Commander in Chief (TV series)
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Commander in Chief was a television drama that focused on the presidential administration and family of Mackenzie Allen (portrayed by Geena Davis), the first female President of the United States, who ascended to the role after the previous chief executive, Teddy Bridges (played by Will Lyman), died in office from a sudden ruptured cerebral aneurysm. The series began broadcasting on ABC on Tuesday, September 27, 2005 at 9 p.m. Eastern Time, although most countries outside North America began screening the series in mid-2006. It garnered the highest ratings for a series debut on a Tuesday night.
The show was #1 on Tuesday until FOX's American Idol took over with an average of 30 million after airing just four episodes (including Wednesdays at 8/7c), according to Nielsen. The show was also the #1 new show until CBS's Criminal Minds took that honor until another CBS show The Unit took over on March 7, 2006. Its major competitor in the 9:00 p.m. timeslot has always been FOX's House which airs after its American Idol lead-in thus the decline in ratings.
The series was created by American director Rod Lurie, director of thrillers like The Contender and Deterrence, and may have been inspired by The West Wing, a popular political drama on rival NBC. Lurie directed the first three episodes of Commander in Chief. In October 2005, just days after the series debut, the network announced that Lurie was being replaced with Steven Bochco as show runner. The main reason was that Lurie was delivering scripts late, costing ABC money. However, Lurie remained an executive producer but is primarily focusing on creating new projects for Touchstone. [link]
On March 3, Steven Bochco left his post as showrunner after disputes with ABC and his upcoming project for Touchstone. Executive producer Dee Johnson helmed the position of the third and final showrunner for the series. [link]
On May 13, 2006 ABC announced that the show has been canceled, although the remaining three episodes of the season were broadcast after the ratings year had ended. The network is in discussions with Rod Lurie, the creator of the show, about making a television movie based on the television show. On June 30, Davis told The Stage that the telemovie had been confirmed. [link]
Primary characters
- President Mackenzie Allen (Geena Davis) – former member of Congress from Connecticut and chancellor of the University of Richmond, an Independent chosen by Republican Theodore Roosevelt "Teddy" Bridges as his running mate, and duly elected. The first female vice-president and, upon Bridges' death, the first female president.
- First Gentleman Rod Calloway (Kyle Secor) – Allen's husband; formerly her vice-presidential chief-of-staff.
- Speaker of the House Nathan Templeton (Donald Sutherland) – Republican Congressional leader from Florida; had been Bridges' choice to succeed him as president. Has significant resentment towards President Allen.
- White House Chief of Staff Jim Gardner (Harry Lennix) – formerly President Bridges' Chief of Staff, asked by President Allen to continue into her administration.
- Press Secretary Kelly Ludlow (Ever Carradine) – brought into Allen's administration from her vice-presidential staff; formerly her communications director.
- Horace Calloway (Matt Lanter), Rebecca Calloway (Caitlin Wachs) and Amy Calloway (Jasmine Anthony) – Allen and Calloway's three children; sixteen-year-old twins and a six-year-old child. Rebecca frowns upon her mother's choice to assume the presidency and holds more conservative political views than her mother.
Characters
| Actor/Actress | Character | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Geena Davis | Mackenzie Spencer Allen | President of the United States |
| Donald Sutherland | Nathan Templeton | Speaker of the House (Served as Acting President in Episode 16) |
| Kyle Secor | Rod Calloway | First Gentleman |
| Harry J. Lennix | Jim Gardner | White House Chief of Staff |
| Peter Coyote | Warren Keaton | Vice President of the United States (Resigned in Episode 15) |
| Ever Carradine | Kelly Ludlow | Press Secretary |
| Matt Lanter | Horace Calloway | Son of President Mackenzie Allen and First Gentleman Rod Calloway; Twin brother of Rebecca |
| Caitlin Wachs | Rebecca Calloway | Older daughter of President Mackenzie Allen and First Gentleman Rod Calloway; Twin sister of Horace |
| Jasmine Jessica Anthony | Amy Calloway | Younger daughter of President Mackenzie Allen and First Gentleman Rod Calloway |
| Polly Bergen | Kate Allen | President Allen's mother and White House hostess |
| Mark-Paul Gosselaar | Richard "Dickie" McDonald | Campaign Advisor |
| Anthony Azizi | Vince Taylor | Special Aide to the President |
| Natasha Henstridge | Jayne Murray | Speaker's chief of staff |
The Commander in Chief universe
The universe of Commander in Chief shares a great deal of recent history with our own: in the first episode, Vice Presidents Al Gore and Dick Cheney are mentioned, suggesting that the show's universe diverges from our own sometime after 2001. As the first episode states that Teddy Bridges served four years as Vice President and the show begins two years into his first Presidential term, some viewers assume that, in the universe of the series, either President George W. Bush served only one term (2001-2005) or that Teddy Bridges was his Vice President for the second term (2005-2009). This would place Bridges' election to the presidency in 2008 and the show around the year 2011. It is also possible that the show takes place more than a decade from now. However, in the episode First Dance, Russia is described as having been a democracy for only 15 years, placing the first season around 2006, assuming a parallel unfolding of history. Another possibility is that the writers have simply disregarded statements made in the first few episodes and now retconned the series to take place in the present (in an alternate timeline).
The placement of the series within the federal election cycle is also in question. Although early episodes refer to Bridges' death occurring prior to the midterm elections, later episodes i.e. The Mom Who Came To Dinner refer to two years remaining in the presidential term. This is inconsistent with First Strike, which places Bridges' death months after midterm congressional elections. As the series' episodes have paralleled their actual air dates, including events such as the Atlantic hurricane season, Halloween, and Thanksgiving, it would make sense that Bridges' death occur during his third year in office which would mean a presidential election due shortly. It is possible that like The West Wing
According to the rules of presidential succession, if Allen began serving out Bridges' term less than two full years after he was sworn in, she can only run as a candidate in one presidential election. However, if Bridges' time in office was more than two full years (even by a matter of a week or two) Allen would be allowed to run in two presidential elections, and thus could potentially be president for almost ten years (See Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution).
As on the political drama The West Wing, the world of Commander in Chief includes both real countries (such as Nigeria, North Korea and Iraq), as well as fictitious ones (such as the South American country of San Pasquale).
Timeline
Though specific dates are not given, many events are assigned relative to the present (i.e. 10 years ago) with considerable detail due to the show's use of flashbacks. The following is a list of notable events and their relative time.
- 1965
- Nathan Templeton is a Democratic candidate for office. It is unclear whether or not Templeton is publicly a segregationalist however he is taped privately during this time making very extreme segregationist statements.
- Approximately 22 years before the first season
- Teddy Bridges is elected governor of his home state, he is re-elected at every election until his election to the vice presidency 16 years later.
- 10 years before "First... Do No Harm"
- Mackenzie Allen, a Republican, is approached by a group of moderate Republicans in her district to run as an Independent for Congress as a far right Republican is expected to easily win the primary.
- 8 years before "First Disaster"
- First-term Congresswoman Mackenzie Allen defies the will of Speaker Nathan Templeton when she is left with the deciding vote for a piece of legislation. Templeton reminds her of her Republican heritage and the wide Republican support for the bill, however she refuses to support it as she views it as spending far too much money.
- Approximately 6 years before the first season
- Teddy Bridges is elected Vice President of the United States on a Republican ticket.
- 2 and a half years before "Pilot"
- Vice President Teddy Bridges approaches Mackenzie Allen, a former two-term Independent Congresswoman, to be his running mate.
- 8 months before "First Strike"
- While campaigning for the midterm elections, President Teddy Bridges asks Nathan Templeton to agree to become his Vice President, Bridges suggested he could create a vacancy in the office by appointing Vice President Mackenzie Allen to the Supreme Court of the United States. Templeton declines saying the vice presidency would be demotion from his current office as Speaker.
Controversy
The Traditional Values Coalition, FrontPage Magazine and conservative commentators have gone on record complaining that the show is really a thinly-veiled attempt to lay groundwork for a possible 2008 Presidential run by prominent Democrat Hillary Clinton. This charge has been denied by Lurie, Davis, and ABC. However, after Lurie's departure, Nathan Templeton's character was notably softened, and his raw villainy smoothed out. The Speaker and the President even became allies when it suited them.
Others including the Cato Institute and Reason Magazine charged that the series glorified the "Imperial Presidency" and that it favored using government force to impose the personal values of some Americans on other Americans who disagreed with them, and also impose the values of (those) Americans on the rest of the world.
General criticisms are that the series is so centered on Allen's gender, that this becomes the focus of the show instead of the character's capability. However, a counter-argument is that the series is trying to depict realistically what the general public's reaction to the first female president would be, and such an occurrence would probably also focus public scrutiny on a female president's gender rather than her policies.
However in interviews on the shows website the cast have said that as time goes on there will be less focus on her gender and more focus on the fact that she is an Independent, especially when she runs for election.
The April 27 episode generated further controversy and negative press in its fictional depiction of the bordering suburb of Hyattsville, Maryland as having the highest murder rate in the United States. It also indirectly depicted the town as being an urban ghetto dominated by poor minorities. The city and Prince George's County were very upset at ABC and somewhat surprised as well at this depiction; in reality the city is racially mixed, middle-upper middle income and mostly suburban in density and character. On May 1, 2006 ABC formally apologized to both the city and county.
Like the similiar show, The West Wing, the show was often criticized for its pushing of left-wing bias on subjects such as campaign finance restrictions, the death penalty, environmentalism, the Equal Rights Amendment, and its overall portrayal of Republican politicians as malevolent figures. [[Citing sources citation needed]]
Ratings
The series went on hiatus after its January 24, 2006 episode; in its place, ABC promoted a new Arrested Development type show titled Sons & Daughters. [link] Commander in Chief was scheduled to return on April 18 with either four or seven remaining new episodes (reflecting rumors that the number of episodes for the season had been cut by three). However, on March 29, ABC announced that it would instead return on April 13 and move from its Tuesday 9 p.m. slot to a 10 p.m. slot on Thursdays, directly competing with CBS hit Without a Trace and longtime NBC standby ER. Some media experts believe the show had already been unofficially cancelled and was moved to that time slot to burn off the remaining episodes--since it is one of the toughest primetime slots for ABC to compete in. However, other experts think that ABC was hoping the show could be saved by gaining viewers from the surprise reality hit American Inventor aired right before Commander in Chief. [link] However, the reality show saw its ratings plummet to nearly half of what it once was, and proved to be a weak lead in to Commander in Chief. [[Citing sources citation needed]]The show's return April 13 was met by low ratings in its new 10 p.m. time slot, perhaps lessening its chances for a second season. Preliminary ratings available April 14 indicated that only 8.2 million viewers (2.4 rating/7 share in the 18-49 demographic) tuned in for the show's return. CBS's Without a Trace dominated the hour with 18.6 million viewers. Further competition also came from NBC's ER. The show aired a repeat the night Commander in Chief returned, yet it still narrowly beat Commander in Chief in the 18-49 demographic (2.6/7 versus 2.4/7), though it had about two million viewers less overall. [[Citing sources citation needed]]
ABC pulled the series from its lineup on May 2, 2006, essentially guaranteeing its cancellation prior to the autumn season.
The series was officially cancelled on May 16, 2006, "although a two-hour movie may be made with the same cast." [[Citing sources citation needed]]
Episodes
| No. | Prod. | Title | Airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 101 | Pilot | September 27 |
| 2 | 102 | First Choice | October 4 |
| 3 | 103 | First Strike | October 11 |
| 4 | 104 | First Dance | October 18 |
| 5 | 105 | First...Do No Harm | October 25 |
| 6 | 106 | First Disaster | November 1 |
| 7 | 107 | First Scandal | November 8 |
| 8 | 108 | Rubie Dubidoux and the Brown Bound Express | November 15 |
| 9 | 109 | The Mom Who Came to Dinner | November 29 |
| 10 | 110 | Sub Enchanted Evening | January 10 |
| 11 | 111 | No Nukes Is Good Nukes | January 17 |
| 12 | 112 | Wind Beneath My Wing | January 24 |
| 13 | 113 | State of The Unions | April 13 |
| 14 | 114 | The Price You Pay | April 20 |
| 15 | 115 | Ties That Bind | April 27 |
| 16 | 116 | The Elephant in the Room | May 31 |
| 17 | 117 | Happy Birthday, Madam President | June 7 |
| 18 | 118 | Unfinished Business | June 14 |
Trivia
- The characters of the President and Vice President were named after the two actors who played those roles in Rod Lurie's previous political thriller, The Contender. Teddy Bridges, named for Jeff Bridges who played President Jackson Evans, and Mackenzie Allen, named for Joan Allen who played Laine Hanson, his vice presidential nominee.
- This is Donald Sutherland's first regular role on a television series.
- Donald Sutherland's co-star Leslie Hope played the wife of Sutherland's son, Kiefer, during the first season of 24. Leslie Hope's character in 24. The character Nina Myers of 24 was played by Sarah Clarke. Sarah Clarke plays Christine Chambers in the the final episode 'Unfinished Business'.
- The first seven episode titles from the first season after the pilot all begin with the word "first" (e.g. First Choice, First Disaster). The eighth episode was the "first" not to do so.
- Starting with the episode Rubie Dubidoux and the Brown Bound Express, Steven Bochco replaces Rod Lurie as head executive producer and showrunner. Bochco's changes include a staff of new writers and a new title design similar to the style of NBC's The West Wing.
- Part of the Greater Richmond Children's Choir (GRCC) of Richmond, Virginia was the French Choir in the pilot episode.
- In the episode Happy Birthday, Madam President, Allen receives a 19th century bow and arrow from the Chinese premier on which her chief of staff comments "I'm betting this president can handle a bow and arrow." An obvious in-joke to Geena Davis' archery skills.
Awards & Nominations
Awards Won
Golden Globe Awards:- Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Drama Series- Geena Davis (2006)
Awards Nominated
Golden Globe Awards:- Best TV Series-Drama
- Best Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Television Drama Series- Donald Sutherland (2006)
- Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Geena Davis (2006)
- Outstanding Actress in a Series, Drama Geena Davis (2006)
- Outstanding Lead Actress in A Drama Series Geena Davis (2006)
DVD releases
On April 28th Buena Vista Home Video formally announced the release of Commander In Chief The Complete First Season. [link] However, it was decided that it should be split into two volumes. [link]
| DVD Name | Region 1 | Region 2 | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Inaugural Edition, Part 1 | June 27, 2006 | TBA | Will include episodes 1-10 from Season 1. |
| The Inaugural Edition, Part 2 | September 5, 2006 | TBA | Will include episodes 11-18 from Season 1. |
External links
- [] at TV.com
- [ABC's Commander in Chief website]
- [Washington Post article on "change of command" for series]
- ["Geena Davis Is Not My President" by Gene Healy Reason Magazine article (later reprinted by the Cato Institute accusing the series of pro-establishment ideological bias glorifying the Imperial Presidency]
- [CIC:NGOA Fan Site]
- [German Fan Page with Community]
- [TV.com download page (iTunes)]
- [The Bochco Beat] - Forum dedicated to this and other Bochco shows
- [TV Series Finale - Davis announces movie will be made]
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