Scandal (season 1)

Scandal (season 1)

The promotional poster for the first season of Scandal
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 7
Broadcast
Original channel ABC
Original run April 5, 2012 – May 17, 2012
Home video release

DVD release

Region 1 June 12, 2012[1]
Region 2 October 7, 2013[2]
Region 4 October 17, 2013[3]

The first season of the ABC American television drama series Scandal premiered on April 5, 2012 and concluded on May 17, 2012, with a total of 7 episodes.

Plot

This season introduces Olivia Pope and the various members of her firm, as well as President of the United States Fitzgerald Grant (Tony Goldwyn) and Cyrus Beene (Jeff Perry), his chief of staff. The season focused on the lives of the team members, the relationship between Olivia and the president (her former employer), and the mystery surrounding Amanda Tanner's (Liza Weil) involvement with the White House, among other cases the team solved.

Cast

Regular cast

Recurring cast

Guest cast

Episodes

No. in
series		 No. in
season		 Title Directed by Written by Original air date U.S. viewers
(million)
11"Sweet Baby"Paul McGuiganShonda RhimesApril 5, 20127.33[4]
Quinn Perkins comes to what she believes to be a blind date, only to find that she is now getting offered a job at Pope & Associates, a job that she's dreamed about for a while; Olivia Pope and Stephen work on getting a Russian Ambassador's baby back from kidnappers. Just as they are all about to leave, Lieutenant Sully St. James comes in pleading for help as his girlfriend has just been murdered; then Olivia gets a call from Cyrus because a woman named Amanda Tanner has been saying that she has been sleeping with the president and requests her help. After Olivia talks to, and indirectly threatens, Amanda, Quinn questions if she wants the job. Olivia goes to David Rossen asking for 36 hours so they can clear Sully's name; As the clock ticks down, Abby and Stephen look for concrete evidence for Sully's alibi, eventually finding a security camera that reveals Sully kissing another man. Sully refuses to admit that he is gay, as he is both a military officer and a conservative; Quinn convinces Olivia that Amanda isn't lying as the president called her 'Sweet Baby', the same name he used for Olivia. Olivia persuades Sully to admit his homosexuality by telling him he can't change who he is and he shouldn't be ashamed of that, and then accepts Amanda as her new client.
22"Dirty Little Secrets"Roxann DawsonHeather MitchellApril 12, 20127.28[5]
Pope & Associates' new client is one of the biggest madams in all of D.C., finding that she is about to go to jail for the rest of her life; Olivia finds that Cyrus took away her access to the White House. Olivia sets Quinn up to look after Amanda, only to find that she walked away from the hospital; Abby finds herself jealous when she sees that Stephen was on the list of people that slept with one of the madam's call-girls. Olivia goes to Amanda only to find that Amanda doesn't want anything to do with her; Quinn meets a reporter named Gideon and finds that he is looking to make a story out of Amanda trying to kill herself. One of the names on the 'client list' is Fitzs' candidate to be on the Supreme Court, but when they question him they find that he doesn't know anything about it; Olivia finds that it is his wife that he slept with years ago and convinces her to tell him that she was a call girl. Fitz gives back Olivia's access to the White House; While Amanda comes to Olivia saying that she wants help. Gideon finds that he has a story; As the madame is put out of business and her clients are never revealed to the public if they endorse President Grant's candidate, per Olivia's orders.
33"Hell Hath No Fury"Allison Liddi-BrownMatt ByrneApril 19, 20127.21[6]
Pope & Associates' current client is a man who is being charged with rape, even though the stories don't add up; Mellie begins to worry about Fitz when she finds that he isn't sleeping anymore. Amanda moves in with Olivia and requests that she have a meeting with the President; While investigating the 'rape' Harrison finds that the defendants' best friend was raped by their client, and that she was framing him for rape. Mellie invites Olivia to the Presidential Ball, finding that he'll be able to sleep now; Quinn starts flirting with Gideon in an effort to find out the information that he knows on Amanda. After talking to her client, Olivia convinces her to turn her son into the police, even though the woman he raped is already dead; Cyrus talks Olivia out of meeting with the president at 'their spot'; Fitz finds that Mellie knew about his affair with Olivia the entire time. Even with Olivia canceling the meeting, Amanda requests that the meeting be put back on; Cyrus finds that someone recorded Fitz and Amanda having sex. Amanda confesses to Olivia that she's pregnant with the Presidents' child.
44"Enemy of the State"Michael KatlemanRichard E. RobbinsApril 26, 20126.86[7]
A South American dictator comes to Pope & Associates when he finds out that his family has been kidnapped; Cyrus begins digging into everyone in Pope & Associate's backgrounds. Olivia finds that her world is upside down when Amanda's pregnancy test come out to be true; Quinn begins going on dates with Gideon, but is skeptical to the fact that he says that he doesn't need her as a source anymore because he has someone else. Abby and Finch find that General Flores's wife didn't really get kidnapped, that she attempted to leave him, but when Abby takes it into her own hands to help her, Olivia returns them back to the General, causing Abby and Olivia to get into a fight. Gideon begins researching everything about Amanda Tanner and the President; While Fitz begins wondering what would happened if everything came out into the public. Olivia helps the Generals wife leave her husband, and eventually convince him to let her take the children. In the middle of the night Amanda Tanner is kidnapped from Olivia's house, while she and the rest of the 'Gladiators' prepare for the trial; Cyrus and Olivia come to blows and decide that it is now a full blown 'war'.
55"Crash and Burn"Steve RobinMark WildingMay 3, 20126.69[8]
With Amanda Tanner missing, everyone at Pope & Associates are looking for clues to find her, that is until they get a call that a plane crashed in the woods of Virginia. Olivia works to find the truth about what truly happened, as the pilot had been accused of drinking the night before the plane crashed; Huck gets in touch with someone that he knew before he began working for Olivia, because he found footage linking him to the kidnapping of Amanda. Olivia then asks Huck to go back and do what he knew how to do best; Harrison and Abby find that one of the reports from the plane was copied, meaning that there was something wrong with the plane. Stephen finds it hard to find information out the same way he used to now that he is engaged; President Fitz begins to try to pass an act called the 'Dream Act', and the vote comes down to Vice President Sally Langston, who eventually agrees to pass it. Huck finds out where Amanda's body is, and they go in search to find it; Fitz gets angry when he finds he can't leave the White House. Stephen finds that Amanda's baby wasn't the President's and Fitz shows up at Olivia's apartment.
66"The Trail"Tom VericaJenna BansMay 10, 20126.43[9]
As Gideon investigates Amanda Tanner's past, a series of flashbacks reveal the contentious primary race between Fitzgerald Grant and Sally Langston, Olivia's first meeting with Grant on the campaign trail, and the formation of the Pope & Associates team. The flashbacks delve into Olivia's life and her past is slightly more eventful than she's letting on.
77"Grant: For the People"Roxann DawsonShonda RhimesMay 17, 20127.33[10]
The team rushes to help Quinn when she finds herself in a compromising position. A reluctant Cyrus must turn to Olivia when the Vice President's Chief of Staff Billy Chambers makes a public announcement that shakes the Grant Administration, The White House, and Olivia to the core.

Reception

The series got generally favorable reviews from critics, with many being intrigued by the mysteries on the show and praised the show for having an African-American lead role. The series started with generally positive reviews from critics.[11][12] On Rotten Tomatoes, Scandal got a rating of 89% based on 27 reviews.[13] Metacritic gave the show a rating of 64 out of 100 based on 29 reviews.[14]

Ratings

Live + SD ratings

No. in
series		 No. in
season		 Episode Air date Time slot (EST) Rating/Share (18–49) Viewers (m)
1 1 "Sweet Baby" April 5, 2012 Thursday
10:00 P.M.		 2.0/6[4] 7.33[4]
2 2 "Dirty Little Secrets" April 12, 2012 2.0/6[5] 7.28[5]
3 3 "Hell Hath No Fury" April 19, 2012 2.0/6[6] 7.21[6]
4 4 "Enemy of the State" April 26, 2012 2.0/6[7] 6.86[7]
5 5 "Crash and Burn" May 3, 2012 1.9/5[8] 6.69[8]
6 6 "The Trail" May 10, 2012 1.9/6[9] 6.43[9]
7 7 "Grant: For the People" May 17, 2012 2.3/7[10] 7.33[10]

Live + 7 Day (DVR) ratings

No. in
Series		 No. in
Season		 Episode Air Date Timeslot (EST) 18–49 rating increase Viewers
(millions) increase 		Total 18-49 Total viewers
(millions)		 Ref
1 1 "Sweet Baby" April 5, 2012 Thursdays
10:00 P.M.		 0.7 1.84 2.7 9.21 [15]
2 2 "Dirty Little Secrets" April 12, 2012 N/A N/A N/A N/A
3 3 "Hell Hath No Fury" April 19, 2012 N/A 1.69 N/A 8.90 [16]
4 4 "Enemy of the State" April 26, 2012 N/A N/A N/A N/A
5 5 "Crash and Burn" April 3, 2012 N/A N/A N/A N/A
6 6 "The Trail" May 10, 2012 N/A N/A N/A N/A
7 7 "Grant: For the People" May 17, 2012 N/A 1.74 N/A 9.07 [17]

DVD release

Scandal: The Complete First Season
Set Details Special Features
  • 7 Episodes
  • 2-Disc Set
  • English (Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround)
  • English SDH, Spanish and French subtitles
  • Scandal: Setting The Pace
  • Gladiators in Suits: Casting a Series
  • Scripting Scandal
Release Dates
Region 1 Region 2
June 12, 2012 October 7, 2013

References

  1. ↑ Lambert, David (March 23, 2012). "Scandal - The Upcoming ABC Network Series is Already Scheduled for DVD". TV Shows on DVD. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Scandal - Season 1 [DVD]". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Scandal: Season 1". Ezy DVD. Retrieved September 11, 2013.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Bibel, Sara (April 6, 2012). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'Big Bang Theory', 'American Idol', 'Person of Interest', 'Missing', 'Up All Night' Adjusted Up; 'Scandal' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Bibel, Sara (April 13, 2012). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'The Office' and 'American Idol' Adjusted Up; 'Scandal' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Kondolojy, Amanda (April 20, 2012). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'American Idol', 'Grey's Anatomy', 'Awake' & 'Missing' Adjusted Up; 'Scandal' & 'Parks and Recreation' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Kondolojy, Amanda (April 27, 2012). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'Idol', 'Big Bang Theory', 'Grey's', 'The Vampire Diaries', 'Mentalist' & 'Missing' Adjusted Up; 'Scandal' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved April 27, 2012.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Kondolojy, Amanda (May 4, 2012). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'The Big Bang Theory', 'American Idol', 'Vampire Diaries', 'Grey's Anatomy' Adjusted Up; 'Secret Circle', 'The Mentalist', 'Scandal' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved May 5, 2012.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Kondolojy, Amanda (May 11, 2012). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'Big Bang Theory', 'Idol', 'Vampire Diaries', 'Office', 'Secret Circle', 'Grey's' Adjusted Up; 'Touch', 'Scandal' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Bibel, Sara (May 18, 2012). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'American Idol', 'Grey's Anatomy', '30 Rock' Adjusted Up; 'Touch', 'Scandal' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved May 18, 2012.
  11. ↑ McGee, Ryan (April 5, 2014). "Scandal: Scandal". Retrieved September 25, 2014.
  12. ↑ Wicker, Miranda (April 6, 2012). "Scandal Premiere Review: Gladiators. In Suits.". TV Fanatic. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
  13. ↑ "SCANDAL: SEASON 1 (2012)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Scandal : Season 1". Metacritic. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
  15. ↑ Kondolojy, Amanda (April 23, 2012). "Live+7 DVR Ratings: 'New Girl' Tops Absolute Ratings Gain, 'Fringe' Tops % Gains, 'The Mentalist' Tops Total Viewer Gains in Week 29". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
  16. ↑ "Live+7 DVR Ratings: 'Modern Family' Tops Absolute Ratings & Total Viewer Gains, 'Firm' Tops % Gains in Week 31". TV by the Numbers. May 7, 2012. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
  17. ↑ Kondolojy, Amanda (June 4, 2012). "Live+7 DVR Ratings: 'Modern Family' Again Leads Ratings and Viewership Gains,'Grimm' Ranks Number One In Percentage Increases". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved September 30, 2014.

External links