Madame Secretary In The Media

[Meredith Quill]

Talk about (and link to!) reviews, interviews, articles, etc on Madame Secretary!

[formerlyfreedom]

Téa Leoni returning to primetime - big news! This should be an interesting pairing with The Good Wife.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX-vZysWRVw&index=6&list=PLBS34APvqtnEcFJD5ko981q6YqYVPPocI

[kib]

Picked up for a full ride. Go figure.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/10/27/cbs-full-season-orders/

[Notwisconsin]

It's the number two rates scripted show last week.

[missbonnie]

I seriously hope that either Tea' Leoni or the show wins a People's Choice Award, bonus if both win in my opinion.

Edited November 23, 2014 by missbonnie

[myril]

I seriously hope that either Tea' Leoni or the show wins a People's Choice Award, bonus if both win in my opinion.

 

Have not high hopes seeing the voting process. It's a farce, not really transparent (people can vote like every five minutes if they manage, though it's said there is an audit to exclude manipulation by bots, ridiculous), It's more a reflection of which fandom has the most time, is savvy enough to coordinate online and cares about such wonky awards.

 

Been procrastinating and did a bit of looking for Madame Secretary in the Media. Not just the usual TV media is interested.

An article about Foreign Service on screen, mentioning the new show in recent edition (November) of The Foreign Service Journal

Two articles on Politico (same author) "‘Madam Secretary’ spotlights D.C. diplomacy" and "Cast, crew: ‘Secretary’ brighter D.C."

[shapeshifter]

A week ago, the New York Times had a piece, "A Portfolio With Room for Partying," which focused on the premier of State of Affairs but included what seemed to be (to me) a favorable comment on Madam Secretary:

...Pilots aren't always the best indicator of a show's trajectory, and ''State of Affairs'' could twist toward the campy histrionics of ''Scandal'' or follow the more grounded, good-government ethos of ''Madam Secretary.''...

Edited November 23, 2014 by shapeshifter

[missbonnie]

I don't think that State of Affairs is even in the same league as Madame Secretary, not by a long shot.

[Friendly Lurker]

When is the show due back? February?

[thewhiteowl]

 I think Jan 4th.

[myril]

Madame Secretary renewed for second season.  Yeah!

[missbonnie]

Kinda torqued that we aren't getting a new episode until March.

[Kromm]

PaleyLive: An Evening with the Cast and Creators of Madam Secretary
Apr 27, 2015, 7:15 p.m. ET Livestream

[Kromm]

Just to verify, although posted 6 weeks before, the above link (last post) does indeed successfully lead to the Yahoo Screen stream for the Paley event.  

(a replay at this point, of course)

Ancient newsman, Face The Nation host, and real life White House Correspondent Bob Schieffer hosts.

 

=========

 

Things learned:
 

• Tim Daly has been to the White House Correspondents Dinner 9 times.  I dunno.  I don't get it either.  Is someone there a big Wings fan?  But seriously, apparently he's very politically involved and has been for a long time.
• Bob Schieffer believes (real life) Washington is more polarized than any time in his professional lifetime.
• Tea pointed out that the show avoids using the phrases "Democrat" and "Republican" totally.  The producers say the show was made non-partisan on purpose.
• Tea's grandmother was a key founding person at UNICEF.
• A lot of Madeleine Albright stories were told. Apparently Albright ferried them around during the Correspondent's Dinner.
• The show, the producers say, has been really lucky that stories they've written have dovetailed so well into real world events.  The episodes wrap up about a month before broadcast typically, so there's little time to tweak.
• There's actually a lot of interesting stuff later in the thing about how 1 hour drama production works (which is very different from either sitcoms or theatrical movies).
• Next season will apparently echo the real world in that an election will be approaching and affect what happens in the show (a fictional election, of course, inside the show world).

Edited May 5, 2015 by Kromm

[myril]

Thanks for the link!

 

• Tim Daly has been to the White House Correspondents Dinner 9 times.  I dunno.  I don't get it either.  Is someone there a big Wings fan?  But seriously, apparently he's very politically involved and has been for a long time

 

Tim Daly is since 2008 president of the Creative Coalition, a "nonprofit, nonpartisan social and political advocacy organization of the entertainment industry." Might explain a bit.

 

 

Tea's grandmother was a key founding person at UNICEF.

 

A bit more information: Tea's grandmother was Helenka Pantaleoni, actress and humanitarian, founding director of U.S. Commitee for UNICEF and stayed director for 25 years. Tea Leoni herself is UNICEF Ambassador and National Board Member of the U.S Fund for UNICEF. Her father, Anthony Pantaleoni has been board chairman and is still a member as well.

 

Was interesting to watch.

 

"I have always been interested in how foreign policy affects children. The world's children are the world's greatest asset." - Tea Leoni on the PaleyFest event

Edited May 5, 2015 by myril

[secnarf]

Link is in spoiler tags because the url itself contains the spoiler (nothing too major - casting news regarding a guest star).

http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/TV/2015/07/15/Madeleine-Albright-to-guest-star-on-Madam-Secretary/6101436963012/  This could be interesting.

[betsyboo]

Am posting here from Ausiello, but will spoiler tag just in case (for those of you wavering on clicking - it's a person we will meet. not an action or resolution.)

 

Question: Any scoop on Madam Secretary season 2? I can’t wait for the show to come back! —Nicki
Ausiello: We’re going to finally meet President Dalton’s (Keith Carradine) other half, First Lady Lydia Dalton, early in the season when the elegant, WASP-y FLOTUS hosts a very tense dinner party at the White House.

[jaytee1812]

Hillary Clinton said on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that she watches the show. And she wants to appear at some point.

[betsyboo]

We all aren't the only ones who love the McCord marriage!!

 

http://tvline.com/gallery/what-tvline-is-thankful-for-2015/#!18/madam-secretary/

 

Kimberly Roots Is Thankful for…
MADAM SECRETARY AND HER MISTER

Even if you have no interest in foreign policy, D.C. politics or the messy inner workings of the national government, Madam Secretary's Elizabeth and Henry McCord still make the CBS drama a worthwhile watch. The on-screen relationship that Téa Leoni and Tim Daly have developed over the past two seasons is an example of how long-married characters can give off not just warmth but heat. (They're damn sexy, is what I'm saying.) Watching those two talk Russian spies and American exiles as they canoodle all over that gorgeous Georgetown brownstone? It's a geopolitical aphrodisiac, for sure.

 

[myril]

Interesting and funny. Téa Leoni, Q&A Conversation SAG Foundation, Juni 2015, talking about Madam Secretary and acting (26:08)

 

Erich Bergen, Geoffrey Arend & Patina Miller, Interview January 2016 (23:46)

 

Can wonder, how they get anything done on set. ;-)

Edited March 11, 2016 by myril

[VinceW]

‘Madam Secretary’ creator speaks to Wednesday Club in Danville,VA;   Posted: Friday, March 11, 2016 9:47 pm

BY JOHN R. CRANE jcrane@registerbee.com

 

Emmy-nominated writer and producer Barbara Hall spoke at the Wednesday Club on Friday evening, regaling hundreds of attendees about working on her hit television series, 'Madam Secretary'. While meeting with executives about creating 'Madam Secretary', she told them she had one way she would do the show. “She [the secretary of state] cannot be a career politician,” Hall said. “She has to be an outsider.” Also, Hall wanted the character, played by Tea Leoni, to have a functional marriage to a man with a job just as important as hers. The show must have a three-pronged approach in its story, she added: an international incident, interdepartmental situations and a family story. The show is set a few years into the future, with writers looking at current events and making them dramatic for the show, she said.

[kwnyc]

So that means Conrad was the candidate the GOP picked over Trump at a brokered convention? ;-)

[schnauzergirl]

Just read on fb that MS has been picked up for a third season.

[eimSD]

Great story this morning on CBS Sunday Morning on Tim Daly.  Apparently the chemistry is off-screen as well as on.  http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tim-dalys-most-important-role-father/ 

[CheshireCat]

Not sure where this goes as it's neither really media nor spoiler and speculation... Anyway, CBS released its fall premiere schedule. Madam Secretary premieres on October 2nd  https://tvline.com/2016/06/21/cbs-premiere-dates-fall-2016-big-bang-ncis/

[VinceW]

From CarterMatt 7/16:

The third season of “Madam Secretary” is in the process of filming right now, and of course you would want / hope to see some compelling storylines coming up. Many of them will have to do with large-scale operations and international incidents, but a few others could hit the McCord family stateside.

Take, for example, what we are apparently going to be seeing early on in the premiere episode. Per TVLine, the show headed out to the Bronx to film some sort of epic sequence that took place at Jason’s school. There were apparently a lot of important people there including executive producer Morgan Freeman, so read into that whatever you want to.

One of our big fears here is that we are starting off the premiere with some sort of shooting storyline, mostly because we’re not sure this is the sort of thing we’re really interested in seeing given the present climate. Also, we just had something relatively similar on “The Fosters,” and we prefer to have a show, if it chooses to take us in this direction, do it a reasonable distance away from others. This may just be the inner TV snob in us, given that if “Madam Secretary” does decide to go here and tell a story that handles the subject matter in the way it should, we probably would not have any complains.

Ultimately, it’s too early to tell if it’s a shooting anyway. The only thing we do know is that something big is going down in the premiere, and it may be a little more personal than many of the other problems we have seen play out on the show over time.

[Kromm]

On 6/19/2016 at 1:55 PM, eimSD said:

Great story this morning on CBS Sunday Morning on Tim Daly.  Apparently the chemistry is off-screen as well as on.  http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tim-dalys-most-important-role-father/ 

Tim Daly is 60?  Eek.

Okay, as amazing as it is that he looks like that at 60, that doesn't excuse the crap they've done with his character.

[CheshireCat]

3 hours ago, VinceW said:

From CarterMatt 7/16:

The third season of “Madam Secretary” is in the process of filming right now, and of course you would want / hope to see some compelling storylines coming up. Many of them will have to do with large-scale operations and international incidents, but a few others could hit the McCord family stateside.

Take, for example, what we are apparently going to be seeing early on in the premiere episode. Per TVLine, the show headed out to the Bronx to film some sort of epic sequence that took place at Jason’s school. There were apparently a lot of important people there including executive producer Morgan Freeman, so read into that whatever you want to.

One of our big fears here is that we are starting off the premiere with some sort of shooting storyline, mostly because we’re not sure this is the sort of thing we’re really interested in seeing given the present climate. Also, we just had something relatively similar on “The Fosters,” and we prefer to have a show, if it chooses to take us in this direction, do it a reasonable distance away from others. This may just be the inner TV snob in us, given that if “Madam Secretary” does decide to go here and tell a story that handles the subject matter in the way it should, we probably would not have any complains.

Ultimately, it’s too early to tell if it’s a shooting anyway. The only thing we do know is that something big is going down in the premiere, and it may be a little more personal than many of the other problems we have seen play out on the show over time.

I agree that a school shooting would be a delicate subject right now but when they were writing scripts, the last three or four shootings had not yet happened (Orlando might have happened just around the time they started?) The premiere is still over two months away. Whether it's about a school shooting or not, hopefully, things will have calmed down until then.

Edited July 18, 2016 by CheshireCat

[VinceW]

1 hour ago, CheshireCat said:

I agree that a school shooting would be a delicate subject right now but when they were writing scripts, the last three or four shootings had not yet happened (Orlando might have happened just around the time they started?) The premiere is still over two months away. Whether it's about a school shooting or not, hopefully, things will have calmed down until then.

I am reminded of 1x17 "Face the Nation" and the real angst that erupted between Henry and Bess over an active shooter drill at Jason's new school and Elizabeth's PTSD driven obsession over Jason's safety. I would hope that the show sticks to international issues and not move into domestic politics (gun control, hate crimes, domestic violence). 

Edited July 18, 2016 by VinceW

[VinceW]

2 hours ago, Kromm said:

Tim Daly is 60?  Eek.

Okay, as amazing as it is that he looks like that at 60, that doesn't excuse the crap they've done with his character.

Given how much effort was invested in the Murphy Station story line, it is doubtful that his character will mellow out any time soon.

[CheshireCat]

51 minutes ago, VinceW said:

I am reminded of 1x17 "Face the Nation"

Yeah, I thought about that, too. But who knows what is really going on. I think we can never forget that all the websites like clicks, especially during the summer months, so maybe the incident is not as big or meaningful as it seems. I was pretty underwhelmed at last season's premiere. I liked the episode but I felt like they could have done so much more with Bess as acting President. The whole episode really was just set-up for the Russia conflict which followed which I thought was a pity. But maybe this will be a similar episode? Who knows. And I read on Variety (I think it was) that Freeman is directing the premiere, so he kind of had to be there. ;-)

 

Quote

and the real angst that erupted between Henry and Bess over an active shooter drill at Jason's new school and Elizabeth's PTSD driven obsession over Jason's safety. I would hope that the show sticks to international issues and not move into domestic politics (gun control, hate crimes, domestic violence). 

That probably depends on where they go... As Sec of State, they'd have to keep it international, as VP, they wouldn't have to. I think both have potential and a mix of both might be interesting.

Edited July 18, 2016 by CheshireCat

[VinceW]

On 7/17/2016 at 11:42 PM, VinceW said:

  ON 7/17/2016 AT 9:25 PM, KROMM SAID:

Tim Daly is 60?  Eek.

Okay, as amazing as it is that he looks like that at 60, that doesn't excuse the crap they've done with his character.

ON 7/17/2016 AT 11:36 PM, VINCEW SAID:

Given how much effort was invested in the Murphy Station story line, it is doubtful that his character will mellow out any time soon.

From Deadline Hollywood - 7/20 (deadline.com):

“Carlos Gomez is returning to CBS drama series Madam Secretary for the upcoming third season, reprising his recurring role of Jose Campos. An ex-Special Forces guy, Campos is currently a Senior Intel CIA operative with past tours in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq now working as part of a very special intelligence analysis unit led by Henry (Tim Daly).”

Edited July 21, 2016 by VinceW

[CheshireCat]

3 hours ago, VinceW said:

From Deadline.com 7/20:

“Carlos Gomez is returning to CBS drama series Madam Secretary for the upcoming third season, reprising his recurring role of Jose Campos. An ex-Special Forces guy, Campos is currently a Senior Intel CIA operative with past tours in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq now working as part of a very special intelligence analysis unit led by Henry (Tim Daly).”

Oh joy. But let's not assume the worst, right? He could be returning and working with POTUS and Bess, right? (But since when was the unit led by Henry? I thought they were a working group and basically answered to Russell...)

Edited July 21, 2016 by CheshireCat

[VinceW]

3 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

Oh joy. But let's not assume the worst, right? He could be returning and working with POTUS and Bess, right? (But since when was the unit led by Henry? I thought they were a working group and basically answered to Russell...)

His return pretty much confirms that Elizabeth running as VP is a red herring. IMO. Hard to imagine Henry continuing to work in the intelligence world while Bess leaves her post as Sec of State for domestic politics.

[CheshireCat]

52 minutes ago, VinceW said:

His return pretty much confirms that Elizabeth running as VP is a red herring. IMO. Hard to imagine Henry continuing to work in the intelligence world while Bess leaves her post as Sec of State for domestic politics.

I'm not so sure it actually is an indication for anything really. Other than that they might plan to continue to have Henry work in the working group but even that doesn't have to happen. Although, if he does, then I don't think it's an indication for what Bess does since the working group was directly related to Bess and Dalton and they can do that with Bess whether she's Sec of State or VP. As a matter of fact, they could actually do it without Dalton if Bess were becoming VP. (And Dalton said himself that he wants Bess' advice on both domestic and international issues, so, I would say that the show made it clear that Bess would not be limited to domestic issues as VP)

One way or the other, I don't think they'd jump right in with Bess being VP. I know that they don't seem to have a clear time line but if they just jumped right in with Bess being VP and they'd not have an at least "six months later" it would feel kind of off.

I'm not saying that she necessarily does become VP, I just don't agree that Gomez' return is an indication that she isn't. As much as I would have liked them to, I did not expect them to give up Henry's intelligence work. He has done it since S1, and I'm not sure which other story they would give him? College professor is not exactly the most captivating story there is. I just hope that they clarify whether he's actually still teaching or not. In the back-half of last season I was under the impression he was not.

Any word on Hennessy by the way? Was she a regular or recurring character for S2? If she's back in S3 then it's likely the working group is back in action. If not then Jose could really be unrelated to Henry's intelligence work.

Edited July 21, 2016 by CheshireCat

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, CheshireCat said:

...Any word on Hennessy by the way? Was she a regular or recurring character for S2? If she's back in S3 then it's likely the working group is back in action. If not then Jose could really be unrelated to Henry's intelligence work.

Or they could replace her. 
Even though Carlos Gomez's character on this show was annoying, I like him as an actor, and IIRC, at the end of the season they were kind of smoothing out the rough edges of the character.

[Kromm]

20 hours ago, VinceW said:

From Deadline Hollywood - 7/20 (deadline.com):

“Carlos Gomez is returning to CBS drama series Madam Secretary for the upcoming third season, reprising his recurring role of Jose Campos. An ex-Special Forces guy, Campos is currently a Senior Intel CIA operative with past tours in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq now working as part of a very special intelligence analysis unit led by Henry (Tim Daly).”

Led?

Oh fuck that.

At best he was third in command.  At best. And that's all "under" Russell Jackson as well. I guess Daly had other ideas and took it to the producers.

[CheshireCat]

9 hours ago, Kromm said:

Led?

Oh fuck that.

At best he was third in command.  At best. And that's all "under" Russell Jackson as well. I guess Daly had other ideas and took it to the producers.

Or maybe it's just typical internet reporting. They do tend to take some liberties on interpretation. I interpreted it differently - to me, everyone in the croup seemed to have the same authority and were under the command of Russell/had to run ideas by Russell before executing them.

[VinceW]

On 7/21/2016 at 1:02 AM, CheshireCat said:

I'm not so sure it actually is an indication for anything really. Other than that they might plan to continue to have Henry work in the working group but even that doesn't have to happen. Although, if he does, then I don't think it's an indication for what Bess does since the working group was directly related to Bess and Dalton and they can do that with Bess whether she's Sec of State or VP. As a matter of fact, they could actually do it without Dalton if Bess were becoming VP. (And Dalton said himself that he wants Bess' advice on both domestic and international issues, so, I would say that the show made it clear that Bess would not be limited to domestic issues as VP)

One way or the other, I don't think they'd jump right in with Bess being VP. I know that they don't seem to have a clear time line but if they just jumped right in with Bess being VP and they'd not have an at least "six months later" it would feel kind of off.

I'm not saying that she necessarily does become VP, I just don't agree that Gomez' return is an indication that she isn't. As much as I would have liked them to, I did not expect them to give up Henry's intelligence work. He has done it since S1, and I'm not sure which other story they would give him? College professor is not exactly the most captivating story there is. I just hope that they clarify whether he's actually still teaching or not. In the back-half of last season I was under the impression he was not.

 

From Newsbusters.org

By Maggie McKneely | July 21, 2016 | 2:12 PM EDT

Scandal: Hollywood Spends Decades Scripting Hillary Presidency

 “The Hillary Clinton propaganda machine has been hard at work leading up to her presumptive presidential nomination. Entertainment media have been littered with a multitude of TV shows, movies, children’s books, and even songs inspired by the Democratic candidate. It’s typical for the media to get involved in a campaign during an election cycle. But in the case of Hillary Clinton, the media have been laying the groundwork for her ascendance to the Presidency since the early 1990s.……….And this isn’t just a right-wing conspiracy theory: big names like Morgan Freeman have cited Clinton as inspiration for their projects.……………………CBS has ensured that a pro-Hillary drama stays on the airwaves through the election, with its blatant propaganda piece Madam Secretary. The creators of Madam Secretary were inspired by Clinton’s testimony at the Benghazi hearings. Producers Lori McCreary and Morgan Freeman were struggling to come up with a great character for the show, until they saw Clinton “raise her fist” at the hearings. (That they found her infamously petulant and dishonest “What difference does is make?” performance inspiring says volumes about McCreary and Freeman.)

The resultant show has been blatant Hillary propaganda. An attractive, blonde, pantsuit-wearing Tea Leoni plays Secretary McCord, who is valued for her knowledge of the Middle East and ability to think outside of the box. Having admitted where their inspiration for Madam Secretary came from, its creators have gone on to deny that it’s Hillary agit-prop. Yet the second episode was titled “Another Benghazi,” and was a whitewash of the real Benghazi incident. In it, Secretary Clinton, er, McCord desperately wanted to beef up the Libyan Ambassador’s security, and had to jump through many hoops before finally acquiring a contract with a private security firm. And her heroic efforts payed off, of course, when terrorists struck the embassy.

From the start, the show has only portrayed Clinton-look-alike McCord as a wonder woman, juggling her family life with her high stakes job, always providing the right answers to the country’s problems. She’s liberal, values “diversity”, and wants to bring foreign “cultural values” to America – just like Clinton. When asked why they didn’t just name it Madam President, Leoni joked (partly) that “there’s season 4.” Season 3 is set to premiere October 2nd of this year, a month before the election…..”

Edited July 28, 2016 by VinceW

[Kromm]

I'm sorry. But I have to go all rolly eyes emoji at the conspiracy idea.

TV is TV. They leveraged a situation that was familiar to people to get viewership. End of story. It was not cross pollination to manipulate people into voting for Hillary. Putting it on something called "Newsbusters.org" does not make it news.

[VinceW]

On 7/25/2016 at 6:28 PM, Kromm said:

I'm sorry. But I have to go all rolly eyes emoji at the conspiracy idea.

TV is TV. They leveraged a situation that was familiar to people to get viewership. End of story. It was not cross pollination to manipulate people into voting for Hillary. Putting it on something called "Newsbusters.org" does not make it news.

This article was surprisingly quite lengthy and it included many examples of other shows besides MS. I don't believe much of it, but the idea of the Hillary connection has been ongoing since the start of the series given the Morgan Freeman influence on the writing and certain odd episodes that attempted to revise history for some foreign incidents unfavorable to Clinton's awful record.  A conspiracy to manipulate votes? No. A chance by Freeman and the network liberals to push an ideology? Probably. For myself, I still think the VP scenario is just a red herring for the upcoming season to take advantage of the US elections in order to drive viewership. Not since the early infancy of the US government, has the Sec of State position been used as a path to elect a president (Jefferson, Adams, Madison,etc). According to recorded history, the VP choice being used to help elect a President (the premise put forth in the finale for the reason to replace Bess and Dalton's desire for her to join him on the ticket) means very little.  On a scale of 1-10, maybe a 1. The best favorable might have been LBJ chosen by John Kennedy in the 1960's.

Edited July 28, 2016 by VinceW

[CheshireCat]

2 hours ago, VinceW said:

 According to recorded history, the VP choice being used to help elect a President (the premise put forth in the finale for the reason to replace Bess and Dalton's desire for her to join him on the ticket) means very little, on a scale of 1-10, maybe a 1. The best favorable might have been LBJ chosen by John Kennedy in 1960's.

Wasn't that only part of it? Dalton also said that he wanted her advice foreign and domestic. To me it came across as much more than wanting her help in winning the election. I think it also tied back a little to why he wanted her to become Sec of State in the first place - because she is the out of the box thinker and she's providing a completely different view because she is not a life-long politician and the way I understood it is that that is why he wants her as VP, so he has "access" to that point of view in all areas and not just on foreign policy. And no matter how the position is viewed in regards to importance, I think from Dalton's point of view, VP is one step up for her in regards to executive power. (And on a side note, the VP might mean very little in regards to the election but the media is currently not acting like that's the case - and not only the US media)

So, in regards to the show, I think that Dalton wants her with him on the campaign trail is a valid reason because it's about perception not actuality. And the VP choice seems to be perceived as important. At least, it seems to matter.

[VinceW]

On 7/27/2016 at 2:30 PM, CheshireCat said:

Wasn't that only part of it? Dalton also said that he wanted her advice foreign and domestic. To me it came across as much more than wanting her help in winning the election. I think it also tied back a little to why he wanted her to become Sec of State in the first place - because she is the out of the box thinker and she's providing a completely different view because she is not a life-long politician and the way I understood it is that that is why he wants her as VP, so he has "access" to that point of view in all areas and not just on foreign policy. And no matter how the position is viewed in regards to importance, I think from Dalton's point of view, VP is one step up for her in regards to executive power. (And on a side note, the VP might mean very little in regards to the election but the media is currently not acting like that's the case - and not only the US media)

So, in regards to the show, I think that Dalton wants her with him on the campaign trail is a valid reason because it's about perception not actuality. And the VP choice seems to be perceived as important. At least, it seems to matter.

I get it that you want Elizabeth to be the VP, but she told Dalton from the beginning and Mike B later that she has no ambitions for executive office. I think she will decline for family reasons which has been the subtle message from the start of the series about security issues effecting the kids and their daily lives. Recall the gyrations the writers put forth in the season 2 premiere in order to get Bess in position to be temporary President. She was totally out of character acting as commander in chief and the succession sequence put in the episode was forced and unrealistic.  For the most part, a VP drives the domestic agenda before and after an election. She has no experience in domestic policy issues. As SoS, she can engage in the election campaign without giving up her current powerful position directing foreign policy. Leaving her current job would require an unwarranted makeover for the secondary characters and a totally different work place venue. Besides, given that no matter how high she moves up in the government, we know from the Murphy Station story line, Henry will be given just as much importance to ongoing story events. 

Edited July 28, 2016 by VinceW

[Netfoot]

3 hours ago, VinceW said:

Besides, given that no matter how high she moves up in the government, we know from the Murphy Station story line, Henry will be given just as much importance to ongoing story events. 

so, if she becomes VP, they have to make him Pope?

[VinceW]

21 hours ago, Netfoot said:

so, if she becomes VP, they have to make him Pope?

After saving the world from Disah with help from Jane and little help from Jose, I expect that Dalton will make Henry Chairman of Joint Chiefs. Dalton and Henry are good buds. General McCord sounds about right.

Edited July 28, 2016 by VinceW

[Kromm]

23 hours ago, Netfoot said:

so, if she becomes VP, they have to make him Pope?

And if she's President, I guess that leaves him getting a promotion from Pope, to Jesus.

Edited July 28, 2016 by Kromm

[norm]

On 7/27/2016 at 11:30 AM, CheshireCat said:

Wasn't that only part of it? Dalton also said that he wanted her advice foreign and domestic. To me it came across as much more than wanting her help in winning the election. I think it also tied back a little to why he wanted her to become Sec of State in the first place - because she is the out of the box thinker and she's providing a completely different view because she is not a life-long politician and the way I understood it is that that is why he wants her as VP, so he has "access" to that point of view in all areas and not just on foreign policy. And no matter how the position is viewed in regards to importance, I think from Dalton's point of view, VP is one step up for her in regards to executive power. (And on a side note, the VP might mean very little in regards to the election but the media is currently not acting like that's the case - and not only the US media)

So, in regards to the show, I think that Dalton wants her with him on the campaign trail is a valid reason because it's about perception not actuality. And the VP choice seems to be perceived as important. At least, it seems to matter.

I think we are forgetting the context of the show in terms of the VP pick.  In the world of the show, Elizabeth McCord would probably be one of the most high profile and popular secretary of states ever.  In show world, she has dealt with Iran, Cuba, Russia, not to mention all the small crises she has handled.  She was almost assassinated/killed on multiple occasions.  She helped uncover the former secretary of state conspiracy plot.  She was even "acting President" for a day!  She would be in the news all the time and extremely popular.  It makes total sense that she would be a popular choice for the VP slot, and yes, she would pop up on a lot of lists as a future presidential candidate if she had that ambition in the show world.   

[CheshireCat]

On ‎27‎.‎07‎.‎2016 at 4:14 PM, VinceW said:

I get it that you want Elizabeth to be the VP,

Yes, and you don't want her to be. And while I would like if they went there, I don't know if they do. They might, they might not. But what you and I want to happen has nothing to do with the fact that Dalton mentioned more than that he wants her to join him on the campaign trail as reason for why he wants her to be VP ;-)

 

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but she told Dalton from the beginning and Mike B later that she has no ambitions for executive office.

She also said in the last episode that she never realized until now how much she liked the job. And in my opinion they left it open for interpretation if she just meant Sec of State or the job in general. If we look back at episode 5 after Gorev was murdered, she went back to what Dalton said to her, that he told her that he believes they can affect real change in the world and that seemed to have been one of the reasons she accepted the position as Sec of State. It seems to matter to her. So, "loving the job" could mean many things, one of them could be the power to actually really change things in the world and she would be able to affect even more change as VP because she would also have access to domestic issues and she'd be closer to Dalton. She'd have an office in the White House, he wants her as council, so she'd have a say. And this is not an argument for why they're going to do it, it's merely a way that this could be interpreted.

In general, I think it definitely meant that she never thought she'd love being a politician and that she does like the "affecting change" part of her job.

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I think she will decline for family reasons which has been the subtle message from the start of the series about security issues effecting the kids and their daily lives. Recall the gyrations the writers put forth in the season 2 premiere in order to get Bess in position to be temporary President. She was totally out of character acting as commander in chief and the succession sequence put in the episode was forced and unrealistic.  

Personally, I found it all a bit much, too, and I don't really know why they put her into that position. I never saw any need for her to be acting President in that episode since, apart from the Presidential pardon, she didn't do anything. I'm sure they could have introduced Craig Sterling in a different way, too.

That aside, she was out of character as Sec of State, too. In my opinion, if you go back and watch S1 and then S2 you can see the development. She and Russell also developed quite a relationship over time. He seemed to "shape" her or want to "shape" her in the first season, in the second season, they're working together. I think, they did portray her growing into the job over the course of 2 seasons. They could give her a new challenge and have her grow into that. Or they could not.

She might decline for family reasons. On the other hand, I don't see the family connection between the S2 premiere and family reasons and she's managed so far.

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For the most part, a VP drives the domestic agenda before and after an election. She has no experience in domestic policy issues.

She had not experience with foreign policy either. She may have worked for the CIA but that's not exactly foreign policy. And she was an analyst, not a field agent. But if you recall, that is why Dalton made her Sec of State, because she wasn't a politician. So, a) making her VP fits the pattern and b) this is fiction. What she would or wouldn't do is left entirely up to the writers.

I think there are arguments for and against it. On the show and from a viewer perspective. The biggest concern I have is that the show will fall into a pattern if they keep her as Sec of State and will get boring because how much diversity can you really bring if you are limited to foreign policy? Yes, there is a lot to foreign policy but how much of that makes for a compelling TV story? After all the action they have had in S1 and 2 they can hardly spend S3 on her trying to write a trade deal or something. I think that would not hold up against the first two seasons in regards of excitement ;-)

I like it when characters can grow and develop. I'm concerned that she'll reach a point where she'll stagnate if they keep her Sec of State for about 4 more seasons and if she stagnates, the show will. But maybe they do have a way of making the next 4 seasons interesting with her as Sec of State. If they choose to keep her Sec of State then I certainly hope so because I'd hate if that was the reason for the show to be cancelled earlier than it maybe needed to be.

Edited July 30, 2016 by CheshireCat

[thewhiteowl]

Don't get personal with each other. Don't start it if you are going to claim offense. Go back to speculating about the show. Not politics or each other. Thanks. 

[VinceW]

On 7/30/2016 at 2:18 PM, CheshireCat said:

Yes, and you don't want her to be. And while I would like if they went there, I don't know if they do. They might, they might not. But what you and I want to happen has nothing to do with the fact that Dalton mentioned more than that he wants her to join him on the campaign trail as reason for why he wants her to be VP ;-

She also said in the last episode that she never realized until now how much she liked the job. And in my opinion they left it open for interpretation if she just meant Sec of State or the job in general. If we look back at episode 5 after Gorev was murdered, she went back to what Dalton said to her, that he told her that he believes they can affect real change in the world and that seemed to have been one of the reasons she accepted the position as Sec of State. It seems to matter to her. So, "loving the job" could mean many things, one of them could be the power to actually really change things in the world and she would be able to affect even more change as VP because she would also have access to domestic issues and she'd be closer to Dalton. She'd have an office in the White House, he wants her as council, so she'd have a say. And this is not an argument for why they're going to do it, it's merely a way that this could be interpreted.

In general, I think it definitely meant that she never thought she'd love being a politician and that she does like the "affecting change" part of her job.

Personally, I found it all a bit much, too, and I don't really know why they put her into that position. I never saw any need for her to be acting President in that episode since, apart from the Presidential pardon, she didn't do anything. I'm sure they could have introduced Craig Sterling in a different way, too.

That aside, she was out of character as Sec of State, too. In my opinion, if you go back and watch S1 and then S2 you can see the development. She and Russell also developed quite a relationship over time. He seemed to "shape" her or want to "shape" her in the first season, in the second season, they're working together. I think, they did portray her growing into the job over the course of 2 seasons. They could give her a new challenge and have her grow into that. Or they could not.

She might decline for family reasons. On the other hand, I don't see the family connection between the S2 premiere and family reasons and she's managed so far.

She had not experience with foreign policy either. She may have worked for the CIA but that's not exactly foreign policy. And she was an analyst, not a field agent. But if you recall, that is why Dalton made her Sec of State, because she wasn't a politician. So, a) making her VP fits the pattern and b) this is fiction. What she would or wouldn't do is left entirely up to the writers.

I think there are arguments for and against it. On the show and from a viewer perspective. The biggest concern I have is that the show will fall into a pattern if they keep her as Sec of State and will get boring because how much diversity can you really bring if you are limited to foreign policy? Yes, there is a lot to foreign policy but how much of that makes for a compelling TV story? After all the action they have had in S1 and 2 they can hardly spend S3 on her trying to write a trade deal or something. I think that would not hold up against the first two seasons in regards of excitement ;-)

I like it when characters can grow and develop. I'm concerned that she'll reach a point where she'll stagnate if they keep her Sec of State for about 4 more seasons and if she stagnates, the show will. But maybe they do have a way of making the next 4 seasons interesting with her as Sec of State. If they choose to keep her Sec of State then I certainly hope so because I'd hate if that was the reason for the show to be cancelled earlier than it maybe needed to be.

Creator Barbara Hall " I wanted the Tea Leoni character to have a functional marriage to a man with a job just as important as hers. The show must have a three-pronged approach in its story: an international incident, interdepartmental situations and a family story." I expect that season 3 and thereafter will follow that canon.

Edited August 3, 2016 by VinceW