The First Lady

I thoroughly enjoyed this series . Not being American I only knew bits and pieces about these women , the show has pushed me to do further research. I loved Gillian Anderson and Michelle Pfieffer in their roles but found Viola Davis ( who I am a fan of) very distracting pursing her lips like that all the time . I have endeavoured to look at footage of Michelle Obama to see how accurate this is .. and not really succeeded. Nevertheless a really good series , well worth the time.

Michelle Pheiffer is fantastic! This should have been just a series about Betty Ford. Pheiffer plays this with grace, dignity and empathy.

Anderson is fine as Eleanor Roosevelt, I think the dentures were just unnecessary... just too much. We know Eleanor had an overbite but it was distracting.

Now let's talk about Viola Davis who is skit performing Michelle Obama as an SNL joke. Absolutely ridiculous with the crazy mouth acting and for those of us who like Ms. Obama, why did Viola Davis portray her this way? It's completely hysterically awful and side splittingly funny. Just horrible😂

First let me say that Viola Davis is an amazing actress and while I do agree that the constant lip pursing is annoying there's something else that bothers much more than that. Barack is three years older than Michelle, Viola is 16 YEARS OLDER THAN OT Fagbenle. Seriously ???? Not to mention that Viola is only one year younger than MO right now so should she be playing a version of Michelle from 13 years ago ?? Plus she is also five inches shorter which is noticeable. OT is nowhere near as lean as BO was and his accent is too much.

Gillian Anderson looks like she is in actual pain if she were to open her mouth. Yes, we all know Eleanor had an overbite and what some would call "horse teeth" but she actually smiled all the time so I don't get it. Her voice also sounds exactly like her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in The Crown. I'd be surprised if she watched any interview of Eleanor or her actually speaking because it doesn't seem like it. Keifer Sutherland is great as FDR.

Michelle Pfeiffer is BRILLIANT as Betty Ford, she doesn't get a lot of screen time but she steals it leaving you wanting more when she's done.

Viola Davis and Gillian Anderson are doing impersonations more suited for "Saturday Night Live." Michelle Pfeiffer on the other hand humanizes First Lady Betty Ford, an often overlooked historical figure. I happen to agree with critics who've stated that this show would have fared better had the entire spotlight been on Betty Ford.

Pfeiffer gives one of the best performances of her career as Betty Ford. Anderson gives the intelligent, detailed performance you'd expect from her as Eleanor Roosevelt, and she and Kiefer Sutherland both nail the Roosevelts' vocal musicality.

Sadly, Viola Davis is simply miscast as Michelle Obama, missing her breezy charm and charisma that so many other actresses could have captured. She attempts to make up for this by constantly pursing her lips and overdoing Obama's lumbering gait. It doesn't work.