Olivia Pope is a (fictional) PR rock star. For those
of you who don’t know who Olivia Pope is: you’re missing out on one of the
hottest political dramas on television. Kerry Washington plays Olivia Pope in
ABC’s “Scandal”, which airs every Thursday at 10 p.m. Olivia and her team of
“fixers” or “gladiators in suits” live in D.C. and work for Olivia’s crisis
management firm, Pope and Associates, protecting the public image of
politicians and celebrities.
I’ve been watching this show since it first aired in
April of 2012, but I just recently found out that Olivia Pope’s character is
based on a real-life PR rock star named Judy Smith. Similar to the fictional
character Olivia Pope, Judy Smith has worked as Deputy Press Secretary for
President George H.W. Bush and offered communications advice, legal advice and
crisis management services to Fortune 500 companies, athletes, celebrities,
public officials, federal agencies and foreign leaders all before starting her
own strategic and crisis communications firm, Smith & Company.
“Scandal” has easily become my favorite show on television
because it is exciting and edgy each week. Each member of Olivia’s team has an
interesting backstory that contributes to the complicated plotlines. Olivia and
her team fix the problems and restore the images of some of D.C.’s biggest
names, but Olivia’s clients aren’t the only ones with secrets. The employees at
Pope and Associates are often key players within the show’s many ongoing scandals,
which involve rigged elections, an affair with the President of the United
States and a secret branch of the CIA called B-613, to name a few.
If you haven’t seen the show yet, I urge you to
check it out. The show’s political corruption is sometimes disheartening
(because who’s to say this kind of stuff isn’t happening in real life),
but I love Olivia’s talent for digging up information and communicating her way
out of any scandal. Even though it’s just a fictional show, “Scandal” has reinforced
my interests in PR, public policy and politics, and every Thursday night I find
myself wanting to be a PR rock star like Olivia Pope when I grow up (minus all the
corruption, the affair with the president and the crazy CIA director for a father).
I have heard about this show and I think it's really cool that a character is based off of a real person. I love watching shows that are suspenseful and this seems like it would be! I will have to watch it sometime!
ReplyDeleteKatee, this was a very intriguing post. I couldn't stop reading, you did such a good job catching my attention! I have heard of the show, but I've never watched it and I never would have guessed that it had anything to do with the PR world. I think it's great that you could find a show that is interesting and intrigues the PR side of you as well in the hopes of becoming one of the "big dogs" in the PR world.
ReplyDeleteI secretly want to be her. I love this show so much. It is definitely one of my favorites. It blows my mind the kinds of things that she can do with her career. I want to be her. I will grow up to be Olivia Pope.
ReplyDelete