For those of you out there who still wish Commander in Chief had lasted more than a handful of episodes I have some good news. The Danes (who actually just elected their own female Prime Minister — Helle Thorning-Schmidt) have exported a new political series — Borgen. And the even better news is that NBC has bought the show and will remake it with the team form Friday Night Lights.
The show is about how the the first female Prime Minister comes into power in Denmark. It is in Danish, but I didn’t mind the subtitles at all because the story is so good. I got sucked in right away. In the first ten minutes an important character dies, and you get to see all the backstabbing and deal making the comes into play as the parties vie for power.
The lead is Birgitte Nyborg Christensen played by Sidse Babett Knudsen who is the leader of the moderate party. An election is about to happen and all the parties are vying for seats and for cabinet level positions. This one makes a deal with that one, that one unearths some damning evidence on the prime minister and throws it at a debate on prime time TV for all the country to see. You know politics as usual, except this time, the woman comes out the victor (which does she to happen more in parliamentary systems.)
What I love about Birgitte is that she seems so real and she desperately wants to be in power. This is a woman who is allowed to bring all of herself to the table and it makes her a very interesting character. Her spouse is a university professors and he is so supportive (at least in the first two episodes I saw.) But I’m sure that’s not going to last forever especially now that she has the most powerful job in the country and especially because they introduced flirting students into the mix. But who knows — he could be the most perfect man on the planet.
I laughed out loud when she was trying to fit into her power suits and has realized that she has gained too much weight — which seems to happen when she stands for election — and her husband said that the dry cleaner must have shrunk it. That was the perfect answer to a woman freaking out that she is about to be on TV in the biggest debate of her life and none of her clothes fit.
Since she has a big job and is so busy she doesn’t get to see her husband and her kids enough. The best part for me was that she biked to work. I just kept thinking that I could never imagine seeing Nancy Pelosi biking to work.
I am looking forward to watching all the rest of the series. The show airs on the LINK network which and if you are like me, you say what is the Link network. Link is on Direct TV and the Dish Network (DIRECTV channel 375 and Dish Network channel 9410.) Here’s info about how to find it in your area. Each episode will also stream for free for two weeks following the initial airing here.
Hit European Political Drama Series “BORGEN” this Saturday, October 29 at 9:30pm ET / 6:30pm PT
