Political dramas - recommendations, and any Trump dramas in the pipeline?

Cafe Society
1

I’m a sucker for political dramas - don’t mind what country or even what language, I’ll watch them all.

I feel like I’ve exhausted my back catalogue and have returned to the West Wing, which I haven’t watched for about 5-6 years, but I could do with some more recommendations.

I’m happy with gritty (UK and US House of Cards), based on real events (Vice, UK drama The Deal), or totally fictional fluff like Madam Secretary, Borgen and Veep.

Also, there MUST be some Trump dramas in the pipeline - have you heard of any in production?

2

State of Play, perhaps? And since you mentioned Veep, perhaps The Thick of It. And Yes, Minister is a sitcom but it’s also political.

3

Ah yes, have seen all those.

Anything more recent I might have missed?

4

There’s already been a recent Trump drama, which I haven’t seen and which got mixed reviews (although Brendan Gleeson is outstanding in every role I’ve ever seen him play): The Comey Rule - Wikipedia

Despite some flaws which made me wince, Lincoln is a tour de force for Daniel Day-Lewis, playing the Civil War President, doing all he can to get a lame-duck Congress to pass the 13th Amendment - highly recommended. Primary Colors is about a very Bill Clintonesque candidate running all-out for the White House; it had its moments. All the President’s Men is outstanding, and IMHO one of the best movies about journalism ever made. Follow it with Frost/Nixon, also very good.

The American President is more dramady than drama, but pretty good - given the plot, cast and Sorkin’s involvement, it’s almost like a movie-length West Wing prequel. Zero Dark Thirty is a great post-9/11 drama, although I take issue with its implicit message that “torture works.” Bill Murray is a surprisingly good FDR in Hyde Park on Hudson.

Across the pond, The Queen is terrific, in part because of its exploration of the proper role of a constitutional monarchy in a modern televised democracy.

Thirteen Days is a pretty good movie about the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Selma and All the Way are complimentary movies about MLK, LBJ and the political wheeling and dealing that wrote the advances of the Civil Rights Movement into law.

If you don’t mind going back a few years, I’d recommend the original Seven Days in May, about a looming military coup in the U.S. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is overrated IMHO, but anybody who likes political dramas should see it.

Finally, Dave is not a drama, but is a terrific political comedy that makes some serious points about democracy and public service just the same. One of my all-time favorites.

5

If comedy-drama is within your remit, The Ambassadors (a Mitchell and Webb production) is an excellent little mini-series - a little darker than their usual fare, and I suspect the BBC didn’t really know what to do with it. That’s a shame, because it really was excellent

6

Another “If you liked Veep” is The Death of Stalin (same creator and writer).

Somewhat still in the Veep vein is Parks and Recreation, a light-hearted comedy involving the employees of a small town Parks and Rec Department. It’s not like, say, Cheers, where the bar is mostly just a backdrop for the comedy, a lot of the storylines directly involve the politics of the town.

Dr. Strangelove.

Wag the Dog where Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman create a fake war to distract everyone from a presidential scandal.

Election, with Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick, is about a high school election for student body president. It’s a bit of a dark comedy.

The Killing Fields is about a Cambodian journalist and an American journalist in Cambodia as the Khmer Rouge takes over. This one is decidedly not a comedy.

Casablanca might be thought of as a romance film, but it’s a terrific political drama.

The original The Manchurian Candidate might be more political thriller than political drama, but you get to see Frank Sinatra bust some karate moves.

7

The Showtime series Homeland has some strong political drama. The series, in my opinion, falters after a while, but the first couple of seasons are very good.

8

I was underwhelmed by both of these, I have to say.