I wonder if Hillary will be a consultant on the new TV show.
TV's female prez rests on Davis' strength
By Gail Shister
Knight Ridder Newspapers
LOS ANGELES — Playing the president of the United States gives Geena Davis goose bumps.
Playing the first female president of the United States gives her hope.
When the star of ABC's new drama, "Commander in Chief," first walked onto the Oval Office set, "I felt I was experiencing what will be an incredibly historic moment," she said in a recent interview.
A woman chief executive "will happen. It's just a question of when. ... That woman will do exactly what I did. She'll walk into that office and think, 'I'm the president. This is my office.' "
"Commander," created by "The Contender's" Rod Lurie, will air at 9 p.m. Tuesdays beginning Sept. 27 (KOMO).
Oscar winner Davis (1988's "The Accidental Tourist") plays Vice President Mackenzie Allen, a political independent who becomes chief executive when the president dies after emergency brain surgery.
Almost everyone wants her to step down in favor of the creepy speaker of the House (Donald Sutherland). Even on his deathbed, the president tells her so.
On TV
"Commander in chief" premieres Sept. 27 and will air at 9 p.m. Tuesdays. KOMO.
He picked the wrong vice president. Like her steely character, Davis, 49, is a longtime feminist, "and I'm not afraid to say it."
At 6 feet, she's also a tall glass of water. Ditto for her co-stars: 6-foot-4 Kyle Secor, 6-3 Harry Lennix and 6-1 Sutherland.
"I think somebody should call the Guinness Book of Records," says "Homicide" alum Secor, who plays Mackenzie's husband and father of their three kids. "It may be the tallest cast in television history."
Davis' TV history includes two sitcoms — the short-lived "Geena Davis Show" in 2000-01 and Dabney Coleman's acclaimed "Buffalo Bill" in 1983-84 — but never a drama.
But when she read the "Commander" script, "I just jumped in, against my career-long vow that I would never do hourlong TV, because it's widely understood to be the worst lifestyle you can possibly have.
"And here I am. It's not even an ensemble show. I took it instantly, without hesitation. I can't do anything in a small way. When I take up archery, I try out for the Olympics." (She was a finalist for the 2000 U.S. team.)
Davis says she'd never run for public office, unless it was on Oprah Winfrey's ticket. "If she ran for president, she'd win."
"Playing the first female president of the United States gives her hope."
The feminists do love their Hollywood fantasies. What would feminists do without Hollywood to keep their fantasies alive?