Literature / Favorite Son

Favorite Son is a 1987 novel by former CBS and NBC executive Steve Sohmer.

The plot centers on little-known Texas Senator Terry Fallon; who was set to deliver a speech welcoming Nicaraguan contra leader Col. Octavio Martinez when a sniper wounds Fallon while succeeding in assassinating Martinez. As network and cable coverage goes live; Fallon manages to deliver a stirring speech before collapsing, instantly making the little-known Senator a household name.

Meanwhile at the White House; with about 10 days to go before the party convention, Lou Brenner — White House Chief of Staff to President Sam Baker — is leading the charge to have Baker replace Vice-President Daniel Eastman with Fallon, citing polls suggesting such a move was the only chance Baker had to win re-election. Meanwhile, the assassin is identified as a retired Marine and one-time CIA agent named Rolf Petersen who had since gone rogue; but upon expressing fears that such a disclosure would disrupt American relations with allies in Latin America, Brenner manages to intimidate FBI director Henry O’Brien into going through the motions of an investigation, complete with assigning just two agents, an inexperienced agent named Dave Ross and Nick Mancuso; a crotchety, cynical veteran nearing retirement. However, despite a series of events the two manage to expose the aforementioned conspiracy; though not before others are murdered, including a Secret Service agent Eastman assigns to find dirt on Fallon later being murdered; Eastman and Baker getting into a shouting match in front of the press while welcoming diplomats from Africa, Eastman breaking with Baker to declare a last-minute nomination challenge; Fallon revealing himself to be a fascist (which results in Baker being turned off to the idea of even considering Fallon for VP); Brenner trying various forms of blackmail to keep Fallon in line; the revelation Col. Martinez was injected by the CIA with AIDS, Mancuso showing Fallon B-Roll showing Crain was in on the assassination of Martinez and attempt on Fallon’s life, and Ross being stabbed to death after having sex with Crain. In the end, Crain. following a Villainous Breakdown, assassinates Sen. Fallon before turning the gun on herself; the various conspirators are arrested and forced out of their jobs and Baker chooses Speaker of the House Charles MacDonald as his running mate for the fall campaign.

In 1988; the book was adapted into a mini-series airing on NBC on October 30-November 1, 1988^note the last day being one week before Election Day 1988 and starred Harry Hamlin; Linda Kozlowski; James Whitmore; Robert Loggia; Mitchell Ryan; John Mahoney; Ronny Cox; Stepfanie Kramer; Lance Guest; Jason Alexander^note just under a year before his big break as George Constanza on ‘’Seinfeld’’ and Richard Bradford. The mini-series proved a hit (the 2nd of the 3-part miniseries beating out ‘’Monday Night Football’’) and led to Loggia’s Nick Mancuso character getting a spinoff in ‘’Mancuso, FBI’’; which ran for the 1989-90 season before its cancellation. Additionally, Sohmer would pen a follow-up called Patriots; in which - as the Cold War winds down - now lame-duck President Baker has to fend off a coup attempt from Vietnam veterans angered over Baker's pursuit of disarmament.

Tropes associated with this episode:

• A-Cup Angst: Stevie Chandler - who finds herself the subject of many a joke about her wearing a padded bra.
• Alphabet News Network: UBS, the network Stevie and most of the other news personnel with any speaking parts work for. Possibly a Shout-Out to Network; of which it shares fictional news network initials.
• Alternate History: The most recent real life President mentioned in the miniseries is Jimmy Carter (the novel includes a brief mention of Ronald Reagan, though the circumstances involving Reagan giving way to Sam Baker is not made clear in the book), and since it's mentioned that Sam Baker is running for re-election, it's unclear what took place between 1980 and 1988 (such as whether Ronald Reagan became President, for instance). However, several real life political and media personalities are referenced such as Barbara Walters, former Colorado Senator Gary Hart, Senators Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, Alan Cranston of California and Bob Packwood of Oregon and Nicaraguan Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega.
• Assassination Attempt: The novel and miniseries begins and ends with one on Terry Fallon.
  • The story begins when Senator Fallon and Col. Octavio Martinez are shot (in Martinez's case, fatally) by Rolf Petersen during a routine ceremony giving Martinez an award for his work leaving the Nicaraguan contras.; though it's ultimately revealed that Fallon planned that shooting in hopes of rising from unknown Senator from Texas to possibly becoming the nominee for Vice-President.
  • The story ends when Sally Crain, following a Villainous Breakdown upon Fallon firing her and leaking a story tying her to a Washington sex ring in response to being shown B-roll footage indicating Crain gave the signal to open fire, assassinates Fallon after Fallon gives a speech publicly denouncing her.
• Assassins Are Always Betrayed: Rolf Petersen's identity as having assassinated Col. Martinez and wounding Sen. Fallon shortly before Petersen is killed in a police shootout^note Nick Mancuso also happens to be present, but angrily notes that he wanted to get Petersen alive
• Because Destiny Says So: Terry Fallon adopts this as his motto after being shot at the beginning:

  Terry Fallon: Events chose me, fate chose the place. But I was ambitious, and I was prepared and I survived.

• Brand X: One of the newspapers used has the name of The Washington Star. This was also the name of a real-life Washington, D.C. afternoon paper published until its closure in 1981.
  • Another newspaper example is the Houston Post, established as the paper Sally Crain worked for before moving to the Washington Post (which the former paper's editor called the "Pravda on the Potomac" when interviewed by Mancuso). Interestingly, the Houston Post was still in existence in 1988 and continued to be printed until it was absorbed into the better-known Houston Chronicle in 1995.
• Conspiracy Thriller
• Fake Assassination: Senator Terry Fallon arranges for the assassination of contra leader Colonel Martinez and for himself to be wounded in the same attempt in order to secure the nomination for vice-president.
• Femme Fatale: Sally Crain, overlapping with The Vamp.
• Good Is Not Nice: While ultimately a good guy who blows the various conspiracies apart; Nick Mancuso is shown clearly having a lack of people skills and also acknowledges having placed bugs in hotel rooms used by Martin Luther King Jr..
• Gory Discretion Shot: While looking at a replay of Sally shooting herself to avoid arrest during the fictional UBS bulletin covering Sen. Fallon's assassination, the camera cuts to a horrified Stevie stepping away, apparently about to throw up.
• Government Conspiracy: The one involving Terry Fallon and Sally Crain; as well as a separate conspiracy involving the CIA injecting Col. Martinez with AIDS prior to the events leading to Martinez’s assassination.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Mancuso has Sally Crain serve as a distraction to the Secret Service agent attempting to find dirt on Sen. Fallon before he figures it out, leading to the agent being killed in a struggle with Ross after the agent attempted to kill the young FBI agent.
• The Idealist: Dave Ross is this in contrast to the more cynical Nick Mancuso.
• Idiot Ball: Vice-President Eastman takes full possession by ordering two Secret Service agents to dig up dirt on Fallon in violation of federal law; which culminates in one of the agents being murdered.
• Important Haircut: During the overnight period after Sally Crain's involvement with a Washington sex ring was leaked to the media by Senator Terry Fallon, the signal that indicates her Villainous Breakdown prior to assassinating Fallon later that morning.
• Kiss of Death: Sally's final kiss of Dave Ross comes shortly before Ross is stabbed to death.
• No Party Given: Whichever party President Baker; Vice-President Eastman; Senator Fallon and Charles MacDonald belong to is never explicitly stated, nor is there even a reference to the opposing party’s candidates.
• Omniglot: Col. Octavio Martinez, as in response to Sally Crain asking what language he spoke as he arrived at the ceremony with Terry Fallon, he answered with "All of them", though he has an easier time with some languages than others.
• Ripped from the Headlines: There are occasional references to then-recent political scandals such as the Iran-Contra scandal as well as the sex scandal that torpedoed Gary Hart’s hopes of becoming President in 1988.
• Rousing Speech: Terry Fallon's speech after being wounded in the shooting that killed Col. Octavio Martinez.
• Take That, Audience!: Lou Brenner, while defending the actions he and CIA director Admiral William Riker had undertaken earlier, laments that most of the audience (and by extension, the American public at large) wouldn't even bother to vote on Election Day^note again, note that the conclusion of the mini-series adaptation aired one week before Election Day 1988
• The Man Behind the Man/The Woman Behind the Man:
  • Sally Crain, who is Fallon’s press aide and also lover, had puffed Fallon dating to her days as a reporter for a Houston newspaper and Fallon’s campaign for City Council a decade earlier.
  • Additionally; Chief of Staff Brenner attempts to be this to President Baker, going so far as to lie to FBI director Henry O'Brien about the order to assign only Mancuso and Ross to the Martinez case coming from President Baker.
• Transparent Closet: Chris Van Allen, another top aide to Sen. Fallon. While it's not confirmed that he's gay until the latter part of the 3rd part of the miniseries; Van Allen's mannerisms strongly hint at his sexuality well before that disclosure.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Terry Fallon. Fallon is introduced as a charismatic hero after making a speech after having been wounded by a sniper who succeeded in assassinating Nicaraguan contra leader Col. Octavio Martinez, instantly making the previously little-known Senator a national figure who is recommended by the staff of President Sam Baker to have Fallon replace incumbent Vice-President Daniel Eastman due to polls suggesting such a move was the only chance Baker had to win re-election. As the book and series go on, it's later revealed that Fallon had not only cheated on his wife; but had habitually maritally raped her (including once on their honeymoon) and had her committed after she refused a three-way with Fallon and a friend^note later revealed to be his press aide, Sally Crain, proves to be an avowed fascist (which turns Baker off from picking Fallon^note , ultimately - after Eastman broke with Baker and decided on a last-minute nomination challenge - picking House Speaker Charles MacDonald) and is implied to have, if not orchestrated, known about the assassination attempt on Col. Martinez^note later revealed to have been infected with the AIDS virus by the CIA in a separate Government Conspiracy, with his being wounded a complete accident. However, Fallon's true nature is not revealed in-universe, as Fallon is assassinated by Crain following a Villainous Breakdown after a network producer friend leaks word that Fallon threw her under the bus by leaking a story about her frequent sexual encounters with other men.
• Villainous Breakdown: Sally Crain when she discovers Fallon — having been shown B-Roll footage suggesting Crain issued a signal to open fire — threw her under the bus by leaking a story involving her sexual relations with several other men; ultimately setting the stage for Crain assassinating Fallon.
• Vomit Discretion Shot: In addition to the incident covered under Gory Discretion Shot; Dave Ross has this reaction upon stumbling across seeing the dog of the murdered Beckwith family licking some blood from Mrs. Beckwith, and again when Nick Mancuso tells Ross that the family dog peed on Captain Arnold Beckwith's body.