Scandal can’t find footing
Scandal is ludicrous. It’s worth a look, though, if for no other reason than it’s unlike anything else on TV at the moment. It’s what The West Wing would have looked like, had The West Wing been conceived, written, produced and cast by the same person who created Grey’s Anatomy — which, as it happens, Scandal was.
Scandal is a fast-paced ensemble thriller about political operatives in Washington, D.C.
Kerry Washington plays Olivia Pope, an abrasive, hard-as-nails image-maker and former White House communications director who sets up shop as the head of her own crisis-management firm, specializing in politicos with deep pockets who are running for public office and have something to hide.
Pope is partially based on a real person, former White House press aide Judy Smith, who served in the George W. Bush administration and is a technical consultant on Scandal.
Smith, the former White House press aide that Pope’s character is based on, appeared before reporters earlier this year, alongside Scandal’s cast and creator-producers. Smith appeared nothing like the character Kerry Washington plays onscreen, though, and that’s partly the problem with Scandal. It pretends to be real, and it wants to be taken seriously, but it’s no more realistic than Grey’s Anatomy. (Citytv — 8 p.m., ABC — 11 p.m.)
Stephen Hawking appears as himself on tonight’s Big Bang Theory, prompting a serious existential question: if Sheldon wets himself, is it comedy or tragedy? (CBS, CTV — 9 p.m.)
Meanwhile, back at Community it’s the conclusion to last week’s cli hanger, involving pillow forts and blanket forts. (NBC, Citytv — 9 p.m.)
I don’t care if this reads like a plug: I get an absurd number of courier packages, but no company is faster and more courteous than the outfit featured tonight on Undercover Boss Canada. (W Network — 10 p.m.)