What Succession gets wrong about politics

The show's election night was gripping and realistic. Everything that follows is a hot mess.

This post contains Succession season 4 spoilers.

The Roys with Jeryd Mencken (HBO)

Succession is probably the most realistic of the prestige TV shows. Instead of shows like the Sopranos and Yellowstone that try to raise the emotional stakes by leaving us with a body count every episode, I like how Succession delves deep into one or two complex situations every season, letting them marinate over time, much like how a major business acquisition might play out in the real world. The Sopranos is possibly the best show ever made, but I don’t actually believe that a real-life mob boss has to deal with the number of unique life-or-death situations that Tony Soprano does every week. Succession seems like a more realistic portrayal of the amount of drama, and type of drama, you would actually find in the high-stakes business world.

This also extends to the drama of a network decision desk on election night, as portrayed in last week’s election episode. I haven’t personally been inside a network…