"The West Wing" it wasn't
All right, I did it. I watched "Commander in Chief" last night.
God, what is there to say? Yes, as expected, the villain was a ridiculously cartoonish parody of a staunch conservative (albeit played brilliantly by Donald Sutherland,) but what does one expect? You could see that one coming from a mile away. I also thought the overall premise of the show was howlingly unrealistic, but again, I didn't expect much in this department either.
I guess the thing that did strike me was how astonishingly un-feminist it was. We'd all heard the hype about how this groundbreaking show was going to pave the way for a real woman president, by shattering perceptions and getting America prepared to elect a female leader.
Frankly, I didn't see it. The Geena Davis character simply landed into both the vice presidential and the presidential offices through no effort of her own -- the former resulting from naked political expediency, and the latter from a simple quirk of fate. Moreover, the show led us to believe that Mackenzie Allen had been neither prepared nor qualified for either position.
And that "joke" about Moses stopping in the wilderness to ask directions? Please, people, that's just embarrassing! Any true feminists who were watching should have been insulted. They deserve better.
Next week I'm watching "House."