MADAM SECRETARY, a new CBS drama, stars Tea Leoni as Elizabeth McCord, the shrewd, determined, newly appointed Secretary of State. Pictured: Tea Leoni Pictured: Tea Leoni as Elizabeth McCord Photo: Craig Blankenhorn/CBS ©2014 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved
CBS has now provided critics with three episodes of the new drama “Madam Secretary,” starring Téa Leoni as initially reluctant Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord. The program, an obvious nod to a certain presumptive front-running female Democratic candidate for president who was formerly a globe-trotting secretary of state, arrives Sept. 21 (7 p.m. on CBS4). How timely and ripped from the headlines will it be? The second episode is titled “Another Benghazi.” References to a company of “private security contractors” are rife, as are digs about the public picking on the Secretary of State’s hairstyles.
Creator-producers Barbara Hall and Lori McCreary deny the Hillary Clinton inspiration: “We believe this show and its characters have been written to tell the story of an apolitical woman at the pinnacle of the diplomatic world. She thinks outside of the box and party lines…”
They demur but the parallels will be unmistakable to viewers. And why not? With a prominent female politician on the national stage, with strong women ascendant on TV, it’s ripe dramatic territory. The only reason to deny the inspiration is for ratings’ sake. By trying to make her politically neutral, they threaten to defang the drama.
In TV terms, “Madam Secretary” is infinitely more credible than “State of Affairs,” NBC’s thriller starring Katherine Heigl due in November. Leoni’s character works the back channels, dramatizes the protocols, inter-office politics and diplomatic challenges while keeping things running at home (and keeping her two kids out of the public eye). By contrast, Heigl’s character seems to single-handedly run the country, the intelligence community, as well as D.C. nightlife.
Neither show made . But the talent bench on “Madam Secretary” is deep — Bebe Neuwirth is underused as just one of several very serious State Department advisors, Zeljko Ivanek is the heavy in the office, Keith Carradine plays the president, Tim Daly plays the Secretary of State’s husband — and if the show can steer away from the sentimental it may be worth following.
