MADAM SECRETARY: PILOT {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The pilot of this drama about the challenges faced by Elizabeth McCord, the newly-appointed United States Secretary of State.
A couple of American citizens are captured in Damascus, Syria; their demands to speak to the United States Embassy go unheeded. Meanwhile, at the University of Virginia, Dr. Elizabeth McCord, a professor of history and political science, works alongside her husband, Dr. Henry McCord, a professor of religious studies. That night, Elizabeth has dinner in Washington D.C. with several of her old colleagues from the CIA, reminiscing about their time together; Elizabeth once worked as a CIA analyst. They receive a message informing them that the Secretary of State’s plane went down over the Atlantic Ocean. The next day, several vans full of federal agents pull up outside of Elizabeth’s home and the President goes inside to speak with her about the Secretary of State’s disappearance. It comes at a delicate diplomatic situation with regards to peace talks with officials from Iran. He asks her to assume the role of Secretary of State, much to her surprise. He reveals that he initially wanted to nominate her for the position after his election, but was convinced not to by his advisors. He admires her for her devotion to ethics and distance from the political machine in Washington, which he believes makes her an idea and unbiased Secretary of State.
Two months later, Elizabeth attempts to adjust to her new post, although she encounters difficulties. The previous Secretary of State left a great deal on his agenda, some of which Elizabeth protests as being unnecessary or counterproductive. Additionally, she has earned the ire of a number of her staff, including Nadine Tolliver, her Chief of Staff. She tends to the matter of the Americans imprisoned in Syria, named Ethan and Tyler Cole, brothers who joined an anti-war movement attempting to overthrow the Syrian government. They were in Syria attempting to use social media as a means of communicating the social injustices being committed in Syria. The Syrian government captured them to try to stall the Iranian peace talks, believing that it would interfere with their authority in the region. The Syrians claim that they will execute the Cole brothers in a week. Elizabeth proposes that they conduct an unofficial operation using her contacts in Syria, although Chief of Staff Russell Jackson rejects this plan in favor of his own. He also recommends that she acquire a stylist to help with her image, something she attaches no importance to. She wishes to brief the president on the situation, but the Chief of Staff says that she cannot, and does not want the story to become known to the news media. He is wary of her friendship with the president and believes she may use it to circumvent regular government procedure.
Elizabeth speaks with the Cole brothers’ parents about their sons’ imprisonment. They claim that they had no knowledge of their entry into Syria or their involvement with the opposition movement. Elizabeth explains that the state department is making efforts to negotiate their release, but that the Coles will have to take down their children’s various social media releases in order to keep the press from knowing about the situation. She puts their minds at ease by telling them about her own teenage children, and assures them that she would enact the same plan to save them if they were in such a predicament. That night, Elizabeth talks with her family, and wonders if she made the right decision to take the Secretary of State position and move everyone to Washington D.C. Henry assures her that they will be fine after they adjust to their new life. Suddenly George, one of her former CIA colleagues, arrives at her house and tells her that he has reason to believe that the former Secretary of State’s plane crash was an act of sabotage orchestrated by someone within the White House in response to some kind of secret dealings the former Secretary had in Venezuela. George is deathly afraid of what will happen when the public learns about this matter and swears Elizabeth and Henry to secrecy about the matter.
Back at the office, Elizabeth plans a secret infiltration by special operatives on the prison holding the Tyler brothers. She officially approves the plan and sets it into motion. After that she meets Roxanne Majidi, a stylist sent by the behest of Jackson. She tries to politely tell Roxanne to leave and her staff takes her away. Before she leaves work that day, Elizabeth is approached by Nadine, who informs her that the operation to save the Tyler brothers was scrapped due to an inaccurate intelligence report on the prison facility caused by disinformation; they are being held in a different, unknown location. Furthermore, the Syrians have recorded a video of the Tyler brothers admitting that they were spies intending on committing acts of terrorism in Syria and sent it directly to the White House. At this point Elizabeth briefs the president on the situation and shows him the video. Elizabeth hopes to act quickly to free the Coles before the video can be publicly released and jeopardize the Iranian peace talks. Elizabeth proposes to the president that she be allowed to conduct her unofficial operation and act more directly in rescuing the Coles. Jackson argues with her and the president does not allow her to go forward with her plan.
She becomes frustrated that she cannot speak with the president alone, as her messages are always relayed to Jackson. She feels as though she left her post at the CIA with “unfinished business” and wishes she could take up the president’s offer of “effect[ing] real change in the world.” That night she waits alone in a church and meets with her contact Anton, a former Chechnyan operative, with whom she wishes to broker a deal to rescue the Coles. He insists that he has an actual government position now and doesn’t want to put that at risk, but she reminds him that she got his family out Russia and that she has the power to remove him from the United States whenever she chooses. This causes the operative to reconsider and taker her up on her deal. She manages to speak with the president privately by texting his wife and waking him up in the middle of the night. She reveals that she is orchestrating an unofficial rescue attempt on the Coles, and asks the president to allow her to do the job he supposedly brought her in to do, as she is frustrated by the political machinations which continually hamper her. She manages to convince him to allow her to carry out her operation.
Elizabeth uses Anton as an intermediary to negotiate payment with the foreign operatives working under her. She returns to her office and discovers that Mr. and Mrs. Cole gave a long interview to a New York Times reporter, violating their non-disclosure agreement. Elizabeth reconnects with Roxanne and changes her appearance, hoping to use the publicity generated by her public unveiling to shift focus away from the press release about the Coles. The ploy seems to work and news outlets everywhere are fixated her new hairstyle and apparel. She gets a text message from Anton informing her that the Coles have been rescued and are on their way out of Syria. They are soon reunited with their parents, much to their mutual joy.
Jackson demands to know how the Coles got released, but Elizabeth is not forthcoming with details. He realizes that she circumvented his authority and warns her that she ought to learn how to cooperate with him instead of flaunting procedure. He lets the matter slide for the time being, but warns that he will not allow such behavior in the future. She hosts a dinner for the King of Swaziland and uses it as an opportunity to discuss his priorities concerning the AIDS epidemic in his country, going against the advice of her staff. However, he seems receptive to her comments and is impressed when she reveals she knows the names of all ten of his wives. Her staff seems to approve as well, even Nadine. She finds Henry in her office, who informs her that George has been killed in a car accident, although she is convinced that it was no accident and he was assassinated due to his knowledge about the former Secretary of State’s illicit dealings. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:45:35
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 116276
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: African-American Collection - Drama; Women's Collection - Drama; Drama; Politicians
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 2014-2019
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Morgan Freeman … Executive Producer
- Lori McCreary … Executive Producer
- Tracy Mercer … Executive Producer
- David Semel … Executive Producer, Director
- Barbara Hall … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Téa Leoni … Producer
- Sam Hoffman … Producer
- Tony Palermo … Co-Producer
- Transcenders … Music by
- Téa Leoni … Cast, Elizabeth McCord
- Tim Daly … Cast, Henry McCord
- Patina Miller … Cast, Daisy Finch
- Geoffrey Arend … Cast, Matt Mahoney
- Erich Bergen … Cast, Blake Moran
- Katherine Herzer … Cast, Alison McCord
- Evan Roe … Cast, Jason McCord
- Željko Ivanek … Cast, Russell Jackson
- Bebe Neuwirth … Cast, Nadine Tolliver
- William Sadler … Cast, George
- Patrick Breen … Cast, CIA Director
- Sebastian Arcelus … Cast, Jay Whitman
- Michael Aronov … Cast, Anton
- Mozhan Mardo … Cast, Roxanne Majidi
- Mike Pniewski … Cast, Gordon Becker
- Keith Carradine … Cast, President Conrad
- Scott Lindley … Cast, Ethan Cole
- Sean Kleier … Cast, Tyler Cole
- Marin Hinkle … Cast, Isabelle
- Nilaja Sun … Cast, Juliet
- Stevie Steel … Cast, Gillian
- Eshan Bay … Cast, Jake
- Suzanne Erickson … Cast, Tourist
- Michael Feldman … Cast, Talking Head
- Jordan Baker … Cast
- Ato Essandoh … Cast
- Kevin Kilner … Cast