Madam Secretary

There is a narrative series on Commercial Television that should be seen by everyone.  The title is Madam

Secretary starring Tia Leone as the MSEC.  There are a number of reasons to start tuning in to this show, the first being its uncanny ability to predict events.  It seems that all their stories parallel real life political story lines with plot situations that are dramatically similar to the headlines we read every day.

I read an interesting interview with Madam Secretary’s creator Barbara Hall and her showrunner, Lori McCreary.  The way they craft their episodes is by carefully identifying issues taken directly from current events and then modifying the characters to fit the characters in the series’ Dalton Administration.  Then the challenge is to take the issue and ‘game’ out the possible paths that the main story will develop.  Out of those scenarios, which might number 4 or 5 possibles, the writing team and Hall choose the one that provides the best possible outcome.  This series is also executive produced by Morgan Freeman.  I only wish his presence was felt on screen as well, but surely his gentle intelligent hand is firmly on the wheel on this one..

In effect, the writers on this show are doing the foreign policy (and domestic too) job of the government, and in most cases coming up with better solutions!  The reason that they can do that is that there are no politics involved!  (Money, special interests, lobbying)  All the writers need to do is make the solutions ‘dramatic’ and the best story.   The series portrays many of our legislators as they really are, mean spirited, greedy, lustful for power, influenced by special interest and money, etc.  

While Elizabeth McCord, the MSEC of the Dalton administration is no stranger to combative politics, she always seeks the advantage by claiming the high road, the solution and position that portrays intelligence, integrity and honesty.  What a concept!  That’s why this series should be mandatory viewing for our legislators, but even more importantly for our citizens—you and me.  Because ultimately, ‘we the people’ are the government, and if we answer to the ‘best angels’ of ourselves, my guess is that we would choose better leaders who were more interested in finding positive solutions to the thorniest of our challenges rather than promoting their own self-aggrandizement.

In addition to the mesmerizing matching of their story lines with current events, the beauty in this show is particularly evident in the writing.  The dialog is real and the situations are believable, both politically and personally between the characters.  And the cast is superb, great moments and REAL moments.

In this week’s episode, Elizabeth is about to announce for the Presidency, and her chief opponent is suddenly discovered to have secret financing for his campaign provided by several Russian oligarchs.  Sound familiar?  Perhaps that is a little ‘on the nose’ as far as similarity to what’s happening in reality, but there are other scenarios that are written well before they actually occur.  And then they turn out almost eerily identical to what actually happens.  This is not coincidence.  The writing staff taps into the most authoritative and intelligent consultants who give concentrated background to the events the show writers want to portray.  Then the consultants work with the writers to play out the 4 or 5 scenarios that might result.  The fact that they get it right so many times is testimony to their clear understanding of what is actually happening.  However their solutions really do point the way to how real-life legislators could solve the problems.

There is a lot of crap on TV these days, but in a reminiscent nod to series like The West Wing and The Newsroom, this series is a worthy successor.