles, should be very interesting.

As far a the nigarian woman, I see that as the new pres. showing that she will be consistanve in her views. But they should show a seen with the CJCoS telling the new pres that it was a huge risk to tell the nigarian ambester the plan. Even a third-world army can throw in a monkey wrench into any plan that they have the blueprints for.


I got the feeling that the Speaker of the House being an ass was what prompted her to sware the oath of office.

 

[Sequoia2]

i think it'll stink up ABC

 

[Darth K'Trava]

I got the feeling that the Speaker of the House being an ass was what prompted her to sware the oath of office.

Yup. Templeton's an ass. But a very powerful and influential one. He's a dangerous person to mess with. And he likes to try to manipulate things from behind the scenes; see his trying to get them to go with Baynes to be Veep. Which is why she, IMO, refused to go with him; to show that she won't be puppeteered by Templeton.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

i think it'll stink up ABC

And I think it's better than alot of the crap out there.

 

[DM_Matt]

I'd say that the vast majority of Americans would enthusiastically vote for either Hillary Clinton or Condoleeza Rice, given the chance.

And BTW, I tihnk they are just creating a faux moderate pres, considering the charactatures they are using of Republicans, as best described by her staffer's tirade about book burning etc. The idea is tha liberalism is objectively and morally correct, such that what every intellegent, fair-minded person will be liberal, but that only ideologues, evil people, and irrational poeple are conservative, makes it looks like moderation and liberalism are the same. When they make it a good vs. evil, reason vs. ignorance situation, it creates the illusion that only conservatism is an ideology, but liberalism is simply rational thought, which is generally considered moderate.

(BTW, we should all be careful on this topic. A discussion of whether or not West Wing is a liberal show is the only case I've seen where two moderators got into a flame war such that a third had to close the thread)

 

[RangerWickett]

So what was the actual plot of the show, for someone who had mild interest but didn't know when it was coming on?

 

[Ghostwind]

So what was the actual plot of the show, for someone who had mild interest but didn't know when it was coming on?

The plot of the show is essentially this:

A Republican president asks an independent academician to be his running mate. She accepts, they get elected and for two years she is Vice-President. The President has a massive stroke, but asks her to resign. Before she does so, he dies. She is under pressure from both parties to resign but decides to stick it out and become the first woman president.

Episode 2 focused on the political wrangling that went into choosing a new vice president. Both parties want "their" man selected and promise a huge confirmation battle if chosen otherwise. Ultimately the new president selects someone that is not on either list and who opposed her during her campaign. He is her opposite in almost every way yet not part of the establishment.

So far, the show comes across as the president believing in empowerment of the people and not the parties. It has its ups and downs and it is far too early to make a judgment about it. They certainly have lined up a stellar cast and guest appearances with the likes of Geena Davis, Donald Sutherland, Nathasha Hendrikson, Bruce Boxleitner, and Peter Coyote so far. There is not a lot of shows on TV that interest me anymore, but this is one that has my attention for now. I'm giving it a chance and for the record, I hate West Wing. So it's not like I am watching it because of the other show.

 

[Mark Chance]

And I think it's better than alot of the crap out there.

That's not much of a recommendation. It's sort of like saying Moe was the smartest Stooge, or that David Berkowitz isn't as bad as John Wayne Gacy.