Commander in Chief

I watched Commander-in-Chief because I was such a huge fan of The West Wing, a show I stuck with even after Sorkin left (as even at its worst, it was still one of the best things on). I was a little nervous of how they would handle a woman in the White House, would it be full of cliches of woman-as-caring, woman-as-compassionate with lots about here family.


Well, they did emphasise her caring, compassionate side, and yes, her family did get a look-in every episode but she also came across as strong, commanding, intelligent - a worthy televisionual successor to President Bartlett in fact.


It does have its moments of sentiment, and sometimes, as a non-American, there is some stuff I just don't get but overall the stories are handled well.


The downsides are simply that I just don't like any of the characters enough to care about what happens to them - I don't dislike them, they just don't engage me in any strong way. Nathan Templeton works reasonably well, but I found the episodes where he and the President work together, still clashing and disagreeing over the approach, but having more scenes together, better than the scenes where he spends time with anonymous blonde no 2.