Madam Secretary

I don't understand why people are giving poor reviews, maybe they have only viewed the pilot. They could have expanded more, but people should not be so quick to leave a review after only seeing 60 minutes of a season series. So far I have only viewed the pilot and the first episode, but I am anticipating it will get high reviews. Anyone who enjoys watching the TV series Scandal, should enjoy this series as well. Scandal is quite violent and into shock value. To compare the two shows I find the writing far superior. Tea Leoni was an excellent choice. She is a wonderful actor and I have enjoyed all her movies. She can make you feel the emotions of the script every time.

This is a great new show that highlights Tea's and Tim's acting chops. I'm glad to see casting chose the talented versus gorgeous actor route and graced them with intelligent crisp dialogue. I'm a guy and it's nice to see a middle aged woman get a leading role.

The geopolitics and inner politics are a bit reminiscent of "West Wing" although the ensemble doesn't have the synergy of WW's first two seasons, and the cast doesn't play off each other quite as well.

Unfortunately, most of the reviews I've read thus far reveal that the public sees this show as an unpaid ad vehicle to Secty Clinton - I disagree - so tragically, it may not last long.

I agree with a previous reviewer who asserted that the eldest daughter is obnoxious. She's probably written true to life: she'd likely be spoiled and entitled having grown up upper middle class in today's society with her privileges. And she'd probably be saddled with sophomoritis since she's a 20 year old articulate woman who's a freshman dropout.

I also have to marvel at the negotiating/conflict resolution skill of the writers as voiced by the parents. Several times I've had to stop the program and sit at the TV in amazement at how deftly these parents dealt with a child's misbehaving or explanations of tragedies. And Tea's character displays the same art in her political maneuvering. Wow! I wish I could diffuse arguments that artfully. Or had been graced with parents who had an iota of their skill.

Bottom line: this show deserves to be renewed.

I would seriously doubt a show like this with a lead male character would have a synopsis essentially refer to 'work life balance', automatically putting it in the 'career mom struggle' basket. Bess (Madam Secretary), is an extremely well written, complex, political character who happens to wear a skirt sometimes. I really hope people do not dismiss the show without giving it a chance. Yes, it does explore both sides of political life, the professional and the personal, but that kind of exploration makes for layered plot development, and is not gender specific. It may at some stage get irritating the way the State Office consistently seems to be able to achieve positive outcomes to complex global issues in one handy episode, but for now it's just satisfying. And welcome back Tea Leoni, wow!

Being from Europe and not really interested in the details of US politics, I watched the show simply as entertainment and did not take it too seriously. Too bad some people take it as propaganda, it's only a TV show...

I liked the pilot and it left a lot of room for character and storyline development.

Seeing as there are far worst shows out there, I'm willing to give this one a chance and hope to be positively surprised.

Also, I've been waiting for Téa Leoni to be back on TV and really enjoyed watching her in a role that is perfect for her.

This is not weighty, or particularly politically sophisticated, but for a feel good (normally), well made, well scripted series it's good enough to look forward to each week, like meeting up with a friend. The characters in the program are particularly enjoyable and for that alone it's worth at least a try.