Hail to the Chief
Hail to the Chief

Hail to the Chief

1985-04-09 | en
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Seasons & Episodes

1
EP1  Episode One
Apr. 09,1985
Episode One

General Oliver Mansfield, the President's husband who is unable to make love to her, has an argument with his mistress. Randy confronts Oliver about it telling him if he hurts Julia, he will ruin him. Julia is told that an Air Force General named Brower has gone crazy and has taken control of a launch command center and will launch a pre-emptive stike against the (as it then was) Soviet Union if his demands are not met. Julia contacts Premier Zolotov to warn him and while he is touched by her concern he warns her that he will have to launch a second strike if Julia can't stop the crazy Major. Julia's advisors discuss possible solutions. After the nation is put on alert, Oliver confesses all his past affairs which makes Julia mad and she walks out on him.

EP2  Episode Two
Apr. 16,1985
Episode Two

Julia's advisors still discuss how to dissarm the crazy Major. Head of Defense, General Stryker tells Head of Security, Helmut Luger, that his daughter is pregnant and has claimed he is responsible, not knowing Julia's son Doug, is really the father. Rev. Billy Joe Bikerstaff, a powerfull,courupt tele- evangelist starts plotting to find a way to empeach the President. Julia's daughter Lucy is smitten with Raoul, the butler. Oliver's mistress Darlene threatened to ruin Oliver when he tried tried to end their relationship. In a attempt to make up for past mistakes, Oliver promises God he will save the world by going to the launch command center and stopping Brower.

EP3  Episode Three
Apr. 23,1985
Episode Three

Oliver confronts Brower and is gets shot in the process. While the news reports this Ivan Zolotov, the head of the KGB and who happens to be twin brother of the Premier, arrives to the Russian Embassy. There he sends for his top agent, Darlene, who has been having an affair with Oliver to get information. He instructs her to keep by his side, should he survive. Later Julia tells a comotosed Olivier that all is forgiven.

EP4  Episode Four
Apr. 30,1985
Episode Four

Oliver recovers from his coma and tells his family of how he went to heaven and was given a second chance. Lucy and Raoul sleep together. Raoul tells Lucy he loves her but can't commit to her untill his people in Contrapointa, South America are free. Darlene offers Oliver her own brand of TLC in the hospital. General Styker tells Luger that he has to marry his daughter Muffin or he will kill him. Julia tells her son Doug, a professioanl tennis player to stop making off color remarks on the tennis court. Rev Billy Joe finds two wealthy oil barons, Clovis and Lamar, who are willing to help him with his plan.

EP5  Episode Five
May. 07,1985
Episode Five

Oliver who is now home from the hospital still can't make love to Julia because he feels guilty about cheating on her again. Clovis and Lamar find some dirt on the President's personal accountant and force him to help them plot against Julia. Oliver breaks it off with Darlene but not before having ""one last time together"" and not knowing all the time that the KGB is secretly filming the whole time.

EP6  Episode Six
May. 14,1985
Episode Six

Clovis and Lamar give the President's accountant some money to secretly put (in the names of Julia's family) into Government contracts as personal investments to make it appear that she gave her family inside information. They then tell Rev. Bikerstaff to attack Julia on his talk show. Ivan Zolotov confronts Oliver letting him know that if he doesn't do what he says that the world will see the film of him and a Russian Agent.

EP7  Episode Seven
May. 21,1985
Episode Seven

Raoul leaves for South America and Lucy follows after him. Luger has dinner with Stryker's family and after seeing how crazy it is, decides to marry Muffin if for no other reason than to get her out of the house. Ivan gives Oliver a list of demands. Later Ivan admits to a colleage that if Oliver doesn't come through for them that his a better plan- a plan to put a Soviet Agent in the White House, at which point he introduces his newest secret agent...Rev Billy Joe!!!

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Hail to the Chief is an American sitcom that ran on ABC from April 9, 1985 until May 21, 1985. It centered on the first woman President of the United States, portrayed by Academy Award-winning actress Patty Duke. The series was created by Susan Harris, and was produced by Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions. It featured one of the few recurring gay characters in a 1980s television series.

Hail to the Chief Audience Reviews

ScoobyWell Great visuals, story delivers no surprises
Konterr Brilliant and touching
Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!
Dotbankey A lot of fun.
eschetic-2 No, it actually wasn't all that well written, but my goodness was it prescient! Imagine if Hillary Clinton had actually won the White House in 2008, Bill in tow, but been saddled with a Cabinet and kids Nixon, Reagan or "Bush the Lesser" might have produced. Picture that and you'll have something close to what the creators of this Reagan Era satire must have had in mind in trying to apply the style (right down to the musical cues and canned laughter from the brilliant SOAP) to the world of national and international politics.The Soviet Union was still together and the Middle East hadn't exploded yet, but everything else rings painfully true in the audio tapes I made (so recent and yet VCRs were just coming in!) of the first four episodes (of the seven shown) and recently stumbled across in the back of a drawer...so true in fact, that I dearly wish the company which put SOAP out on DVD would put the lone season of HAIL TO THE CHIEF on a DVD to be enjoyed again - for many people, for the first time. It might stun a lot of people including the original creators. Most satire (unless it's as brilliantly written as a MURPHY BROWN) ages rapidly, but this show actually seems better now than when it originally aired.
dcjimd In her autobiography, Patty Duke claimed that this series failed because "Viewers couldn't accept the idea of a woman President." Not hardly, it just wasn't a very good show overall. But it did have one great comedy scene in one episode that I still remember and laugh inside when I do.The scene took place at KGB headquarters in an office where two Russian agents were talking about something or other. People were going in and out of the office and every time the door was opened you would hear someone off-camera screaming in pain (obviously some poor soul being interrogated in one of the KGB's torture chambers.) The conversation between the two agents went on until finally someone opened the door and there was no screaming to be heard. When that happened, one of the two KGB men jumped up, ran to the door and shouted down the hallway, "Get back to work!" Immediately the screaming resumed.Priceless.
haildevilman But I still laughed.Fans of Soap will dig it. There was clearly a lot of inspiration there.And the satire was brilliant.Patty Duke was the eye of this hurricane. The only normal one. The rest were your regular stereotypes.Philandering first husband. Friendly but slightly unhinged Russian Premier. (Shawn was excellent in the role.) Loose daughter. Gay assistant. War monger General. Right wing secretary of state. (Herscel Bernardi's last role?) Southern gentleman democrat. And Glynn Thurman playing and over-the-top version of Jesse Jackson nearly stealing the show.The humor was a bit off color, but that's what made me laugh. I think people liked it despite themselves.
Randy H. Farb This show was cute. Patty Duke played the country's first woman president, much like the film "Kisses For My President." Ted Bessell played her astronaut-hero husband who played around on her while he could. Herschel Bernardi was cast as an Ehrlichman/Kissinger type. It's a shame the show didn't find an audience.