September 27, 2005
Commander in Chief
I had wanted to watch Commander in Chief to see just how bad it would be. My wife was excited because she thought it might actually be good. Well, it lasted 20 minutes. I was convinced of my original assertion after about 10 minutes, by 20 minutes in the wife had switched over to Sex and the City reruns on TBS.
So here’s what I’ve seen so far:
Plot: Holes big enough to drive a truck through. After all, what President chooses a Vice President who isn’t even in his party? If Bush had wanted a female VP, he would have picked Condi, or Elizabeth Dole, or any number of other moderate Republican women. Then, of course, considering he picked a VP that he didn’t want to succeed him if he dies, he has to ask her to resign so the Speaker of the House can take over the Presidency. And that’s just in the first 20 minutes.
Acting: Not too bad, from the little I saw. Geena Davis is a good actress, and the supporting players seemed at least believable.
Writing: If there’s a weaker point than the plot, this is it. All the fair treatment of Republicans you’ll typically find on The West Wing won’t be found on Commander in Chief. The one likeable Republican is the President, who is charismatic, engaging, and dies in the first 15 minutes. You’re left with the Speaker of the House, Donald Sutherland’s character, who is slightly to the right of Hitler. In the first 15 minutes talking about bad Presidential scandals, the three mentioned were Watergate, Irangate, and WMDgate. No Monicagate, not Hostagegate… Only bad things done by Republicans count. The first 15 minutes saw a shot at Pat Buchanan. Of course, one would expect such from a series written by a former Hillary campaign staffer.
One would ask, of course, in a land where some people think a Hillary v. Condi run might be imminent, that we need plot holes a mile wide to avoid the implausible scenario where a woman might be ELECTED President? And why, when viewers demand intelligent writing in dramas, they think they’re going to win people over with highly partisan smears. I have a feeling this program is only going to be watched by militant feminists and the moveon.org crowd, and I don’t think that will cut it in primetime. I think next week I’ll have to see how My Name is Earl looks.
1 Comment
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Sorry didn’t even turn it on. The Astro’s / Cardinals game was much, much better. Thanks for the review.