U.S. TV makes way for two White House dramas

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A new TV show starring Oscar-winner
Geena Davis as America’s first female president, juggling
career and family while holding Republican enemies at bay, is
drawing Internet fire from conservatives and feminists alike.

But the big question among network executives is whether
there is room enough in prime time for two White House dramas.
“Commander In Chief” premieres on Tuesday on ABC following the
return on Sunday of NBC’s Emmy-winning White House drama “The
West Wing.”

Producers of “Commander In Chief” acknowledge their success
depends on distinguishing the show from “West Wing,” which is
headed into its seventh season with a storyline pitting Alan
Alda against Jimmy Smits in an election battle to replace
current star Martin Sheen as president.

“If I was just throwing on the air another middle-aged
white man as the president … then, no, there would be no
reason to do it,” the new show’s creator Rod Lurie, who also
wrote and directed big-screen political drama “The Contender,”
told a recent gathering of TV critics.

Much also will hinge on how well Davis, whose two previous
network TV series flopped, can carry off her latest role as a
leader of the free world who remains very much a mom.

Aside from the obvious gender differences of its stars,
“Commander” and “West Wing” differ sharply in politics and
tone. “Commander” dwells on the private life of the first
family, while “West Wing” focuses as much on the president’s
close aides as on the top guy.

Sheen’s character, President Josiah “Jed” Bartlet, is a
veteran Democrat in the twilight of his second term. The
commander in chief Davis plays, Mackenzie Allen, is a political
independent and relative newcomer to the halls of power.

FROM THELMA TO MADAME PRESIDENT

“It’s certainly the role with the most gravitas that I’ve
had to play,” said Davis, who won an Oscar for her supporting
role in “The Accidental Tourist,” but is better known for her
star turns in “Thelma & Louise” and “Stuart Little” movies.

As vice president in the series premiere, she assumes the
nation’s highest office when the Republican incumbent dies of a
stroke, putting her at odds with the wishes of her late boss
and Republican leaders. They want a member of their own party,
Speaker of the House Nathan Templeton, played by Donald
Sutherland, to succeed to the presidency.

Although Sutherland and Alda share the distinction of
having both played Army doctor “Hawkeye” Pierce in their
respective film and TV “M*A*S*H” performances, the Republican
politicians they portray could hardly be more different.

While Alda’s “West Wing” character, Sen. Arnold Vinick, is
moderate, thoughtful and likable, Sutherland’s Templeton on
“Commander” is a politically ruthless ideologue and sexist.

Demonizing that show’s leading Republican is almost sure to
turn off conservative viewers, some of whom already see the
show as the work of “liberal Hollywood preparing the nation for
a Hillary Clinton presidency in 2008,” according to Stacey Lynn
Koerner, director for ad-buying agency Initiative.

Negative advance Internet buzz about the show was revealed
in a recent survey of online chat rooms and discussion boards
conducted by ad-buying agency Initiative Media. But
conservatives are not the only ones upset over the series.

Although some have cheered the arrival of a TV show that
imagines a woman in the White House, feminists have complained
that the show’s protagonist only assumed power through the
death of a male president, rather than winning election in her
own right, Koerner said.

Others have suggested the power of a Geena Davis presidency
seems belittled by depicting her as having to juggle motherhood
and politics, while Sheen’s character is largely unfettered by
such family-workplace conflicts.

Those critics apparently missed the “West Wing” episodes in
which Sheen’s President Bartlet temporarily ceded power to a
Republican when Bartlet’s daughter was kidnapped by terrorists.

Reuters/VNU