By now, you should probably know about Hillary Clinton’s ill-advised use of a personal email account for her Secretary Of State correspondence. It’s been quite the scandal for her presidential campaign, as she was repeatedly ordered to hand her email server over to the Justice Department. Now that the emails (well, parts of them) have been released, we’re learning all kinds of things about the presidential hopeful, including her tastes in TV shows.
CNN has been on the email story for a while (which is about as close to journalism as it’s likely to get these days), and on Tuesday shared such highly sensitive details as this exchange with an Illinois politician about gefilte fish. More importantly, we gleaned some info about Clinton’s viewing habits. In an email sent in early 2010, Clinton asked her aide to look up the air times for Parks And Recreation and The Good Wife. The email’s subject was “Happy New Year!”, so she could very well have been following through on her resolution to watch good TV.
It’s not hard to see why Clinton would be interested in these series—they’re women-led shows that have a focus on government and politics. Parks And Recreation starred her former Saturday Night Live impersonator Amy Poehler, and The Good Wife’s storyline could very well have resonated with Clinton. Although she wouldn’t have known it at the time—unless she also has a time machine she’s not willing to share with the Justice Department—Vice President Joe Biden, Senator John McCain, and First Lady Michelle Obama would all appear on the NBC comedy. We’re not sure how Clinton would feel about the whole “Peter runs against Hillary” plot for season 7 of The Good Wife, though.
It turns out Clinton’s timing was impeccable as Parks And Recreation was a different and much better show by 2010. And The Good Wife, which was well into its critically-acclaimed first season, still had Alicia (Julianna Margulies) and Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) on the same soundstage. So we wouldn’t be surprised to learn that these particular messages were released to help Clinton in the polls (and not just the Nielsen ones).