Gregory Todd Williams

I’d like to take this opportunity to warn any of you who might have missed the premiere of ABC’s new Commander in Chief last night to avoid this show at all costs. It was offensively bad. On so very many levels.

I’m trying really hard to not compare this show directly to West Wing, but I just can’t. As a result, it’s hard to see it as anything but a massive failure to live up to the standard set by West Wing for a White House drama.

The production quality is really awful. The typeface and color chosen for the text in scene-openings (detailing time and location) fails to capture the elegance required for this setting. The scene in which Donald Sutherland runs down the hospital hallway to the room in which the president is dying is terribly hokey; the sped-up film effect makes the scene much worse than it might otherwise have been.

The political situations, even in the first episode, seemed contrived at best, impossible at worst. In a world where West Wing dealt optimistically but, more importantly, convincingly with many domestic and international political situations (at least in its first four seasons), Commander in Chief paled by comparison.

Also, ABC’s website for Commander in Chief obnoxiously attempts to present the show as reality, trying to pull off some sort of weblog-covering-this-new-woman-president thing.

In discussing the episode, Tim put it best: It lacks the gravitas of the West Wing. And I think that sums up the situation perfectly.