The Girls on the Bus

In the past, I used to enjoy TV series and movies about elections and presidencies, not just the obvious "West Wing," but almost all of them (by the way, "Dave" with Kevin Kline is one of my favorite movies of all time). However, I don't feel the same anymore, especially considering the current candidates for POTUS and world leaders in other countries.

So, I was initially reluctant to watch "The Girls on the Bus," but I gave it a chance when I saw that Carla Gugino and Melissa Benoist were the two leads. So far, I've watched one and a half episodes and have decided to continue following the show.

I'm not entirely sure if I enjoy the plot that much, but I do appreciate the performances, especially Melissa Benoist's portrayal of an ambitious young journalist who can't catch a break. It's not an easy role, and another actor could have easily overdone it or created a caricature of the character, but she managed to keep it in control.

As I mentioned, I'm unsure if the plot will make sense in the end, but the script has managed so far to portray the personalities of the main characters with adequate complexity.

Overall: It is somehow interesting. Not deep as other well known series. Characters not paper thin. Good performances.

There once was a book - The Boys On The Bus by Timothy Crouse - about the wild road trip on the 1972 election. So now it's time for the girls to get on that bus, this one based on, Chasing Hillary by Amy Chozick, who also co-wrote and created the series.

This political satire (of some sort) gathers four women from diverse journalistic backgrounds for a bus tour on the democratic trail, where dirty silly games of getting that story at all costs will have one amused.

Don't fret, it takes a swipe at both sides of politics and journalism, with even the darlings of social media getting in the firing line. Enough to amuse one and all. It's no Aaron Sorkin or Julian Fellowes, but it has enough wit and snappy dialogue to carry the story along, revealing the true nature of political gaming and journalistic barbarism.

Most importantly, it has the ghost of Hunter S. Thompson who pops in for some words of wisdom, so it has my undivided attention!

The show is co-written by Amy Chozick, a journalist who spent years of her 20s and 30s on the campaign trail and was struggling to balance personal life with her work. The show is essentially about this. Since people of different ages struggle with different things, and this show takes place during one campaign season, they have four main characters who are at different ages in their life, each facing a different set of problems. The show does this well, the actors are excellent. The weakness I'd highlight here is the unlikely friendship of the characters, but some reality bending is acceptable in television.

On the politics front: the show follows the Democratic primary election. People with some political knowledge will be able to identify the real politicians who the nominees are based on, all were nationally known at some point. To get an idea: the show also invents new newspapers for its fictional story, the "The Washington Union" and "The New York Sentinel" as well as the cable news network "Liberty News". Can you guess which companies these stand in for?

The political discussion in the show is shallow and hyperbolic (not unlike a campaign). What is a little disappointing is that the journalists sometimes also seem to have very naive ideas about politicians, about one level above the black and white characters in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (a movie the show also references). And they do so while navigating the complex economic and political environments in their own lives.

The show is also noticeably left leaning (I had no problem with this, because so am I).

To sum up, the lived experience and lived politics of the show is nice, the abstracted politics and scoops are pretty thin. If you want to watch a journalist dramedy, you'll probably like this, but if you want Lincoln level political drama, you probably won't.

I am not a fan of political dramas so I honestly didn't have high expectations. I started watching because of the cast. My rule is to watch at least 3 episodes because a new series almost always needs to get going.

I was pleasantly surprised. The cast is solid, the chemistry between them is good, the character depth is clear, it has humor, it is thankfully not overdramatized, there are no ego roles, it deals with substantive issues, the story is satisfying and the production is good.

For me it's a pleasant breeze of fresh air.

I hope there will be a second season.

.........................

Watch the first episode for yourself. At first glance an overall rating of 5.3 at the time of this writing would suggest one of the worst shows of all time. Click on the rating number and you see a huge number of 1s. How can this be? Simple. Certain people don't want you to watch. And then you will miss something worth watching.

I've only watched the first episode but I plan on watching the rest of the season. If you like shows that involve the political process then you should find this interesting. But if you are triggered by seeing one sort of character or issue you don't agree with then maybe you only watch one episode.

However you feel, it would be nice to give an honest rating. Almost nothing ever produced has deserved a 1 (or a 10). The people who hand out 1s likely do so often and somehow thinking their opinion reigns supreme.