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Season 1 – Scandal

2012 Drama List
87% Tomatometer 31 Reviews 79% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
"Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes is the creative mind behind this ABC drama. Olivia Pope, a former media consultant to the president, is ready to move on with her life and opens her own crisis-management firm, but she can't seem to shake ties with her past. Olivia's staff includes Quinn Perkins, who has a complicated history, and hacker extraordinaire Huck. As she moves forward it becomes clear that, while her staffers may specialize in cleaning up the lives of other people, they can't seem to do the same for themselves.
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Scandal — Season 1

Scandal — Season 1

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Critics Consensus

Scandal is a soapy show about work and love that's over the top but never boring.

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Critics Reviews

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Sarah Hughes Guardian Season one hurtles towards a climax that is simultaneously brilliant and crazy, featuring multiple betrayals, the forming of new alliances, and the uncovering of Quinn's secrets. Jun 26, 2018 Full Review Joshua Alston New York Magazine/Vulture Season one is a solid appetizer that lays a solid foundation for Olivia's future, and it delivers one of the show's greatest finale twists. Apr 19, 2018 Full Review Joanne Ostrow Denver Post Scandal, on the other hand, shows potential in spite of a rather dreary pilot. Apr 5, 2012 Full Review Randy Dankievitch Processed Media [It's] awful and contrived, and it really leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Rated: F Feb 13, 2020 Full Review Adam Sweeting The Arts Desk Instead it mixes zippy plotting and colourful characters with a whiff of covert-ops murk and hints of hi-tech science fiction. Jul 23, 2018 Full Review Ed Bark Uncle Barky It's regularly preachy and far-fetched, with the key characters tending to speed-talk as though they're all in a Go-Kart race. Rated: C+ Apr 5, 2012 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (15) audience reviews
Xivono C Kept me captivated the entire time. Haven't seen a show this good in a while. I hope the rest of the seasons are to this excellent standard as well. Excited to keep watching. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 10/18/21 Full Review Audience Member Scandal is one of my all- time favorite drama television shows. Everything is fast paced, so you cant miss an episode, after watching you wouldn't want to miss an episode.the actors and actress play their role so good that it makes you think these things that are happening on the show are real. Scandal has so much power, ambition, love, lust and action. There is no perfect person in the world of scandal. The married United States president Fitz Gerald Grant is willing to throw away his marriage and power in the big oval office to run away to Vermont to be with his mistress Olivia. Scandal cant be predicted you will never know whats happening next which is a good thing. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/09/23 Full Review Audience Member A predictable but well acted and over the top show that delivers the thrills Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/09/23 Full Review Audience Member It's a good show considering that it's cable TV. Given the shows that Netflix, HBO, etc have given us, cable shows now seem rather mundane and repetitive. Scandal does a decent job of building plot lines that can keep you tuned in if you're willing to invest in it, but therein lies the problem, bc in the end it's still a cable TV show and hence bound by the unwritten rules of CableTV Land. So it's not easy to invest in that, knowing the plot will never venture too far off into the abyss. So even though it's slightly provocative given it's network, it's not interesting enough to make you want to truly invest. Hopefully season 2 surprises and there's a new benchmark for cable tv. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/09/23 Full Review jon c for 2012: from the creator of 'Grey's Anatomy' comes a new political drama that takes the whole scandal subject to dangerous territory smart, sexy, intelligent, and stylish Kerry Washington is the ultimate gladiator woman refusing to lose a case she and her team take on the show takes on the most risqué subjects from homosexuality to prostitution to rape the biggest scandal throughout this first season's storyline involves the President and his illustrious affair with Olivia Pope, although it may not be the only secret that's dying to get out like the clients she helps Olivia and her team also have dangerous secrets of their own that could leak at any moment and destroy them it's a lot of politics and political jargon but it's fast, delivered with wit, sass, and so much emotion and I have to say that the finale is gruesome but really well pulled off it's true too that when you are the most powerful man in the world your freedoms and your choices are limited to what you can do and enjoy; a normal person can have a life, fall in love, and not worry about consequences of his actions affecting so many citizens the American public votes for someone they like that is flawless, perfect, full of promises, in this day and age nobody is safe from the media's search for the truth along with the endless gossip secrets are bound to reveal themselves no matter what this is a great starring vehicle for Kerry Washington Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Advertised as a political Thriller, this is more like a Political Soap Opera. Annoyingly verbose, almost all characters speak exactly the same, the President of the US rarely stops behaving like an infatuated teenager (Literally, at some point I had to fastforward the redundant pseudo-love scenes between Olivia and Fitz)... There is an interesting story or corruption and intrigue running behind the heavy melodrama, but it remains behind from beginning to end. Oh, and the patriotism...! Don't you hate any narrative which repeats over and over that the US president is the leader of the 'free world'? Obnoxious! Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/09/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Scandal — Season 1

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Cast & Crew

Episodes

Episode 1 Aired Apr 5, 2012 Sweet Baby When a young lawyer starts a new job at a crisis management firm, she must deal with an accusation against the nation's president on her first day. Details Episode 2 Aired Apr 12, 2012 Dirty Little Secrets Olivia must protect a new client who is under investigation; Quinn runs into trouble. Details Episode 3 Aired Apr 19, 2012 Hell Hath No Fury The team tries to help a millionaire's son who has been accused of rape; when Olivia takes on Amanda Tanner as a client, her first request is a meeting with the president. Details Episode 4 Aired Apr 26, 2012 Enemy of the State Olivia and Cyrus get into a heated argument about the Amanda Tanner case; the team helps a dictator who claims his wife and children were kidnapped. Details Episode 5 Aired May 3, 2012 Crash and Burn Olivia and her team help defend the pilot of a commercial plane that crashed, killing all onboard; when Amanda Tanner goes missing, Huck must call upon his past to help find her; Fitz asks the vice president for help. Details Episode 6 Aired May 10, 2012 The Trail As Gideon looks into Amanda's past, Olivia and Fitz's start on the campaign trail is revisited. Details Episode 7 Aired May 17, 2012 Grant: For the People Olivia and the team rally when Quinn finds herself in a tragic situation; Cyrus turns to Olivia when an announcement affects Fitz's presidency. Details
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Season Info

Director
Allison Liddi-Brown, Tom Verica, Paul McGuigan, Roxann Dawson, Michael Katleman, Steve Robin
Executive Producer
Shonda Rhimes, Betsy Beers
Screenwriter
Shonda Rhimes, Jenna Bans, Mark Wilding, Richard Robbins, Matt Byrne
Network
ABC
Rating
TV-14 (V)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date
Apr 5, 2012