Review of ABC’s Scandal
ABC’s new show Scandal was a pleasure to watch, with nice pacing and well written lines. The show creator, Shonda Rhimes, has delivered another winner. The writing is excellent and does not condescend to the audience.
The premise revolves around a firm of Washington DC lawyers who act as public relations fixers; making PR problems disappear for clients and keeping scandals out of the news.
The first 5 minutes featured the main character fearlessly negotiating with the Russian mafia. Go girl. It then followed the team racing the clock to protect the reputation of an Iraq veteran who showed up at their door covered in his girlfriend’s blood.
I won’t ruin the rest of the episode with spoilers. Sufficient to say that it was fun, popcorn munching entertainment enough that my husband didn’t complain about being forced to watch a chick show.
The head of the firm is Olivia Pope, a former aide to the President of the United States. Played by the gorgeous Kerry Washington, Ms. Pope is a dynamic, confident woman who gets the job done.
She makes a good role model for young girls, self assured and confident. She knows her worth and ability so she speaks with authority yet remains feminine in her approach. She does not defer to any man in her attitude but acts as an equal.
It’s rare to see women professionals portrayed on television or in the movies as strong with no apologies–without devolving into neurotic or bitchy tropes. Even in the real world, women struggle to figure out how to act with authority.
Ms. Washington was believable in her role, vulnerable yet tough, without hitting any false notes.
ABC has done a good job pre-promoting Scandal. The reason we watched the first episode was that my husband caught an interview with the real-life person upon whom the show was loosely based, Judy Smith. He was so impressed by Ms. Smith that he made sure we saw the show.
Now let’s hope ABC is smart enough to put the episodes on their site, or Hulu, to watch on demand. Scandal should be given a chance to build an audience with busy professionals who cannot anchor a TV set every night. For those who can catch it, Scandal is on ABC, Thursday nights, 10PM.
What did you think of Scandal? Did you like Olivia Pope?
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I absolutely disagree. The presidential romance was ridiculous! And let us not forget the occasionaly shoty acting and though I love seeing an AA female lead in a primetime drama, Washington is woefully miscast in that her physical presence, primarily her lack of stature, does not convincingly convey the powerful and sharp Olivia Pope. Oh and the explained and re-explained the premise of the agency oh-too-many times for me to believe that they respect a shred of the viewers’ intelligence.
I don’t think we watched the same “Scandal”…
First though, you wrote this (which has nothing to do with the show itself): “It’s rare to see women professionals portrayed on television or in the movies as strong with no apologies…”
You are kidding, right? TV is pretty much nothing but “women professionals” portrayed as “strong” – and I’m not sure what you mean by ‘apologies’ but the women in (pick a prime time 60 minute series featuring professional women) are to a one, portrayed as comparatively better, stronger humans than the men in the show – by far.
I’d be interested in information/data that illustrates your point as I don’t see it.
Further, Kerry Washington’s (who is cute, but miscast appearing too young, too shallow, and a bit too arrogant (not the same as strong) to be realistic and believable – the writers and director of this series should apologize to the audience for foisting such a superficial, vastly overwrought piece of high-production value fluff at us.
So, to answer your questions: I did not like Scandal. Unlike you, I was looking for a show with depth, heart, insight, and nuanced thinking.. that show is not “Scandal”. And yes, I felt very condescended to by the producers of the show.
I wanted to like, or at least respect, the character Ms. Pope, but as the writer/director made her “inhumanly good” with only the standard set of Hollywood “flaws” I did not like the character as she seemed more overdone TV-superwoman than highly capable human woman.
She’s definitely overdone and the plotline from the 2nd week on with the presidential affair definitely is moving into camp. It’s just that outside of the procedural shows (cops, coroner, CSI), there’s only things like Desperate Housewives and the Real Housewives. I’m dependent on Hulu or on Demand for my shows as I don’t have time to watch anything except after 10 or 11PM at night. The few professional women (exclude the cops) I see on TV are like Liz Lemon from 30 Rock (funny, endearing but coming off as incompetent in her job).
I see your negative comments; but guess what … Scandal is SOARING in the ratings. Most LOVE the show. Actually, it’s addicting.
It’s exciting and filled with emotions that make your heart smile.
This is the best show on tv. I love the chemistry between liv and fitz. They keep me rooted to my couch for the one hour they are on. Kerry to me,is Avery good actress,they make you feel the love they have for each other