History Series / PoliticalAnimals

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* {{Irony}}: Elaine's mother is a cranky old LadyDrunk who ''lives'' by the ScrewPolitenessImASenior trope, but she's arguably the most well-adjusted character on the show, consistently warning the others about the potential consequences of their actions ([[{{CassandraTruth}} which they promptly ignore and get themselves into trouble]]), and she's the one person who's GenreSavvy enough to know everyone's secrets and try to push them towards the right direction. She's pretty much the only character on the show who gives consistently sensible advice to the others.

''Political Animals'' is a limited series on Creator/USANetwork starring Creator/SigourneyWeaver as Elaine Barrish Hammond, an American former First Lady, politician, and Presidential candidate who is currently serving as Secretary of State. [[UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton This may sound familiar]]. The show also follows her ex-husband Bud Hammond, a former Democratic President, their twin sons, the 3 minutes older T.J. who is gay and struggles with sobriety, and the workaholic Doug who is devoted to working for his mother. The series follows the Hammond family through the travails of political intrigue and awkward family life.

* TheAlcoholic: Elaine's mother and TJ, though Elaine's mother is closer to a HardDrinkingPartyGirl (to the point where it's unclear that the title LadyDrunk really applies to her) than full-blown alcoholic; indeed, she highly dislikes the idea of a person getting themselves in deep enough to have an addiction (having witnessed Elaine's father self-destruct due to his drug addiction) and she bluntly informs TJ that he's headed down the same path as his grandfather if he doesn't get a hold of himself soon.
* AllGaysArePromiscuous: TJ uses a Grindr-like smartphone app to hookup with a guy in the first episode, but the lesbian Supreme Court Justice is extremely committed to her ailing partner.
* AlternateHistory: With the point of divergence sometime around in the '80s or at least 1992 at the latest; Bud Hammond's presidency seems to have replaced UsefulNotes/BillClinton's, and Hillary's turn as a Senator from New York seems to have been replaced by Elaine as Governor of Illinois.[[note]]Incidentally, the real HRC is originally from Chicago.[[/note]] Also, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was was replaced by Diane Nash (who is the first openly lesbian Supreme Court Justice).
* AmbitionIsEvil: Frequently discussed in terms of Elaine's ambition making her look bad because [[DoubleStandard ambition looks better on men]]. There's also Georgia, whom Susan compares to [[Film/AllAboutEve Eve Harrington]] in the first episode, but she's closer to Short-Sighted Ambition Is Evil And Stupid.
* BlondeRepublicanSexKitten: [[ArmouredClosetGay Sean Reeves]], the married Republican congressman and TJ's secret lover.

* BrokenAce: Douglas.
* CigaretteOfAnxiety: Elaine from time to time.

* DysfunctionJunction: Washington, D.C. Or really, anywhere the Hammonds are present.
* FieryRedhead: Elaine.
* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: T.J. and Douglas, respectively. Interestingly for the trope, T.J. almost seems to resent ''his'' status more than Douglas resents being TheDutifulSon, believing he just needs a break.
* GrandeDame: Elaine's mother is advertised as this on the show's promotional materials.

* LadyDrunk: Elaine's mom.
* [[{{LargeHam}} Large Virginia Ham With Maple Glaze Topping]]: Ex-president Bud Hammond.

* MileHighClub: Susan Berg, on the Hammond's private jet - with [[spoiler: Elaine's son Doug, who's already engaged.]]

* NiceGuy: Douglas.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Elaine Barrish Hammond is a thinly-veiled {{Expy}} of UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton, former President Bud Hammond of UsefulNotes/BillClinton, with a dash of [[UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson LBJ]] for good measure, and the family dynamic off popular perceptions of the [[UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy Kennedy family]]. Bud is seen at one point having dinner with a certain bald, bespectacled adviser of his who bears a resemblance to James Carville.

* OhCrap: The entire cast; see WhamEpisode.

* ProductPlacement: Skype seems to be the video-chat app of choice at USA Networks. See also {{Series/Suits}}.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Alex, Susan's boss, oddly enough. Also, President Garcetti, who can often be convinced by Elaine to do what's right.
* ScrewPolitenessImASenior: Elaine's DeadpanSnarker HardDrinkingPartyGirl mother.

* SilentSnarker: The Secret Service agents. Can you really blame them?

* VomitIndiscretionShot: Annie, Doug's bulimic fiancee.
* WhamEpisode: The season one finale "Resignation Day": [[spoiler:Air Force One has crashed and the President is presumed dead.]]

** Furthermore, ''[[AmericanNewspapers The Atlantic]]'' has drawn clear parallels between Susan Berg and Maureen Dowd (who famously used her column in ''The New York Times'' to call Hillary out on not calling out Bill on his infidelity).

* ShoutOut: Adrian Pasdar's President character is a sleazy politician named Garcetti from Baltimore; this is almost definitely meant as a ShoutOut to Tommy ''C''arcetti from TheWire, who goes from Baltimore City Council to Mayor and then finally Maryland Governor by the end of the series, and perhaps is a sort of exploration of what would happen if Carcetti were President.

''Political Animals'' is a limited series on USANetwork starring Creator/SigourneyWeaver as Elaine Barrish Hammond, an American former First Lady, politician, and Presidential candidate who is currently serving as Secretary of State. [[UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton This may sound familiar]]. The show also follows her ex-husband Bud Hammond, a former Democratic President, their twin sons, the 3 minutes older T.J. who is gay and struggles with sobriety, and the workaholic Doug who is devoted to working for his mother. The series follows the Hammond family through the travails of political intrigue and awkward family life.

As of November 2012, USANetwork announced that, due to lower-than-hoped-for ratings, the show would remain a mini-series.

!! Tropes present in this series include:

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: In 2013, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayor_of_Los_Angeles L.A. Mayor]] elected was also named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Garcetti Garcetti]].

Political Animals is a limited series on USANetwork starring Creator/SigourneyWeaver as Elaine Barrish Hammond, an American former First Lady, politician, and Presidential candidate who is currently serving as Secretary of State. [[UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton This may sound familiar]]. The show also follows her ex-husband Bud Hammond, a former Democratic President, their twin sons, the 3 minutes older T.J. who is gay and struggles with sobriety, and the workaholic Doug who is devoted to working for his mother. The series follows the Hammond family through the travails of political intrigue and awkward family life.

* AmbitionIsEvil: Frequently discussed in terms of Elaine's ambition making her look bad because [[DoubleStandard ambition looks better on men]]. There's also Georgia, whom Susan compares to [[AllAboutEve Eve Harrington]] in the first episode, but she's closer to Short-Sighted Ambition Is Evil And Stupid.

Political Animals is a limited series on USANetwork starring Creator/SigourneyWeaver as Elaine Barrish Hammond, an American former First Lady, politician, and Presidential candidate who is currently serving as Secretary of State. [[UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton This may sound familiar]]. The show also follows her ex-husband Bud Hammond, a former Democratic President, their workaholic son Doug who is devoted to working for his mother, and their younger gay son T.J. The series follows the Hammond family through the travails of political intrigue and awkward family life.

* [[{{LargeHam}} Large Virginia Ham With Maple Glaze Topping]]: Ex-president Bud Hammond.

* TearJerker: [[spoiler: Both scenes where TJ is found, first by Elaine in the car after a suicide attempt, and by Bud after his overdose.]]
** The scene where Elaine tearfully talks about [[spoiler: What happened to TJ, and how hard his life is compared to the rest of them.]]

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Elaine Barrish Hammond is a thinly-veiled {{Expy}} of UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton, former President Bud Hammond of UsefulNotes/BillClinton, with a dash of [[LyndonJohnson LBJ]] for good measure, and the family dynamic off popular perceptions of the [[{{JohnFKennedy}} Kennedy family]]. Bud is seen at one point having dinner with a certain bald, bespectacled adviser of his who bears a resemblance to James Carville.

* HeyItsThatGuy: Elaine may have once fought Franchise/{{Alien}}s. No wonder she's so popular.
** T.J. looks and acts a lot like [[{{Kings}} Prince Jack]]. And he's brought his [[{{DylanBaker}} Uncle William]] along with him.
*** Holy shit, looks like [[Series/{{Heroes}} Nathan Petrelli finally became President! Let's hope he's not actually Sylar in disguise...]]
*** Bud Hammond will remind you of a lecherous, highly ambitious middle-aged politician, [[Series/{{Rome}} and not necessarily Bill Clinton]].[[note]]Talkin' about Caesar.[[/note]]

As of November 2012, USANetwork announced that, due to lower-than-hoped-for ratings, the show would be kept as a mini-series.

As of November 2012, USANetwork announced that, due to lower-than-hoped-for ratings, the show would not be renewed.

Political Animals is a limited series on USANetwork starring Creator/SigourneyWeaver as Elaine Barrish Hammond, an American former First Lady, politician, and Presidential candidate who is currently serving as Secretary of State. [[{{HillaryRodhamClinton}} This may sound familiar]]. The show also follows her ex-husband Bud Hammond, a former Democratic President, their workaholic son Doug who is devoted to working for his mother, and their younger gay son T.J. The series follows the Hammond family through the travails of political intrigue and awkward family life.

* AlternateHistory: With the point of divergence sometime around in the '80s or at least 1992 at the latest; Bud Hammond's presidency seems to have replaced BillClinton's, and Hillary's turn as a Senator from New York seems to have been replaced by Elaine as Governor of Illinois.[[note]]Incidentally, the real HRC is originally from Chicago.[[/note]] Also, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was was replaced by Diane Nash (who is the first openly lesbian Supreme Court Justice).

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Elaine Barrish Hammond is a thinly-veiled {{Expy}} of HillaryClinton, former President Bud Hammond of BillClinton, with a dash of [[LyndonJohnson LBJ]] for good measure, and the family dynamic off popular perceptions of the [[{{JohnFKennedy}} Kennedy family]]. Bud is seen at one point having dinner with a certain bald, bespectacled adviser of his who bears a resemblance to James Carville.

* TheAlcoholic: Elaine's mother and TJ, though Elaine's mother is probably closer to HardDrinkingPartyGirl than full-blown alcoholic; indeed, she highly dislikes the idea of a person getting themselves in deep enough to have an addiction (having witnessed Elaine's father self-destruct due to his drug addiction) and she bluntly informs TJ that he's headed down the same path as his grandfather if he doesn't get a hold of himself soon.

*** Bud Hammond will remind you of a lecherous, highly ambitious middle-aged politician, [[{{Rome}} and not necessarily Bill Clinton]].[[note]]Talkin' about Caesar.[[/note]]

*** Holy shit, looks like [[{{Heroes}} Nathan Petrelli finally became President! Let's hope he's not actually Sylar in disguise...]]

* HeyItsThatGuy: Elaine may have once fought {{Alien}}s. No wonder she's so popular.

* TearJerker: ((spoiler: Both scenes where TJ is found, first by Elaine in the car after a suicide attempt, and by Bud after his overdose.))
** The scene where Elaine tearfully talks about ((spoiler: What happened to TJ, and how hard his life is compared to the rest of them.))