In character as Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord, the lead character in the CBS drama "Madam Secretary," Tea Leoni was delivering an urgent address about the need for the United Nations to fight Hizb al-Shahid, a fictional terrorist group reminiscent of Islamic State, for an episode airing Sunday.

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are getting their own Hollywood biopic. The film won’t be about tough decisions like the Bin Laden mission or the fight for healthcare reform. It will be a romance film chronicling the first date between a young Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson.

“The Mideast is stunningly complicated,” said Albright, secretary of state from 1997-2001, in an interview. But her candid confirmation of how hard it is to understand the upheaval wasn’t limited to the region. The diplomatic disquiet is global, which Albright said was a condition of a post-Soviet world.

We asked State Department veteran Tara Sonenshine to watch the premiere episode of the series, which centers on an unconventional secretary of state, a former CIA analyst played by Tea Leoni, with us to see how accurately the show gets Washington and the world of Foggy Bottom diplomacy.

Washington, DC is excited for the series premiere of Madam Secretary. Madam Secretary stars Téa Leoni as Elizabeth McCord, the shrewd, determined, newly appointed Secretary of State who drives international diplomacy, battles office politics and circumvents protocol as she negotiates global and domestic issues, both at the White House and at home.

One of this fall’s newest political TV shows trades in the drama of an Oval Office affair for foreign affairs — and PTA meetings too. Adding to the growing line up of political programs, CBS will premiere “Madam Secretary,” on Sunday, Sept. 21, at 8 p.m. EST. The show, with executive producers Lori McCreary and Morgan Freeman, stars Tea Leoni as Elizabeth McCord — a former CIA analyst who is suddenly asked to leave her life in academia behind to take the reins at the State Department.