Is AMC determined to shed its image as the second-best old movie channel -- number one id TCM -- to become a serious rival in series TV? It seems that the great success of Mad Men and the nearly as great success of Breaking Bad has emboldened AMC and they are itching for more. AMC has ordered a political thriller pilot from executive producer Jason Horwitch.

The plot involves two potential fascinating elements: a secret society that has political power around the world and uses it to manipulate countries, and also an analyst working in a think tank who discovers that the people with whom he works are not who they seem to be. That last part sounds like a very Hitchcockian idea, especially if he's wrongly accused of something that happens on the job and has to go on the run or go undercover to suss out the bad guys. We'll see...

"This is a world you have not seen on television before -- it's not your typical spy thriller." That's what AMC is saying about the show, and if they can catch an All The President's Men or Parallax View paranoia vibe, they might be right.

After the first 15 minutes of the HBO movie Recount, I was so upset, so filled with rage that I wondered if I wanted to watch the rest of the movie. Did I want to relive the events of November 7, 2000? Did I want to watch what happened, the craziest election fiasco in the last 25 years? I was compelled to stick with it because I had lived through it and I was dying to know what I didn't know when it unfolded in real time. I thought the HBO movie might teach me something, and, in fact, it did.

For those who don't want to know what happened in Recount, I won't reveal any spoilers until after the jump. Of course, if you don't already know how the election turned out, you've either been in a coma or are woefully out of touch. Suffice to say that Recount doesn't rewrite history. The ending is exactly as it was in 2000.
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