TV pick of the week: Political Animals

You know you watch too much television when you can recognize the writer of a show after watching it for only 5 min. That is exactly what happened when I started watching (with no prior knowledge) Political Animals and instantly started thinking of the short-lived Jack & Bobby and other Greg Berlanti shows.

The USA mini-series premiered last week and of course I was way too busy being excited about the Breaking Bad return to care much about it. But I finally got around watching it on Hulu and I thought it had promise.

Political Animals follows a Hillary-type character played by Sigourney Weaver, who is planning to run for president and has a Kennedy-type family. I don’t think the point of the show is to make any grand political statement; rather it is a character piece about family and relationships with a political background. And family drama is what Greg Berlanti does best, remember Brothers & Sisters?

And now that I think about it, this show is almost like a mash up of all previous Greg Berlanti’s shows. Because of the parallelisms to actual political figures, the show reminded me of Jack & Bobby, which followed the lives of two brothers named Jack and Bobby… one of which would end up being president (oddly it wasn’t the one named Jack). And BTW wouldn’t it be great if Elaine Barrish was played by Christine Lahti? I love Sigourney Weaver… but I think I love Christine Lahti a little bit more. As for the family dynamics and quick retorts the show has a lot of the beloved Brothers & Sisters, however the family is a little less suburban and a little more decadent… perhaps more like the Darlings of Dirty Sexy Money. There is even a frustrated piano player in the mix to remind me of my absolute favorite Berlanti show Everwood.

I absolutely loved all the shows mentioned above. I am still not jumping up and down about Political Animals, but I am interested enough to keep watching and I do hope they turn the mini into an actual series.

Where to watch it: Political Animals airs on Sundays 10/9c but if you are watching Breaking Bad at that time you can catch it on Hulu another time.

Quotes: "He is one sex scandal away from dancing with the stars"