Rife with inconsistent and controversial humor, That’s My Bush! satirizes U.S. President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush during the first few months of his 2001-2004 presidential term. The show aired on Comedy Central prior to the tragic events of 9/11 and was cancelled after eight episodes. A DVD box set of this sitcom is now available .

The series generated heat even prior to the cameras rolling. A casting call began in December 2000 to fill the roles of the President, First Lady, and their twin daughters Jenna and Barbara. After a website managed to obtain and publish actual dialogue from the script alluding to the twins being engaged in a homosexual relationship with each other, these roles were never cast. 

Timothy Bottoms bears a slight resemblance to George W. Bush but does not embody him. He displays none of GW's mannerisms and has not mastered the way Bush slips in and out of a Texas accent.  Because Bottoms does not transform himself into the real person he portrays, I was unable to suspend disbelief while watching him. 

We first meet Bush when Laura Bush (Carrie Quinn Dolin) feels neglected now that he has become President of The United States. Laura has barely spoken to George since arriving at the White House. All she wants is a romantic dinner and conversation, but the only way to get through to her husband is to sabotage his speeches to the nation by putting in her own messages for him to read off the teleprompter. 

The only genuine laughs in this series come when President Bush receives an unexpected visit from his fraternity brothers. While drunk at a party decades earlier, George vowed he would become president and they could all move into the White House. However, he has no recollection of this until the visitors produce taped evidence. After a slip of the tongue by Bush, these men get the mistaken impression they can tag along. 

The show unravels during episodes about the war on drugs, Rove’s personal life, and Bush's paranoid belief that he will die because a telephone psychic told him so. Also, too much focus placed on the lives of minor characters such as housekeeper Maggie (Marcia Wallace), ditzy personal assistant Princess (Kristen Miller), and neighbor Larry (John D'Aquino) detracts  from the main story.

Although the laughs are too sporadic in this sitcom series to recommend the DVD, I did admire Dolin’s precise performance as Laura Bush.

(Released by Comedy Central; not rated by MPAA.)