Halfway though. I missed the first ten minutes, can someone tell my why on Earth a Republican Presidant appointed an Independant as his VP, that doesn’t stretch credibility, it breaks it. Why couldn’t they just make her a moderate Republican? Also they’re calling her the first independant President (Washington was) and she’s mentioned Cheney and Gore (is it in our future). Mrs Clinton name is coming up alot.
To add more tension and conflict to the story? 
I kept asking (yes, I was talking to the TV, is that OK with you?) how they could go through the months of elections being sworn in etc, and neither she nor anyone else breaches the subject of what happens if the President dies or is incapacitated? They’re all telling her “you were just window dressing, you were never expected to take office” etc. It never occurred to her to ask him if he’d have a problem with her taking over in his absence?
Meh, I wasn’t very impressed. Donald Sutherland was very good as the slimy Speaker of the House, though. I may tune in next week just to see if she figures out that he’s responsible for her teleprompter failing.
I got the impression from the flashback scene that Bridges picked her in order to get the women’s vote.
Did you *see * the way she looked at him? She knew.
You’re probably right. I’m hoping she’ll find some fittingly underhanded way to get back at him.
I thought it was pretty good. Not as good as “West Wing,” but not bad. I’ll probably tune in again.
I didn’t like VP Mackenzie Allen moving the carriers around while the President was being operated on. Seemed like overreaching, and would only play into the hands of critics who would see her as too eager for power.
Nice to see that Air Force Two is an adapted 747, just like Air Force One. I think Air Force Two in TRW is a smaller, less plush jet, from what I’ve read.
Having your husband as your chief of staff seems a little odd. I assume he served without pay, to get around the Federal anti-nepotism statute? (As Speaker of the House Tom Foley’s wife did when she was his chief of staff).
Am I the only one who thinks Allen has the best-looking Attorney General EVER?
Do you think the JCS might object to letting the Nigerian ambassador in the Situation Room? And do you think the Nigerians might hide the accused adulterous woman rather than just turning her over to the Americans? Seemed pretty lame to me.
The slimy Speaker is a pretty poor judge of character if he couldn’t see how his remarks to the VP would not sway her, and would actually only irritate her. I liked his crack about her not being subject to PMS in a few years (and her subtle reaction to that), and his almost-weary “Here, use mine” comment when she was about to be sworn in and needed a Bible. Nevertheless, it’s troubling that Allen’s decision not to resign seems to have been, at least in part, an act of pique directed at the Speaker. Will Sutherland be a regular castmember, or an occasional guest star?
The First Lady’s chief of staff is just too damned chirpy and should be fired forthwith.
I liked the scene with the late President’s secretary saying she’d feel “cheap” if she stuck around under President Allen.
The First Lady (the late President’s widow, that is) seemed pretty weird, even making allowances for her being in mourning. She blasted the new President for going against the late President’s wishes and not resigning, made a snide remark about her speechwriters, and then sat down and was quite jovial with her.
Nobody’s going to allow a little kid to have an open cup of juice in a presidential limo, are they? Come on.
I think Mac would have had a hard copy of her speech before Congress, and wouldn’t have had to rely entirely on the TelePrompter. And it sure seemed clear that the Speaker sabotaged it.
Gonna pick a new VP next week, I see. Could be interesting.
Air Force Two is any plane carrying the VP, just as AF One is any plane carrying the President. There are a whole fleet of planes of various types that can be used.
Good point. However, the Vice President does not routinely fly on a converted 747, and the President does.
I buy him picking a woman as VP to get the women’s vote, but why not a Republican woman? There are alot of female Republican politicians. So she was definately elected as VP (I was thinking she might have been appointed under the 25th amendment). And at least the scenes with her husband getting used to his new role were funny. And his CoS kept refering to him as First Lady and FLOTUS! And he actually though he’d get a hand in running the government instead of being a mere consort.
I liked it although I don’t think Geena Davis is a very effective orator. She just doesn’t have oomph.
The feminist in me is very pleased that a show with a woman president is being broadcast. If only for the reason that it opened dialog with my daughter who asked “Are women allowed to be President?”
I didn’t see the former First Lady’s remarks as snide or attacking, I got the impression that she was happy to see a woman as POTUS but she also wanted her husband honored.
One thing that I didn’t get, is that with the President dead, wouldn’t it put the country in more turmoil for the expected replacement to resign? Wouldn’t it make people question the point of the consitutional hierachy? It just never occurred to me that a VP wouldn’t become president under these circumstances. I would have liked it better if that whole plot hadn’t been there.
I’ll keep tuning in as long as they don’t make the Pres have too many girly moments.
I wouldn’t mind it if they eased off on the “hard-working, superwoman working mother” angle a little bit. Yeah, we get it - she’s the prezzie, she’s a mom. Check. I would budget them ONE precocious, precious little girl scene per episode - that’s it.
There was something about the show that I didn’t like, and can’t quite put my finger on. I think it might be her extreme, in-your-face, ostentatious liberalism. I didn’t hate the show, though - I might give it another try.
I liked the show, if only because it’s something beyond the typical “reality” and lame sit-coms. Also, I’m a woman, and that alone made me want to like this show. And I did. Hubby liked it too. I don’t think you have to be a feminist to like this show. I like the power struggle from a woman’s point of view (which has to be more difficult than a male pres.), but at the same time, I recognized that her husband (the first gentleman, not the first husband) was in a very awkward position, but not insurmountable. I agree with him that Mac should have talked to him before-hand about the chief of staff position, but in the short time he thought he was chief of staff, you could see that he was trying to call the shots. Hell - no way would that work and he should have realized that. In the end though, he was supportive.
My only (minor) complaint about Geena is her lipstick – she has full lips and the makeup people need to lay off the red-red stuff and be a little more subtle. I thought her attire was good – a suit-like affair but with a ruffled skirt and slingback high-heels, and no starchy, buttoned-up, pinstripe suits. The kid spilling the soda or whatever on Mac was a bit much, but the speech writier’s scarf improved Mac’s appearance – a tad bit more professional than the open collar white shirt. Loved Donald Sutherland - he makes such a good bad guy. But that’s part of the fun – watching how she handles him, and vice versa. I’m looking forward to next week’s episode.
The dialogue needs much more zip. So far it’s just meh.
I also hate the name Mackenzie. Were there really any little girls in the 1960’s with that name?
I just got DVR last week and last night presented me with my first real dilemma:
My Name is Earl and
The Office
or
Commander in Chief
or
Firefly
or
World Series of Poker
I ended up choosing the first two, if only because the other shows will be shown again at another point in the near future. I wanted to give Commander in Chief a shot and knew that if I missed the premiere I might not readily understand a number of things in episode 2.
Anyway, I enjoyed it. I thought the flashback was a bit heavy handed in terms of exposition. “Well as you know, Geena, you’re a Nobel Prize Winner and served in Congress as an Independent.”
“But now I’m Chancellor of a university.”
“How could I forget? But thanks for reminding me just in case I did.”
I had to grant a backstory that was more than a little hard to swallow, but, given that, I felt the situation arising from it was boht believable and well-done. It’s not perfect, but I’ll most likely be tuning in next week to see what happens next.
By the way, this isn’t the first show to have a female President. There was a short lived comedy back in the '80s with that premise. I can’t seem to find the name anywhere but I think it lasted for about half a season.
Hail to the Chief with Patty Duke as the president. So un-PC it was funny.