When I tuned in to the first episode of Madam Secretary, starring Téa Leoni as newly-appointed Secretary Of State Elizabeth McCord I am not sure what I was expecting. Politics in Washington D.C. should be a given. A President (Keith Carradine) I would wonder if I had voted for or if these writers were crazy to have decided to put in the White House? Possibly.
What I was not expecting was an intriguing home life that would keep Elizabeth McCord grounded and extraordinarily human. Tim Daly, as her college-professor husband Henry McCord does not press her to violate confidentiality, and yet manages to give her advice and help her think through problems… and in a very true married couple moment realizes he is not finding the right words to tell his wife both what she needs to hear and what he genuinely wants to say so he simply asks her “tell me what to say!” And the moment works.
Their children, Alison (Kathrine Herzer) and Jason (Evan Roe) are further used to drive home the point that these are real people, well and realistically used to frustrate their parents, try their parents patience and yet not come across as brats but simply as teenagers struggling to grow into adulthood in modern America.
Elizabeth McCord is a qualified candidate for the role of Secretary of State, who knows the role, who knows the players in Washington, who knows what she wants to accomplish, and understands diplomacy and leaders and leadership as her meal with the King of Swaziland so beautifully shows.
If I was expecting a by the numbers Washington D.C. show, that would explain why I found myself watching something else entirely, because this was compelling real world drama that had politics in it, but was not about political parties trying to obstruct one another, rather it was about running our country.
I am unsure where the dynamic between a few characters is going, and there is the potential that a few things I will not like is going to happen — but sometimes that is part of the fun in watching a show like this. There is a reason for that expression ‘character you love to hate’. Sometimes it works. Time will tell if this is one of those cases, or not.
For now, I am glad I tuned in to the first episode, and I will continue watching, eager to see how the events unfold in this variation on our nation’s capitol.
Links:
Madam Secretary @ IMDB
Official CBS Website: http://www.cbs.com/shows/madam-secretary/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/MadamSecretary
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MadamSecretary
Instagram: MADAMSECRETARYCBS
CBS Tweet: https://twitter.com/CBSTweet
Cast on Twitter:
Tim Daly @TimmyDaly
Patina Miller @patinamiller
Erich Bergen @erichbergen
Geoffrey Arend @GeoffreyArend
Kathrine Herzer @KathrineHerzer