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.

***

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!

NYT rates the 20 best shows since "The Sopranos" -- and my response

A while ago, the New York Times ran an interactive article identifying the 20 best shows (in the author's view) to have aired since "The Sopranos" debuted 20 years earlier.

Several of the shows on NYT list are also on my post-"Sopranos" list -- indeed, some of these would even make my all-time favorite TV show list, including:

• "The Shield": Simply brilliant in terms of how it made you root for who would ordinarily be the antagonists of a show. I felt dirty hoping that corrupt cop Vic Mackey would get away with his schemes, which is a testament to the writing and the acting. Yeah, it wasn't as realistic as "The Wire," but it was far more interesting.
• "Battlestar Galactica": The ending didn't make much sense, and it tended to sag in the middle of each season. But it was so dark, gritty, and intense in its peak episodes, with a more or less continuous story lasting 4+ years (counting the mini-series and "Razor" movie). I'm reading the unauthorized oral history of BSG (both incarnations), So Say We All, and I just got to the section about the mini-series.
• "Lost": Another show whose ending (indeed, the entire last season) didn't make sense, but was still captivating throughout its entire run. The framework of mixing present day scenes with flashbacks (and then that mindblowing flashforward!) was subsequently adopted by one of my all-time favorites, "Once Upon a Time." [Strangely, "Once Upon a Time" did not make the NYT list, perhaps because it was too mainstream?]
• "Veronica Mars": A teen noirish mystery that launched Kristen Bell's career. I didn't watch the third/last season, and haven't gotten around to the movie either, but that first season was twisty.

On the "just missed the cut list" of the NYT:

• "Justified": This would also make my all-time list. I used to think Captain Kirk was the coolest character on TV, and Jack Bauer was the most interesting. Kirk has been supplanted by Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, whose misadventures in Harlan County, Kentucky, were laconically intriguing. I loved how Givens' character could be summed up in an eight word sentence he once told a bad guy: "You make me pull, I'll put you down." And of course he would make sure that he was justified in shooting.

But there are also a number of shows on the list that I, while possibly acknowledging their greatness, never watched or tried to watch but never really got hooked on:

• "The Wire": I know that it is a common opinion that this is the best show ever in the history of television. I just found it dull and populated with boring characters. It's not that I don't appreciate characters with shades of gray -- notice that I loved "The Shield," and the main character in that is a bad guy! Pretty much every actor in "The Wire" that I've seen elsewhere has been better elsewhere, from Lance Reddick in anything, to Wendell Pierce in Amazon's "Jack Ryan," to Michael B. Jordan in "Black Panther."
• "Grey's Anatomy": I've never watched this, so it isn't entirely fair for me to question its placement, but another procedural/soap opera didn't sound interesting to me. (It's also weird to me that this made the list but "Scandal" did not. See below for more on that.)
• "The West Wing": This has seemed to me like the left-wing version of "24." Each presents a fantasy world where its proponent's fears are being realized, and stopped only through the proponent's heroism.
• "Breaking Bad": I need to watch this. A major reason I haven't yet is that I'm not ready for my image of the goofy dad from "Malcolm in the Middle" to be overwritten by Walter White/Heisenberg.

And then there are the post-Sopranos shows that are on my list but absent from the NYT:

• "24": Yes, it's more fantasy than "Battlestar Galactica" in a lot of ways, but for sheer adrenaline rush, there's nothing like it. I watched every season as it aired starting halfway through season 2, then watched them all on DVD, and then over the course of several months streamed them all while running on the treadmill. My wife has asked me how I can watch it over and over, and the answer is, I can never get enough of Kiefer Sutherland's intensity as Jack Bauer, yelling, "Tell me where the bomb is!! There's no time!!"
• "Once Upon a Time": I didn't think this would be good, but I TiVo'd the pilot episode to give it a try. Within 10 minutes, I was hooked by the magical look of the Enchanted Forest in the flashbacks, and the puzzle of matching the present day residents of Storybrooke to their fantasy counterparts. And this is a show that featured multiple strong female characters (Emma Swan. Regina/Wicked Witch, Mary-Margaret/Snow White) who easily satisfied the Bechdel test every episode. (I didn't watch the last season, though, which was a soft reboot; the season 6 finale seemed to me to be a very good series finale.)
• "The Last Ship": Military valor, end of the world pandemic, conspiracies -- yeah, I'm a sucker for all of that.
• "Scandal": Another show that was basically fantasy, but it was as addictive as "24" was. I loved it whenever Olivia Pope was in "I'm in control" mode, which was most of the time. I liked it a lot less when she in "I'm moping over President Grant" mode.
• "Star Trek: Discovery": I get that it's controversial. It's a lot darker than the usual Trek series (even "Deep Space Nine"). But I like that. Based on season 1 (I watched the DVDs, so can't watch season 2 yet), it's my second favorite Trek series. It could move up to #1 with more excellent seasons. It would have to get a lot worse to drop to #3.
• "Hawaii 5-0": I don't claim that "Hawaii 5-0" is good in the ways that critics view shows. I find it hilariously entertaining, less so in the mystery of the week than in the character interaction (no show is complete with McGarrett and Dann-o bickering, and without the shrimp truck guy), and it's the only show on TV I can think of that features multiple regular actors who are of Asian descent, which is worth supporting alone for the Asian diversity factor (even if the show ended up making Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park leave because they weren't paid the same as Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan).

Quick thoughts on some of the ABC shows coming this fall

TV by the Numbers has a helpful post with embedded trailers for the new pilots that ABC has ordered and put into the fall schedule. I watched the ones that looked interesting to me, and here are my thoughts:

The Inhumans



The trailer doesn't show anything, but I'm a sucker for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Inhumans have been embedded into the story DNA of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for a few seasons now, so I'm already invested.


Ten Days in the Valley



This stars Kyra Sedgewick as a single mom who's a writer for a TV cop show. Her daughter gets kidnapped, and somehow life starts imitating art - as in, the storylines that she's writing. I think I'm going to give this a pass. The trailer - at least, as much as I watched before deciding it's not for me - is pretty grim, and I don't think I want to sign on for a serial where the main storyline is "where's my child?" I mean, I did for the Ashley Judd-vehicle Missing, which turned out to be pretty good, but that ended well because the show lasted only half a season and tied up the main storyline. If Ten Days in the Valley is a hit, it'll get renewed.... I guess it's possible the writers will come up with a new hook for a second season, but it's still a pass.


The Crossing


 

This looks pretty weird. Bodies wash up on the shore, and 47 of them are alive. It appears that they are from the future(?). It kind of reminds of the Sci-Fi Channel series The 4400, which I liked a lot, so I'm willing to give this a try. As with all high-concept serialized dramas from ABC, however, one must factor in the risk of a strong start dragged down by too many out of control storylines - FlashForward is the prime offender in this category, but V, Lost, and others suggest it's a trend.


Deception


 

I'm normally not so much into crime of the week procedurals (Hawaii 5-0 being a notable exception, but that's more for the island scenery and the character banter than the actual mysteries), but this entry in the civilian with special skills helps law enforcement as a special consultant category looks polished. The civilian with special skills is an illusionist, making this sound like Castle with David Copperfield instead of Richard Castle. Well, I like watching magic acts, so I'll give this a try.


For the People



From Shonda Rhimes, this show pits fresh new Assistant U.S. Attorneys against fresh new Federal Public Defenders. Rhimes-produced shows are batting .500 for me - I like Scandal and (the canceled) The Catch, while I've never watched Grey's Anatomy and I quit How to Get Away with Murder after the pilot episode. .500 isn't a bad average for TV shows, but I tend not to like law related shows, especially ones that take themselves too seriously, so I think this is a pass for me.

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I'll continue to give quick and dirty thoughts on the new pilots for the other networks.

ABC's "Scandal" - please just end the Olivia/Fitz forbidden love storyline!!

For various reasons, I didn't get around to watching the last seven episodes of "Scandal" from season 4, and by the time summer rolled through, my TiVo - needing space - had deleted a few of those episodes. I had to wait for the entire season to come out on DVD, and then wait my turn on the hold list at the local library.

I've almost caught up completely now; there are just two episodes left, and then I can turn my attention to season 5, whose episodes are sitting on my TiVo as I write this.

[SPOILERS for the last third of season 4]

The first episode I caught up on was the one where Lena Dunham plays a political intern who writes a tell-all book about her sexcapades with over a dozen Washington insiders, including the current white hat Attorney General (David Rosen) - a storyline vaguely reminiscent of the Washingtonienne scandal from 2004. I'm not a fan of Dunham, and I vaguely remembered that her presence may have caused me to delay watching this episode back when it first aired. Notwithstanding Dunham, this was quite an enjoyable episode, because Olivia Pope was in her full "I'm in charge" mode, especially as she dealt with the collection of men who'd been with Dunham's character, trying to get them to see that paying collectively the $3 million that Dunham was demanding was the best option for them.

The next four episodes continued the "Gladiators" trend - that is, political fires that Pope is called on to put out, in addition to the continuing storyline about the effort to stop the covert black ops unit B613 that Pope's father commands. I was reminded of how fast and funny this show can be, as long as it doesn't turn Olivia Pope and the President into a pair of weak and whimpering creatures who want to be together but can't do what it takes to achieve that for good. From what I've picked up about season 5, the President is divorcing the First Lady, so perhaps Pope and the President will get some sort of happy ending - and the viewers, too. They can be together; please just spare us the forlorn glances and all that.

Why ABC's "Scandal" could definitely use some more diversity

ABC's "Scandal" is one of those shows, like "24," that are compulsively and obsessively watchable despite the utter ridiculousness of the plotlines. To be successful, the action on the screen has to come so fast that the viewer doesn't have time to register skepticism, because something else demands immediate attention.

Of course, "Scandal" drew much attention early on for being the first TV show in a long, long, long time to star an African-American actress. Kerry Washington certainly deserves accolades for her portrayal of D.C. fixer Olivia Pope, who exudes competence and control no matter how absurd or seemingly hopeless the latest political crisis to deal with (except when she's swooning over the President, and he over her, which is the weakest part of the show's DNA).

The show can even be given a pass on the diversity front for not having any Asian characters; producer/creator Shonda Rhimes cast Sandra Oh as one of the main characters of "Grey's Anatomy," so it appears that the absence of Asians on "Scandal" is not some sort of blind spot.

However, where "Scandal" falls completely apart on the diversity front appears to be in the ideological diversity of its writers. If there's anyone on the writing staff who isn't at least a mainstream liberal, if not more progressive, you wouldn't know it from the show.

That NYT article about Shonda Rhimes

The New York Times stumbled badly with an article about TV producer Shonda Rhimes that described her at one point as an "angry black woman."

BuzzFeed has a long column that explains why the Times' TV criticism is "so bad." The "too long, didn't read" version is that, like everything else about the Times, a combination of arrogance and elitism results in imposing its own worldview on everything, which in this case ended up with a reporter with no background or apparent interest in TV as the chief TV critic.

Rhimes, of course, is notable for having created/produced "Grey's Anatomy," "Private Practice," and "Scandal," and is one of the producers of "How to Get Away With Murder," which happened to be one of the subjects of the "angry black woman" article. All but "Private Practice" are still airing today on ABC (with "How to Get Away With Murder" having premiered last night).

I never watched "Grey's Anatomy" or "Private Practice" (medical soap operas just aren't in my preferred topic of TV shows), but I have seen every episode of "Scandal" through the first two seasons, and the premiere of "How to Get Away With Murder" is sitting on my TiVo. And I would say that "Scandal," at least, does not show anything remotely resembling an "angry black woman" - to the extent I even understand what that means. How exactly is an angry black woman different from an angry white or Asian or Latin woman? (Was Meredith Brooks' 1990s hit single "Bitch" about an angry woman?)

"Scandal" does star an African-American actress, Kerry Washington, as political fixer Olivia Pope. And Pope certainly does have a take-charge persona (except in the interminable scenes with the President), but I wouldn't describe her as "angry." She's not Ms. Spock, of course; she does get angry at times, but that is in reaction to events or circumstances. She is not existentially angry. So it is hard for me to see the Times article as anything but a lazy attempt to construct a narrative - "hey, this African-American woman has her hand in three shows all on Thursday night on ABC, how'd that happen? I know, she's parlayed the 'angry black woman' persona into something marketable!" It seems like the column says much more about the reporter and the Times than it does about Rhimes, or TV.

ABC 2014-15 dramas -- my thoughts

ABC announced a number of renewals and new dramas today. Of particular interest to me were "Once Upon a Time," "Scandal," and "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," all of which were expected renewals.

What about the new dramas? Collectively, they look heavy on serialized mysteries/conspiracy theories. Here are some first impressions based on the brief descriptions:

ABC's "Scandal" news (spoilers for season 3 finale)

When season 4 of ABC's "Scandal" starts in the fall, who is going to be left to run Olivia Pope & Associates?

When we were first introduced to OPA, Olivia had a team of "gladiators," including surveillance expert Huck, lawyers Harrison Wright, Abby Whelan, and Stephen Finch, and new addition Quinn Perkins. Finch lasted just one season before being written out (with a happy ending, at least), as actor Ian Henry Cusick (aka Desmond on "Lost") left for other pursuits. Perkins ended up being seduced by the "dark side" and joining the mysterious black ops agency B613 (and was tortured and nearly killed by her mentor Huck).

And at the end of season 3, Wright was in some serious jeopardy, having run afoul of B613's new/old director, Rowan Pope (that's right, Olivia's dad). His last scene ended with a Secret Service agent (already shown to be a secret B613 operative) stepping in to protect Pope and aiming a gun at Wright.

Now comes news that actor Columbus Short won't be returning. It looks like it's fall out from his wife's accusation that he tried to kill her. Um, yeah, I think "Scandal" creator Shonda Rhimes wants the drama on-screen, not off-screen.

If you're keeping score, that leaves just Huck and Whelan to run OPA. That is, if Huck is in any condition after apparently re-uniting with his long-lost family. (Then again, I suppose season 4 could open with Whelan and Huck welcoming Perkins back, considering that Perkins had recently declared her love for Huck before being dumped when she led him to his family....)