The political season is underway in more ways than one, with the debut of several politically themed television shows.
Political Animals, starring Sigourney Weaver, will debut on the USA Network at 10 p.m. It chronicles the life and times of one-time first lady and unsuccessful presidential candidate Elaine Barrish Hammond and young journalist Susan Berg.
Berg longs to write the real story of Hammond’s marriage and family.
With a promiscuous ex-husband, a suicidal, drug-addicted gay son, a bulimic soon-to-be daughter-in-law and a foul-mouthed mother, Hammond certainly has a family worth writing about.
Even though the show begins two years in the past with Elaine’s failed presidential campaign, the politics of the show are overshadowed by the family drama and over-the-top sexuality.
Young journalist Susan Berg, played by Carla Gugino, is more concerned with figuring out Elaine’s divorce than discovering the secret to her political ambition, and the two inevitably end up talking about love at the end of the pilot episode.
The focus on clothing, drugs and sex makes Political Animals seem more like a soap opera than anything else.
Elaine’s proclamation at the end of the episode that she will run again for president and win is not quite believable considering her overwhelming focus on her son’s upcoming wedding.
As a result, Political Animals may be a guilty pleasure, but it certainly shouldn’t be where individuals look to get their education in politics.
Political Animals also stars Sebastian Stan, Ciarán Hinds, James Wolk, Adrian Pasdar, Brittany Ishibashi, Dylan Baker, and Ellen Burstyn.
Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom, another politically themed drama released this summer, premiered on HBO on June 24.
The show, produced by the creator of The West Wing, follows the journalists and producers at the fictional Atlantis Cable News and zeroes in on Will McAvoy, played by Jeff Daniels, a news anchor who has a meltdown in the first episode and thereafter must, with his staff, put on a news show “in the face of corporate and commercial obstacles and their own personal entanglements.”
Never shy to admit his liberal identity, Aaron Sorkin uses The Newsroom to favor the liberal point of view. Will McAvoy comes off anti-American, pessimistic, and–even though he refuses to define himself politically in the first episode—utterly liberal.
The show unabashedly attacks the Tea Party and provides commentary on actual present-day politicians, and its episodes have increasingly angered Republicans.
The program also features performances by Olivia Munn, Emily Mortimer, Thomas Sadoski, Dev Patel and Jane Fonda. Because of its liberal leaning, leftists will undoubtedly like the show, and it does nevertheless provide a unique glimpse into the workings of a newsroom.
HBO’s Veep, a comedy about a female vice president who struggles to wield any political power, just finished its first season and has been renewed for a second.
It stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars as Selina Meyer, a former senator who is consistently overpowered by the Senate, Congress and a president who has yet to be featured onscreen.
The first episode finds Meyer trying to make her political mark by promoting her green initiative that calls for the use of cornstarch based utensils in government offices.
With her constant swearing and neurotic behavior, Louis-Dreyfus makes for a hilarious vice president that the audience can relate to when she deals with situations that could be found in any workplace.
Louis-Dreyfus is supported by an equally funny cast, including Anna Chlumsky, Tony Hale, Matt Walsh and Reid Scott.
The show has garnered several nominations by the Pan-American Association of Film &Television Journalists Awards and appeals to all mature audiences given its clever plot lines, non-partisan status and realistic commentary on the political world of backstabbing and vote-swapping.
