Random Thought

I'm a little bored, so I thought I'd post something.

Let's see... what to write about...

Oh! I got it. How about TV?

So, tonight is the second episode of Commander in Chief, the new White House drama on ABC that features a female president. I caught the first episode last week and enjoyed it quite a bit. It doesn't quite stack up against The West Wing, but what does, really?

Lexatron and The Girl were telling me last week that the promos for CinC sounded almost like they were advertising something from Bizarro World. That the idea of a woman becoming president was so outlandish and unrealistic that it could only happen in the deranged prism of reality that is network television and nowhere else; ever. Thankfully, though, the show itself wasn't so much about the wackiness of a chick in the oval office as much as it was about how all the jackasses around her thought she should step down cause she didn't really share the late president's ideals.

Sure, they still made a pretty big deal about her being a woman and all, and the first she did after taking office was save some woman in Africa from being stoned to death for adultery, but the show really made a bigger point about her political views being so different than the president she had served under. You see, Geena Davis' character was an independent, while the late president was a Republican - and a seemingly ultra-conservative Republican, at that. She was picked as his running mate in order to attract female voters and was mostly kept on the outside of the administration's inner circle until the president got sick. The characters around her seem more worried that she'll go and do something liberal not because she's a woman, but because she is, in fact, a liberal. The biggest gender dynamic I noticed was actually the role reversal for her husband, who had previously been her VP chief of staff, in his transition to the First Lady's office.

The only thing I didn't really like about the show was Donald Sutherland. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I just don't like the guy. He just grates on me and the show somehow feels cheap every time he's in a scene. No reason, really. Just a personal bias, I guess.

Anywho, like I wrote above, the second episode is on tonight @ 9pm EDT on ABC. Check it out.