Commander in Chief

[GPORTER]

This is not a book. It used to be a telivision series on ABC. Did any of you see it when it was on? I did not, but I did buy the entire season off of itunes. I love the series. You are always on the edge of your seat for each episode.

Have any of you all seen it? What did you think of it?

[Robespierre's Jaw]

Are you talking about that show with Geena Davis, that lasted about 14 episodes? Then no I don't like that show. The first episode was quite good, but then from there it just went down like a Luftwaffe after VE Day in May '45. I felt that the episodes were not edge-of-your-seat viewing, like a traditional Steven Segal film, they were bland and often very boring.

Now if the makers of Commander in Chief had based it around the West Wing in some regard and had Joan Allen as President that would have been a kick ass show.

Also, this should be in Off Topic now Book Reviews and Discussion.

[Sensei]

The only good show about a fictional president is The West Wing, and no other ones even begin to get close.

[Robespierre's Jaw]

The only good show about a fictional president is The West Wing, and no other ones even begin to get close.

Atleast in the West Wing, the show seemed realistic and had an excellent cast. Martin Sheen as President would be so ing awesome!

[Verily]

It was pretty good at the beginning, but it got mired quickly and then pulled without resolving any of its major plotlines.

[7,052,770]

It was ok, but nowhere as good at The West Wing.  Mostly because President Davis always wins, and sometimes President Bartlett loses.

[Middle-aged Europe]

This show was almost cancelled in Germany half-way through its run because of mediocre ratings. But then they figured that it had only 17 episodes anyway, so it wouldn't matter to keep it on the air a few more weeks. So, this show wasn't taken off the air in Germany, because it had been sufficiently unsuccesful in the United States.

I remember that I found the whole VP story arc a bit far-fetched... there's a vacancy in the vice presidency, so they are going through a process of selecting a new one. In the end, they finally find one and get them confirmed. However, a few weeks after that the new VP suddenly resigns and they start a new process to find another VP all over again.

And was I the only one who thought that the president and her vice president were stand-ins for Hillary Clinton and Wesley Clark respectively?

Woman president who's generally despised by conservatives = Hillary Clinton

Retired army general who's now a Democratic politician = Wesley Clark


The best thing on the show was Donald Sutherland, who's wonderfully vicious as always.

[12th Doctor]

The major plot device of the show was that she was a woman, everyone was against her, everyone who was against her was only against her because they were bad, sexists, she was always right, always good, always pure... I'm surprised that they didn't name her "Joan" and have God speak to her in every episode.

The reason the West Wing was good was because it really wasn't about the politics, so much, and the characters were not portrayed as having God like virtue.  The show was more about the personal relationships of the characters, and how their flaws contributed to those relationships.  You could go almost an entire episode forgetting that it was a political show.

The West Wing was multi-faceted and had many plot angles.  C-in-C had one... she is a woman, who is perfect... get used to it.  The West Wing was deep.  C-in-C was shallow.