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Season 1 – Scandal

Play trailer Poster for Season 1 – Scandal Apr 2012 Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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87% Tomatometer 31 Reviews 80% 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 06/26/2018
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. Go to Full Review Joshua Alston New York Magazine/Vulture 04/19/2018
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. Go to Full Review Joanne Ostrow Denver Post 04/05/2012
Scandal, on the other hand, shows potential in spite of a rather dreary pilot. Go to Full Review Randy Dankievitch Processed Media 02/13/2020
F
[It's] awful and contrived, and it really leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Go to Full Review Adam Sweeting The Arts Desk 07/23/2018
Instead it mixes zippy plotting and colourful characters with a whiff of covert-ops murk and hints of hi-tech science fiction. Go to Full Review Ed Bark Uncle Barky 04/05/2012
C+
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. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Devin F. @Miskiboy04 Jun 4 Season 1 was alright. Liked how they made the woman the head in charge and the man the mistress role See more Walt S. @RT36330541 Oct 21 WOW overall! Acting, script, directing & viewer enjoyment are all great-- not always perfect over 7 seasons, but super entertainment. ALL the acting is superb. Seaon 7 script a bit soft landing and predictable but none of the other seasons had that problem. Congrats to everyone involved in this wonderful series-- and thank you from my wife and me. See more Xivono C @RT42255603 10/18/2021 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. See more 12/03/2018 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. See more 02/01/2017 A predictable but well acted and over the top show that delivers the thrills See more 04/10/2016 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. See more Read all reviews
Scandal — Season 1

My Rating

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Cast & Crew

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Kerry Washington

Olivia Pope

Henry Ian Cusick

Stephen Finch

Columbus Short

Harrison Wright

Guillermo Díaz

Huck

Darby Stanchfield

Abby Whelan

Katie Lowes

Quinn Perkins

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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Scandal — Season 1

Scandal View more photos

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 (D|S|V)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date
Apr 5, 2012