Shonda Rhimes' 'Scandal' premieres on ABC

She's the fixer's fixer -- the one whom President Fitzgerald Grant (Tony Goldwyn) calls when some pesky White House intern is claiming he slept with her, or whom an arch-conservative war hero calls on, even with the blood of his recently murdered girlfriend still on his shirt. She was the former communications director for Grant but now has her own firm with a flock of other fixers, like Stephen Finch ("Lost's" Henry Ian Cusick) and Harrison Wright (Columbus Short), who says of his boss: "She isn't a good guy -- she's the best guy."

But that doesn't mean it's not fun. Shonda Unleashed can be one of the more entertaining writers working in television and, in fact, seems to have a good time spinning her tales. (She told a reporter she spent four days nonstop writing this at a resort in Cabo San Lucas, then applied the finishing touches while staying at the Chateau Marmont.) The dialogue has a nice zip and zing, even sounding almost plausible at moments, and Washington as Ms.Fix-it is good, too.

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