美劇中大權在握的女人 傲骨賢妻脫穎而出

A minaret at sunrise and the soft lament of a Muslim call to prayer. Nobody needs to wait for a location — Damascus, Baghdad, Tehran — to be tapped out in military-style type.

黎明的清真寺尖塔，一位穆斯林的輕聲祈禱。沒人需要等着屏幕上以軍事風格的字體打出地點——大馬士革、巴格達或德黑蘭。

That image has become as common and convenient a signifier as helicopters flying over rice paddies to the sounds of Buffalo Springfield (“Stop, children, what’s that sound? Everybody look what’s going down”) are for the Vietnam War.

這幅畫面已經變成一個便捷的常用符號，就像直升機伴隨着水牛春田樂隊(Buffalo Springfield)的歌聲（“等一下，孩子們，那是什麼聲音？大家都在看什麼墜落了”）飛過稻田一定是關於越南戰爭。

If a show opens with a mosque bathed in dim light and mournful Middle Eastern music, then this must be a drama about Washington and the war on terrorism.

如果一部電視劇以沐浴在微光中的清真寺和悲傷的中東音樂開場，那它一定是關於華盛頓和反恐戰爭的。

That’s how “Madam Secretary” begins on Sunday on CBS, and that familiar landscape (in this case, it’s Damascus at dawn) is an early clue that there is not a lot of creative license in this enjoyable but by-the-book drama about a female secretary of state.

週日，CBS頻道的《國務卿夫人》(Madam Secretary)就是這樣開場的，那個熟悉的場景（這一次是黎明時的大馬士革）早早地暗示我們，這部關於女國務卿的電視劇雖然好看但完全是照本宣科，沒有太多創意。

Hillary Rodham Clinton is the obvious inspiration, but this is Hillary with a human face: Téa Leoni, who has a husky voice and a loose, engaging manner, is an unusually likable beauty. As Elizabeth McCord, she has all the brains and determination of the original and none of the political ambition and baggage.

它顯然是以希拉里·羅德姆·克林頓(Hillary Rodham Clinton)爲原型，不過這位“希拉里”有着人性化的面容：蒂亞·萊昂尼(Téa Leoni)嗓音沙啞，舉止自在迷人，是個非常可愛的美女。與她飾演的伊麗莎白·麥科德(Elizabeth McCord)一樣，她擁有希拉里的頭腦和決心，卻沒有她的政治野心和重負。

It’s a what-if scenario, a wish-fulfillment do-over in which Mrs. Clinton is dragged reluctantly into high office and spends her time there making the world a safer place, not planning her next move in Iowa.

這個假想劇本是令人滿意的改寫：這位“克林頓夫人”是被勉強推上要職的，不得不花時間維持世界和平，而不能在愛荷華州計劃她的下一步行動。

And that’s why a closer model for Mrs. Clinton can be found in a different what-if scenario, namely that of “The Good Wife,” the series about a politician’s wife whose husband is brought down by a sex scandal. She stands by his side for a while, then leaves him and restarts her legal career from scratch.

所以，與克林頓夫人更接近的人物在另一個假想劇本里——《傲骨賢妻》(The Good Wife)。該劇講述一個政客的妻子，丈夫因性醜聞下臺。她支持了他一段時間，而後離開了他，白手起家重新開始自己的法律事業。

That CBS drama returns for a sixth season on Sunday, and the premiere is bracing and unexpected. Especially given how long this show has lasted, it’s a credit to the imagination and energy of its married creators, Robert and Michelle King, that “The Good Wife” has remained so watchable.

週日，該劇第六季在CBS頻道迴歸，第一集振奮人心，出人意料。該劇已經演了這麼長時間，卻還這麼有觀賞性。這要歸功於它的創作者、羅伯特和米歇爾·金(Robert and Michelle King)夫婦的想像力和活力。

But another reason for its enduring popularity is that Alicia Florrick, the betrayed wife played by Julianna Margulies, has guile as well as gumption. She is sympathetic but also devious and not beyond using connections, deceiving friends and twisting the truth to get what she wants, including, last season, her own firm.

但是，它經久不衰的另一個原因是朱莉安娜·瑪格里斯(Julianna Margulies)飾演的遭到背叛的妻子艾麗西婭·弗勞裏克(Alicia Florrick)既精明又狡猾。她有同情心，但也同樣不擇手段，爲了得到想要的東西，她不惜利用人情關係、欺騙朋友、歪曲事實，比如在上一季中，她就用這些手段創立了自己的公司。

In other words, Alicia is a closer match to Mrs. Clinton: believably imperfect even when legal plot twists grow convoluted and outré.

換句話說，艾麗西婭更接近克林頓夫人：她的不完美讓人覺得可信，甚至當和法律有關的劇情轉折非常複雜離奇的時候也是如此。

In some ways, “Madam Secretary” seeks to be realistic about Washington. The first episode involves hostage taking in Syria and even a failed rescue operation that eerily echoes the one that the Obama administration ordered over the summer to save James Foley and other Americans held by the group that calls itself the Islamic State, even though the pilot was filmed before revelations of the government attempt.

從某些方面講，《國務卿夫人》想要以現實主義的方式描繪華盛頓。第一集涉及敘利亞的人質劫持事件，甚至連失敗的救援行動也怪異地讓人想起今年夏天奧巴馬政府下令解救被自稱伊斯蘭國的組織劫持的詹姆斯·福萊(James Foley)和其他美國人，儘管這一情節在政府的嘗試曝光前就已拍攝好。

This is a prime-time network show, however, so the outcome is not as horrible as the videotaped beheadings that happened in real life.

不過，它是公共電視臺黃金時段的電視劇，所以結果不像現實中的斬首視頻那麼可怕。

The presentation of politics is just as sanitized. In this fantasy, Elizabeth did not seek a cabinet post; it was forced upon her. She is a former C.I.A. analyst who quit for unexplained ethical reasons and is content to teach political science and raise horses with her husband, Henry (Tim Daly), and their two children. Elizabeth reluctantly accepts the job only after the president (Keith Carradine), her former mentor at the C.I.A., insists.

該劇對政治的描繪也同樣乾淨。在該劇中，伊麗莎白沒有尋求內閣職位，這個職位是強加在她身上的。她曾擔任中央情報局的分析員，因未說明的道德原因辭職，滿足於教授政治學，和丈夫亨利（Henry，蒂姆·達利[Tim Daly]飾）以及兩個孩子一起養馬。是因爲總統（基思·卡拉丹[Keith Carradine]飾）堅決要求，她才勉強答應的。總統曾在中央情報局擔任她的導師。

She arrives in Washington, ready to make a difference and immediately gets on the wrong side of the president’s domineering and manipulative chief of staff, Russell Jackson, who so resembles former Vice President Dick Cheney that the actor, Zeljko Ivanek, sports a ghost of the crooked half-smile that Mr. Cheney was famous for.

她來到華盛頓，打算做出點業績，很快與專橫跋扈、喜歡操縱別人的總統幕僚長拉塞爾·傑克遜(Russell Jackson)交惡。後者酷似前副總統迪克·切尼(Dick Cheney)，飾演他的澤利科·伊萬內克(Zeljko Ivanek)惟妙惟肖地演繹出切尼的招牌笑臉——嘴歪到一邊，似笑非笑。

Russell wants to be in charge. Elizabeth wants to save lives. In one of the show’s better scenes, Russell confronts Elizabeth after she handled a crisis without his approval. He asks her how she did it.

拉塞爾想掌握大權。伊麗莎白想拯救生命。在該劇較爲精彩的一幕中，伊麗莎白未經拉塞爾同意就處理了一場危機，之後拉塞爾質問她是如何做到的。

“I don’t know,” Elizabeth replies with a shrug. “By blatantly circumnavigating your authority?”

“我不知道，”伊麗莎白聳聳肩回答道，“也許是通過公然繞開你的權威？”

Television is suddenly full of women in power, and that is as much because of Shonda Rhimes and the success of her Washington melodrama, “Scandal,” as because of Mrs. Clinton. “Homeland,” the Showtime espionage thriller, has also opened doors.

電視上突然之間充滿了大權在握的女人，這緣於克林頓夫人，也同樣緣於珊達·萊梅斯(Shonda Rhimes)。後者關於華盛頓的聳人聽聞的電視劇《醜聞》(Scandal)非常成功。映時頻道(Showtime)的間諜驚悚劇《國土安全》(Homeland)也有所幫助。

“State of Affairs,” an NBC show coming in November, doubles down by stealing a bit from “Scandal” and a bit from “Homeland.” Alfre Woodard is the president, and Katherine Heigl is her most trusted, though personally troubled, national security adviser.

《國事家事》(State of Affairs)即將於11月在NBC頻道播出，它分別從《醜聞》和《國土安全》中竊取了一些元素，混合到一起。阿爾弗雷·伍達德(Alfre Woodard)飾演總統，凱瑟琳·海格爾(Katherine Heigl)飾演一個國家安全顧問，雖然被個人問題所困擾，但仍是女總統最信任的人。

Oddly, these new dramas showcase bold women in command but are timid about tapping into the kind of cynicism and character assassination that helped “Scandal” and “House of Cards,” on Netflix, become hits.

奇怪的是，這些新劇展現大權在握的英勇女人，卻不敢懷疑和詆譭政治人物——《醜聞》和Netflix公司的《紙牌屋》正是憑靠着這樣的懷疑和詆譭成了熱門。

ABC had enough faith in Ms. Rhimes, after her “Grey’s Anatomy” proved a hit, to back “Scandal” and won big. CBS, which has had so much success with squeaky-clean naval heroes on “NCIS” that it is adding a second spinoff, “NCIS: New Orleans,” on Tuesday, is evidently loath to try material that may be too dark for many viewers.

萊梅斯的《實習醫生格蕾》(Grey’s Anatomy)風靡一時之後，ABC頻道對她十分信任，投資拍攝她的《醜聞》，大獲成功。CBS頻道曾因《海軍罪案調查處》中無可指責的海軍英雄們大獲成功，所以週二又加了一個續集——《海軍罪案調查處：新奧爾良》(NCIS: New Orleans)，它顯然不願嘗試對很多觀衆來說過於黑暗的內容。

“The Good Wife” stands out because it strikes the right balance of network-mandated virtue and cable-inspired vice. “Madam Secretary” has some good moments, but it would be better if its heroine were just a little bit worse.

《傲骨賢妻》脫穎而出是因爲它在公共電視臺要求的美德和有線電視臺鼓勵的邪惡之間取得了完美的平衡。《國務卿女士》中有一些精彩時刻，但是它的女主人公要是能稍微壞一點就更好了。