Mother knows best. Geena Davis is Commander-in-Chief.
Plonked down in its false-expectation-raising primetime time slot (Tuesdays, 9pm, More4), you can see why some people might have hoped that Commander-in-Chief would be the relief to their post-West Wing slump. Three weeks into its run, you can see why they might just have wandered off again.
Aha, we said. Hot on the heels of the dying 'Wing, More4 lovingly tenders a show with a remarkably similar theme, remarkably similar sets, and a similar liberal morality leading to military actions that seem to boil down to a tough love 'we're kicking your ass because we wuv you' policy. Wet Wig has returned to us!
The main differences between Wet Wig and Commander-in-Chief? Not much, really - bar the quality of script, plot consistency and attention to detail, presentation of realistic, sympathetic yet remarkable characters, and the fact that the President is sporting ladybits this season.
Yes! Blimey! Crikey etc! For those who haven't seen this either on More4 or on its previous UK cable run (on ABC1, the home of light pro-family fluff, as befitting of a Disney-owned channel-hole) the president is a lady! A real one and everything. You can tell because she has low-cut tops and small children and comes close to ordering military action on whole countries for stoning one sister to death. And sometimes looks as if she's about to cry. I seemed to have missed why she became an independent candidate, but on current evidence, I think it might be because she found it hard to decide, poor dear.
Naomi Wolf is a fan of the show. And though I'm loathe to disagree with such an august feminist, I can't quite see that we're watching the same television programme. I can't see Commander-in-Chief in this series. This is Mummy-in-Charge.
The decision on whether she takes up the presidency is given to her unbearably cute 3-year-old, there is great anguish over the fact that one of her right-leaning16-year-old twins doesn't agree with some of her more liberal decisions on policy (who cares? Can they vote? No! Move on, woman), and the whole thing is so preoccupied with how hard it is to balance being a good mother and a powerful female - if it's possible to be both at all, that the fact she's a politician slips into insignificance. She could be a CEO of an intimate wipe factory for all this series cares. The important thing is finding a way to cope with being mummy at work (oh, and leader of the free world).
I wish I didn't have so much of a thing about the whole 'woman president' aspect of the show. And frankly, I wouldn't if they didn't. As far as I can see - and certainly as the series goes on, it's the only aspect TO the show.
Perhaps it would be easier to warm to the series if Geena Davis, who is, after all, a strong actress and a strong woman - although she does happen to look quite a lot like a duck in a skirt suit- had just portrayed a damn good politician and thoroughly compelling character (who happens to have a vagina).
Too much to ask?
