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The president has become a leading TV actor again. Well, sort of.

This time it is President Grant and he’s being played by Tony Goldwyn in “Scandal,” the series that has premiered on ABC. But this is not Ulysses S. Grant. And, Arts and Entertainment Editor Bob Sokolsky notes, he more closely resembles another former president, a more recent one.

However. the principal figure on “Scandal” is not a president. She is played by Kerry Washington and she heads a management firm that is hired to protect the image of ranking public figures.

Sokolsky wonders how long a series like this can hold up. For now, though, he says it is so well handled that its producers can already clear space on their shelves for the Emmys that are certain to be awarded.