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This year’s presidential race has brought plot twist after plot twist, from an unprecedented matchup between two former presidents to an assassination attempt and a late-in-the-game switch at the top of the Democratic ticket that upended the contest. It has felt as dramatic as the twistiest of TV’s political series.
Politics are obvious sources of drama that make for great television fodder. But they haven’t always been a robust genre for the medium. Though cops and doctors have been TV staples nearly since the medium’s inception, politics were seen as fodder for only news shows, not scripted series, during the first few decades of broadcasting. As TV executives sought to keep their programming palatable for the masses, the last thing they wanted to do was to bring volatile subject matter into their escapism. (Politics don’t mix with the likes of I Dream of Jeannie or Gilligan’s Island.) But the 1970s brought more daring shows willing to take on issues of the day, like The Mary Tyler Moore Show and especially All in the Family. The decade even featured a brief foray into actual politics with the nine-episode The Bold Ones: The Senator, starring Hal Holbrook.
It wasn’t until the ‘80s and ‘90s—interestingly enough, just as America was starting to grow more politically polarized—that TV began to see the dramatic potential of lawmakers at all levels of power. HBO’s landmark mockumentary Tanner ’88 brought us behind the scenes of a fictional presidential campaign, while Murphy Brown’s fictional main character managed to get into a real-life beef with vice president Dan Quayle. Since then, political intrigue has fueled some of TV’s greatest dramas of the last 25 years—The West Wing, House of Cards, Scandal, The Good Wife, 24—and even a few comedies—Veep, Parks and Recreation.
As the U.S. presidential race officially hits high gear this week with the completion of the Democratic National Convention, we’re looking back at some of the best political twists in TV politics. There are, of course, major spoilers ahead.
‘Game of Thrones’: The Red Wedding
Yes, Game of Thrones is a political show, perhaps more than any other—as the title indicates, it’s about which of several warring factions and families will ultimately rule the fictional realm of Westeros, but here, the bloodshed is literal. The “Red Wedding” episode—technically called “The Rains of Castamere”—shocked people so much at the time of its airing in 2013 that it sparked an online trend of posting reaction videos of fans just freaking out. (I happened to be flying from New York City to Chicago that night, and airports in both major cities were literally abuzz.) After Stark family leader Robb (Richard Madden) goes back on a promise to marry into the Frey clan, he attends the alternate wedding between Edmure Tully (Tobias Menzies) and Roslin Frey (Alexandra Dowling). Though the mood is foreboding, the ceremony is presented as a chance to heal the rift between the Starks and the Freys. But the Freys have something else in mind, locking the Starks who are present in the wedding hall and slaughtering two major characters. The result totally upsets the power balance in the ongoing war.
Where to Watch: Max
‘The Good Wife’: Will’s Death
The Good Wife combines legal and political drama with a strong dose of soapy personal drama as it follows Alicia Florrick (Julianna Marguilies), wife of disgraced DA Peter (Chris Noth), as she embarks on a law career and works to make her own name. But its biggest twist proves that everything on this show is political in the end. When Alicia’s law colleague Will Gardner (Josh Charles) was unexpectedly gunned down in a courtroom, most fans upon its first airing immediately mourned the loss of Alicia and Will’s hot on-again-off-again love affair. But Will’s death leads to major repercussions for Alicia and Peter’s relationship—which, of course, has always been political—and to unexpected political consequences that are Alicia’s alone. It’s a memorable turning point in the strongest season of one of TV’s most sophisticated political dramas.
Where to Watch: Paramount+
‘Scandal’: The Election Fix
Scandal began as a show loosely based on the real life of Judy Smith, a political fixer from the George H.W. Bush administration. But it (presumably) went off script from Smith’s life quickly, all but inventing the signature 2000s move of setting Twitter on fire weekly with unhinged plot twist after unhinged plot twist. (Affairs and assassination attempts are standard here.) In the process, it created a vision of politics for the Age of Paranoia, presenting everyone surrounding the top echelons of U.S. government as political masterminds capable of the darkest and most devious of plots. Case in point, the massive second-season revelation that our very own main character, Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington)—along with several other main characters, including chief of staff Cyrus Beene (Jeff Perry) and First Lady Mellie Grant (Bellamy Young)—rigged the election that put Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) in office. And, of course, there were still plenty of shockers to come on Scandal; here’s to hoping most of them have no basis in real-life politics, but they sure are fun to watch.
Where to Watch: Hulu
‘The West Wing’: Bartlet Invokes the 25th Amendment … on Himself
The West Wing set the template for the modern political drama, taking us inside the White House of a Democratic dream of a president, the thoughtful, smart, high-minded, and only just-flawed-enough Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen). While it provided its share of high-stakes twists thanks to the nature of the set-up, its fourth-season finale proved its most riveting as Bartlet frets over the abduction of his college-age daughter Zooey (Elisabeth Moss) and finds himself so distraught that he invokes the 25th amendment to temporarily remove himself from office, unable to concentrate on crucial White House business. Complicating matters, his vice president has resigned amid a sex scandal, which means that the Speaker of the House, Glen Allen Walken (John Goodman), is next in the line of succession. The fact that he’s a Republican is disconcerting to the staff; the fact that he’s played by a major name and powerful actor like Goodman is disconcerting to an audience who’s left wondering until the following season whether this means The West Wing has found a new star president. “You are relieved, Mr. President,” Walken intones, with unnerving authority. Fun production note: This was creator Aaron Sorkin‘s final episode with the series, which means he left his successors to figure out the aftermath for themselves.
Where to Watch: Max
‘Veep’: Selina Meyer Is Overshadowed One Last Time
There’s been no political comedy more cutting or dark than Veep. From the beginning, this poetically profane series focused on the indignities of being in office—faking nice to people you hate, eating regional foods you don’t want, causing a diplomatic crisis by regifting—and the crass desperation of officials to stay in their positions despite those indignities. The foundational joke is the uselessness of the office of vice president, which Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) occupies when we meet her. The biggest twist of her career comes in the end: We learn that she betrayed everyone in her orbit to secure the presidency, and we join coverage of her funeral in the future—which is immediately cut short by news that beloved actor Tom Hanks has died. No one will spend any time remembering her after all.
Where to Watch: Max
From White House staffer to presidential candidate, Jonah Ryan (Timothy Simons) is a thorn in Vice President Selina Meyer’s (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) side.