Hillary Clinton Politics Get a Dose of CW Energy With ‘Girls on the Bus’

From the cosmo-soaked bars of New York City to the blood-drenched halls of Westeros, it used to be that the one quality linking HBO’s diverse slate of prestige TV was cynicism. One merger and a rebrand later, however, and HBO’s identity is no longer so clear—particularly on Max (formerly HBO Max), a streaming platform where shows like The Wire and Euphoria now live alongside the entire Property Brothers’ canon.

You can feel that shift in Max’s new political journalism drama The Girls on the Bus (premiering Mar. 14), which may follow the “four very different women as unlikely friends” premise that fueled HBO hits like Sex and the City and Girls, but comes freshly scrubbed of any jadedness. Co-created by The Vampire Diaries showrunner Julie Plec and produced by Arrowverse stalwart Greg Berlanti, the series actually began development at Netflix and briefly moved to The CW, both of which feel like more natural fits for its zippy, earnest, “stronger together” tone. Despite its of-the-moment political commentary, The Girls on the Bus is actually a pretty lightweight comfort watch. And that’s both the best and worst thing about it.

Very loosely inspired by co-creator Amy Chozick’s 2018 memoir Chasing Hillary, which detailed her experiences covering Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign as a journalist, The Girls on the Bus is set in a sort of bizarro mirror universe version of our own world. As the show opens, it’s been three years since its Clinton-like figure unexpectedly lost her bid for the White House, sending plucky reporter Sadie McCarthy (Melissa Benoist) into a personal and professional tailspin. Footage of her crying on election night went viral—a big no-no for journalistic objectivity.

Now Sadie’s back to redeem herself by covering a new election cycle, in which fictionalized riffs on AOC, The Rock, Joe Biden, and a sort of Beto-Buttigieg hybrid are among those vying to be the Democratic nominee. The heart of the series, however, belongs to the women who join Sadie on the press campaign trail: veteran journalist and tough-as-nails mom Grace Gordon Greene (Carla Gugino), Gen Z influencer/school shooting survivor Lola Rahaii (Natasha Behnam), and polished on-camera reporter Kimberlyn Kendrick (Christina Elmore), a Black conservative who works for the Fox News-esque network Liberty Direct News.

Though the four women couldn’t be more different, both in their politics and their personal lives, the exhausting throes of a chaotic primary season wind up bonding them together as they bus their way from hotel room to hotel room, political scandal to political scandal. Sadie begins the series idolizing the competitive journalistic debauchery detailed in Timothy Crouse’s seminal 1973 non-fiction book, The Boys on the Bus. Throughout the season, however, she begins to see that female journalists don’t have to operate as competitors or even mere colleagues. They can find strength in genuine friendship too. (#GirlPower)

In that way, The Girls on the Bus is really less of a political drama than the latest in the ever-growing subgenre of lighthearted, socially conscious stories about women’s professional lives. Think shows like TV Land’s Younger, Freeform’s The Bold Type and Good Trouble, and even The CW’s Supergirl, where Benoist spent six seasons playing a plucky superhero moonlighting as an even pluckier reporter. As in those dramedies, the dialogue in The Girls on the Bus is bluntly written, the characters broadly archetypal, and the social messaging incredibly on the nose. And yet there’s something about the earnest intentions and likable performers that keeps it all watchable.

Indeed, though The Girls on the Bus attempts some provocative stylistic flourishes—including an imaginary version of Hunter S. Thompson (PJ Sosko) who chats with Sadie and a fantastical, Magic Mike-inspired strip tease from a candidate played by Scott Foley—the series is at its best when it’s zeroing in on the warm chemistry linking its core four characters. Even when the storylines are silly and simplistic (which they frequently are), Benoist, Gugino, Behnam, and Elmore invest in the material. And for every hokey depiction of “can’t we all just get along?” female solidarity, there’s a subplot that’s genuinely moving, particularly a beautifully handled abortion storyline that’s a highlight of the season.

Those who come to The Girls on the Bus for political insights or scathing social satire will leave wanting. But those who are just here for a breezy, briskly plotted good time will find more to enjoy. In keeping with its middle-of-the-road politics, The Girls on the Bus is a sort of middle-of-the-road TV show—the ideal thing to watch when you want something more substantial than a sitcom but less challenging than a prestige drama. And with episodes that sit around the 45-minute mark, it’ll be a really easy binge once all 10 episodes have finished airing weekly. While it may seem counterintuitive to escape the harrowing real-world presidential cycle with a show about a fictional one, The Girls on the Bus offers an unexpectedly relaxing road trip.