It's Thanksgiving at the White House on the Next Commander in Chief  11/23/05

IT'S THANKSGIVING AT THE WHITE HOUSE, ON ABC'S "COMMANDER IN CHIEF"

Mark-Paul Gosselaar Joins the Cast with This Episode, And Polly Bergen is Introduced as Mackenzie's Mother, Kate Allen

"The Mom Who Came to Dinner" - It's Thanksgiving at the White House, and Mackenzie's mom, Kate Allen (Polly Bergen), comes to spend the holiday. Mac, in an effort to rise above the political fray, invites Nathan Templeton and his wife to join them for dinner... which Kate insists on cooking herself, bucking protocol. Meanwhile, when an independent commission proposes the closing of a major naval base in Mac's home state of Connecticut - which would be devastating to the local economy - Rod brings in Richard "Dickie" McDonald (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), a savvy media consultant, to help with her image and lagging poll numbers. And in the midst of all this, Mac weighs the fate of a woman on death row, on "Commander In Chief," TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29 (9:00-10:00 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network.

"Commander In Chief" stars Geena Davis as Mackenzie Allen, Donald Sutherland as Nathan Templeton, Harry Lennix as Jim Gardner, Kyle Secor as Rod Calloway, Ever Carradine as Kelly Ludlow, Caitlin Wachs as Rebecca Calloway, Matt Lanter as Horace Calloway, Jasmine Anthony as Amy Calloway and Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Richard "Dickie" McDonald.

Guest cast TBD.

The Teleplay for "The Mom Who Came to Dinner" was written by Alison Cross & Joel Fields, with Story by Steven Bochco, Steven A. Cohen and Stuart Stevens. The episode was directed by Chris Long.

"Commander In Chief" is broadcast in 720 Progressive (720P), ABC's selected HDTV format, with 5.1-channel surround sound and Spanish subtitles via secondary closed captioning.

A TV parental guideline will be posted closer to airdate.

Source: ABC Press Release