Being an ex-president and the house-husband of a former Secretary of State learns you a few things, it seems – most importantly, which TV dramas you can trust.
During an interview to promote The President Is Missing, his debut novel with author James Patterson, former US president Bill Clinton turned his judgement to the small screen's political offerings.
"Madam Secretary is by far the most realistic political show on television," Clinton told the Associated Press.
It's a strong endorsement for the hit series starring Tea Leoni, whose scrupulous character Elizabeth McCord was, as the show's executive producer once revealed, inspired by Hillary Clinton during the Benghazi hearings.
The "most realistic" political show on TV according to Bill Clinton.
Photo: Supplied
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The CBS drama, which wrapped its fourth season last month, airs locally on Network Ten.
Clinton also threw in special praise for Veep ("I love Julia Louis-Dreyfus"), Scandal and Netflix's House of Cards, but with a critical caveat.
"I've got a lot of sympathy for what they're up against. But it's almost impossible to have the president front and centre every week and keep it real," he said about the shows.
Bill Clinton has turned fiction novelist.
Photo: AP
Clinton's spot as TV critic comes ahead of this week's release of The President Is Missing, an unlikely fictional collaboration with the bestselling Patterson.
The novel, a political thriller set over three days, follows the disappearance of a US president while he's battling an apocalyptic cyber terrorism attack, according to the publisher's blurb.
"Jim wanted it to be authentic," Clinton told the Associated Press about the collaboration, which was instigated by a shared attorney who handles the pair's book deals.
"Which means, a) the physical setting has to be authentic, and b) the procedures had to be authentic, and the interplay between the president and the staff and all the world leaders and everything had to have the feel of reality, and even how the Secret Service works."
The novel, to be released on Tuesday, has topped Amazon's bestseller list based on pre-sales alone, and a TV adaptation is already being developed by prestige network Showtime.
– with AP
Rob Moran is an Entertainment reporter for The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and Brisbane Times.
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