Commander in Chief

I don't get a lot of time to watch TV so I've become a huge fan on TiVo. (See previous posts). I can schedule online from anywhere and have my favorite shows waiting for me when I return. To date, there have been very few shows that I've recorded faithfully. Two and a Half Men and Desperate Housewives are clear favorites. Good Eats continues to hold the top spot on my "Now Playing" List. I haven't been attracted to a drama in years.

Recently, I took a chance on Commander in Chief starring Geena Davis and a host of other very talented actors. She plays a Vice President who is thrust into the Presidency when the seated President dies an untimely death. The first episode was about her decision to take on the job and the effects it had on the remainder of the staff, cabinet and congress. While that is interesting, the real joy of the show comes with the smart writing and the complexity of all of the characters.

Her husband was her VP Chief of Staff who is now thrust into being the "First Lady". It the first time in her career when he isn't at her side guiding her career. He's clearly not going to keep the pink office, nor busy himself with the dinner menu. It's fascinating to watch how the President has to balance being the most powerful person in the world yet has to balance her husbands needs to feel important in her life and more than just another staff attendant.

Her children have their own issues. The oldest boy gets it and the youngest is too young to be upset by the changes that are coming. Their middle daughter is going to be the thorn in her side. They have differing politics and she is going to be a handful as she tries to establish her own identity in the shadow of her Presidential mother. It written incredibly well. In the pilot episode, the youngest spills juice on her mother in the back of the limo in route to congress to give her inaugural speech. (Why would she have an open glass of juice in the back of the limo is a question that nobody seems to be asking but it was a good illustration of the roles that Madam President is going to have to navigate.) The dad, being the career coach that he is, gets short with the daughter and tells her to be more careful. Madam Pres, acting as mom, is calm and patient and looks for a solution (a scarf in this instance). There were many situations like demonstrating that this will be more than a political drama, choosing to illustrate the changes that will have to come to this family. In one scene, we see her confronted by her husband who is struggling with his role as "first lady" and decides to express his frustration. She struggles with how to handle this situation because these are the roles they must play for her to be the successful President but also knows she must attend to her husbands issues as well.

Ultimately, I was impressed with the willingness to show this woman as human and explore all of the complexities that come with being a woman in a mans world - operating far outside of the societal norm for her gender. In in inaugural scene, she is reading her speech from the teleprompter when it goes dead. You can see the joy in the face of the Speaker of the House amused by her misfortune. She pauses for a minute and then continues from memory to deliver a wonderful speech. At the end we see her mistrust of the Speaker when he leans forward and says "I'll always be right behind you". It's delivered and received in such a way that we aren't sure if he's supportive or threatening and she clearly wasn't too comforted by the statement. She is portrayed neither as a stereotypical emotional woman nor as a cold, detached business woman either. They have done a very nice job of developing her as a woman with a wide range of strengths and weaknesses and showing her need to learn to balance everything that pulling on her in all directions.

If the pilot was any indication of the quality of this show moving forward, I may have found something new to add to my "Season Pass" list.