Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Fictional POTUSes in TV and movies

I rewatched "White House Down" last night, and one thought I had was, man, Channing Tatum was lucky he was guarding Jamie Foxx (who's spry and athletic), and not Trump or Biden! That inspired this list of
TV and movie POTUSes and my thoughts on whether I'd vote for them if they were real:


James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx) on "White House Down" - DEFINITELY YES; he's like a cooler version of Obama.

David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) on "24" - DEFINITELY YES; he sent Jack Bauer after terrorists; does anything else need to be said?

Wayne Palmer (D.B. Woodside) on "24" - maybe; not as cool and inspiring as his older brother, but he did support Bauer as well.

Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) in "Olympus Has Fallen" - NO WAY; just compare how he handled being coerced by terrorists versus Jamie Foxx in "White House Down"

Charles Logan (Gregory Itzen) on "24" - NO WAY. Have you seen "24"?!?(Great actor, though)

Thomas Whitmore (Bill Pullman) in "Independence Day" - Probably? He did give what is possibly the greatest ever Presidential speech...

James Marshall (Harrison Ford) in "Air Force One" - maybe. He seemed kind of boring, but he did fight off hijackers by himself.

President White (Donald Pleasance) in "Escape from New York" - um, no.

Fitz Grant (Tony Goldwyn) on "Scandal" - Probably. He was Shonda Rimes' conception of a Republican, which meant he was basically a moderate Democrat.

Thomas Kirkland (Kiefer Sutherland) on "Designated Survivor" - yeah, I know he's not Jack Bauer (we can only dream), but he was a straight-up nerd who told it as it was.

Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones) on "24" - probably? She was fine; her sniveling husband and conniving daughter were not.

Mellie Grant (Bellamy Young) on "Scandal" - Yes! I started off really disliking her (because she was set up as an antagonist to star Olivia Pope) but by the end, I was rooting for her.

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Now, there are a few notable fictional Presidents missing from my list. I haven't watched "The West Wing," "The American President," or "House of Cards," so I can't say whether I'd vote for any of them. Also, I skipped some of the Presidents in "24" and other shows that I've watched. Create your own list!