The demise of "Commander in Chief?"

[question everything]

Tough Times for a President, The NFL Gets a Champ And a Band Breaks Out
By SAM SCHECHNER
February 3, 2006; Page W2
The Wall Street Journal

Both the real and fictional White Houses watch their ratings closely. A precipitous drop can doom a presidency -- or a prime-time television show. Two weeks ago, NBC announced that its poorly rated "The West Wing" will go off the air permanently when President Bartlet completes his second term in May. Then, less than a week later, ABC said that its new White House melodrama, "Commander in Chief," will be going on a "brief broadcast hiatus" at the end of February.

ABC is quick to point out that "Commander" is still shooting episodes and is slated to come back after six weeks, in time for May's "sweeps" rating period. But the move to temporarily pull the series -- in which Geena Davis plays the first female president -- comes against a backdrop of production delays and plummeting ratings, down 39% to 10.3 million viewers since the show's strong debut last fall. ABC says it has planned a spring hiatus since October, when the network brought on veteran "NYPD Blue" co-creator Steven Bochco to helm the show and put the production back on schedule. Still, the network admits that in the fast-paced world of TV, as in politics, plans can change.

The final three episodes before the spring break will begin airing Valentine's Day. Along with political fare, such as shuffling the cabinet and responding to an African genocide, the episodes will shift some of the focus toward younger characters, including a new White House staffer Mr. Bochco introduced when he took over. That staffer will pursue a romance with a Capitol Hill counterpart, the president's kids will host a raucous (White) house party in which a copy of the Gettysburg Address goes missing, and the president's son will get a high-school classmate pregnant. (That episode will raise the possibility of a White House abortion.)

(snip)

ABC denies that these numbers -- or the demise of "The West Wing" -- indicate demand for straight political dramas is diminishing in prime time. Instead, Mr. Bochco and ABC executives say "Commander" suffered from having gone on an extended Christmas-New Year's hiatus, followed by two weeks when it competed with special episodes of Fox's blockbuster "American Idol," which averaged about 35 million viewers.

(snip)

http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB113893517257064101.html (subscription)

[jeannicot]

1. Jumped the shark three months ago.

"the president's kids will host a raucous (White) house party in which a copy of the Gettysburg Address goes missing"

Are you kidding me? How lame and brain dead can a political drama get?

[BlakeB]

2. That sounds...

TERRIBLE.

[TheWraith]

3. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that.

From the way a bunch of other people around here talk about it, you would think that it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I avoided it completely after seeing a few promos that were so badly written they made me sick.

[question everything]

8. It had some nice moments

as when the President was reading to a group of kids and then the Chief of Staff came and whispered in her ear. She calmly gave to book to another kid to continue reading and she got up and left.

(No, was not My Pet Goat...)

[karynnj]

10. I totally agree - I watched the first one

and though it was awful. The President wants the VP to resign because the President is dying? Isn't line of succession about the only constitutionally specified role of the VP? That everyone then advises her that she should do this - how credible. They would see HER as the power center and want to be best friends.

[smitty]

4. Wow! The president's son will get a high school classmate pregnant

If that doesn't boost the ratings then the president's son will fly Air Force One to Cancun for a wild spring break. Politicians' kids go wild! Keggers in the Oval Office! Pauly Shore as the president's stoner brother!

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

5. The show is doomed. You know what's happening here.

[WinkyDink]

6. Implying that a female prez is for da boids?

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

7. This show has gotten heat (unfairly I'd say) since the first episode.

For me personally, it's a bad time slot (at least it was, before The Office and My Name is Earl moved to Thursdays). I fear the show is doomed, though.

[karynnj]

11. It was seriously stupid

As a woman, I was incedibly annoyed by the first show. How honest would it be to deny the VP the Presidency. The show trivialized her because she was a woman.

[question everything]

12. And, supposedly, because she was an Independent

I think that the original idea was very thin and they concentrated on symbols. Selecting Geena Davis who is very tall and athletic, so no man, not even Donald Sutherland, dwarfs her. Giving her the name of Mackenzie, so that her nickname, Mac, sounds masculine.

Putting her party affiliation as Independent, to prevent getting into real life situations.

At the same time, they try to mix serious international crisis with family life: the kids trying to party, the youngest "hiding" the Gettysburg address and end up missing on both.

[Paladin]

9. If It's Gone, I'm Not Surprised

The standard for a TV show about the presidency had already been set really high by "West Wing" (which we get to say goodbye to in May); "Commander in Chief" never measured up. I especially disliked its saddling a fine actor like Donald Sutherland with a shallow, Snidely Whiplash bad guy role---what a waste....

[JeffR]

13. Biggest weakness of the show

Is the younger characters. And the wooden dialogue. And the preposterous scenarios. Reminds me of the real (mis)Administration, actually. That's why I've stopped watching.