Episode Report Card Lauren S: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Pilot
By Lauren S | Season 1 | Episode 1 | Aired on 09.26.2005
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.I'm not sure if you've heard, but this fall, A WOMAN WILL BE PRESIDENT. Mackenzie Allen is the Vice President of the United States to Teddy Roosevelt Bridges, who suffers an aneurysm and must be rushed into emergency surgery. His Chief of Staff and Attorney General meet with Mac and ask her to resign so that the Speaker of the House can assume the presidency. The President then comes to after surgery long enough to make the same request, letting Mackenzie know that he only chose her as a running mate to get more votes and win the election. She holds a family conference first to find out everyone's opinion, where we learn that her Chief of Staff is her husband, Rod Calloway, and that she has teenage twins and the requisite precocious young daughter. Mackenzie's son supports her, but his twin sister does not agree with her mother's politics and wants her to resign. Mackenzie decides to do so, even though plucky members of her staff believe she is making a mistake. The turning point is in a meeting with Nathan Templeton, the Speaker of the House, who is chomping at the bit to take over the country. He talks down to Mackenzie and tells her what a political pawn she was and how she cannot handle running the free world. Unfortunately for him, in his speech he insults womankind in the form of a Nigerian woman facing death for adultery, and whom Mac has been trying to save. She decides not to deliver the resignation speech in her hand and instead accepts the Presidency, making her first agenda item to extricate the Nigerian woman from prison so that she will not be killed. Over shots of the military running a well-executed mission with "limited loss of life," she is sworn in and then addresses Congress and the American people without the aid of her sabotaged teleprompter, thus showing people she can make a damn good speech. But will she make a damn good president? We will also see how Rod will handle being the first First Gentleman, complete with pink office and numerous comparisons to Hillary Clinton and how most of the choices she made "didn't go over that well." Want more? The full recap starts right below!
We open on a children's chorus singing "America the Beautiful" in French. Someone walks forward and approaches Geena Davis, who's playing Mackenzie Allen, who we learn is the Vice-President of the United States. She makes her excuses and leaves the performance.
Mac asks the man what's going on, but he doesn't know: "We weren't given any warning of their arrival." Through the window, we see a man and a woman speaking. Mac walks out, and we meet James Gardner Jr., the White House Chief of Staff, who tells Mac, "We felt it best that we come here and tell you personally." The woman he was speaking with adds, "This came on us like a sneak attack." "Safe to join?" A man walks up -- Rod Calloway, the Vice-President's Chief of Staff, who looks remarkably like a double-size Jon Stewart. I'm sort of expecting him to deliver some fantastically dry, funny line. Jim wants a second, but Mac lets Rod stay, explaining that the President has a bleeding aneurysm in his brain. Rod asks her how bad it is as he puts a fantastic red coat around her shoulders. If you're thinking this gesture seems like its a little bit familiar for the VP and a member of her staff, you just might be on to something. The bottom line is, the Prez has had a stroke, and even if he does recover, it will mean months of rehabilitation. We are introduced to the woman -- Melanie Blackston, U.S. Attorney General -- who lists everything that he will go through if he survives. It can be summed up neatly as "a lot of bad shit." Try not to have a stroke, kids. Survival or not, the 25th Amendment is going to kick in. Mac gets right down to business, asking, "Melanie, um, what happens now? Do I take the oath, or...?" She notices them staring at her pointedly. "What?" Jim: "We need you to resign, Mac." Melanie jumps in: "You see, if you resign, Nathan Templeton could move into office." As if this is the most logical explanation in the world. Having somewhat of a grasp on politics herself, Mac asks, "I know it would move Nathan Templeton into office; the question is, why would I want to move this Speaker of the House into office?" I'm starting to suspect that when we meet Nathan, he will have horns.
In a fantastic exchange of expository dialogue, Jim and Melanie explain to Mac that she is an Independent, and that they need a Republican head of the administration to succeed President Bridges. Rod gets a bit indignant since, presumably, when Bridges picked Mac as his running mate, it meant he picked her to succeed him should anything go wrong. Mac cuts him off: "This is coming from the President?" Jim replies, "This is the President's intent." Mac: "Jim, I have no idea what that means." While we're all waiting for Jim to explain himself, let it be noted that at this point, I was focusin on Mac's coat more than anything else, and am mentally adding "fabulous red wool coat" to my perpetual shopping list. Melanie jumps in again: "Obviously, there was no major discussion; he was being wheeled into BRAIN surgery. Duh." (Fine. She didn't say "duh." But she so wanted to.) Jim goes on to list all of the countries giving them problems right now -- bottom line is, bad shit's going down in the world: "We don't need the world..." Mac: "We don't need the world to see a soft, indecisive woman commanding the troops instead of Nathan 'Bloody Hell' Templeton." Okay, wait a minute. Is Nathan Templeton someone we should worry about? Because I'm really not sure. Jim: "Madame Vice-President, I really must insist that you..." Mac cuts him off: "You're not in a position to insist how I take my coffee." You tell 'em. "That said...how would this work? I resign citing..." Rod interrupts her to say that she doesn't have to do this, but Jim overrides him: "Tell them that you could not, in good conscience, follow the socioeconomic ideals of this president." Mac: "Then what, I make a deal with Random House? Write a book?" She does a really good job of just seeming deflated at this point. It can't be easy to learn that no one really wants you to do the job you were prepared to do. They make plans to fly home, and Mac lets Jim know that once they are in the air, she wants to speak to the Chairman. Jim: "Chairman of the Joint Chiefs?" "No, Jim, the Chairman of the Society for Underwater Basketweavers." Oh, I mean, "Yes, Jim, of the Joint Chiefs." A convoy heads toward Air Force Two, and we move to the opening credits. Unfortunately, the shades of red and blue they chose for the graphics make me feel more than a little bit like I'm watching an After School Special from the '80s.