Political Animals- The Complete Series DVD Review
Nothing feels remotely real about “Political Animals.”
In this 6 episode one-off mini-series that aired on the USA Channel, the story begins with the former First Lady (Elaine Barrish Hammond) divorcing her charismatic, vulgar and pompous husband/former President (Bud Hammond) and losing out on a presidential run to Paul Garcetti. The story then jumps forward in time to reveal that Elaine was appointed the Secretary of State by President Paul Garcetti. From there on out, the audience gets up close and personal look at Elaine’s life in office and out of office. Main plotlines include: Elaine’s dysfunctional family (which includes Bud, her engaged son Douglas, and her openly gay, suicidal, and drug addicted son T.J.), a feisty reporter named Susan Berg, Elaine running for President again, a hostage situation in Iran, Paul Garcetti trying to stop Elaine from running against him, the working relationship between Elaine and Susan, a Chinese submarine rescue mission, and a deadly Air Force One plane crash.
Despite the obvious parallels to Hilary Clinton, there’s nothing remotely realistic about “Political Animals.” The entire series feels like a phony soap opera filled with cheesy and overwritten observations about political commentators, candidates, and campaigns. The show is so far fetched and so removed from reality that it seems like it comes off as an unintentional parody. Additionally, the show suspiciously side steps politics for the most part. I assume the writers and network didn’t want to show any sort of political bias, but it seems odd that a show about politicians is more focused on over-the-top character arcs.
The only reason that show isn’t a complete bomb is because of veteran actress Sigourney Weaver. Weaver certainly does the best she can with the cheap material that she is given here and she makes the role better than it really is. It’s certainly not hard to see why she received awards and acclaim for her performance.
Video/Audio:
Presentation: Widescreen. How does it look? It looks like a standard DVD (which is to say fine).
Audio track: Dolby Digital 5.1. How does it sound? Satisfactory.
The only extras are a little over 7 minutes of deleted scenes. That’s it.
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