First Family drama
USA Network has ordered six hours of a drama series called “Political Animals,” about a former first family-cum-political dynasty that’s on the verge of falling apart. Tell us whether parts of this sound vaguely familiar:
More from Lisa de Moraes
Pulitzer Prize winner, Peabody recipient, Medal of Freedom honoree -- Lisa de Moraes is none of these, but she is an authority on the bad direction, over-acting, and muddled plot lines being played out in the TV industry's executive suites.
The alpha dog of the Fictional Former First Family is the divorced former first lady, who’s the current secretary of state. Elaine Barrish is struggling to keep her family together while dealing with the crises of the State Department.
Secretary Barrish finds an unlikely ally in a famous female D.C. journalist, named Susan Berg, who has spent her career tearing down Elaine.
One of the show’s producers is Greg Berlanti — the co-creator/exec producer of that other “fictional (wink wink)” political-drama series, “Jack & Bobby.”
“Jack & Bobby,” which debuted in 2004 on the now-defunct WB Television Network, was about two good-looking, Kennedyesque brothers, one of whom would become president of the United States — in 2041. And, of course, you knew it was fiction, because the one who became president was Bobby.
Over six episodes, “Political Animals” will expose the dark, human side of life and the often disastrous effects of political ambition, exploring themes that resonate “in the current political landscape,” said the basic cable network, which is owned by NBC Universal — the Comcast-owned media outfit that recently put Chelsea Clinton on the payroll.
MacLaine is ‘Abbey’ bound
Shirley MacLaine has been cast in the third season of PBS’s “Downton Abbey,” the crunchy-gravel drama’s U.K. producers announced Monday.
Thankfully, the show features an American-born Lady Grantham character, played by Elizabeth McGovern, so MacLaine can play her mother convincingly, even with her flat mid-Atlantic accent.
That is in marked contrast to the time MacLaine played the legendary French designer Coco Chanel with a flat mid-Atlantic accent, in a 2008 Lifetime bio-flick.
When asked by TV critics why she wasn’t asked to do an accent — given that the young Coco in the flashback scenes had a heavy French accent — MacLaine responded peckishly that it was because “I wouldn’t have done it.”
“I’m not Meryl Streep,” MacLaine snapped.
“You don’t ask Sean Connery to play with a French accent; you don’t ask Shirley MacLaine to play with a French accent,” added “Coco Chanel” director Christian Duguay, jumping in during that testy Summer TV Press Tour 2008 encounter.
Critics were too polite to note that no one had asked Sean Connery to play Coco Chanel.
Anyway, “Masterpiece” executive producer Rebecca Eaton seems to get it, noting in Monday’s announcement: “Shirley MacLaine is a great actress and she’s as American as the day is long.”
Eaton also promised that there would be much sparring in the show between MacLaine’s character and Maggie Smith’s Lady Violet. My money’s on Smith, no matter how the scenes are written.
Anyway, Gareth Neame, managing director of the series’ producing partner, Carnival Films, noted that he’s particularly pleased with the casting of MacLaine because his late grandfather directed her in “Gambit” in 1966.
Ouch!
WikiFox
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange — who is under house arrest in Britain in connection with sex-crime allegations in Sweden — will play himself on the 500th episode of Fox’s “The Simpsons.”
Assange, an Australian, recorded the guest spot over the summer for the milestone Feb. 19 episode.
“He’s a controversial figure, and there’s a good reason he’s controversial,” “Simpsons” exec producer Al Jean — a master of the obvious statement — told Entertainment Weekly.
Assange is under house arrest in connection with a European arrest warrant issued in 2010. The warrant is in response to a Swedish police request to question him as part of a sexual assault investigation.
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