TVSquad

It's not the 25th amendment that's relevant here, it's Article 2 of the Constitution. There was a procedure in place for replacing a deceased president long before the 25th amendment was passed. It's disturbing that the writers would get something wrong that they should have learned in Civics 101.

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Maybe not having control of the clicker just makes me overly negative (I'm staying with a relative currently), or maybe it's that I didn't have any interest in this show to begin with (real politics are over-dramatic enough, thanks!), but I didn't really like this show at all.

It's very, very conventional so far, and pretty boring. There is this woman president who is far better looking than anyone else involved in politics, who was apparently made VP as a stunt, and becomes President when the elected Prez up and dies. I didn't find the pleads for her to resign to be convincing at all because they created no real tension, particularly since there would be no show if she resigned in the first 10 minutes of the series.

The dialog was pretty standard political drama stuff, and they make light of the idea of what role of the first female President's husband would be. Why not just go all out and call him "First Mate" instead of "First Gentleman?"

Anyway, this show just doesn't do it for me, and I'd have much rather watched something (anything) else, so obviously I'm not the best judge of how good this show was.

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So, did they adress what they call the "first man"? I've always been curious what he'd be called if this happened.

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Marc: I'm thinking that if the politicians in DC don't have to follow the Constitution, neither do the writers in Hollywood!

How about "First Dude" or "First Fella?"

What is her party affiliation? Is this a West Wing wannabe kind of show? Now I wish I had tivo'd it.

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Also, I'm not sure I buy that the daughter is a staunch conservative who is diametrically opposed to her Independent mother who was selected as a trophy VP by a conservative President. I mean, if she's so conservative, what was she doing making out with that guy in the wings of some stage?

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You're going pretty easy on this bland and facile show. It will probably never have as much built-in tension as in the scenario of this pilot, yet my blood pressure didn't budge in the slightest. Way too much gratuitous humor, especially surrounding the "First Gentleman" and his ridiculous walk through the kitchen. The husband's resentment over being replaced was introduced, then immediately smoothed over; I get the feeling (please prove me wrong!) that it will never be revisited. I'd like to see it fester over several episodes. The best scene in the show was powered by the gravelly general who described to a shocked ambassador how his country would be invaded. Geena Davis doesn't portray the backbone to hold up a scene like that, and nearly undermined it. Furthermore, they resolved that tinderbox situation all too easily. Apparently this is going to be a show that ties up its loose ends tidily each week, just like ... um, real life?

Mackenzie's speech to Congress, which could and should have been a soaring dramatic moment, was a mildly triumphant performance by the lukewarm and mumbly Geena Davis. The failure of the teleprompter was unbelievable, and the implication that the Speaker of the House pulled the plug was preposterous and cheap.

I'll watch again, but the show has an uphill climb.

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Loved the show (I'm a huge West Wing fan) and I thought the pilot was very good. I think it set up the series for some interesting drama.

My only complain was the number of commercials. My God . . . I counted it: every 7-8 minutes there were 3 minutes of commercials.

As a HBO fan (which obviously has no commercials) it is a real turn-off. Whatever happened to have 4 commercial breaks at :03, :15, :30 and :45??? Bob Iger should look into this because it is a HUGE disappointment.

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Oy. While a few lines about succession may be in the constitution the 25th Amendment helped clear up many confusions. More importantly it provides for the VP to assume the powers of the presidency if the president is incapacitated or desires to transfer powers. That was what was going on before Bridges died.

That said, I really liked the show and will give it at least two more viewings before adding it to my season list on DVR. I did find parts of the dialogue and the lack of motion in the frame pedantic. Which is ironic, since The West Wing is anything but pedantic and it spends most of each episode walking around the halls of the West Wing.

The other thing I noticed was that the actors are still wearing their characters like a second skin. Not quite comfortable speaking in their voices (especially Southerland). I'm hoping this changes as more episodes are filmed.

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People's standards for what's good are at an all-time low- so this show will be an un-bona fide "hit"-- like the awful "West Wing".

I'm sick of self-important, preachy, cliched TV. Bring back "The Beverly Hillbillies".

To previous poster: conservative girls will make out with you anywhere. They're more repressed.

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I watched this with some other guys and girls who were jazzed about it and....it was horrible. Way too many ads, absolutely nothing happened, and it was just plain boring. And so cliched and predictable. I gguess we'll see what happens next week, when the novelty of the premise dies down and she actually has to make some decisions or something. And I'm not sure where the Hillary jokes are coming from...guess I'm too young to remember if any of those claims were true. As someone who loved the first season of West Wing (and still enjoys it)...I'm not watching this again next week.

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Too funny that the biggest critics in this blog are guys. Too bad you can't get over yourselves. This is a great show!!!

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First... The guy on the far left was introduced at the beginning of the show as "Senior Aide to VPOTUS" Moreover, he was the guy trying to talk her into not resigning (as well as talking her speechwriter into helping him).

Second... The arguement on the 25th. IIRC, the only discussion re: the 25th ammendment was while the POTUS was incapacitated... I don't remember much (if any) discussion directly about the 25th (With the exception of the resignation). The line of Presidential Succession is not a constitutional issue, but was passed into Federal Law in the early 20th Century (1928 sounds familiar, too tired to google it).

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I rarely watch network tv but did have great interest in watching this pilot. While the first episode was interesting and well done, I was struck by the incredible amount of commercial interruptions - it seemed that there was rarely more the five minutes of production - followed by multiple commercials. Since I'm not a commercial TV regular I don't know if this is normal. For me, the commercial interruptions are too much. I will watch the next episode but this time with a stop watch to record the production vs commercial time. If the pattern continues then I will probably find other things to do with my time. Too bad - this could be a great show.

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I was looking forward to this, but found it to be pretty boring. Bad, bad dialogue. Uneven acting... those twins stunk! Also, there was something up with the camerawork. I mean, I'm no expert, but there were a few times when I was distracted by how weird it was. The scene shot through the mirror in her office was just ridiculous! Who puts the main character in the bottom right hand corner of a shot???? It's just odd. Maybe it's just me, but I've never seen such a thing on tv before.

That being said, I'll give it one more shot next week. This pilot probably doesn't reflect what a regular episode would be like. Also, Geena Davis and the guy from Veronica Mars were pretty good.

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I was looking forward to this, but found it to be pretty boring. Bad, bad dialogue. Uneven acting... those twins stunk! Also, there was something up with the camerawork. I mean, I'm no expert, but there were a few times when I was distracted by how weird it was. The scene shot through the mirror in her office was just ridiculous! Who puts the main character in the bottom right hand corner of a shot???? It's just odd. Maybe it's just me, but I've never seen such a thing on tv before.

That being said, I'll give it one more shot next week. This pilot probably doesn't reflect what a regular episode would be like. Also, Geena Davis and the guy from Veronica Mars were pretty good.

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And another thing... I was actually talking to my mother, who caught this episode before I did. I really think she should have resigned. I mean, maybe I've got too much of the West Wing bias, but she "Serves at the pleasure of the President." I believe that even in his death, his wishes should have been honored. The people elected him to make a decision, and the decision that he made right then was that he would prefer the Speaker to replace him.

I dunno... Again, it might be too many cheesy "I serve at the pleasure of the blah blah blah" moments on TWW, but I guess it sunk in on me.

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I thought it was awful. I was looking forward to this. I'm a West Wing Fan. First - far too many commercials. That was ridiculous. Secondly, the acting was sophomoric and the script predictable. The scenes for next week look lousy: some journalists gets a hold of daughter's journal and prints stuff about mum in the journal? Give me a break. It's been done before and better. I won't keep up with this one.

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Can't wait to see the next episode tonight. Also, it certainly got the Nielson ratings. Hmmmm. Some of you must be in the minority. LOL

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Can't wait to see the next episode tonight. Also, it certainly got the Nielson ratings. Hmmmm. Some of you must be in the minority. LOL

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