Friday, December 02, 2005
Outting Myself...
Um, okay, it's tough to say this in something of a public setting, but I feel it is the right time.
I've resisted verbalizing the feelings for some time -- afraid of what family and friends might think. I thought it was just a one-time thing...a minor experimentation. But, it's become a regular thing now and I can't continue being deceptive. Enough's enough.
I'm an adult and I should be able to take whatever consequences there may be.
Yes, it's true: I, Robert A. George, must confess to having become...a really big fan of ABC's Commander-In-Chief.
Yeah, yeah, I know. It's not as "serious" as The West Wing. But that's why I like it -- it is not nearly so pretentious. It has a much nicer blend of family soap-opera and political intrigue. The cast is excellent:
Geena Davis pulls off the lead role really well. In more recent episodes, the show has backed away from the overt "Oooh, isn't it cool -- she's a woman AND she's the president" every week. Well, at least as it applies to policy matters. Instead, the show's become a bit more subtle and shows President Mackenzie Allen balancing the tension of being president, while dealing with her kids and her husband. The change may be attributable to new producer Steven Bochco who this week brought in Mark-Paul Gosselaar (late of Bochco's NYPD Blue) as the hotshot political consultant.
It's wonderful to have Kyle Secor -- the erstwhile amazing Tim Bayliss on Homicide: Life on The Street -- back in weekly drama. Donald Sutherland is great as the House speaker. (However, it would be good if the show identifies a strong Senate majority leader as well. Whether, Democrat or Republican, it could create three-sided intrigue between the two chambers and the White House -- in short, a lot more like "real life.") Harry Lennix is someone I hadn't stumbled across before, but he's sterling as the White House chief-of-staff (whose been sleeping with the speaker's top aide (somehow, I don't think that would get by the media in the real world).
Oh yeah -- "President Allen" is an "Independent" (though liberal) president. So what? This is Hollywood. I'm not expecting American TV to be creating a Margaret Thatcher-type. However, again, it would be nice to see a hard-edged Democrat emerge as an additional rival -- besides Sutherland's Republican "Nathan Templeton" character (The Media Research Center was irritated by Templeton being revealed as a former segregationist. I thought it was actually not bad that the episode included a line where Templeton admitted that he he had been a conservative Democrat and played the segregationist card for pure political opportunism.)
Anyway, is this profound and unforgettable drama? No. But is it a cool guilty pleasure for those who like their political intrigue seasoned with a dash of soapish angst? Sure.
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I've resisted verbalizing the feelings for some time -- afraid of what family and friends might think. I thought it was just a one-time thing...a minor experimentation. But, it's become a regular thing now and I can't continue being deceptive. Enough's enough.
I'm an adult and I should be able to take whatever consequences there may be.
Yes, it's true: I, Robert A. George, must confess to having become...a really big fan of ABC's Commander-In-Chief.
Yeah, yeah, I know. It's not as "serious" as The West Wing. But that's why I like it -- it is not nearly so pretentious. It has a much nicer blend of family soap-opera and political intrigue. The cast is excellent:
Geena Davis pulls off the lead role really well. In more recent episodes, the show has backed away from the overt "Oooh, isn't it cool -- she's a woman AND she's the president" every week. Well, at least as it applies to policy matters. Instead, the show's become a bit more subtle and shows President Mackenzie Allen balancing the tension of being president, while dealing with her kids and her husband. The change may be attributable to new producer Steven Bochco who this week brought in Mark-Paul Gosselaar (late of Bochco's NYPD Blue) as the hotshot political consultant.
It's wonderful to have Kyle Secor -- the erstwhile amazing Tim Bayliss on Homicide: Life on The Street -- back in weekly drama. Donald Sutherland is great as the House speaker. (However, it would be good if the show identifies a strong Senate majority leader as well. Whether, Democrat or Republican, it could create three-sided intrigue between the two chambers and the White House -- in short, a lot more like "real life.") Harry Lennix is someone I hadn't stumbled across before, but he's sterling as the White House chief-of-staff (whose been sleeping with the speaker's top aide (somehow, I don't think that would get by the media in the real world).
Oh yeah -- "President Allen" is an "Independent" (though liberal) president. So what? This is Hollywood. I'm not expecting American TV to be creating a Margaret Thatcher-type. However, again, it would be nice to see a hard-edged Democrat emerge as an additional rival -- besides Sutherland's Republican "Nathan Templeton" character (The Media Research Center was irritated by Templeton being revealed as a former segregationist. I thought it was actually not bad that the episode included a line where Templeton admitted that he he had been a conservative Democrat and played the segregationist card for pure political opportunism.)
Anyway, is this profound and unforgettable drama? No. But is it a cool guilty pleasure for those who like their political intrigue seasoned with a dash of soapish angst? Sure.
