# Political dramas - recommendations, and any Trump dramas in the pipeline? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 29, 2021, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-dramas-recommendations-and-any-trump-dramas-in-the-pipeline/931784 "2021-01-29T15:17:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-dramas-recommendations-and-any-trump-dramas-in-the-pipeline/931784/1 "2021-01-29T15:17:50Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-dramas-recommendations-and-any-trump-dramas-in-the-pipeline/931784/2 "2021-01-29T15:38:44Z")
[State of Play](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Play_(TV_series)), perhaps? And since you mentioned Veep, perhaps The Thick of It. And Yes, Minister is a sitcom but it’s also political. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-dramas-recommendations-and-any-trump-dramas-in-the-pipeline/931784/3 "2021-01-29T15:52:26Z")
Ah yes, have seen all those. Anything more recent I might have missed? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-dramas-recommendations-and-any-trump-dramas-in-the-pipeline/931784/4 "2021-01-29T20:33:27Z")
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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Comey_Rule) 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. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-dramas-recommendations-and-any-trump-dramas-in-the-pipeline/931784/5 "2021-01-29T23:56:08Z")
If comedy-drama is within your remit, [The Ambassadors](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2382598/) (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 ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2021, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-dramas-recommendations-and-any-trump-dramas-in-the-pipeline/931784/6 "2021-01-30T09:52:09Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2021, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-dramas-recommendations-and-any-trump-dramas-in-the-pipeline/931784/7 "2021-01-31T00:32:37Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2021, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-dramas-recommendations-and-any-trump-dramas-in-the-pipeline/931784/8 "2021-01-31T05:16:08Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > …Wag the Dog where Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman create a fake war to distract everyone from a presidential scandal. > > …The original The Manchurian Candidate might be more political thriller than political drama, but you get to see Frank Sinatra bust some karate moves… I was underwhelmed by both of these, I have to say.