Commander Mom

Geena Davis is going to play at being President. She’ll get to suit up in fancy, high-powered duds and stomp the (recreated sets of) the White House, delivering pithy responses to all those pesky men who get their Depends in a bunch over the thought of our nation being led by a woman. Through it all, she’ll have to deal with the pressures of Capitol Hill and school age kids, epitomizing the struggle of free-world leading moms everywhere. Or whatever. And for some reason, ABC thinks this will make great television. They’re calling the show Commander in Chief.

Now, far be it for me to suggest that it won’t be a ratings cow. Screenwriter and NRO Corner contributor Warren Bell said ABC President Steve McPherson picked up the show almost immedietly after seeing the pilot – and unheard of step that he first took after seeing last year’s Desperate Housewives. There is a strong likelihood that the television-viewing masses that can’t get enough slick-soap cattiness from Teri Hatcher and her crew will devour another serving of pandering girl power.

The show is already drawing criticism for both its presumed anti-conservative stance and its regressive attitude towards women. NRO is rightfully wary of its almost-certainly liberal politics, which, despite the fact that Davis plays an Independent who gains her seat after her Republican President dies, will almost certainly blossom into third way centrist-progressive speechifying.

Over at The New Republic, Michelle Cottle waxes eloquent on a subject only briefly tackled at NRO – the show’s focus on gender. Cottle takes the show to task for being unable to accept the idea that a female President would be able to be just a President. Instead, they’re going to present her as a White House soccer mom. Here’s what Cottle says:

The cutesy, family focus of the show should set her teeth to grinding. As "Commander-in-Chief"'s creator, Rod Lurie, explained to critics this week, rather than fixate on the "arcane" political issues tackled by NBC's "West Wing," his show will address more "East Wing" issues involving the president's family life. Examples cited by The Washington Post include "how to get the First Kids to school, how to take the First Kids trick-or-treating, how state dinners are run from A to Z." Because "if history has taught us anything," Lurie reminded the critics, it's that, regardless of women's professional gains in recent decades, it's still almost always Mommy rather than Daddy who assumes the role of primary caregiver.

Gag. What a grotesque exercise in gender clichés. As president of his TV universe, Martin Sheen's Josiah Bartlett gets to strut around dealing with terrorism, bureaucratic infighting, and budget battles. President Geena, by contrast, will apparently show us how hard it is to keep your man from feeling threatened by your hot, young Secret Service contingent, not to mention deal with the nerve-jangling diplomatic implications of serving raspberry sorbet versus pumpkin flan to the King of Jordan. If we're really lucky, during sweeps week maybe Martha Stewart will pop by to orchestrate a quickie makeover of the Lincoln Bedroom.

Cottle’s comments are dead on target, a firm reminder that television, despite its newfound complexity, isn’t all that far from the days of separate beds and housewives vacuuming in dresses and pearls.

On a less political level, I can’t see how a show like this will have any impact in the wake of The West Wing. Even in its reduced state, the show is still a dramatic wonder, an exciting, funny, human and surprisingly complex look at the machinations of political power. While I rarely agree with the show’s politics, it never makes any attempt to hide its leftward leanings, unlike CIC, which is cynically hiding under the guise of portraying an independent. Not only is the Independent tag a cheap political façade, it’s also fairly inept as a dramatic device: it pretends you can make a show about the Presidency that doesn’t address partisan politics. I’m sure the show’s creators think it’s a way to be above the fray; more likely, it’s just a way to pretend the fray doesn’t exist.

With series creator and master-clever-maestro Aaron Sorkin rumored to return to The West Wing for its final episodes, Commander in Chief will almost certainly be left in TWW's Brechtian, Epic Theatre dust on both a creative and dramatic level. And while the political controversies rage, there will almost certainly be one thing everyone can agree on: no matter how dimwitted it is, the show won't be as bad as Cutthroat Island.