Before she created “Madam Secretary,” Barbara Hall created “Joan of Arcadia,” and the emotionally literate parenting, particularly the tough heart-to-hearts, was fully present here as well.

Of the non-comic-book-related dramas debuting this fall, Barbara Hall’s “Madam Secretary” on CBS is clearly a front-runner. Smartly written and formidably cast, the series, which premieres ...

So we went right to the source to put the new CBS drama “Madam Secretary” to the does-it-pass muster test. We asked State Department veteran Tara Sonenshine to watch the premiere episode of ...