Season 1 – Madam Secretary

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David d I was watching Madam Secretary when it first came out, one episode per week. But got a bit impatient. Now streamed Season 1 and 2 consecutively. It's entertaining but at times less captivating or even boring, for these reasons: * entertaining because: - building on geopolitical realities of the times (and still today...), providing a view of the challenges and intricacies of political negotiating, decisionmaking, bureaucracy. - real-life characters making both good and faulty decisions, struggling with ethics and emotions, political (out)manouevering, etc. - a mix of work and private life, especially interesting when the paths of wife and husband (tea Leoni and Tim Daly) cross each other and sometimes conflict. (She is Sec State and he engages in covert ops abroad...). And when the children are drawn into the imagery the public has of Sec State. * at times less captivating or even boring, because: - due to the (too) large number of episodes the writers are sometimes coming up with uninteresting fantasy stories with a low reality or believeability content. My advise: skip those. - at times the family affairs of the McCords are too spun out and overshadow the main narrative: the geopolitical situation. - incidentally disappointing acting and/or narrative from the main protagonists. Tea Leoni excels 50% of screen time in a puzzled posture with half-open mouth and her voice is nearly all times rather flat. But that is of course my subjective view. Tim Daly's got better intonation but here the writers gave his character in S 2 an overdose of emotional struggle due to which he gets in conflict with Elizabeth (Leoni) and they end up at the shrinks' couch. Overdone, unneeded. And not in line with the development of the character as we got to know him in S 1. Finally, what struck me the most - BEWARE SPOILER - is the starting story of S 2. This was filmed in 2015 or 2016, yet there is the Russian invasion of Ukraine ! I found this preview of real events scary, to say the least😗.And though the characters are other then the real ones, there is a rogue Ukrainian operator called: Zelensky 😢. Is there a visionair on the production team, or did the US (CIA/NSA) already know what was brooding under the hood of Putin's team right after they took Crimea ? And did they share this with the show producers ? Then again, it is not illogical to come up with this preview of the real future that we now find ourselves in. That then begs the question, however: why did the US and NATO partners not begin arming Ukraine to the teeth with missiles, warplanes, drones and artillery right back in 2015 ?! In that case Tsaar Wladimir Putin would probably not have made any move at all. Balance of deterrence, conventional. Or did the real politicians rely on diplomacy toot much, when a show of brute force was needed...... Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 11/22/24 Full Review Niki M This series tries so hard to be The West Wing, and fails miserably. The dialogue is not sharp enough, the plots are not interesting enough, the characters are not engaging enough. And Madam Secretary herself is just so unbearably patronising towards all the poor sods from other countries around the world who are so unlucky as to have been born outside the United States, that I am surprised no-one has yet declared war. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 03/06/24 Full Review Richard W It is terrible. Poor acting. No plot. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 08/18/23 Full Review Post-Apocalyptic T It's "NCIS but make it political." She and her husband are perfect in every way. Every episode involves the world falling apart and while every other politician wants to bomb the opposing country into the Dark Ages, she's the only one who comes up with a peaceful resolution and can convince the president to implement it. It gets nauseating, but it's not a bad show. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 05/29/23 Full Review Joshua T season 1 just finished I was on the edge of my seat all the way through definitely going to be watching second season and can't wait to see what comes next this shows definitely one of the best shows I've seen in a long time I do a lot of yelling at the television while watching this show only because I am a political man and do like politics and this show makes me see how amazing politics can be Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/24/22 Full Review Barry L I am now in season 5, and all seasons have been inspiring. With so many programs to watch, it is much appreciated that the directors and writers of this program took the time to develop characters, and write engrossing, and interesting story lines. Perhaps most amazing, is that many of the issues dealt with were so prescient. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/28/22 Full Review Read all reviews

Madam Secretary — Season 1

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