Mastodon Mastodon Mastodon Mastodon Mastodon Madam Secretary - Pilot - Advance Preview: "An entertaining political drama"


    Enable Dark Mode!

  • What's HOT
  • Premiere Calendar
  • Ratings News
  • Movies
  • YouTube Channel
  • Submit Scoop
  • Contact Us
  • Search
  • Privacy Policy
Support SpoilerTV
SpoilerTV.com is now available ad-free to for all premium subscribers. Thank you for considering becoming a SpoilerTV premium member!

SpoilerTV - TV Spoilers

Madam Secretary - Pilot - Advance Preview: "An entertaining political drama"

Sep 21, 2014

Share on Reddit
It's only a few days till the 2014-2015 TV season officially begins and I can't wait to have my favorite shows (e.g. Arrow, NCIS, The Blacklist and The 100) back on the air. I'm also looking forward to some of the new shows, such as The Flash, Stalker, How To Get Away With Murder and Scorpion. Also on my watchlist is Madam Secretary, for which I'll be writing weekly reviews on SpoilerTV. CBS has been kind enough to give us screeners of all their pilots, and so here I am trying to give you an impression of what Madam Secretary is like.

Madam Secretary follows the life of Elizabeth McCord, the newly appointed Secretary of State. A former college professor, McCord is named SoS after the previous Secretary died under mysterious circumstances. The President of the United States himself offers her the position after having worked with her at the CIA. Once in the White House, Elizabeth finds out that the job is far from ideal. She has to learn to work with people, but also that she shouldn't always speak her mind. Her way of work is not always appreciated, with the biggest resistance coming from the White House Chief of Staff Russell Jackson. Jackson goes as far as to arrange a stylist for McCord, something she is not too happy with. The pilot definitely suggests that the two will have an antagonistic relationship throughout the series.

The case in the pilot involves two young boys that were kidnapped by Syrian rebels. It's up to Elizabeth to pull out all resources to get the kids back to the US safe and sound. Whether or not she succeeds, remains to be seen, but I can tell you that the boys' lives are pretty much at stake during one point in the pilot.

Besides Elizabeth's job as Secretary of State, she is also a mother of two and a wife to her husband Henry. Both children, one son and one daughter, have their issues after the family had to move house to accommodate for Elizabeth's new job. Henry is a loving husband and supports Elizabeth whenever she needs it.

This was definitely an enjoyable pilot for me. Téa Leoni does a good job of layering Elizabeth, showing how determined she is in getting these two kids back safely. On the other hand, we have got her arguing with the Chief of Staff and even with the President. We also see what burden the job puts on her and how she feels responsible for her children's issues. But it's not just Leoni who is of note here, the supporting cast is also a delight to watch. Tim Daly as Elizabeth's husband works fine for me, showing his support for her when she needs it. Željko Ivanek makes the White House Chief of Staff look like a creep and while it fits the pilot, he does need a bit of fleshing out. Elizabeth's own Chief of Staff, Nadine Tolliver, is portrayed by Bebe Neuwirth, who also gives a fine performance. The last character of note is the President himself, played in a recurring role by Keith Carradine. In the pilot, he has to listen to two opposing views considering the Syria case, one from Elizabeth and one from his Chief of Staff. You get a good impression why the President offered Elizabeth the job, but I'm curious to discover more of their CIA history. The other characters are either part of Elizabeth's staff, or her children. These characters are not heavily featured in the pilot though they are important to the story.

There was one moment in the pilot which I found a bit ridiculous. I can't tell you too much about it, but I will say that it's a scene that involves the kidnapped children. If you watch the promo, you can see this moment.

One thing I'm curious about is how they are going to balance the stories at the White House with Elizabeth's family life. While family issues are a real thing, they should be interesting enough to contribute to the story. And while Elizabeth's husband shows up at the White House at one point in the pilot, I'm not sure it would be believable if he does that every week. After all, he is still a college professor and doesn't work in the White House. As for children, there are shows where their storylines are far apart from the main plot and as such, are heavily criticized (Homeland, anyone?). However, it appears that Madam Secretary's lead-out series The Good Wife also has the main character's two children as series regulars. Since that show is critically acclaimed, I suppose it could work (although I'm not sure how well received the children's storylines are). We'll have to see how Madam Secretary handles these storylines.

Conclusion: The pilot of Madam Secretary gets the grade of an 8. I find Madam Secretary a fresh and entertaining political drama. The story holds my interest, and the cast works well together. I certainly enjoyed it more than the other White House drama premiering this fall, NBC's State of Affairs, of which I've also seen the pilot.

Madam Secretary premieres Sunday, September 21 at 8/7c on CBS. Watch a promo for the show below. Will you be watching?





About the Author - Daniel
Daniel is a Dutch university student studying Psychology. On SpoilerTV he is a reviewer of NCIS, The 100 and the upcoming shows Madam Secretary, Battle Creek and Odyssey. He also enjoys Arrow, NCIS: LA, Nikita and The Blacklist. Recently gotten into LOST which he really loves. He is excited for the new shows Stalker, Scorpion, NCIS: New Orleans and a bunch of others.
Recent Reviews by Daniel (All Reviews)

28 comments:

  1. I may give this show a try, but OUAT is my priority right now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm wanting to watch this show, but it goes up against my favorite show on the air (OUAT). With me having shows on every night, I might have to DVR this one. Great review though, Daniel!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks, and yes, you can always DVR it or watch it On Demand/online.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I understand. You can always DVR Madam Secretary or watch it online.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That's what I'll do, though I'll probably end up binge-watching it at the end of the season.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love Tea Leoni so will be watching this series even though this type of drama is not usually on my watch list. Thanks for the preview.

    ReplyDelete
  7. What about Geoffrey Arend's character?

    ReplyDelete
  8. You're welcome! Hope you enjoy the show!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Geoffrey Arend plays Elizabeth's speechwriter Matt Mahoney. He's great at his job and seems like a funny character. At one point in the pilot, Elizabeth comes up with her own speech for the press which Matt says is really good.

    ReplyDelete
  10. What's turned me off this one is the fact that the promos basically give away the whole plot of the first episode. We know she gets the kids back. They should have left that part out so we'd tune in to see what happens.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks for the preview Daniel! Really enjoyed reading it! I plan to watch this show this season, it looks very intriguing! Can't wait for your reviews!

    ReplyDelete
  12. That's true, but the promos don't give away the twist at the end of the pilot. And it's a twist that's quite intriguing. If you look at CBS' promos for dramas last year (Hostages and Intelligence), you'll see that both of them did give away the end twist.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks for your kind words, looking forward to your NCIS NOLA reviews too!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks for this preview, Daniel. I'm looking forward to seeing what this show is like. :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. You're welcome! Hope you enjoy the show!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I love Bebe Neuwirth so I'm definitely watching this! :) Thanks for the preview!

    ReplyDelete
  17. You're welcome, hope you enjoy it!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thanks for the preview Daniel! This has been one of the few shows that i've been looking to this fall.

    ReplyDelete
  19. My pleasure, and I hope you enjoy the show!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Thanks for preview. Interesting reading. This belongs to new shows that i am going to watch, but i do not expect it to belong to my favorite new shows

    ReplyDelete
  21. Thank you! Hope you enjoy this show and the others you're watching.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thanks for the preview Daniel hopefully this show is good I haven't heard much about it though.

    ReplyDelete
  23. You're welcome! There doesn't seem to be a lot of buzz around Madam Secretary, which is a shame really. I liked the pilot, and I hope you do too!

    ReplyDelete
  24. That's what I think about a lot of shows especially The 100 but we like a lot of the same shows so I'm expecting this to be one of my favorites just like Scorpion already is.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I can definitely see it being one of those quietly good shows (assuming people, me included, like it).

    ReplyDelete
  26. The 100 hasn't had much promotion but I believe it's quite popular on the internet.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Yeah, it's popular and I think they're just holding off until it's close to the premiere.

    ReplyDelete

NOTE: Name-calling, personal attacks, spamming, excessive self-promotion, condescending pomposity, general assiness, racism, sexism, any-other-ism, homophobia, acrophobia, and destructive (versus constructive) criticism will get you BANNED from the party.