Techtite's TV Reviews!

"To coin a classic message board cliché promoting this show; Commander in Chief will make 'herstory'...as the interesting idea marred by its own reverse sexism."

---from the review

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If Only Her Résumé For "President" Resembled Her Résumé For "Good Actress For Feminist Role." True, the child of such B-grade offspring as Earth Girls Are Easy was not the best choice for a role of "President," but hey; what a major coup she is for the feminists, eh? Married four times. Current husband is many years her junior. Had twins at 47. Oh yeah; feminists are loving this series with Geena in the big chair. Stupid men; brilliant women! What isn't there for a feminist to love? Yet it's sexist just the same. Sorry.

Commander in Chief

A Techtite Review

Allow me the courtesy of being blunt: I really disapprove of dramas that try to get that extra Nielsen rating with an el cheapo “Watch our show or you’re a prejudiced/ bigoted/ sexist pig” sales gambit. Is it so wrong to watch a show based on how good or bad it is? Consider this when viewing the promos for Commander in Chief, which constantly remind us it's about a female president, and by that they mean a female is president, and hey; don't you want to watch a series about a president...who is female? The implication is that we "must" watch, or else we're sexist pigs who never want a female president. Well, sure we do. Just one little hiccup though: if you want to sell this series as the must-see to end all sexism, could you practice what is preached?

Mind you; I'm not trying to start a flame war. I had every intention of giving Commander in Chief the four star treatment as the Next Big Thing. Woman becomes Vice President. Male President falls ill. Female Veep takes the reigns. Take that chauvinists! Ah; an end to sexism. Who doesn't love a story like that? If that's what this was, I'd be all for it.

However --and this is crucial-- one does not combat sexism with sexism! Tell that to the folks writing Commander in Chief, where reversed sexism is commonplace. Every female character is portrayed as a tough dynamo. All men are emasculated wimps. Even when a female character does something questionable, the dialog makes it clear that she's still a power player. Even when a male character is ready to kick serious butt, something happens to show us that...no, he's really a weenie. While feminists might see this as turnabout being fair play, consider how sexist it is to imply that a female president can only appear to be be a good leader, so long as every man surrounding her is a wimp. Think about it.

At least the series' obligatory male villain is allowed to look powerful...sort of. Nathan Templeton (Donald Sutherland) would’ve been president had Vice President Mackenzie (Geena Davis) resigned. Now he’s trying every backhanded scheme to make sure that if he can’t have fun in the Oval Office, Mackenzie won’t have any fun, either. The problem is: the feminist writing for this series reserves all "intelligent" banter for the women, leaving Nathan with lines about as engaging as an old Snidely Whiplash cartoon. Each episode begins with “Snidely” outlining his latest plot against Mackenzie. Cue dastardly smirk! The scene switches to Mackenzie. Cue happy music! Will our hero stop the dastardly villain? Why, of course she will, but not without concluding each episode with Snidely's latest droll euphemism for "Curses! Foiled Again! I'll get you next time, Mackenzie!" Yeah, dude. Whatever.

At least what the women say in this series is meant to sound intelligent, even if...sorry, it really isn't. In one episode, a man asks about the latest presidential polls ---“Is she leading?”--- only to have a woman quip, “Oh, she’s ‘leading’ all right!” Cynics may ask if the formal ball she says this in is called the "Cornball." Yet how about the moment when the outgoing First Lady chuckles with Madame President that if Moses had been a woman, she would’ve asked for directions, and they’d never have been lost in the desert. So basically, you’d advise a bunch of escaped slaves to ask their former captors how to leave the country. Brilliant, dear. Please shut up.

One may ask how totally inane the men's dialog must be, in order to make such women's dialog sound "intelligent." Well, that's the problem. In order to make the ladies' poorly written quips sound more intelligent, all men are given lines just a hair more evolved than idle grunting noises. This goes double for Mackenzie's husband, who after decades of gutsy First Ladies, is supposedly incapable of doing anything coherent, worthwhile, or respectable in the role. Here's a guy who could do...well, anything, really, and by anything I mean: something! Yet this guy's big "crisis" is how hard it is to find a masculine term for "First Lady." Dude, if this is your biggest worry; you’re one lucky goofball. Re-decorate the pink office. Have the stationary read “First Gentleman.” End of problem. Unfortunately, someone behind the scenes is a diehard female chauvinist pig, so we’re told how emasculated Alan is, in every single episode. “Boring” isn't the word I'd use here. “Stupid, series-damaging sexism” is more accurate.

Jump to Mackenzie's home life. Yes; her home life. Series creator Rod Lurie is hardly an expert at family drama, but apparently he wanted to take a crack at it. While you may think this is a novel idea, the series' sexism ruins the mood. Consider Mackenzie's eldest kids, Rebecca (Caitlin Wachs) and Horace (Matt Lanter). True, the series tries to "wow" us with a twist here, when --surprise!-- Rebecca is the one often against mom, while Horace, basically, approves everything she says. One would hope this would lead to at least two signs that the series' characters aren't entirely reverse-sexist. Wrong! Horace is the hothead jock with barely passing grades, while Rebecca can spend all her free time necking with boys, and still be the "smart" twin.

You can forgive a Disney-run network for the obligatory moppet, can't you? I hope so, because every episode includes Mackenzie's littlest daughter, Amy (Jasmine Jessica Anthony). It's in Amy where the series' sexism jumps the shark, because here's a little girl who can say silly things, think silly things, and do silly things, yet this is "okay" because, well...she's a girl. Nyah-nyah! One moment she's asking if Mommy's face will be on money. Another moment she's sneaking up on Mommy and screaming "Princess Orion!" at the top of her lungs, while President Mommy is on the phone...and in the Oval Office, no less.  The message seems to be that Amy can do whatever she wants, because 1) she's a girl, and 2) admittedly, she's as adorable as a basket of baby bunnies. However, it's hard to deny that even the little girl of the series is given more interesting things to do than the grown men of the series.

Then there’s Geena Davis. Look; I like Geena a lot. Her small role in Tootsie stole the show. Her role in Beetlejuice was a riot. Even her B-grade films at least have imaginative titles like Transylvania 6-5000 and Earth Girls are Easy. Younger viewers might say they never saw such comedies and ergo, they see Geena as a "believable" president. Maybe so, but it still takes a very serious performer to pull off the role of President...and no, this is not being sexist. Could this drama be any more believable with President Robin Williams…? President Steve Martin…? How about President Jim Carrey? It’s hard to look "presidential" when you're talking out your behind. No jokes please. You know what I mean.

Then again; have I said too much, too soon? With most first episodes written or directed by Rod Lurie, later episodes may be very different, after Rod was canned like a tuna. In his place is NYPD Blue's Steven Bochco, who is no stranger to dramas where men and women alike have equal footing. But without severely rewriting the characters, it may be hard to make this hodgepodge of sexism any more realistic than it currently is...and it isn't...at all. Maybe Bochco can make lemons into lemonade, but it won't be easy. Improving this show is not as simple as making this lemon less sour. If anything, it's the bitterness that gets me.

                                                                     ---Techtite

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