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"Commander in Chief," ABC's 2005-06 series starring Geena Davis as Mackenzie Allen, the first woman president of the United States, started off like a sure fire hit and then went slowly but steadily down in the ratings. The show had three different producers, starting with creator Rob Lurie, who helmed the first three episodes, followed by Stephen Bochco, and finally Dee Johnson. However, the vision of the show remained the same, which was to put a woman in the Oval Office and stack the deck against her at each and every opportunity. Obviously the show was compared to "The West Wing," which also offered a look at politics from the perspective of the White House, and provides an interesting perspective for today's post mortem. The flaw in "The West Wing" was the office of the Vice President. In these modern times no President is going to take a Senator from a state like Texas, who was his party's presumptive nominee, and ignore him the way Jed Bartlet did John Hoynes. Then, adding insult to injury, the show had the Republican Speaker of the House force Bartlet to nominee Bob Russell, basically a joke candidate from Congress, so that there would not be a strong Veep positioned to replace Bartlet. The real Congress deal with having a qualified vice president who would not run for re-election when they picked Nelson Rockerfeller and the idea the Republicans would push for and consent to a qualified Vice President a heartbeat away from a President with MS is despicable. But that it nothing compared to what Republicans do on "Commander in Chief." I watched this series just to see how much it would infuriate me each week with its depiction of how politics is played. The nadir of the series is reached in Episode 16, "The Elephant in the Room." President Allen suffers a burst appendix and has to be operated on. Her Vice President resigned in the previous episode, and just like on "The West Wing," something happens that forces the Speaker of the House to temporarily be President. But here we are talking about Nathan Templeton (Donald Sutherland), who has never forgiven Allen for not stepping down when the previous president died and letting him become president. There is a crippling airline strike going on and Allen has been trying to negotiate a settlement that will actually work and not lead to another strike down the road. As acting president Templeton solves the problem the way he wants. Now, when "The West Wing" had this situation Josh Lyman went off the deep end accusing the Republicans of wanting to exploit the situation (the kidnapping of Zoey Bartlet) to push through their agenda. His Republican counterpart shot back, "We're not stupid, Josh. We try to use this to our advantage, it will blow up in our faces. We'd seem callous and unfeeling . . . And anyone who thinks otherwise has a particularly craven way of looking at politics." Well, "Commander in Chief" proved exactly that point in this episode, but their craven way of looking at politics is found throughout the entire series and not just these last eight episodes.Read full review
It’s an engrossing series.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
It does not work---I remember when it was on TV--it is entertaining, but this product I bough does not work...VERY disappointed
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Gina Davis is a wonderful actress and by far a beautiful woman also. She truly makes us believe she is the President, and I highly recommend this collection of episodes from COMMANDER AND CHIEF. I sure do wish they would have gone on to more episodes. We love you Geena! Hope you return to playing the President! You truly made us believe for a moment we could have an honest, good hearted President.
Good story great actors. You can't go wrong.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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