Reality Bites!

Perception is more important than reality and most of people's perception of reality is shaped by television. That's why TV is something we should also consider seriously - that, and the fact that it can be fun and entertaining.
The fall is the season of new TV shows in the U.S. Some are good (Invasion) and some are really bad (Supernatural). This week, in the New York Times Television Review of the fall season, there was a comment worth posting about the new 'political' fiction "Commander-in-Chief":

ABC is stretching credibility to the outer limits with its new White House drama. The vice president of the United States is on an official visit to France, and Parisian school children actually sing "America the Beautiful"?
We think not.
Other than that, however, "Commander in Chief" is not so farfetched.

Well, first of all, it is worth noting that even though Dick Cheney did certainly not come to France, the most powerful woman in the administration (State Secretary Rice) did, and incidently she attended music played by children in a Parisian school... as you can see on this picture (taken from the U.S. Ambassy in France)
but maybe journalist Alessandra Stanley did not know that.

At same time for her to say that "Other than that, however, "Commander in Chief" is not so farfetched" has to be a joke. Phu-leez!
The show starts with vice-President Allen (Geena Davis) who happens to be an independent (with only two terms in the House of Representatives as political experience) in a Republican administration that makes the Bush team look like a bunch of libs.
Then,before dying, the incapacitated president asks her to resign as she she was a "token" on the ticket in favor of, Templeton (Donald Sutherland) the Speaker of the House.
But that's not all, Templeton is your die-hard sexist conservatice caricature and so after thinking about quitting Allen finally decides to assume the presidency (despite having written a resignation letter) because he makes her blood boil with a sexist reference.
Then her first action as president consists in sending American armed forces into a helpless Third World country to rescue a woman who's in danger of being executed.

Right.... which of those is actually not far-fatched? The official visit of a vice-President to a Parisian school?
I think not.
Oh, well, actually, yes, maybe the fact that the so-called "Parisian" children are singing 'America, the Beautiful' in French but with a distinctive American accent is quite far-fatched to any French-speaking audience. But that is not something that NY Times Reviewer Alessandra Stanley would have been able to tell.... would it?