I have mixed feelings after watching the pilot. Basic premise is interesting, and I'd be good with that, but then they throw in the assassination plot and that kind of turned me off. I would think there is enough plot wise without that, but I guess every show now has to have a murder mystery.
Other than that I like the dialog, seem a bit more intelligent than most shows, kids were not too annoying, husband seems to have a brain. I guess I'll keep watching ans see how it develops.
I liked it a lot. It has a great cast and I'm especially glad to see Tea Leoni back on television. Keith Carradine is perfect in his role as president. This looks to be a series that will stick around for awhile. I'm in.
I thought it was "OK". Somehow it seemed a little flat to me. With this cast, maybe I was just expecting better. In any event, we will give at a few more episodes to decide whether it is a keeper for us.
I don't know what happened. I set my DVR and it thinks it recorded the pilot episode - but what I actually have is the season Premiere of CSI. (DirecTV TiVO DVR)
On the east coast due to the football game going to OT, all the following programs like 60 mins and Madam Secretary got delayed. I guess DVR'S aint's smart enough .
Being a pilot it's not fair to pass too much judgement on it although I'll do it anyway. I don't think they lived up to the stage they tried to present. The pomp and circumstance never rang true and they appeared they were going for such. Like the dinner reception and how she went Rambo saving the kids. Not that it doesn't have potential but I think the characters are too defined or leaning towards chariactures. With time that might change as I'm sure in the pilot they wanted to introduce everybody.
Hopefully, I'm wrong but at this point I see it more as Save of the Week.
Or if you also like the GW then just pad it by 1hr and know occasionally the end of Madam Secretary will be on the beginning of the Good Wife
Thats what happened this week for me.
Oh, I think I'll give MS a couple more shots, not great but not bad either.....
CBS finally wised up and delayed the start of '60 Minutes' to 7:30 Eastern during football season but the games occasionally still go over even that extra half-hour, especially if they go into overtime. I would think by now everyone who was interested in watching any of their Sunday night schedule would have been trained to set recordings for at least one hour later than the show they're interested in watching, two hours to be on the safe side.
It hasn't been as big an issue on the West Coast. The general rule is, if it shows on the East Coast no later [real time] than West Coast airing, we get it at our regularly scheduled time. And that's exactly how the evening shows started out, all the prime time shows were not adjusted. Changing a 10 pm airing when the others have not been disrupted, that may be a first. But maybe it follows the rule - did east coast get the second airing on Sunday, or did they cut it out completely?
I didn't feel it was that compelling from a dramatic standpoint - the "4 months later" fast forward in time made everything feel rushed; I would've liked to see the actual transition period unfold closer to real time. Other than that, I thought that the acting and writing were pretty good (and I like Tea ).So, a bit of a mixed bag, but with enough good elements for me to keep watching.
I didn't feel it was that compelling from a dramatic standpoint - the "4 months later" fast forward in time made everything feel rushed; I would've liked to see the actual transition period unfold closer to real time.
As a pilot I think they simply used a few minutes to put everything in place. And from the previews it appears she is still a duck out of water to some degree...
I'm getting confused with all the west coast/east coast talk. How many episodes have aired? I forget to record it and watched the free pilot episode on amazon. Am I caught up?
East Coast (which is what Central Time gets as well) only had the single airing of Madam Secretary (a second airing of the pilot was SCHEDULED after The Good Wife) but with the delay, dropping the second airing put local schedules back on track -5 minutes. So we actually got our 10pm news at 10:05 pm.
I read some review that said the pilot was "weak" (I agree), but later episodes (3 or 4) got better. I think this show has potential and the cast is good. Worth recording at least.
CBS probably had nothing better to put in its place, as they haven't launched all of their new shows yet. I also enjoyed the pilot but felt that it was rushed, particularly with the decision to skip the transition period. I would also like to state up front that I suspect the husband is the mastermind behind all these assassinations. He's too perfect, so I'm suspicious of him.
I would also like to state up front that I suspect the husband is the mastermind behind all these assassinations. He's too perfect, so I'm suspicious of him.
This weeks episode grabbed me much more than the previous one. I did feel like they were tinkering with the show adding the older daughter for more family conflict. Chuckled at the 'secret daughter" line, kind of true.
Yeah, no kidding. The writers sure have scripted this around current events. Before the premiere, I really thought this was going to be the "Unauthorized Hillary Clinton Biopic" (blonde hair, Sec of State, Hollywood's left-leaning populous). However, the way the character is portrayed, it's really very different from anything I imagined. I'm really getting into the show. Love Keith Carradine's portrayal of the President.
I like the show. It's more of a "ripped from the headlines" type instead of a Hillary clone show. Good characters (Zeljko Ivanek as the Chief of Staff is fantastic) and good writing. I have the feeling that although the older daughter arc may be annoying it will play a bigger part down the road.
And the anarchist son cracks me up. It feels like a real family and not just a cookie cutter approach.
Uh oh. Looks like I'm the only one watching. Too bad, I think this is a decent show although the writers go off the deep end with some cutesy writing and they also follow the old "tie it up with a bow" endings.
It's CBS, it's how they roll. CBS is the "tie it up with a bow" ending procedural network. To watch CBS shows you have to accept that reality before you even sit down to watch.
Disclaimer: This post is not about politics. It is about a TV show that is itself about politics.
IMHO this series (like the 2005-2006 series Commander In Chief) is present for the main purpose of planting the idea in the minds of religious conservative voters that an American woman can be a strong figure in International politics and succeed brilliantly. Hillary Clinton was supposed to be one of the two major party candidates in both the 2008 and the 2016 elections. But the reality is that with the Electoral College and the almost even split between two major parties, the only way anybody wins a National election is to stimulate a certain number of voters to cross over and vote for someone not in their favored party.
Thus we have Commander In Chief in 2005 and Madam Secretary in 2014. My prediction is that - provided that Madam Secretary has the ratings for a second season, she will be asked to appear on the presidential ticket at the end of the second season, a few months before the 2016 elections.
But even with no second season, the idea will have been planted. Recall that the only two times a woman made it onto a major party ticket for the presidency, that ticket lost.
I also think that this is Hollywood trying to influence a National election - again. Which is their right. The series will also leverage Hillary's campaign to make advertising dollars - always a motive.
The show just about lost me when she try leveraging her husband's integrity to fix a problem of their government's making. It was so completely out of character for this very smart, no BS style of diplomat. The only thing I can think of is that it was done to include the other members of the family in some way and/or to plant the seed the seed of discontent within the family, either way I though it was some incredibly kludgey and ham-fisted writing. I was ready just to delete it right then but I'll give it another week as it does have some very good talent and hopefully that will compensate for weak/lazy writing down the road.
The show just about lost me when she try leveraging her husband's integrity to fix a problem of their government's making. It was so completely out of character for this very smart, no BS style of diplomat. The only thing I can think of is that it was done to include the other members of the family in some way and/or to plant the seed the seed of discontent within the family, either way I though it was some incredibly kludgey and ham-fisted writing.
Oh ho! The Russians may have pulled the wool over your eyes, but not mine! I see what you're doing, Mr. Overly Perfect Husband! A top Russian official didn't have any interest in his theology papers or even in raising his daughter's grades. The real purpose of the meeting was so "Henry" could confer with his KGB handler on how his mission to assassinate top government operatives was going! None of Elizabeth's former associates died in this episode, but I'm still on to him!
Well, three and out for us. I think that there is probably a decent show in there somewhere, but Tea Leoni is just not good enough of an actress to carry the show. What should be interesting and suspenseful to watch just comes across as boring.
I watch TV to be entertained, and this show entertains me. I'm in and until I get bored (which I don't think will happen), I'm staying in. And, for the record, I like Tea Leoni. Not everybody can be Meryl Streep.
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