Although countless movies and TV shows pretend to show the inner workings of American government, few have really done so with any sobriety, intelligence or honesty. Most are just wildly imaginative or ruthlessly cynical and preposterous. Anyone who has spent much time in government -- or as a serious journalist or scholar of government -- knows that.

But there are two TV series worth noting as often-realistic (or at least substantially relevant) portrayals of the inner workings of the U.S. government -- entertaining TV shows that offer you a real insight into how government works in reality:

The West Wing

This series, which emerged on NBC during the Bill Clinton administration, and aired throughout the George W. Bush administration, is a portrayal of the activities and personalities of White House staff, in the administration of fictional president Josiah ("Jed") Bartlett (played by Martin Sheen). Based on scripts developed with the guidance of former White House senior staffers (Democrat and Republican), this is -- by far -- the most realistic fictional television series on American government ever aired, while remaining riveting and often amusing. While this series was discontinued several years ago, when Barack Obama became president, DVD sets of the series remain widely available.

In the series, President Bartlett is a Democrat (one of the senior producers described him as a mixture of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Bill Clinton) -- yet the dramas are actually drawn from actual events in both Republican and Democrat administrations, including Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and both Bushes, as well as Democrats Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, and Clinton.

That said, it's worth noting that the Clinton administration seems to be the source for the bulk of the stories, and a read of the memoirs of former Clinton press secretary George Stephanopoulis -- the bestseller All Too Human: A Political Education -- reveals countless incidents that are obviously the inspiration for numerous West Wing episodes. But sharp historians will recognize realitically portrayed events from every presidency between Eisenhower and Clinton.

Though the series was intended to focus on the staffers in the White House, which it mostly does, it also gives vivid and realistic portrayals of the personalities, behaviors and decision-making of Presidents, Vice Presidents and members of Congress -- and how they all interact to produce American government action. Nearly every episode -- in at least one of its three plot lines -- is realistically based on an actual event of genuine importance.

• New York Times fact-check:   July 8, 2001
  
• Washington Post review:   May 15, 2006
  
• "A beginner's guide to the West Wing"
    in The Guardian:   Dec. 17, 2000
  
• Wikipedia article

Madam Secretary

This series (which debuted on CBS, and currently in re-runs on syndicated channels and NetFlix) is a portrayal of the activities and personalities of State Department staff, headed by fictional Secretary of State, Elizabeth McCord (played by Tea Leoni), under a fictional president Conrad Dalton (played by Keith Carradine). Though often wildly unrealistic, in its better episodes, it is a modestly worthy sucessor to The West Wing.

The show, which emerged during Secretary Clinton's 2016 bid for the presidency, was initially a blatant attempt to (wildly, heroically) fictionalize Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (as an ex-CIA spy, in a happy, normal family, who miraculously gets to be Secretary of State, and goes around putting men in their place). Manipulatively sexist in its promotional trailers, the show was self-destructively headed towards emulating a similar, even worse fiasco: ABC's short-lived "Commander in Chief," (with Gina Davis).

However, following Clinton's defeat, the show soon sobered up into a solid presentation of the inner workings of U.S. diplomacy. The show soon began to take on the serious and sensitive air of The West Wing series, and "grew up" into a more reality-based drama.

Unfortunately, realism isn't popular. So, in later episodes, in an apparent desperate bid to improve ratings, the show again veered off into a ridiculously exaggerated volume of cloak-and-dagger dramas (replete with blue-tinting of the video, costumes and settings, like other military/spy dramas) wildly unrepresentative of any actual State Department or Secretary of State.

And, finally, predictably, she becomes President of the United States.

Still, the series retains many of the dryer, more realistic and subtle dramas of global statecraft (interwoven with the gratuitous spy-stuff), and remains well worth watching and learning from (as long as you don't take the absurd quantity of spy stuff as realistic examples of the normal daily workings of the State Department, or any Secretary and his/her family).

• New York Times review:   Dec. 8, 2019
• Wikipedia article

SO...
If you want to truly understand how national government works, or how international affairs are conducted, these shows offer you a much clearer picture than any other fictional TV or movie source, ever. Just remember: They're not totally real -- just based on reality.

~RH

The author is a former award-winning international-affairs and government scholar, who has served in local government, and served in the campaigns of local, state and national leaders. As a journalist, and as a political activist, he has interviewed or visited with former White House senior staffers, a former Cabinet Secretary, current and former members of Congress, foreign diplomats, senior military leaders and former senior intelligence officials, federal agency heads, and governors, along with countless legislators and local officials.