The Politician is an American comedy-drama that aired on Netflix back in 2019. It was created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan.
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- The Politician is an American comedy-drama streaming television series.
- It was created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan and released on Netflix.
- The trio also serve as executive producers with Alexis Martin Woodall, Ben Platt, and Gwyneth Paltrow.
- The series centers on the story of Payton Hobart (Platt), a wealthy Santa Barbaran.
- Each season revolves around a different political race his character is involved in.
- The first season was released on Netflix on September 27, 2019.
- The series stars Ben Platt, Zoey Deutch, Lucy Boynton, Bob Balaban, Laura Dreyfuss, Julia Schlaepfer, Theo Germaine, Rahne Jones and Gwyneth Paltrow.
- David Corenswet, Benjamin Barrett, and Jessica Lange joined the main cast in the first season, while Judith Light and Bette Midler joined the main cast in the second season.
- Production on the second season started in November 2019
- It premiered on June 19, 2020.
- On February 5, 2018, it was announced that Netflix had given the production a two season order.
- The order came after a bidding war involving Hulu and Amazon.
- Production companies involved with the show include Fox 21 Television Studios and Ryan Murphy Productions.
- Principal photography for the first season took place on location in Fullerton Union High School, Orange County, California, and Los Angeles, California.
- In the intro, there are several books with past presidents name on them in order; Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Barack Obama & then the next book is Idiot’s Guide to Clowning. This is a slam to Donald Trump since the next book should have had his name
- Gwyneth Paltrow has admitted in interviews that she no longer has a particular interest in acting and had to be convinced by her husband Brad Falchuk and her good friend Ryan Murphy, co-creators of the show along with Ian Brennan, to be on this show.
- She ended up agreeing as long as she could shoot her scenes in a couple of days each week, because her primary occupation is running her company Goop, and if she didn’t want to say some of the dialogue, Falchuk would rewrite them to her comfort
- Ben Platt and Laura Dreyfuss previously worked together in Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway, as Evan Hansen and Zoe Murphy respectively.
- Playing the title role in Dear Evan Hansen required Ben Platt to lose 30 pounds and walk with a slouch, which had become his regular posture.
- For this role he had to go through special exercises to correct it.
- Jessica Lange and Gwyneth Paltrow previously starred together in the movie Hush
- Jessica Lange and Dylan McDermott worked together in American Horror Stor
- Often compared to the film Election (1999) which also satires national politics through a high-school election, the second season of The Politican has a scene in which Peyton (Ben Platt) and his mother (Gwyneth Paltrow) have a discussion about the differences between morals and ethics.
- The opening scene of Election features Matthew Broderick having a similar discussion with his students.
- Ben Platt’s song “Runaway” from his debut album, Sing To Me Instead, is featured throughout the first season. Payton (Platt) plays it on the piano and it is also the song played in the background when Payton is in his coma and is speaking with River.
- Season 1 and 2 were greenlighted together, each one chronicling an election for the lead character. When co-creator Ryan Murphy was asked on an interview about a possible season 3, since season 2 didn’t wrap up the whole show, he said that it may happen and would show Payton running for president of the USA, but they wouldn’t film it for a few years, to give the cast time to grow up and reflect a proper age for the roles.
- The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 58% approval rating for the first season with an average rating of 6.74/10, based on 91 reviews.
- The website’s critical consensus reads: “While The Politician can’t uphold all of its tantalizing promises, it delivers just enough soapy satire in a sumptuous setting to keep Ryan Murphy fans invested—though its [sic] unlikely to win him many new votes.”
- Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the season a score of 66 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating “generally favorable reviews”.
- On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season received a 40% approval rating with an average rating of 5.84/10, based on 20 reviews.
