Or, anyway, I would have.

And, if you’re unfamiliar with Laura Roslin, what a treat you have in store!

The Best President on Television

It is very tiresome when people insist that you are foolishly not watching the finest show currently on the air–but, frankly, when it comes to Battlestar Galactica, it’s actually true. I resisted tuning in for quite some time, because I hate science fiction, and fantasy, and so forth, and I thought the 1978 version of the show was beyond stupid, even though the actor who played Apollo was terribly handsome. Mr. Handsome

He was also the guest star in one of the best episodes of what may be my favorite television show ever, produced by the late, sadly underrated Aaron Spelling. In all honesty, I wanted to be Jill Danko, the female lead. Some days, I still do.

The Show I Loved

And if you want to watch that delightful example of 1970s entertainment, you can get it here.

Anyway, Battlestar Galactica is, in my opinion, true appointment television. I was absolutely sick of having people tell me how stupid I was not to have discovered it yet, but after a writer chum convinced me that I really was missing out, I decided–grimly–to give it a try–and was completely hooked within about three minutes. The show is gloriously ambitious and dark, and so crammed with shades of grey, that I’m not sure whether black or white even exist in the incredibly compelling world of BSG. Except for The Beloved Team and The Home for Wonks, it’s the only thing I watch regularly, since Buffy went off the air.

Laura Miller, a Salon television critic, summed up the appeal of Battlestar Galactica far more effectively than I have: Where no TV show has gone before

Anyway, I began thinking about all of this–particularly the notion of female chief executives in pop culture–when I heard that Cherry Jones (an unusually gifted actress) has been cast as the President on the new season of ‘24′. I don’t particularly like ‘24′, since I think “Hey, come on, torture is fun!” would be a better title for it–but now, I will tune in for a few episodes. However, I’m not looking forward to the inevitable stream of is-this-a-nefarious-Hollywood-liberal-attempt-to-promote-Hillary-Clinton’s-campaign punditry, which will be foisted unwillingly upon the viewing public. Shoot, they’re already talking about this turn of events in England. Given the notorious right-wing slant of the ‘24′ production team, I think it is safe to say that they are probably not lined up in Hillary’s camp at the moment. But, the polls seem to be indicating that a lot of people are.

Although my current favorite female politician is probably Kathleen Sebelius, it is increasingly neat that America finally has a legitimate female candidate for President. In fact, there’s a very interesting Op-Ed piece about this, and the politics of gender, in today’s Washington Post.

But, all things being equal, I wish I could vote for Laura Roslin in 2008.