TV Show Recommendation: Madam Secretary (2014-2019)

Posted on 03/13/2022 by Pisaries Creator

A good idea is meaningless without the courage to act.
-Elizabeth McCord-

Madam Secretary is a political drama created by Barbara Hall that lasted six seasons although the last season didn’t have as many episodes. The first five seasons deals with Elizabeth McCord as Secretary of State in the U.S. and the sixth season deals with her decision to advance or walk away from politics. With any TV show, Madam Secretary started strong but faltered a little bit near the end. It might be the subject matter resembled too much of the real Washington but realistic, nonetheless. There were 120 episodes with the first episode airing on September 21^st and the last episode was on December 8^th. Each episode lasted 42 to 46 minutes.

The main characters are Elizabeth McCord (Téa Leoni), Henry McCord (Tim Daly), Nadine Tolliver (Bebe Neuwirth), Russell Jackson (Željko Ivanek), Blake Morgan (Erich Bergen), Daisy Grant (Patina Miller), Matt Mahoney (Geoffrey Arend), Conrad Dalton (Keith Carradine), and Jay Whitman (Sebastian Arcelus). The recurring or later season roles with Kat Sandoval (Sara Ramirez), Mike Barnow (Kevin Rahm), Walter Novack (René Auberjonois), Will Adams (Eric Stoltz), Ephraim Ware (Clifton Davis), Ming Chen (Francis Jue), Dmitri Petrov (Chris Petrovski), Jareth Glover (Christopher O’Shea), Ronnie Baker (Justine Lupe), Nina Cummings (Tracee Chimo), and Mark Hanson (Wentworth Miller).

The strengths were the relationships between Bess and Henry McCord and their three children as well as the strong relationships among the White House and Secretary of State staff. The strongest episodes were those where the staff didn’t all get along and when children were less than cooperative. My favorite characters besides the obvious are Russell Jackson, Blake Morgan, Mike Barnow, Will Adams, and Ming Chen. There were so many great episodes that it’s hard to narrow them down to one in each season.

I rate Madam Secretary GREAT at 90%.