The First Lady

Ann Hargis, the former First Lady of Oklahoma State University, will receive a top university honor for philanthropy.

The narrative of the show is based on the lives of Michelle Obama, Betty Ford and Eleanor Roosevelt from even before their husbands held the seat of the ...

Instead, audiences are able to see that Pfeiffer’s character is constantly up against a force much bigger than herself (in this case, the constant monitoring of her words and actions as a first lady), and is put into such a precarious situation as a result of her husband’s desire for the presidency. Showtime’s “The First Lady” plays back the lives of the First Ladies—from Eleanor Roosevelt to Michelle Obama—and unravels any misplaced notions the public might have of presidential life. Though the premise is intriguing, “The First Lady” provides distracting makeovers that blanket the subject matter. This is exactly what the three leading ladies of “The First Lady” have accomplished in just the first episode of the series. Although Pfeiffer’s character seemed almost like a parody of what a first lady should be for most of the pilot episode, that facade melted away when her character snapped in the last few minutes before credits rolled. And while the flashbacks serve as a captivating form for divulging details of their personal life, it wasn’t nearly as compelling as the actual performances of the first ladies. Simply from the depiction of their unique initiatives, one can tell the ongoing storyline of struggle, advocacy and sudden fame in their place as first ladies.”— Maya Abu-Zahra “The lead actresses in Showtime’s “The First Lady” (Viola Davis as Michelle Obama, Michelle Pfeiffer as Betty Ford and Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt) bring to life the unalterable truths behind being America’s first lady—the danger, the difficulty, the awkwardness and the unconditional love that is needed for anyone to survive the White House for four (plus) years. In the opening scene, Davis speaks and poses exactly like Obama, in the way she puckers her mouth and in the way her face rests and moves. Viola Davis stars as the young Michelle Obama and truly embodies the apprehension, worry and conviction that our former first lady had as she prepared to step into her role. Needless to say, Davis did her job and was doing our former first lady justice.”— Chelsea Hylton Prof. Miki Turner’s feature writing students have learned the art of the two-minute pitch and now the two-minute critique.

Oftentimes when we revisit past eras of American history, we center them around who the president was at the time. Watergate? Nixon. The American Revolution ...

According to the IMDb page for The First Lady, the series will have a total of 10 episodes. So, who plays Theodore Roosevelt in The First Lady? Although The First Lady focuses on the other two famous Roosevelts — Eleanor and Franklin — Theodore also makes an appearance.

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Though Anderson and Davis aren’t slouches when it comes to their embodiments, the lack of subtlety in their dialogue (everything Anderson says sounds like a platitude of sorts) and a more impressionistic temperament to their performances means neither Eleanor or Michelle feel like real people; Davis’s pencil-thin eyebrows and her odd mouth placement bordering on farce rather than purity. Whilst no one could ever accuse Eleanor or Michelle of maintaining a certain silence, Betty is presented here as the most forthcoming and headstrong. The narrative surrounding Michelle and Barack Obama (O.T. Fagbenle, fine but adhering to more an impression than anything organic) is primarily focused on their initial entrance to The White House and the preceding years where his security detail and political aspirations upset her own career narrative.

Politics can be a taboo subject in more ways than one can imagine. The mere mention of it can already send people with opposing beliefs into an intense.

They were unafraid to speak their truth and fought for their place in the White House. Michelle Obama on the other hand was a trailblazer in her own right. There are two sides to every story and we are fortunate to be given the opportunity to hear from these notable First Ladies. Apart from the mind-blowing physical transformations, there is a lot of heart to the story, and important lessons to be learned. The series is a confluence of award-winning actors and actresses who give life to past presidents and their better halves. The series aims to unravel what went on behind the smiles and handshakes. Time travel is a superpower a lot of us wish we had.

Viola Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer and Gillian Anderson play three of America's most distinctive presidential spouses in the limited series "The First Lady." NPR TV ...

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The real people whose fictionalized lives you will see on The First Lady.

Here's the real Susan Ford: Here's the real Betty Ford: Here's the real Gerald Ford:

Michelle Pfeiffer, who plays Betty Ford in Showtime's The First Lady, says it will be her last portrayal of a real person. Find out why here!

She continued, "And I mean, as if that isn't enough, there's so much more to her. Pfeiffer stars as the title character—wife of 38th President Gerald Ford—in Showtime's new series The First Lady, and in a recent interview, the 63-year-old revealed that she will never portray a real person again. "I didn't know half of the contribution that Betty Ford made," she said.

In a scene in Showtime's new series “The First Lady,” a fictionalized Eleanor Roosevelt (Gillian Anderson) squares off with her crustaceous mother-in-law, ...

What shows are going to be made about us in the coming decades? We might have believed the wrong narrative, laughed at the wrong target, learned the wrong lessons — and then carried those lessons with us for 10 or 40 years. But in “Pam and Tommy,” the dialogue doesn’t seem directed toward Tommy Lee so much as it seems directed toward an audience of nostalgic millennials and Gen Xers who might also have missed the point the first time around. It’s invigorating and overdue to see history told from a feminist perspective, and it’s never too late to acknowledge that women have always been victims of their time — even the women who shaped history, setting us on course to a future where feminist historical dramas would be in high demand. The show offers a teachable moment for a remedial culture and an eight-episode apology to Pamela Anderson. We get it. The “capable woman” quip sounds like something Eleanor could have said, but it’s also 2022 feminism spackled on a 1930s fresco.

Here's a look at this week's top shows and movies coming out on Video on Demand, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO Max and other services.

New episodes on Sundays. (Showtime) Robert Pattinson takes on the role of “The Batman” (2022, PG-13) in this big-screen reboot from director/co-writer Matt Reeves. Reeves embraces the darkness (both literally and figuratively) in his take, set in the second year of Bruce Wayne’s vigilante campaign. “A Very British Scandal” (2022, TV-14) follows up the 2018 series “A Very English Scandal” with the story of Margaret Whigham, the Duchess of Argyll (Claire Foy), and her divorce from Ian Campbell, the Duke of Argyll (Paul Bettany). England branded it “the divorce of the century.” (Prime Video)

The First Lady star Michelle Pfeiffer says she never wants to play a real person again following her role as Betty Ford in the new Showtime series.

Of course, the actor's career shows no sign of slowing down; Pfeiffer recently wrapped her role in the highly anticipated Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The First Lady airs Sundays on Showtime. I'm really honored that I was given the opportunity to share that story with everyone. Of course, like most people, I knew of her struggle with alcohol abuse and drug addiction, and her founding the Betty Ford clinic, but that's really kind of the extent of it. However, she was "honored" to take on the role. Pfeiffer explains that playing a real person comes with its own "weighty" set of challenges. In an EW conversation with her co-stars, Pfeiffer says Betty Ford will be her last portrayal of a real person.

The new Showtime series on Michelle Obama, Betty Ford and Eleanor Roosevelt, makes the connection between substance and style.

It’s the bridge of “relatability” (in the words of the show’s Barack Obama) from the White House to every house. Then there was the giant floral necklace Eleanor Roosevelt wore to her husband’s first inauguration, which, while very au fait in the early 1930s, “looked almost ridiculous when you see it with a modern eye,” Ms. Sijlund said. Acknowledging that likelihood doesn’t take away from her achievements or the connection she made between holiday décor and learning. “The two things are intrinsically connected,” said Cathy Schulman, the showrunner and executive producer of “The First Lady.” When it comes to first ladies, how they present in the world becomes shorthand for who they are and what they do. All such accessories are on some level recognizable because they serve as wormholes to the events portrayed. Unelected, but part of the package; beholden to the West Wing, but in an office, if not an Office, of her own; emblematic, somehow, of American womanhood writ large. These included such major public sartorial statements as their wedding dresses, inauguration outfits and the gowns they wore for their official White House portraits. (How many first ladies before her had been publicly photographed in their dressing gowns?) Yet what the series, which flips between moments in each first lady’s life that are connected thematically, rather than chronologically, may do best is illustrate just how intertwined the roles actually are — onscreen as in life. She exuded warmth and family values, embodying the platonic ideal of a political spouse, while also promoting her signature cause (education). Or rather, the Easter “Eggucation” roll. state dinners!) to one focused on substance.

In a diabolically deft touch, we were treated to the sight of Michelle Obama (Viola Davis) reacting subtly with the older Black retainers among the White ...

The production team that got it started was the subversive bunch at "Mr. Robot." The stars are Julia Roberts, at 54 a mega-star who seems to work only when she jolly well wants to, playing Martha Mitchell, and Sean Penn, no less, as her husband, Richard Nixon's loyalist and brutalist attorney general during Watergate, whose tolerant amusement of his wife's outrages, became increasingly untenable. It is precisely their refusals to go along to get along that we revere. Or Betty Ford, who insisted to American media that her real self mattered, even if that involved alcoholism and addiction recovery as well as the hitherto never-discussed malady, breast cancer. The American first lady is a great and weirdly under-explored dramatic subject. The outrageous female insider is an almost archetypal role in Washington narrative. And yet the conflict of that with their actual, often formidable and ornery personalities, can turn them into primal rebels in their eras. We were then introduced to Michelle Pfeiffer playing Betty Ford. The first thing we see is her, flimsily clad, drinking and dancing Þ a kind of proto-twerk by a former Martha Graham dancer while her stereo played Harry Nilsson's "Coconuts." ("Put the lime in the coconut/drink a bowl up." They had a great idea and a mind-boggling cast and they threw it away. Somehow, they had managed to overlook both the size of their subject and their own cast. The stares of the latter at the House's new residents suggested both wonderment and puzzlement. They might as well have invented a show called "American Writers" and had A-list Hollywood actors show off playing Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos and James Baldwin in little pieces of dramatic spritz. That was counterpointed with the new first lady's face suggesting unavoidable rue and melancholy.

Is there anyone more fit to portray Michelle Obama than Viola Davis? The Oscar and Emmy winner (for Fences and How to Get Away with Murder, respectively) ...

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Showtime's latest release, The First Lady, is causing quite the stir among viewers of the project that stars Viola Davis as Michelle Obama, Michelle Pfeiffer as ...

You can select 'Manage settings' for more information and to manage your choices. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Your Privacy Controls. Find out more about how we use your information in our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. Click here to find out more about our partners. - Information about your device and internet connection, including your IP address