Madam Secretary (titled Madam President for its sixth and final season) is an American political drama television series created by Barbara Hall, with Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary as executive producers. It stars Téa Leoni as Elizabeth McCord, a former CIA analyst and political science professor who is appointed as the United States secretary of state following the suspicious death of her predecessor.
Madam Secretary ran on CBS from September 21, 2014, to December 8, 2019, for a total of 120 episodes.
Contents
Premise
The first five seasons of Madam Secretary explore Elizabeth McCord's life as the reluctant but determined United States secretary of state. She drives international diplomacy, battles office politics, and circumvents protocol, if needed, as she navigates global conflicts. The show also focuses on McCord's personal life and family, and their relationship with her work; she is married and has three children.
At the end of the fifth season, McCord announces her candidacy for president of the United States; as the sixth season begins, the audience learns that she has won the election, and the remainder of the series follows her tenure as the United States' first female president.
Cast and characters
Main
Téa Leoni as Elizabeth McCord, the U.S. secretary of state and later the president of the United States. Elizabeth spent twenty years as a CIA analyst before retiring to become a professor of political science at the University of Virginia. She is appointed secretary of state by her former CIA boss, President Conrad Dalton, to replace Secretary of State Vincent Marsh, who died in a plane crash. She later succeeds Dalton as president.
Tim Daly as Henry McCord, Elizabeth's husband of 25 years and later the first gentleman of the United States. A theology professor and former Marine Corps aviator during Operation Desert Storm, he is hired by the National Security Agency, which employs him as an operative in combating religious extremism. At the end of the third season, Henry is appointed as the head of the CIA's Special Activities Division.
Bebe Neuwirth as Nadine Tolliver (seasons 1–4), Elizabeth's chief of staff. Nadine had a six-year affair with the late secretary of state Vincent Marsh, beginning when he was a senator from Illinois. Originally suspicious and resentful of the new secretary of state, Tolliver soon learns to trust McCord, and the two cultivate a strong working relationship. In the first season, Nadine romances NASA Administrator Glenn and later falls into a relationship with political consultant Mike Barnow. In the fourth season, Nadine retires from the State Department to spend more time with her family in San Francisco when her son Roman tells her that he is going to have a child.
Željko Ivanek as Russell Jackson, the White House chief of staff for President Dalton. McCord appoints him as her chief of staff as well, 98 days into her presidency. His objective of keeping the president politically secure often results in confrontation with McCord due to her unorthodox diplomatic techniques.
Erich Bergen as Blake Moran, Elizabeth's personal assistant and the only member of her staff as secretary of state that she hired rather than inherited. In the fifth season, McCord fires him, only to rehire him as her new assistant policy advisor.
Patina Miller as Daisy Grant, Elizabeth's press coordinator. Daisy briefly dates speechwriter Matt Mahoney in the first season. In the third season, she dates "Kevin" from the Bureau of Budget and Planning, who turns out to be an undercover CIA operative investigating the State Department. After he is killed in a weapons-trafficking conspiracy, Daisy learns she is pregnant with his child. In the fourth season, Daisy gives birth to their daughter, Joanna Grant.
Recurring
Johanna Day as Ellen Hill, a retired admiral serving as national security advisor. She was the first female chair of the joint chiefs of staff prior to her appointment as national security advisor.
Tony Plana as Ed Parker, an admiral and member of the joint chiefs of staff.
Francis Jue as Ming Chen, minister of foreign affairs of the People's Republic of China and Elizabeth's Chinese counterpart.
Mandy Gonzalez as Lucy Knox, President Dalton's aide.
Mike Pniewski as Gordon Becker, the U.S. secretary of defense.
Jason Ralph as Harrison Dalton (seasons 1–2), the son of President Dalton and a long-time friend of Stevie McCord. Harrison suffers from drug addiction; in the fourth season, it is revealed that he is back in rehab.
Matt Meinsen as Matt (seasons 1–5), Elizabeth's lead diplomatic security service agent.
Cotter Smith as Darren Hahn (seasons 1–2), President Dalton's first national security advisor.
Patrick Breen as Andrew Munsey (season 1), the director of the CIA and a protégé of President Dalton.
Marin Hinkle as Isabelle Barnes (season 1), a CIA analyst and Elizabeth's close friend, who assists the McCords with their investigation into the death of Secretary of State Vincent Marsh.
Nilaja Sun as Juliet Humphrey (season 1; guest season 3), a former CIA analyst and friend of Elizabeth and Isabelle.
Usman Ally as Zahed Javani (season 1), minister of foreign affairs of Iran and Elizabeth's Iranian counterpart.
Production
Development
In August 2013, it was announced Madam Secretary was in development at CBS, co-written by Barbara Hall. Madam Secretary is about "the personal and professional life of a maverick female secretary of state, as she drives international diplomacy, wrangles office politics and balances a complex family life." The producers have said the show was partly inspired by the experiences of Hillary Clinton.
Filming primarily took place in New York City with some external filming in Washington D.C.
The show's pilot episode was directed by David Semel. On May 9, 2014, Madam Secretary received a series order at CBS. A preview trailer was released on May 14, 2014. Madam Secretary premiered on CBS on September 21, 2014, and on October 27, 2014, CBS picked up the series for a full season of 22 episodes. Madam Secretary was renewed for a sixth season on May 9, 2019. On May 15, 2019, it was announced the sixth season would be the series' final season and would comprise 10 episodes. It premiered on October 6, 2019. Filming for the series was completed on November 13, 2019.
Casting
In January 2014, the pilot was cast with Téa Leoni as Elizabeth McCord, Tim Daly as Henry McCord, Geoffrey Arend as Matt Mahoney, Patina Miller as press coordinator Daisy Grant, Bebe Neuwirth as Elizabeth's chief of staff Nadine Tolliver, Erich Bergen as Blake Moran, Evan Roe as Elizabeth's son, Jason McCord, Kathrine Herzer as Elizabeth and Henry's daughter Alison McCord, Željko Ivanek as Russell Jackson, and Wallis Currie-Wood as Elizabeth and Henry's older daughter Stephanie "Stevie" McCord.
Bebe Neuwirth left the series after the third episode of the fourth season. Sara Ramirez joined the cast as Kat Sandoval, replacing Bebe Neuwirth as a series regular. Of Ramirez, Hall stated, "She brings a fresh perspective and a fun, energetic quality to the State Department staff."
On August 6, 2019, it was revealed that Ramirez would not return as a regular for the sixth and final season. On September 3, 2019, it was revealed that regulars Arend, Roe, Herzer, Carradine, and Arcelus would also be dropped from the main cast; however, Carradine was expected to make at least one guest appearance, and the others would appear in recurring roles according to their work schedules. Additionally, Kevin Rahm, who had recurred as McCord's advisor Michael "Mike B." Barnow since the second half of the first season, would be upgraded to regular status.
Broadcast
The series is particularly popular in Finland: 9% of Finnish people watched the first episode when it premiered on MTV3 on January 1, 2015.
Reception
Ratings
Note: In seasons four through six during the fall, the series was scheduled to air at 10:30 p.m. ET/9:30 p.m. CT to allow for football and golf overruns (there were no delays from Mountain Time westward). Since its move to the last hour of primetime, this resulted in several new episodes being delayed a week at the last minute due to a game's overrunning, to allow CBS affiliate local newscasts to start as close to 11:00 p.m. ET/ 10:00 p.m. CT as possible; in this case, a repeat aired in the Mountain Time Zone westward instead, with Canadian broadcaster Global following CBS's scheduling in order to take advantage of simsub advertising opportunities.
Critical reception
Madam Secretary has been met with generally positive reviews from TV critics. On Metacritic, the show has a score of 66 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". On Rotten Tomatoes, the show holds a rating of 67% based on reviews from 52 critics. The site's consensus for the first season reads, "Bolstered by Tea Leoni's strong central performance, Madam Secretary is a solid but unspectacular political drama."
Three former United States Secretaries of State were apparent fans of the series. On April 27, 2022, during a eulogy at the memorial service for Madeleine Albright (Secretary of State from 1997 to 2001), Hillary Clinton (Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013) disclosed that she, Albright, and Colin Powell (Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005), "loved and actually watched" Madam Secretary. All three former Secretaries of State made a cameo appearance together in the fifth-season premiere of the show, which aired on October 7, 2018.
Criticism
Three women have served as United States Secretary of State to date: Madeleine Albright from 1997 to 2001 under Bill Clinton, Condoleezza Rice from 2005 to 2009 under George W. Bush, and Hillary Clinton from 2009 to 2013 under Barack Obama. Shortly after the series' debut, Fox News asked if the show served as a campaign ad supporting Hillary Clinton, but quoted the Los Angeles Times saying the lead character was "no Hillary knock-off" and a New York publicist calling the casting of a woman "simple business and smart on CBS' behalf." Conservative activist organization Culture and Media Institute said "The connections in the show between Elizabeth and Hillary are clear, from the blond hair to the pantsuits."
When the trailer of the 15th episode of the third season titled "Break in Diplomacy" was released showing McCord responding to unwanted sexual advances by fictional Philippine president Datu Andrada by punching Andrada in the face, the series became controversial in the Philippines. Viewers noticed parallels between Andrada and real-life Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, who was known for making inappropriate and sexist remarks. The Philippine Embassy in Washington published a statement protesting the negative depiction of the presidential character on its Facebook page.
The fourth-season premiere, "News Cycle", led to a protest from East Timor's Minister of State José Ramos-Horta, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He said, "It is a slander against a country that only shows ignorance and racism." The show used the border dispute between Australia and East Timor in the Timor Sea as background story. (The dispute is transferred in the TV show to the South China Sea, although neither Australia nor East Timor borders it). East Timor is shown as a country controlled by a Mexican drug cartel and used for the shipment of drugs. Secretary McCord asks China to take measures to prevent the leader of the drug cartel from making a narco-state out of East Timor.
In the fourth episode of the first season, "Just Another Normal Day", the series used stock footage shot in Hoi An, Vietnam, but noted the location as Fuling, China. This caused anger among the Vietnamese government, who said that the episode "offended Vietnam's sovereignty and territorial integrity". Soon after, the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information of the Ministry of Information and Communications of Vietnam ordered a ban on the series, and asked Netflix to remove the series from the Vietnamese version of Netflix.