TV on DVD Buzz

This week’s TV on DVD Season I am going through and doing wrap ups of is the two part Season 1/Inaugural Edition of the Commander in Chief series, which ended up canceled after the first season. Today’s wrap up is of Part 1 Disc 2.

“First Disaster” - This episode begins with the President being on Air Force One with the Speaker of the House Templeton on their way to Florida where a hurricane recently hit. Templeton’s family home was destroyed in the hurricane. Templeton and the President then hand out water and food to those in need. The hurricane caused damage to a super tanker and the oil leaking could blanket the east coast. Meanwhile the First Gentleman continues to consider the job of Commissioner of Baseball, as part of considering the job he and Horace play some leisure ball with the Baltimore Orioles. The press secretary accidentally tells the President about him considering the job before he told her. The issue of the oil tanker quickly puts Templeton and Mackenzie against each other again with him not wanting them to let the tanker come to port in Florida right after the hurricane disaster. Rebecca convinces her secret service agent to give her ten minutes alone in public with the same guy she was caught kissing in a previous episode. The situation quickly turns ugly with a bunch of people coming around her and she presses her panic button and her agent rushes her out of the situation. The First Gentleman ends up requesting the agent be transferred for allowing the incident to occur. In the end the ship is brought in safely to a military base in Florida and the First Gentleman takes the job as Commissioner of Baseball.

“First Scandal” - As the First Gentleman is about to go to New York as the Commissioner of Baseball a scandal about someone being too close to the administration that should not be and a biography of President Bridges threatening to bring down Mackenzie’s administration when it comes out as advanced copy in two days. Also in this episode General Keaton goes through the confirmation hearings led by Templeton. Rebecca tries to go to Mike’s party as a way to be with Mike since he cannot go to the White House since the President walked in on them kissing and the incident with her agent in the previous episode. Reluctantly the First Gentleman allows her to go. Horace learns about the auto pen that signs the President’s name and ends up using it to sign a school thing he got a bad grade on. The scandal turns out to be about how she was asked to resign by President Bridges and ended up not following his orders. The book also talks about Bridges trying to get her out before then. They suspect the Chief of Staff Jim (he was also Bridges Chief of Staff) as the leak, but he is not and he plans to resign because of the distrust. It turns out that the source was actually President Bridges himself and was working with the author. The resignation speech that got leaked was someone else, though, and the Chief of Staff could not have done it. Thus she does not accept Jim’s resignation. Also, in the end the First Gentleman is convinced to not become the Commissioner of Baseball. At the party Mike ends up trying to go too far with Rebecca. General Keaton ends up being confirmed as Vice President.

“Rubie Dubidoux and the Brown Board Express” - This episode begins with the First Gentleman getting annoyed due to not having an official part of the administration and still being expected to have her back and give advise. He does not ask for Jim’s job, but just some sort of role besides the Secretary of Pillow Talk. She ends up making him head of Strategic Planning. Templeton learns about the Presidents aide being HIV positive and gay while at the same time Jim is learning about at least the HIV part (actually first learns in a previous episode). Templeton plans to out him. Mike ends up breaking up with Rebecca because she did not want to have sex with him in the previous episode. Some friend of the Press Secretary ends up finding a tape with Nathan Templeton talking about segregation as a good thing back in the 60s. She refuses to use the footage because he is not like that now and he was basically a kid back then. Horace gets in trouble for buying an essay online. The Vice Principal gives him a chance to rewrite it without being reported as his one and only second chance. Horace ends up almost fist fighting with Mike because Mike is saying he did have sex with Rebecca. The President is pressures to use the tape to keep Templeton from leaking about her aide’s HIV status, however she chooses to ask her aide to resign. Horace ends up telling their dad that Rebecca slept with Mike because he believes it happened when he is being hounded for the F in English and cheating. Jim convinces her to not fire her aide because it would cause more trouble because it would seem she fired him for being gay or HIV positive instead of the dishonesty. She ends Templeton showing him the tape to convince him that he should not let the info about her aide get out. Templeton ends up firing his aide because she leaked it to Jim how Templeton knew about the President’s aide having HIV.

“The Mom Who Came to Dinner” - It is Thanksgiving and the Essex base in the President’s home state is being considered for closing. A friend from law school wants to see the President to try to get his mentally disabled client cleared from being put to death on the day after Thanksgiving. The President’s mother comes to visit for the holidays. The President ends up asking Templeton and his wife to join her intimate family Thanksgiving dinner when she learns his wife is not well enough to go home to Florida for the holiday. It is revealed that Jim and Templeton’s aide that was fired in the previous episode had been going out. They end up breaking up because she became a lobbyist and it was now illegal to be together rather than just unethical. The First Gentleman is relieved to have the President’s mother handling the Thanksgiving preparations. The President deals with whether she should or should not commute the death sentence on her friend’s client. Templeton begins to contemplate hiring his aide back, which he discusses with his wife. The First Gentleman wants the President’s mom to stay as the official hostess. The President begins to think about running for President for the next term. The President gives Templeton the tape and film of the incident in the 1960s, and if she decides to run and she runs against him she wants to win on merit alone. She ends up commuting the woman’s sentence to life in prison.

“Sub Enchanted Evening” - Templeton asks his aide (chief of staff) to come back to work for him. The President talks with her family about running for President. They all are for, except for Rebecca, which is a similar reaction to the first episode decision about resigning as Vice President or becoming President. The President learns that a US sub is near the North Korean coast is in trouble (power loss, I think). It turns out that it was there because of President Bridges orders or something like that, but the President and her staff had no idea about it. They must now figure out how to save the men on the submarine and at the same time keep the Chinese and Koreans from learning about the submarine being there. A rescue seems impossible. They end up having to negotiate with the Chinese to get help with an undersea rescue. The North Koreans end up finding out about the submarine being in Korean waters and it hits the news networks in Korean and then the US as well. This episode ends as a to be continued and is kind of an odd way to end the first Part set, although I guess it really gets you to want to then get Part 2 to see the conclusion of the episode.