Téa Leoni stars in “Madam Secretary”

Alicia Florrick, Olivia Pope, Carrie Mathison -- prime time has become a popular place for strong female characters.

Téa Leoni (“Deep Impact,” 1998) joins the ranks with her first starring television role in 16 years in “Madam Secretary,” CBS’s new political drama that premiered last month. Leoni plays Elizabeth McCord, the newly appointed U.S. secretary of state, as she juggles her challenging job at the White House and her home life. A new episode of the freshman series airs Sunday, Oct. 19, on CBS.

The premise for "Madam Secretary" was born after a meeting with two of its executive producers, Lori McCreary and acclaimed actor Morgan Freeman ("The Shawshank Redemption," 1994), and CBS chairman Nina Tassler. McCreary and Freeman were looking to break into the world of scripted television, and Tassler charged them with coming up with a character -- ideally a woman -- with a compelling story.

The light bulb came on a short time later during the Benghazi hearings. Discussions arose as to how such sensitive situations would be handled in the White House and abroad, and the material started coming in fast and heavy.

“What really happens in those American embassies overseas?” McCreary said to “The Hollywood Times.” “What’s life like for the secretary of state ... and how do you even plan a single moment of your life, a baseball game, when at any minute you could be dealing with rocket attacks in Israel, a military coup in Pakistan and a border crisis with Mexico? Sometimes that’s all before lunch.”

The inspiration for the character of Elizabeth McCord herself came, according to McCreary, when then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified before Congress regarding the 2012 attack in Benghazi.

“It was, honestly, the moment when she raised her fist,” the producer told the “L.A. Times.”

With the meat of the show hashed out, another key step was setting it apart from other political dramas -- particularly those that also feature a female lead. The series has been compared to “Scandal,” “Veep” and “House of Cards,” but one area that keeps “Madam Secretary” from being lumped in with these shows is the leading lady’s home and personal life. One of the show's plot lines focuses on McCord's role as a wife to her supportive husband, played by Tim Daly (“Private Practice”), and as a mother to her three children.

“I wanted her to have a recognizable and active home life,” creator and executive producer Barbara Hall told “The Hollywood Times.” “One of the things that’s a challenge in trying to show strong women in positions of leadership or women in a man’s world is trying to show them going back and forth between those worlds.”

Geoffrey Arend, Patina Miller and Bebe Neuwirth as seen in “Madam Secretary”

McCord’s home life also provides a venue for conflict resolution. With so many global conflicts spanning years or even decades, the ripped-from-the-headlines format can make it tricky to wrap anything up neatly on a weekly basis. Never seeing a crisis resolved can be a bit of a bummer when you’re invested in a series and its characters, though, so the home front, as well as the in-between world of office politics, allows for problems to arise and see a resolution in the time frame of the series, or even an episode.

A further step in making McCord relatable -- formidable though she may be -- is that “she can’t be a lifetime politician,” Hall said. “I wanted to bring her in from a real-world situation.”

When the series opens, McCord is a college professor and former CIA analyst. She takes the position of secretary of state at the personal request of Mr. President himself (Keith Carradine, “Cowboys and Aliens,” 2011), following the suspicious death of her predecessor in a plane crash.

She immediately inherits a crack team played by an impressive cast. Emmy-winning actress Bebe Neuwirth (“Cheers”) plays McCord’s somewhat icy chief of staff, Nadine Tolliver, to whom Madam Secretary will have to prove herself in order to win her over. Geoffrey Arend (“Body of Proof”) portrays her speechwriter, Matt Mahoney, while Patina Miller (“All My Children”) plays press co-ordinator Daisy Grant. Rounding out the team is Blake Moran (Erich Bergen, “Jersey Boys,” 2014), McCord’s handsome young assistant.

The series got off to a strong start with its Sept. 21 premiere, which garnered 14.7 million viewers, despite airing alongside the Pittsburgh Steelers-Carolina Panthers NFL game over on NBC. “The Good Wife,” which immediately followed with its season 6 premiere, drew in only 10 million viewers in comparison. Despite dipping to 12.6 million for its second episode, “Madam Secretary” was the most-watched scripted show of the night, hanging onto 86 per cent of its premiere audience.

While the series has so far been met with mixed reviews from critics, even the naysayers tend to praise the cast, and Leoni’s performance in particular.

With so many real-world international conflicts to draw from, “Madam Secretary” is nothing if not current and compelling. With a strong supporting cast and exceptional female lead, the series isn't likely to struggle its way through its freshman season. Catch a new episode of the political drama, entitled “Blame Canada,” when it airs Sunday, Oct. 19, on CBS.