Madam Secretary

Cafe Society
1

Okay, this show with Tea Leoni has been touched on in that other thread about the lead actress, but perhaps it should have its own.

I haven’t watched network TV in several years, as most of the offerings have been total shite, but most anything with Keith Carradine is watchable, so we figured what the hell. I didn’t hold out much hope for Leoni, but she did a credible (if not overwhelming) job in the opener. The supporting cast is all-around very good, particularly Željko Ivanek as the president’s chief of staff. They’ve added some inside intrigue, which is probably the one reason I’ll catch a couple more episodes on the DVR to see where it goes.

Anybody else?

2

I’ll give it a watch. I also wanted to say, props as always for Geoffrey Arend for usurping the Billy Joel/Christie Brinkley award for Goofiest-looking Guy with a Hot Wife.

3

I’m mainly familiar with Tea Leoni from her co-starring role as William H. Macy’s wife in Jurassic Park III, a movie I’ve seen so much that I went from indifference, to actively despising the thing, to thoroughly enjoying it in a campy sort of way. My kids were really into it for a few years when they were middle-schoolish aged. She also had a role in A League of Their Own, another movie I’ve seen a bazillion times.

I keep comparing her to the woman who played the secretary of state in the House of Cards with Kevin Spacey. She doesn’t seem to have quite the gravitas as Catherine Durant, played Jayne Atkinson, late of Criminal Minds. Trivia: She is married to Michael Gill, who played the president on House of Cards.

4

I have misgivings about the conspiracy subplot. I’d frankly prefer it if the place crash that killed the former secretary turned out to just be an accident, and the death of the paranoid nutcase CIA analyst happened because he fell asleep at the wheel after three days of taking uppers because he was, well, a paranoid nutcase.

5

Well, at least Željko Ivanek played a bad guy. All is right with the world.

6

Yeah, he’s never done THAT before.

7

I think it’s about time we have a show about a strong independent woman in a traditionally male-dominated profession

8

I’ll give it a 5 out of 10. It isn’t terrible. I’ll give it a go for a few weeks.

9

In the meantime, he played a corrupt small-town cop in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and I almost didn’t recognize him because his hair was dyed blond, probably to make him look somewhat younger.

I bumped this zombie thread because I’ve seen both of the new episodes this season, and now that she’s Madam President, this program has run its course.

It doesn’t help that several major characters, her middle child being one of them, have been written out of the show.

10

Still watching - pretty much out of habit. Not sure why. Doubt we’ll finish this final season.

11

I am still watching with moderate avidity. “Ordinary decent person suddenly elevated to the Oval Office does her best” is a hard role to play, but Tea seems to manage it.

It seems rather to have started in the middle, where she is already President and we see the campaign in flashbacks. In media res is a time-honored epic convention, but I was worried that I missed an episode.

Blue Bloods and Madame Secretary are almost the only two network shows I make it a point to watch. And still find it worth the effort.

I am worried that they will come up with plot ideas just because it is the last season, and she will be assassinated in the series finale or something. The new Chief of Staff is three episodes away from a heart attack. Maybe Henry will die heroically saving the country, and then she will gain New Strength to Carry On.

Sure, it’s a soap opera. Why not? It’s still fun for me.

Regards,
Shodan

12

I love this show. I love Tea Leoni. I love Tim Daly (and have since Wings). I love the rest of the characters…well, OK, Matt and Daisy can each be super annoying, but on the whole they’re alright. I even love the kids.

I like that they didn’t change the name of the show, but that you see the title “Madam Secretary” flip to “Madam President” during the opening credits.

Seconded. :slight_smile:

13

OK, now the series has reached its conclusion. Thoughts on the finale -

Overall, I was somewhat disappointed. I get that she survived impeachment triumphantly by preventing WWIII, but the sudden mass demonstrations of support nation-wide when her approval rating was supposed to be dropping were more than somewhat of a deus ex machina. But fine - Truth, Justice, and the American Way win out in the end. And they resisted the temptation to “use up” characters. I feared she would be assassinated, or Henry would die heroically saving her, or the rebels would try to kill the South American general they invited to the wedding and kill everybody in the reception.

But the whole plot point of politicizing the wedding to lobby for the ERA struck me as contradictory. The chief of staff’s wife leaves him because he always put politics ahead of her. Then the reception hall burns down, and the bride and groom decide to politicize the wedding. Much of the character drive behind the first female President is that she has a great relationship with her husband and family, even though she is President, and that strengthens her to do great things for the country.

It would have been, to me, more true to character and more true to the whole series, if the chief of staff had been a mentor one last time. “I always put politics before family, and now I have lost my family. Don’t do what I did.” That would have resonated with his great line about missing the best man’s toast because he was reading the election returns for city council.

The whole series was supposed to be ordinary but decent Elizabeth McCord overcoming obstacles and saving the world, while retaining the common touch and common sense. The finale made it, for me, to be a tragedy, albeit an unresolved one. The hubris of being sucked into political considerations ahead of family makes her a tragic hero.

Also, did anyone else find the ex-President officiating at the wedding because he sent away for an ordination from an ad in Rolling Stone, and mentioning it during the ceremony, as cringe-worthy as the vapid vows written by the happy couple? I watched the series - I don’t need a recap of their relationship.

Didn’t work for me, which is a shame because I generally loved the series.

Regards,
Shodan

14

I went into the finale somehow unaware that this season would be (a) so short and (b) the last one. I probably would have watched the show indefinitely, but deep down I’m glad it’s over.

There was a lot of potential with her becoming president, but instead they turned they show into a commentary on current politics; it started reminding me of the terrible Murphy Brown reboot. The whole impeachment storyline made me cringe from day one. Everything about the tone of this last season felt “off” to me, including the whistle-stop tour thing. And of course the historic stone church would suddenly burn down and they’d be forced to have a White House wedding. :rolleyes: I think it would have bothered me less if they’d pulled a Friends and held the wedding in the building’s roofless shell.

All in all, I was a big fan of the first five seasons. This last season felt like a different show, and one that I might not have stuck with.

I completely assumed that the Rolling Stone line was a joke!

15

I was pretty much hate-watching it by the end. If it hadn’t ended, I think I would have stopped.

Never cared for Dmitri. And got really tire of her husband being involved in every key issue - both before and after she was elected. Tea Leoni relied more and more on expressions suggesting she was a dram queen. “Look at me, I’m so excited over the idea of grandbabies!” Which was especially abnoxious since she was in aposition of power such that everyone had to kiss her act. And their son needed a good beat down.