Wednesday, February 20, 2019

What Might've Been: Mr. President (1987)

After years of mining the White House for monologue material on The Tonight Show, Johnny Carson thought it might be a good idea to develop a sitcom about the President's life away from work.

Carson collaborated with TV vet Ed. Weinberger to create Mr. President, which was one of the first sitcoms to air on Fox in the spring of 1987. Oscar winner George C. Scott, 23 years after East Side-West Side had ended, returned to series television, essaying the title role of a fictional Chief Executive. Conrad Bain (ex-Diff'rent Strokes, Maude) played the Chief of Staff. In the second season, the President's wife left him, so his sister-in-law (Madeline Kahn) stepped in to help care for the President's two youngest children.

So what did in Mr. President? Scott took ill during the second season, and, with ratings likely declining, Fox pulled the plug.

I never saw the show, so there will not be a rating. We'll leave you with a sample episode.

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