Bringing Cherry Jones into to play 24's first female president may be a brave move for the perennial action series, but it is hardly a new thing in televisions recent history.  Sure, Jones will have the unenviable task of having to live up to the great President David Palmer, but Jones' real challenge comes in how she will stack up against the recent crop of TV's female Commanders-in-Chief.   While Jones' President Allison Taylor will be signing off on Jack Bauer's (Kiefer Sutherland) extreme torture permits, viewers will be comparing her performance to the following ladies, who have also been in charge – for better or for worse.



Sure, Taylor will be facing off against some nasty terrorists, but think of Laura Roslin.  During her tenure on Galactica she's battled a fleet of robots disguised as humans that annihilated her home planet, has dealt with insurrection, maniacal commanders plotting military coups, and, oh yeah, terrorists. Let's not forget that she has basically, through allegory, been fighting the Iraq war, amongst other things.  As a character she'll be tough to stand up to.




On the opposite side of the spectrum, President Reynolds was at once devious and tragic.  Not only did she murder her way into the Oval Office and use her power to keep the pressure on our boys Michael (Wentworth Miller) and Linc (Dominic Purcell), in the end she turned out to be just another evil pawn of the Company.  With the goods to bring her down, the shrewd Reynolds contracted a significant disease and averted Michael and Linc's demands for a pardon by stepping down.  Maybe not as tough as Roslin, but definitely as prominent a character.




Mackenzie took on the most dreaded enemy of all, the old boys network.  As a female Vice President she was pressured by the men folk to resign when the sitting president had a massive stroke and faced imminent death.  When she realized most of the men in line behind her were bigots and racists, she hung in.  She may not have had an action-packed run full of intrigue, but Gena Davis and Commander in Chief gave a chilling view of how corrupt politics can really be, not to mention sexist.


All around, it looks like Jones has some serious ground to cover.  If she does well, she will establish a character like season 1's David Palmer, a man so honorable and steadfast that his race or gender didn't even factor into his power as a character.


- Jon Lachonis, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Images Courtesy of Sci Fi, FOX, and ABC)