So we end up right back where we started from.

 

 

During the evolution of  Commander in Chief‘s first half-season, the villainous and ambitious Republican Florida rep and Speaker of the House Nathan Templeton (Donald Sutherland) went from an undermining enemy of politically independent President Mackenzie Allen (Gena Davis) to a close advisor, helping her through a crisis with North Korea. He almost became a friend, and Allen invited him to Thanksgiving dinner, where she handed over a tape of a racist speech he gave in the 1960s. Also, First Gentlemen Rod Calloway  (Kyle Secor) went from an emasculated House husband  to a close advisor, and Richard ‘Dickie’ McDonald (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) had been hired to do polls and be a close advisor, this change in a bid to match some of  The West Wing‘s insider sassiness. Also, Jayne Murray (Natasha Henstridge), Templeton’s chief of staff, had quit and moved on to a job as a consultant or lobbyist.

But by two or three episodes into the second half of season one, after Steve Bochco was summoned to save the show after its creator Rod Lurie, was dismissed, suddenly we are right back where we started from. Templeton was once again an outsider plotting to undermine the president as part of his own ambition for the highest office; Murray was back as his assistant, sitting by his side and saying the mean things he can’t say while receiving the benefit of his sage wisdom about political infighting. And the First Gentleman receded back to his old desk in the emasculation chamber, after an unmemorable phases as a co-chief of staff. And the pollster did hardly anything except stand around and speak a few irritating truths before getting fired and ending up working for Templeton.

 

And then there was yet  another confirmation hearing, this one for the Attorney General to match the earlier battle for the vice president. The show was beginning to repeat itself and it was only 15 episodes old. Meanwhile Bochco left. Putting  CiC out of its misery was probably the best thing the network could do for the show, although apparently Lurie is doing a TV movie based on the series (perhaps it will come in a white box to match the first two’s blue and red). 

I would mark that as a mistake. One of the problems with  CiC is that it was terribly cast. If   The West Wing tended to the wry insider joke Liberal casting, then  CiC was driven, after some initial problems, such as getting Joan Allen, whom Lurie wanted for the lead, to drawing on the well of old familiar TV faces and supporting actors, such as Polly Bergen and Adam Arkin and Robert Joy.

Even more so than movies, where it is an issue of the highest order, good casting is crucial to a TV show. For one thing, a popular series is going to last for at least 10 years and people are prone to getting sick of mannerisms or people who are slightly off. Remember how for a long time viewers were mad about Helen Hunt? Now just the memory of her speaking style in the show inspires cringing. Sutherland was never quite right as the nefarious Speaker, Secor was way too soft, and Davis never warmed the viewer to her role. If I could have shuffled the deck for them, I would have put Peter Coyote in as the First Gentleman (instead of as VP), or made Natasha Henstridge the president. 

Be that as it may, the second half of  CiC creeps uninterestingly to its denouement, which consists of a debate between Allen and her nemesis. The eight episodes are strung across two discs, but unlike the previous release, which came out on June 27th and also retailed for $29.95, this half has some supplements. There are also audio commentary tracks by Rod Lurie, over the pilot, which is duplicated on this set (and in which he does not discuss the show’s troubles), and by writer and producer Dee Johnson over the “The Elephant in the Room,” the episode in which Allen suffers an appendix attack and Templeton becomes president for a day. Johnson basically walks the viewer through what the producers wanted to convey about Allen and others, that she is vulnerable, that she can be short with her staff, why there is no flashback in the story,  and so forth. There is no reference to the show’s cancelation, its troubled history, or its future. Also on hand is a six minute interview with Davis, shot obviously during the early days of the show,  20 deleted scenes, and bloopers that end with a joke shot of Davis vacuuming the Oval Office rug and show Davis as someone fun to work with. Finally there is a host of trailers for other BV shows and movies.

The question is whether fans of the show, such as they are, will be willing to spend as much as sixty dollars for something the equivalent of which or more can usually be had for forty. It’s moments like these when I realize why the DVD business is going “soft.” It’s because DVD distributors are either reselling the same thing over and over in different packages, or trying to squeeze the last bit of revenue out of failures, such as this show and numerous other cancelled programs that have recently flooded the market.

 

Commander in Chief 2-Disc Inaugural Edition Part 2 comes in nice 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfers, with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio and eight-chapter scene selection. It hit the street on Tuesday, September 5 for $29.95.

 

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