Front Page Magazine on Loony TV White Houses, via a link from Badanov's place.

“Commander in Chief” was launched in September 2005 with enormous promotion and publicity. For two weeks its audience exceeded 16 million, but thereafter viewership plummeted. Before the series was put on hiatus by ABC, its January 24 show attracted only 10.4 million viewers – and, as research showed, most of its audience was over 50, lower middle class and below-average in income, an audience sponsors have little desire to spend big ad money to reach.

With its sluggish, preachy partisan writing, dull characters and unreal depiction of Washington, D.C., “Commander in Chief” is a failure by every standard and is unlikely to survive much longer. It’s no wonder that ABC promoted its return with spots hinting that President Allen’s husband might be having an affair. The show that was supposed to pave Hillary Clinton’s path to the White House has, at least as promoted, metamorphosed into a sinkhole political version of “Desperate Housewives.”"

Have you ever tried to watch Commander in Chief? I did. Once. Tuned in to catch Madam President calling a Governor in order to force him to halt an inmate's execution. Problem was, in real life at least, a President can ask for anything he or she would so desire, but cannot commute the sentence of anyone other than a Federal prisoner. Didn't matter to Hollywood, because delving far too deep into reality has NEVER mattered much to Hollywood.