POTUS, or President of the United States, is a special recurring role shared amongst a number of television programs.
The selection of The President is done via a reality show called Campaign! which airs every four years. This season-long program features a number of hopeful Presidential candidates who are eliminated in a series of call-in ballots. The final episode of Campaign! airs during the first week of Sweeps, where the winner of the POTUS role is announced. (An exception occurred in the year 2000, when an unexpected surge in popularity convinced the networks to continue airing Campaign! for an extra month.) Each POTUS has the role for four years -- unless the opportunity to star in an Oliver Stone movie comes along. If the POTUS proves to be exceptionally popular with the viewers, he may enter the contest for a second time; however, each actor can only win Campaign! twice.
Contrary to what many in the country believe, President George W. Bush was never the actual POTUS; he was a stock villain character used by television writers. (In 2008 Oliver Stone, unable to convince President Laura Roslin to leave office, produced and directed a movie, W, that featured Bush as the lead character.)
The current POTUS is President Barack Obama, who first won Campaign! in 2008 with his sweet brand of Chicago soul music. In 2012, during his re-election bid, Obama became the first ever President to win Campaign! simply by just being there.
The current host of Campaign! is Ryan Seacrest. Seacrest also hosted the Campaign! Ultimate Tournament of Champions special.
List of past POTII[]
- 2009-20?? President Barack Obama
- 2006-2009 President Laura Roslin
- 2006-2006 President Bobby Simone *
- 2005-2006 President David Palmer *
- 2001-2005 President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet
- 1997-2001 President Morgan Freeman
- 1993-1997 President Bill Clinton
- 1989-1993 President Lex Luthor
- 1981-1989 President Ronald Reagan
- 1974-1981 President Harrison Ford
- 1969-1974 President Richard Milhouse Nixon
- 1963-1969 President Lyndon LaRouche
- 1961-1963 President JFK *
- 1953-1961 President Dwight D. Eisenhower
- 1945-1953 President Sheriff Harry S Truman
- 1933-1945 President FDR *
- 1929-1933 President Hoobert Heever
- 1923-1929 President Jennifer Coolidge
- 1921-1923 President Warren Harding
- 1913-1921 President Woodrow "Woody" Harrelson
- 1909-1913 President William Taft
- 1901-1909 President Teddy Roosevelt
- 1897-1901 President William McGinley
- 1893-1897 President Grover the Monster
- 1889-1893 President Ford Harrison
- 1885-1889 President Cleveland Brown
- 1881-1885 President Chester Arthur
- 1881-1881 President Garfield the Cat *
- 1877-1881 President Rutherford B. Hayes
- 1869-1877 President Ulysses S. Grant
- 1865-1869 President Andrew Johnson
- 1861-1865 President Abraham Lincoln Burrows
- 1857-1861 President Pat Buchanan
- 1853-1857 President Hawkeye Pierce
- 1850-1853 President Mallard Fillmore
- 1849-1850 President Zachary Taylor *
- 1845-1849 President James K. Polk
- 1841-1845 President John Tyler Moore
- 1841-1841 President William Harrison *
- 1837-1841 President Armand Van Helden
- 1829-1837 President Davy Crockett
- 1825-1829 President John W. Adams
- 1817-1825 President Ben Franklin
- 1809-1817 President Dolly Madison
- 1801-1809 President George Jefferson
- 1791-1801 President John H. W. Adams
- 1776-1797 President George Washington
an * indicates a POTUS who left office early to star in an Oliver Stone project