Post by Forever Xena on Sept 27, 2005 9:17:48 GMT -6
Geena Davis heads up 'Chief'
Commander In Chief boasts strong cast in less-than-stellar debut
By BILL HARRIS -- Toronto Sun
Geena Davis looks suitably presidential after her character, Vice President Mackenzie Allen, assumes office in Commander In Chief. (ABC/KENT EANES)
The question of whether the United States is ready for a female president will be answered in three years, depending upon the fortunes of Hillary Clinton.
But the question of whether U.S. TV is ready for a female president is answered tonight, with the debut of Commander In Chief (CTV, ABC, 8 p.m.).
Geena Davis is the president of the United States. And you thought her career was on the rocks!
Obviously, if this show seems intriguing to you at all, you probably have watched The West Wing. So how do these two versions of the White House stack up against each other?
Well, The West Wing at its best (a few seasons ago) made it feel as if you were eavesdropping on political conversations. Commander In Chief comes across like a soap opera that just happens to be set in Washington, D.C.
Davis plays Mackenzie Allen, who is serving as vice-president until President Theodore Roosevelt Bridges -- a Republican -- dies. Allen's main rival is reviled Republican Speaker of the House Nathan Templeton, played by Donald Sutherland.
The creators of Commander In Chief chickened out when it came to making Allen a Republican, too. So they dreamed up this implausible scenario: Allen is an independent who was asked by Bridges to be his running mate, basically as a stunt to attract the female vote.
Why would Allen agree? Well, as Bridges tells her in a flashback sequence, if his lust for power opens the door for the first female VP, why should she care? The ends justify the means.
This mystical election, which Bridges and Allen win, takes place in the post-George W. Bush era. Fast-forward three years and Allen -- whose role as V-P has been almost exclusively ceremonial -- is faced with a tough choice when Bridges suffers a brain aneurysm. The best-case scenario is that the president is going to be incapacitated indefinitely.
Allen is being pressured to resign the vice-presidency. That would allow Templeton to ascend to the presidency.
There is some fear that as a woman -- and a married mother of three, by the way -- Allen won't be respected by certain Islamic countries. But the main issue is that as an independent she doesn't share the vision of America espoused by Republicans Bridges and Templeton. And after all, the people voted for a Republican president.
When Bridges, lying in a hospital bed, bluntly tells Allen, "I will not resign until you do," she reluctantly agrees to do so. But then, before she officially quits, Bridges dies.
The goofiest scene occurs when Allen and Templeton have a private conversation just before her resignation speech. Sutherland is great at being the bad guy, but the sexist things his character says to Allen -- who at that moment still is the vice-president of the most powerful country in the world -- smash the borders of credulity.
And get this -- Allen is so insulted by Templeton's cold chauvinist rant that she decides, on the spot, that she is not going to resign as V-P, but is going to take the oath as president of the United States. Talk about a paradigm shift. Uh, honey, I'm going to be a little late for dinner, because, uh, I'm the president now. Sorry. Toodles.
The scene is transparently manipulative, as the devil incarnate drives you into President Allen's matronly arms.
Davis and Sutherland are strong actors, so Commander In Chief has a chance to develop into something more substantial, provided viewers have the patience to stick with it.
But if subsequent episodes are as hokey as the first one, we're not sure how much hailing we'll be doing to this chief.
Commander In Chief boasts strong cast in less-than-stellar debut
By BILL HARRIS -- Toronto Sun
Geena Davis looks suitably presidential after her character, Vice President Mackenzie Allen, assumes office in Commander In Chief. (ABC/KENT EANES)
The question of whether the United States is ready for a female president will be answered in three years, depending upon the fortunes of Hillary Clinton.
But the question of whether U.S. TV is ready for a female president is answered tonight, with the debut of Commander In Chief (CTV, ABC, 8 p.m.).
Geena Davis is the president of the United States. And you thought her career was on the rocks!
Obviously, if this show seems intriguing to you at all, you probably have watched The West Wing. So how do these two versions of the White House stack up against each other?
Well, The West Wing at its best (a few seasons ago) made it feel as if you were eavesdropping on political conversations. Commander In Chief comes across like a soap opera that just happens to be set in Washington, D.C.
Davis plays Mackenzie Allen, who is serving as vice-president until President Theodore Roosevelt Bridges -- a Republican -- dies. Allen's main rival is reviled Republican Speaker of the House Nathan Templeton, played by Donald Sutherland.
The creators of Commander In Chief chickened out when it came to making Allen a Republican, too. So they dreamed up this implausible scenario: Allen is an independent who was asked by Bridges to be his running mate, basically as a stunt to attract the female vote.
Why would Allen agree? Well, as Bridges tells her in a flashback sequence, if his lust for power opens the door for the first female VP, why should she care? The ends justify the means.
This mystical election, which Bridges and Allen win, takes place in the post-George W. Bush era. Fast-forward three years and Allen -- whose role as V-P has been almost exclusively ceremonial -- is faced with a tough choice when Bridges suffers a brain aneurysm. The best-case scenario is that the president is going to be incapacitated indefinitely.
Allen is being pressured to resign the vice-presidency. That would allow Templeton to ascend to the presidency.
There is some fear that as a woman -- and a married mother of three, by the way -- Allen won't be respected by certain Islamic countries. But the main issue is that as an independent she doesn't share the vision of America espoused by Republicans Bridges and Templeton. And after all, the people voted for a Republican president.
When Bridges, lying in a hospital bed, bluntly tells Allen, "I will not resign until you do," she reluctantly agrees to do so. But then, before she officially quits, Bridges dies.
The goofiest scene occurs when Allen and Templeton have a private conversation just before her resignation speech. Sutherland is great at being the bad guy, but the sexist things his character says to Allen -- who at that moment still is the vice-president of the most powerful country in the world -- smash the borders of credulity.
And get this -- Allen is so insulted by Templeton's cold chauvinist rant that she decides, on the spot, that she is not going to resign as V-P, but is going to take the oath as president of the United States. Talk about a paradigm shift. Uh, honey, I'm going to be a little late for dinner, because, uh, I'm the president now. Sorry. Toodles.
The scene is transparently manipulative, as the devil incarnate drives you into President Allen's matronly arms.
Davis and Sutherland are strong actors, so Commander In Chief has a chance to develop into something more substantial, provided viewers have the patience to stick with it.
But if subsequent episodes are as hokey as the first one, we're not sure how much hailing we'll be doing to this chief.
