# Commander in Chief (2005)

> A vice president unexpectedly inherits the Oval Office and must hold her own against a hostile party, her family, and Washington's power brokers.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/3818

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 18
- Episode runtime: 42 min
- Status: Canceled
- Genres: drama
- Created by: Rod Lurie
- Network: ABC
- Cast: Geena Davis, Donald Sutherland, Harry Lennix, Kyle Secor, Ever Carradine, Matt Lanter, Caitlin Wachs, Jasmine Jessica Anthony
- TMDB rating: 6.8/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0429455/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: none
- Tone: earnest, tense, hopeful, serious

## Synopsis

Commander in Chief (2005-2006) is a American network political drama series created by Rod Lurie for ABC. Geena Davis stars as Mackenzie Allen, a vice president who must decide whether to defy the dying president and the party that elected her, and claim the most powerful job in the world as the first female president of the United States. Donald Sutherland plays the ailing president Nathan Templeton, while Harry Lennix plays Jim Gardner, a political operative whose loyalties are tested as the new administration takes shape. Each episode turns on a White House crisis, backroom maneuvering in Congress, and the pressure of raising twin teenagers and a young child while leading the nation. The single season of eighteen episodes is one continuing story, with the drama built on procedural briefings, press conferences, and tense negotiations in the West Wing. Its tone is earnest and hopeful, with an undercurrent of institutional suspicion and a sense of history being made. Fans of The West Wing, Veep and Scandal will find resonance in its portrait of ambition, loyalty and the cost of power.

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