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Americans hate politics, right? Dishonesty, stabbing, sycophannie, smoothing and posture, the power-invested elite, the way wealth buys influence, its dynastic nature, the feeling that the right people get themselves tear, that she feels disconnected from the concerns of the people.
But we like to watch all this on TV.
History continues below
When "Game of Thrones" airs its latest episode on Sunday, it will end the latest water cooler show currently on television – ubiquitous, inescapable and defining the era. And that also marks the end of an astonishing series of political televisions. Despite all the medieval panoply and baroque violence, the GoT was fundamentally a political drama – a show built around the quest for power, the conflict between idealism and pragmatism, and fuzzy lines between "heroes" or "villains" when they were not. it is to exercise real power.
His counterpart on the comedy side was "Veep", the sitcom that also came to an end last week, known for its quick, acidic dialogue, its venal characters and its jokes inside Washington. In spite of all their slapstick, people who work in politics tend to consider it a cut painfully close to reality, much more than very powerful drama series like "West Wing" or "House of Cards".
Tomorrow morning, the obsessed political will wake up without both sets, without any destination for the next breathtaking turns of the wheel of power; nothing to click on a net taunt of their day jobs. So, what to look next?
Here is POLITICO's guide to fill this hole, with new and old shows:
If you miss: The black art of political maneuvering
"Okkupert / Busy" (Netflix)
Imagine that your country is invaded by a velvet glove, where the government is democratically overthrown in a Russian plot that you will not see until it has happened. Your country's allies are silent because they value world stability. The government in exile still has some power and must carefully choose its use. they do not know exactly who they answer: voters? Their new Russian lords? Nevertheless, the partisan quarrels continue and the public separates deeply.
Basically, it's "busy," a Norwegian TV show that has been a resounding success in Europe and went unnoticed in the US, where it's available on Netflix. The series imagines a scenario in the near future, where the United States withdrew from NATO and where instability in the Middle East stifled oil production. Norway elects an environmentalist prime minister who promises to stop oil and gas production in the country – but the EU really needs that energy. The EU no longer looks blinded when Russia quietly takes control of Norway. Welcome to the first episode.
From there, the road is rough and complicated, with the prime minister siding with his idealistic view of politics and what he must do to stay in power. As Russia's authority in the country narrows, the threat of military conflict worsens, it plunges more and more into the kind of troubled moral territory that makes the best political dramas more compelling.
"The Americans" (FX / Amazon Prime)
The principle of "Americans" is quite simple: during the 1980s, two Soviet spies (Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys) are deeply undercover in the suburbs of Washington, DC. Based vaguely on the arrests of real sleeping agents in 2010, they have lived and worked in the United States for decades while posing as Americans; Even their children, natural born citizens, do not know the truth. As the Cold War rages, their marital relationships struggle to balance their obligations to their country, their family and each other – all while an unsuspecting FBI agent settles in the street.
Active, sometimes heartbreaking, and always impeccably executed, "The Americans" is one of the few shows that can compete with GoT in its richness and complexity. As in "Thrones", there is a mix of family drama and geopolitical strategy, threat of violence and constant worry. (And unlike GoT, it's also a very intimate portrait of a wedding.) The characters are deeply drawn, with beliefs, anxieties and ambitions that change with the seasons and shape their stories Consequently. And when they have to "do vile things for the sake of the kingdom," to use Lord Varys' phrase, this has consequences – for their marriage, their friendships, their family, their adopted homeland and nation, and their own conscience. .
If you miss: This struggle between idealism and power
Barry (HBO)
Fans of Game of Thrones were apoplectic after the penultimate episode of the series, claiming that one of their favorite characters had suddenly taken a turn to become a genocidal maniac. In political terms, one could say that she went from political idealist to fire-splitter, realism to the Kissinger was too abrupt, lacking the nuance for which the series was known before – something that her fellow programming Sunday evening, "Barry," a.
If you're looking for a more detailed portrait of how the most talented supernatural among us tend to easily forget about their best angels facing a potential threat, look no further than "Saturday Night Live," Bill Hader's black satire at about a Hitman (and Afghanistan veteran) trying to do it as an actor in Hollywood. Barry de Hader repeats himself several times that he will abandon his violent methods and honor his inner creative type of "start … now", and it is not very confusing to reveal that this often does not happen as expected. The "Game of Thrones" realpolitik has long been a real political comparison, and Barry's inability to break a few eggs to preserve himself is well known to D.C.'s political class.
"Borgen" (DR1 / PBS)
Ok, bear with us. Parliamentary dynamics do not allow everyone to stand up, especially those of us who are in the game of the winner of American presidential politics, but a parliamentary government – where coalitions are needed, requires leaders elected to make compromises on the most important issues for them, and the results do not always have the broad support of the public, making it a compelling drama. This is especially true when, as happens to Birgette Nyborg in "Borgen", one quickly and unexpectedly passes from a minor politician to the Danish prime minister, where the show was produced. Her grip on power is tenuous and the sheer nature of her ascent means that everything is new – for her as well as for her advisers and her family.
It is a less sorkine version of "The West Wing", located in a country small enough for the head of government to return home to his family's small apartment at the end of the working day and prepare dinner. We see Nyborg struggling to bend relentlessly and, while looking for her well, we also know that she owes some of her successes to her conniving and unethical communication strategist, that fans of Thrones "will recognize as the actor Pilou Asbæk. who played Euron Greyjoy. (Here, we give him a role that asks him more than the ugly caricature caricature.) He has a torrid relationship with a television reporter (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, who played a major role as a wild in the season 5 " Game of thrones "). Everyone compromises his ethics all the time, seems to say the series, asking the question: what do they get worth?
If you miss: influential women struggling with society's expectations
"Halt and Catch Fire" (AMC / Netflix)
Being a woman in public life has always come with her own double standards, particularly irritating, that one seeks to conquer a territory as a candidate for the fictional presidency or in real life. "Game of Thrones" has been driven by powerful women for most of its eight seasons, and the whole central half-joke of "Veep" is watching Selina Meyer manipulate the landscape dominated by the men that truly surround her. CMA's 'Halt and Catch Fire' is one of the most nuanced 360-degree representations of two women trying to get through an even bloodier world than the Democratic primary school – technology of the 1980s.
After a delightful first season that has mainly appealed to technology enthusiasts and "The 1980s culture geeks, Christopher Cantwell and Christopher C. Rogers, broke the mold by refocusing the series around his two female roles, described by Mackenzie Davis and Kerry Bishé. Cantwell, Rogers and their team of writers and designers built their show into an unparalleled drama that captured her anxieties, her performances and her victories as women in a world of players and pirates resolutely dominated by men. The four seasons series is now available in its entirety on Netflix.
"Big Little Lies" (HBO)
If you were to cut Cersei Lannister from Westeros and stick it among the monumental elite of Monterey Bay, she would be in her place. She would be sipping a wine with Madeline Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) while preparing a plan to take revenge on her mother's father. The classmate of the girl for a slight insignificant someone else would let slip. She would quietly judge Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) to be a single mother of a different economic class. She rolled her eyes in front of the hippy-dippy yoga instructor Bonnie Carlson (Zoë Kravitz) married to a much older man. And she would envy Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) for the perfect life she seems to have, never knowing what's going on behind the ocean front.
"Big Little Lies" is a show about a lot of things, but the most important of them is its interest in society's assumptions about women. This is a theme that will affect any "Thrones" viewer who has noticed how the characters in the series treat Dany, Cersei or Sansa differently from a similarly-minded male character. The second season of "Big Little Lies" will debut on HBO on June 9, giving newcomers enough time to catch up.
If you miss: The relentless pursuit of power, with wit
"Billions" (Showtime)
The medieval chessboard built by George RR Martin for "Game of Thrones" was, in many ways, a meritocracy so pure that it had to be fictional – as long as its standard of merit was the ability to stab its competitors and allies in the back. greater end than the accumulation of more power. Trade "money" against power, and you have the world of hedge funds described in "Billions" of Showtime.
The drama of prestige will miss much of his bloodlust in the absence of "Thrones", but the existential conflict between the anti-hero Bobby "Axelrod Ax", the eccentric cover-up conqueror played by Damian Lewis, and Paul Giamatti's attorney, Attorney Chus Rhoades is a ruthless and zero sum. The weaknesses of one or the other man would fill a novel, and the serie of the series on interiority and high-level references would shake the itch of observers of "Veep" who adore the game determining who is based on who, and how closely it follows the real world. we are served in our daily reports. As the series progressed, the links between New York and Washington's ambitions became increasingly tense, and his winks at real-world events became more deliberate. His comedy is darker than that of "Veep", but his vision of human nature is just as cynical.
If you miss: stories of slow burning where power is gradually gained (or lost in an instant)
Wolf Hall (BBC / Amazon Prime)
Considering how much true medieval history influenced George R.R. Martin when he created his A song of ice and fire In this series of books, it is not surprising that an article on the real people surrounding King Henry VIII facilitates the viewing of fans of "Thrones".
Born of a violent father, Thomas Cromwell emerged from poverty to become one of Lord Chancellor's best advisors Thomas Wolsey (played by Jonathan Pryce, familiar to the government like the great sparrow), the Catholic cardinal who was perhaps the most powerful man of the reign of Henry VIII. But after Wolsey could not convince the pope to cancel Henry's first marriage, Henry's other advisors pushed Wolsey out of power – which starts Cromwell's long and unpretentious rise to power, with Anne Boleyn's help, and to avenge all those who turned against Wolsey. For Operator Students Behind the Scenes – Thrones Fans Who Are Anxious to Watch Varys, Littlefinger or Tyrion Lannister Preparing and Executing a Plan Accurately – Cromwell's exquisite use of its leverage is a real catnip. And unlike these characters, the man actually existed.
If you miss: Satire of the shallow people in power
"The Press Room" (CBC)
Not to be confused with the HBO drama of the same name created by Aaron Sorkin, CBC's The Newsroom is a breathtaking sitcom from the late 90s and early 2000s that follows the producers of a major newscast in Canada. bureaucracy and egoism of the media industry.
George Findlay, the main character, may well be the Canadian cousin of Selina Meyer, a brilliant and ambitious man, drunk by himself, aware of his own status symbols (for example, by constantly and ostentatiously telephoning his dealer BMW car) and paranoid about any criticism or suggestion that his own self-image does not match what others see.
If you miss: A totally profane and sardonic look at politics
"The thick" (BBC)
Before the author and the director Armando Iannucci created "Veep", best known for his very funny predecessor, "The Thick of It", a nasty satire about the workings of the British government, starring Peter Capaldi as Malcolm Tucker, the human fanfare. who works as a spin doctor for the prime minister.
In many ways, the series will be immediately familiar to fans of "Veep". She has the same insults to scorched earth and rhythmic rhythms, archetypes of similar characters and the naked aggression of people whose ability to take power exceeds their reach. And once you watch "The Thick of It", try his derivative film, "In the Loop", in which Capaldi takes over his role but the cast grows to include future actors of "Veep", Anna Chlumsky and Zach Woods .
If you miss: intra-family posture
"Succession" (HBO)
To summarize: "Succession" is a very convincing series that treats very clearly a very thin family of Murdoch. Yes, those Murdochs, Fox News and the reputation of hacking. That alone should be enough to draw political insiders into HBO's Byzantine family drama, but if the dynastic stance and sniping of "Game of Thrones" and the virulent profanation of "Veep" kept you from watching week by week, "" Succession "could be even more convincing, especially for the observers of hybrid cable television and tabloid addicts among us.
Although the action is largely one of its protagonists – a diffuse group of children sparring and decidedly unruly – the real power of the series lies in the performance of legendary British actor Brian Cox in the role of Patriarch Logan, who is absolutely not Murdoch. Logan Roy is a stunned figure, so contemptuous and vain that his power games testify more of his desperate efforts to strengthen his own greatness. And in 2019, it's not difficult to see the series as a long troll of the dynasty currently occupying the White House.
Of course, if that does not please, fans of GoT patients can still wait for one of the three series of pre-series "Game of Thrones" that HBO is developing. The first of them, tentatively titled "Bloodmoon", would have been broadcast on television in 2020 or 2021. Until then, there are still reruns.
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