Make no mistake about it, SCANDAL is a television show worth your time. Airing Thursday nights at 10PM, you may think that it deserves a slot on your DVR. Yet I encourage you to watch it live; the reason being that this show delivers some really juicy and fun stories that deserve to be savored as soon as possible. Coming from creator Shonda Rhimes, SCANDAL delivers. It knows exactly how to capture an audience’s attention and keep it.
The show is premised on a “dream team” of political fixers that move behind the scenes in Washington, D.C. to ensure that scandals that would destroy political careers are kept safely buried, never to see the light of day. Helmed by Olivia Pope (portrayed with scintillating precision and grace by Kerry Washington), her office champions anyone and everyone who is on the verge of being caught in a scandalous-web; whether it be the President of the United States, a notorious D.C. madam, a son of a wealthy politician charged with a sex crime, or an aide who finds herself caught in the cross-hairs of political intrigue.
SCANDAL echoes of its famous television predecessors, invoking nostalgia for shows like THE WEST WING, especially with its rich hues and visual texture. In fact, the visual palette and setting make the SCANDAL-world all the more real. If Washington, D.C.’s hallowed halls were as luxurious and wealth-infused as portrayed, one would never want to leave.
The show also spares no expense to each and every word of dialogue. The rapid-fire exchanges convey not only practical information for each case as it is discovered, but ratchets up the tension-filled environment in which the SCANDAL fixers live and breathe. Time is of the essence and every second counts. Thus, the pace of the show is an adrenaline-rush as these “gladiators” work frantically to keep political scandals from exploding.
In addition to Kerry Washington, who plays the enigmatic Olivia Pope, SCANDAL also stars Katie Lowes, Columbus Short, Guillermo Diaz and Darby Stanchfield as her team of “fixers.” A few of whom we recently had the pleasure of catching up with at the recent Academy of Television Arts & Sciences event honoring creator/executive producer Shonda Rhimes.
As Rhimes, Washington, Lowes and Goldwyn have cryptically revealed in the above video, SCANDAL is not just a show about the scandal-of-the-week cases – but rather the mystery of what each of the characters have to hide. There is a reason that Olivia Pope chose her “dream team” – each has something special to offer and each has a secret they are desperate to protect themselves.
Washington, D.C. as a backdrop for a story about how everyone has secrets and the lengths they will go to in order to protect those secrets is alluring. Politics is not about simply eliminating threats, it is about burying them – and murder is not always the best option, nor the most effective.
It is time to make SCANDAL appointment-television and discover what delicious, dirty secrets everyone has to hide. SCANDAL premieres Thursday, April 5th at 10PM on ABC (CityTV in Canada) 
Tiffany Vogt is the Senior West Coast Editor, contributing as a columnist and entertainment reporter to TheTVaddict.com. She has a great love for television and firmly believes that entertainment is a world of wondrous adventures that deserves to be shared and explored – she invites you to join her. Please feel free to contact Tiffany at Tiffany_Vogt_2000@yahoo.com or follow her at on Twitter (@TVWatchtower).