Scandal

This is a great show. The chemistry between Kerry Washington and the man that plays the president is superb. Best chemistry i have seen on a show. I love how she is African American and he is Caucasian. Different is finally on television and she is the lead. I love how it's crime, suspense, slight thriller, and most of all romance. When I first saw the previews for this show, I thought oh no another crime show but this is like no other crime show on TV. I was very impressed and now it's returned for a second season, I'm so excited to watch. Abc is taking over TV channels with best shows. It will be hard for other shows to compete with the chemistry between the characters. The only thing I do not like is, for a president, I need him to be a little stronger and vulnerable. He needs to take initiative sometimes on his own but he's gorgeous even though he's older.

The top portion of this review was written in 2012. This portion is of 2015. I no longer enjoy this show as much as I use to. The seasons have started to rush and a lot of things have happened too quickly. Scandal has gone from Olivia fixing Scandals to her being more of an asset than the president. She has been kidnapped, held hostage, etc. This show could have gone longer at a steady paste but it is now a soap opera. Because, soap operas have unbelievable twists and turns constantly. I miss the first season when she and her team would fix scandals.One more thing, It seems like the president, Mellie, Olivia, Cyrus, Quinn, Huck, Abby, etc. all talk the same! They use to not speak the exact same way but now they do. For example: They start talking fast, very fast, like their minds are racing and the person they are talking to starts to call their name in a repetitive state until they get their full attention. Like, Liv, Liv, Liv, OLIVIA! Stop Talking! Many of them have done this over and over! What's up with the characters talking alike?

I was a big fan of this show in its opening season and most the way through season 4. It was clever, with some good writing, interesting characters, and good plot twists. Then something happened and it turned into a soap opera. Rather than being an interesting show with some big moments, it turned into every scene being a yelling feast. I love an intense interaction, but when it's every dialogue in every scene...it's gets old. It's like they turned the volume up to 11 and left it there for 2 seasons. Characters became ridiculous and inconsistent, writing got predictable. Every character intensely flip flops back and forth, usually multiple times an episode. I'm trying to finish the show just to see how they resolve everything but it's basically just suffering through episodes that are mostly unwatchable. Sad to see it fall so far from its first seasons

This is about the most reprehensible people you could ever dream about. It starts off with the group hacking a voting machine to facilitate the election of Fitzgerald Grant (with a name like that, you know he's gotta be a weenie). Then from there it escalates to murder, treason, torture and lying with the intent of obtaining and/or maintaining power.

And they never do anything with this power. I mean, the entire series these people are doing these horrible things to gain control of The White House, but once they obtain the power they have no agenda neither to enrich themselves nor to cut taxes or help the poor. It's playing "King of the Mountain". Once you get up there, your only objective is to stay up there.

There doesn't seem to be much creativity in writing dialogue. The dialogue seems to always go the same way. The President likes to make a decision, and then after his advisers tell him the risks of the decision, he repeats himself with a louder voice. I want a bologna sandwich with cheese. But, Mr. President, cheese is bad for your cholesterol and bologna is bad for your gout. I WANT A BOLOGNA SANDWICH WITH CHEESE! It's dramatic the first time, but after five times per episode it tends to just get annoying. Another character is Huck, and he talks as if he always has to go to the bathroom. Olivia. I have to go to the bathroom real bad. Is it number one or number two, Huck? It's number twoooooooo.

Another thing that happens frequently is that a character will give a lecture to someone else looking them right in the eye, talking rapidly and loud and over pronouncing the words. We'll take the bologna and cheese sandwich as an example. No. You are going to go into the kitchen and grab some carrots. Then you are going to slice them up. Then you are going to get some tomatoes. You are going to eat that, and you are going to like it, because if you don't, then your cholesterol will skyrocket.

The one highlight of the show (other than the wonderful Brenda Song who only appears in a few episodes) is Emmy Award Winner Joe Morton who plays a ruthless manipulative evil, evil man who makes the others look like rank amateurs, and his only weakness is that he loves his daughter. The actor is fantastic. We first saw him years ago in Terminator 2 when he played the scientist/electronics genius who blew up the Cyberdine (sp?) building, but he has peaked for this role. He's just a fantastic actor.

Another good point is that the soundtrack includes a lot of 70s music. Listen to the music whenever you watch a show. You can always tell the age of the producers.

Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) runs a firm of political fixers in D.C. Her group of loyal associates are gladiators. She has a troubled secret relationship with President Fitzgerald Grant (Tony Goldwyn). He has a political convenient marriage to Mellie Grant (Bellamy Young). Cyrus Beene (Jeff Perry) is the calculating Chief of Staff and David Rosen (Joshua Malina) is the Assistant US Attorney. Olivia hires Quinn Perkins (Katie Lowes). Troubled Huck (Guillermo Díaz) and Abby Whelan (Darby Stanchfield) are two of the associates. Olivia's scheming father (Joe Morton) runs the mysterious shadow government organization B613. Grant assigns Jake Ballard (Scott Foley) to guard Olivia in mid second season.

For a time, Shonda Rhimes owned a night of network television. Grey's is the gold and this is the silver programming. It burned hot for a couple of seasons with overblown plots, and overwrought melodrama. The love triangle is the pinnacle. It definitely burned bright for a time but it burned itself out. By the fifth season, the convoluted story twists and ties itself into a knot. The biggest dead end is Fitz's presidency ending. Even the white hot romantic triangle fades into nothingness. The acting is usually big and over the top. Kerry Washington does a lot of near cry acting with her quivering lips. When a story twists and turns this much, it will almost always go out of control. The last few seasons are simply this show stalling and running in place. Shondaland has an expiry date.

If shonda rhymes knows how to do anything it's create a show that is utterly ridiculous and unrealistic in every way but very entertaining.

As a medical professional I think greys is the best and worst show. I love the characters but the medical stuff frustrates me. But still I allow myself to switch off and enjoy the show.

And I think that's what you also need to do with Scandal. If you have an intelligent bone in your body you have to switch off your brain and suspend total belief. This show is so ridiculous in so many ways. But who doesn't love some political drama, lots of cliffhangers, mysteries and plot twists.

I'll admit it is better in the first few seasons and just gets to preposterous levels by about season 6. The utterly horrible and treasonous acts committed by employees of the White House are insane I'm so glad that it's not unrealistic as it would be just plain scary if our world leaders acted this way.

Nevertheless it had me hooked after about 3-4 episodes and I binge watched the entire series in a few weeks.

I'd label this one a guilty pleasure. Don't watch if you can't switch off your brain as it will only leaving you saying wtf a lot!!!!