Political Animals (miniseries)

Political Animals is a six-episode American comedy drama miniseries created by Greg Berlanti. The series aired in the United States on USA Network from July 15 through August 19, 2012.[1][2][3] Sigourney Weaver portrays Elaine Barrish, a divorced former First Lady and Governor of Illinois, as well as the current Secretary of State. Weaver and the show's production team acknowledge that the lead character has some similarities to Hillary Clinton. They say that the premise of the show is "very much about all families who have been in the White House, the price they've paid for being there and the fact that those same families will often try or continue to try to get back into the White House again."[4]

Political Animals
Promotional poster for the series with the tagline "Power runs in the family."
GenreComedy drama
Created by
Starring
Opening theme"Future Starts Slow" by The Kills
ComposerBlake Neely
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes6
Production
Executive producers
Production companies
Release
Original networkUSA Network
Original releaseJuly 15 (2012-07-15) –
August 19, 2012 (2012-08-19)

While it was speculated that the miniseries would lead into a full season, on November 2, 2012, USA Network announced their decision to stick with their initial plan of producing it as a miniseries.[5]

Overview

Elaine Barrish's husband Bud Hammond was a popular President of the United States during the 1990s despite his extramarital affairs. After leaving the White House, Elaine Barrish was elected Governor of Illinois and ran for the Democratic nomination for President, but lost to Paul Garcetti. The night Barrish conceded the nomination, she asked her husband for a divorce. Two years later, as Garcetti's Secretary of State, Barrish deals with State Department issues while trying to keep her family together.[6]

Cast and characters

Main cast

Recurring cast

Guest cast

Development and production
Sigourney Weaver was cast in the role of Elaine Barrish on March 6, 2012

On January 30, 2012, USA Network announced the development of a six-hour series to focus on a former First Family.[6] They simultaneously announced that the pilot would be written and directed by Greg Berlanti, who would executive produce the series with Laurence Mark.[6] Sarah Caplan was later announced to be executive producing as well.[1] Ann Roth served as Weaver's costume designer for the first episode.[1]

James Wolk was the first actor to be cast; it was announced on February 10, 2012, that he would be portraying Douglas Hammond, the son of Elaine Barrish.[9] Three days later, it was revealed that Brittany Ishibashi would be playing Doug's fiancée, Anne Ogami.[11] On March 6, 2012, Sigourney Weaver was cast in the lead role of Elaine Barrish.[7] On March 9, 2012, it was announced that Carla Gugino had joined the cast as Susan Berg, a reporter who becomes one of Elaine's closest allies.[8] Sebastian Stan joined the series on March 15, 2012, as T. J. Hammond, the other son of Elaine Barrish, and Doug's brother.[10] One week later, it was announced that Ciarán Hinds would play the former president and Elaine's ex-husband, Bud Hammond.[13] By April 14, 2012, Ellen Burstyn had joined the series as Margaret Barrish, Elaine's mother and a former Vegas showgirl.[12] On May 2, 2012, it was announced that Adrian Pasdar would appear in a recurring role in all six episodes as the current president, Paul Garcetti.[1][2] The casting of Dylan Baker in the recurring role of Vice President Fred Collier was announced on May 7, 2012.[14]

Linda Powell, the daughter of former United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, appeared in the first episode as the national security advisor to the president.[16] Roger Bart, Dan Futterman, and Vanessa Redgrave also made appearances in the series.[17] David Monahan appeared in the fourth episode, while Blair Brown appeared in the fifth as Barbara Berg, the mother of Susan.[18]

By May 2, 2012, principal photography had begun in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[1]

The theme music is "Future Starts Slow" by The Kills.

Episodes
No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateU.S. viewers
(millions)
1"Pilot"Greg BerlantiGreg BerlantiJuly 15, 2012 (2012-07-15)2.62[19]
After losing the Democratic primary race to Paul Garcetti, candidate and former First Lady Elaine Hammond asks her husband, former President Bud Hammond, for a divorce. Two years later, Elaine, now going by her maiden name Barrish, is the Secretary of State under President Garcetti. When an enterprising reporter, Susan Berg, tries to reveal that Elaine's son T.J. attempted suicide due to personal problems, Elaine allows Berg to follow her for a week to silence the story. During that time, three journalists are taken hostage in Iran, disrupting her son Douglas's engagement party. Elaine tells Bud she plans to send him to Oman to negotiate. At the end of the episode, she privately tells her bodyguard that she plans to once again run for President.
2"Second Time Around"Bethany RooneyGreg Berlanti & Molly NewmanJuly 22, 2012 (2012-07-22)2.28[20]
Elaine convinces Garcetti to send Bud to negotiate for the hostages, but Vice President Collier remains unsure. Douglas discovers T.J. has begun taking drugs again. Collier announces on television that something will happen in Oman relating to the hostage crisis, causing Oman to pull out. Elaine makes a last-minute deal with the Turkish ambassador to hold the talks in Istanbul. Bud is successful and frees the hostages. Back home, T.J. attempts to steal money from his grandmother for his new nightclub after being denied money by her and his parents, but is unable to go through with it. Douglas ends up giving him the money. After Douglas's engagement party is finally held, he leaks to Berg that his mother will run again.
3"The Woman Problem"Michael MorrisPhil Klemmer & Brian Peterson & Kelly SoudersJuly 29, 2012 (2012-07-29)1.73[21]
In an attempt to stop Elaine from running against him, Garcetti asks her longtime mentor, Justice Diane Nash (Vanessa Redgrave), to retire from the Supreme Court so he can appoint Elaine to take Nash's place. Nash considers taking the offer as her longtime partner is dying. However, someone in the White House leaks the details to the press, allowing Susan to tip off Elaine. Meanwhile, Elaine announces her candidacy to her family, drawing negative reactions from her mother. Bud, Douglas, and T.J. take a fishing trip and stay at the home of a pollster. The pollster predicts Elaine will win in the primary, but only if Bud remains out of the spotlight. Elaine convinces Nash not to accept Garcetti's offer and Susan holds off her story on Elaine's candidacy on the condition that Douglas tell her everything that led up to it.
4"Lost Boys"David PetrarcaSpeed Weed & Geoffrey NaufftsAugust 5, 2012 (2012-08-05)1.80[22]
In a flashback, it is revealed that T.J.'s suicide attempt stemmed from an affair with a closeted Republican congressman, the latter of whom was blackmailed by the White House. In the present, Garcetti refuses to aid a sunken Chinese submarine off the West Coast. After an appeal to the Chinese fails, Elaine tells Garcetti that she will imminently announce her candidacy against him unless he rescues the Chinese crewmen. Georgia tricks Anne into confirming Elaine's presidential plans and leverages that knowledge into sharing a byline on the breaking story with Susan. T.J. opens his club despite the refusal of his parents to attend the opening as previously planned. T.J.'s dealer gives him cocaine at the club. Bud arrives at the opening and discovers T.J., unconscious following an overdose.
5"16 Hours"Tucker GatesPhil Klemmer & Nicholas WoottonAugust 12, 2012 (2012-08-12)1.98[23]
To deflect attention from T.J.'s overdose, Elaine asks Susan to write up a fake story in exchange for exclusive coverage of the submarine rescue. During the flight to San Diego, drunken flirtation between Douglas and Susan leads to a sexual encounter. Meanwhile, Douglas' grandmother then reveals to Anne that she knows that she is bulimic. T.J. wakes up with Elaine lying next to him in a chair; he apologizes profusely and falls back asleep. Bud arrives and Elaine leaves to confront Garcetti, who has learned that China's plans to scuttle the submarine will release a radioactive plume over San Diego. Elaine convinces Garcetti to ignore Chinese threats and successfully rescue the crewmen.
6"Resignation Day"David PetrarcaMolly Newman & Speed WeedAugust 19, 2012 (2012-08-19)2.34[24]
Garcetti refuses Elaine's resignation, asking her to run in the next election as his Vice President. Douglas comes clean about his betrayal to his mother after leaking out family secrets, including Elaine's resignation letter, to Susan. Air Force One crashes in France with President Garcetti aboard. Elaine helps avert a potential constitutional crisis by convincing Vice President Collier to invoke the Twenty-fifth Amendment to become Acting President, rather than taking the presidential oath of office. Douglas and his fiancée Anne elope but the Hammonds crash the wedding after T.J. figures out where they have gone. Bud tries to persuade Elaine to run against Collier.

International broadcasts

The show aired on the Bravo specialty channel in Canada, with episodes playing on the same day as in the United States.[25]

Reception

Critical reception

Political Animals received "generally favorable" reviews based on an aggregate score of 65/100 from 33 critics on Metacritic.[26] Rob Brunner of Entertainment Weekly called the series a "well-acted, entertainingly soapy drama" that "offers a fun and credible look at the complicated intersection of love, gender, and politics."[27] The Los Angeles Times' Robert Lloyd called the series "a high-class, relatively naturalistic, behind-closed-doors soap opera that plays in fairly obvious yet also fairly affecting ways with the space between public face and private pain and is made highly watchable by an excellent cast that finds the human among the hokum."[28] Alan Sepinwall of HitFix stated: "with a cast this good, and with so many potentially juicy conflicts already in play, I'm going to take a more optimistic point of view than Elaine Barrish might."[29]

However, there were some detractors. Linda Stasi of the New York Post simply stated: "The actors are great, but the show isn't."[30] The Hollywood Reporter's Tim Goodman commented: "what Animals is trying to do is take The West Wing and turn it into Dallas. And if you don't like Dallas, that can be a real let down [sic]."[31] Verne Gay of Newsday was the harshest critic, calling the series "stupendously silly," adding "it's a clanking, clattering collection of collagenous clinkers—of dialogue so inept, of acting performances so preposterous, of plot points so clichéd that the only question worth posing is why someone of Weaver's stature would be caught anywhere near a turkey like this."[32]

Awards and nominations
Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
2012
 Critics' Choice Television Awards Most Exciting New Series Won [33]
Satellite Awards Best Actress in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television Sigourney Weaver Nominated [34]
2013
 Artios Awards Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Television Movie/Mini Series David Rubin, Diane Heery, Melissa Pryor, and Jason Loftus Nominated [35]
Critics' Choice Television Awards Best Movie/Miniseries Nominated [36]
Best Actress in a Movie/Miniseries Sigourney Weaver Nominated
Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Miniseries Sebastian Stan Nominated
Best Supporting Actress in a Movie/Miniseries Ellen Burstyn Nominated
Directors Guild of America Awards Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Miniseries Greg Berlanti (Episode: Pilot) Nominated [37]
GLAAD Media Awards Outstanding TV Movie or Mini-Series Nominated [38]
Golden Globe Awards Best Miniseries or Television Film Nominated [39]
Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film Sigourney Weaver Nominated
Online Film & Television Association Awards Best Motion Picture or Miniseries Nominated [40]
Best Actress in a Motion Picture or Miniseries Sigourney Weaver Nominated
Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture or Miniseries Sebastian Stan Nominated
Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture or Miniseries Ellen Burstyn Nominated
Best Direction of a Motion Picture or Miniseries Nominated
Best Writing of a Motion Picture or Miniseries Nominated
Best Ensemble in a Motion Picture or Miniseries Nominated
Best Cinematography in a Non-Series Nominated
Best Editing in a Non-Series Nominated
Best Music in a Non-Series Nominated
Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Miniseries or Movie Greg Berlanti, Laurence Mark, Sarah Caplan, and Melissa Kellner Berman Nominated [41]
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie Sigourney Weaver Nominated
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie Ellen Burstyn Won
Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special David Rubin and Diane Heery Nominated
Outstanding Hairstyling for a Miniseries or a Movie Mary Ann Valdes, Nancy Stimac, and Qodi Armstrong Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries Sigourney Weaver Nominated [42]
Writers Guild of America Awards Long Form – Original Greg Berlanti (Episode: Pilot) Nominated [43]

References
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