“Boss,” a series on Starz about a crooked Chicago mayor, is almost good, and it falls short for the same reason that the George Clooney movie “Ides of March” isn’t good enough. Both are political thrillers that romanticize malfeasance, imbuing corruption with a sinister melodrama that defies common sense and cheapens the thrill of bad behavior.  Voters don’t trust elected officials, but Hollywood doesn’t trust itself to do politicians justice; screenwriters keep piling operatic misdeeds onto characters whose strength lies in their huge capacity for pettiness.  “All the King’s Men,” the novel and movie based on the career of Huey Long, set the template for larger-than-life politicians. But Season 3 of “The Wire” proved that it was also possible to find suspense and meaning in the seamiest margins of city council meetings and municipal elections.  “Boss,” which begins on Friday and stars Kelsey Grammer, can’t quite keep faith with its own cynicism. The series premiere is beautifully but ponderously shot: Chicago as seen through the eyes of a stylish European auteur. The story has some finely drawn characters and lots of promising material: This is, after all, politics the Chicago way. But too often the plot veers off into overwrought tangents that clash with the bleak realism of the story.  Office affairs are conducted with the humorless intensity of “9 ½ Weeks.” The mayor’s henchmen enforce his decrees with methods that would make even Bulgarian secret agents giggle.  Two other shows — a Danish series, “Borgen,” that begins next week on LinkTV and “Borgia,” a Canal Plus production now available on Netflix — have a steadier fix on politics, mostly by avoiding the obvious.  This version of the Borgia story, created by Tom Fontana (“Oz”) and made in Europe with an international cast, is more cerebral than the rollicking Showtime mini-series “The Borgias,” starring Jeremy Irons. That Renaissance dynasty is famous for grotesque murders, orgies and conspiracy and a complete lack of piety inside the Vatican. “Borgia” also factors in the contradictions of papal intrigue and religious faith.  “Borgen” is almost the exact opposite, a thriller woven around possibly the most boring conflict in Europe: parliamentary elections in Denmark. The series, which is shown with subtitles, was created by the makers of the original Danish mini-series “The Killing.” (NBC has plans for a remake of “Borgen.”) A bleaker, Nordic version of “The West Wing,” “Borgen” finds a remarkable amount of drama and suspense in center-left alliances, pension plans and televised debates.  Likewise, some of the most exciting scenes in “Boss” are found in the most prosaic crises: a city council vote on trash disposal, a gubernatorial campaign bus tour. But the series shares the outsize ambition of its hero, Tom Kane, played by Mr. Grammer as a modern-day version of the first Mayor Daley, Richard J. Daley, the boss of the Chicago Democratic machine.  It’s an atavistic portrait of Cook County politics; Rahm Emanuel is the current Chicago mayor, and nobody fears a machine anymore. The drama “The Good Wife,” also set in Chicago, hypes campaigns — more time, PAC money and advertising seems to go into the state’s attorney’s race than in an entire presidential election — but there is still a believability to the behavior of politicians.  Mr. Grammer is persuasive as an old-school bully. Here he has none of the effete, fussy charm he perfected on “Frasier.” Kane is a wily autocrat who can wax poetic in speeches but privately brings aides and even aldermen to their knees — sometimes literally.  The mayor has a secret: a degenerative neurological disease that he hides with the same ruthless guile he uses to cover up all the bribery and patronage paving his airport expansion project. He doesn’t tell his cool and estranged wife, Meredith (Connie Nielsen), and he isn’t on speaking terms with his only child, Emma (Hannah Ware), who once had a drug problem and now works at a free clinic far outside her father’s zone of influence.  Kane doesn’t even tell his closest aides, Ezra Stone (Martin Donovan) and Kitty O’Neil (Kathleen Robertson), icily competent consiglieri who do his bidding without question or complaint.  The only person who dares to question the mayor’s health and probity is an investigative reporter, Sam Miller (Troy Garity), who quarrels with his editor and drinks in a bar that has a framed photograph of the legendary columnist Mike Royko. (Mr. Garity is the son of Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden, but in this role he is a dead ringer for Dustin Hoffman in “All the President’s Men.”)  Perhaps to avoid dwelling on the demise of his own career, Kane meddles in the re-election campaign of a crony, Gov. McCall Cullen (Francis Guinan), covertly switching his allegiance to a young primary challenger, State Treasurer Ben Zajac (Jeff Hephner). Zajac appears to be grateful for the mayor’s help, but he also seems to have his own agenda. That includes an extra-marital affair so torrid it is actually laughable.  There are movies and TV shows about politics that tempt viewers to fast forward through the details of governing to get to the juicy parts. “Boss” is the opposite, a smart look at political power brokers that gets silly on the subjects of sex and violence.  Starz, Friday nights at 10, Eastern and Pacific times; 9, Central time.  Produced by Grammnet NH and Lionsgate Television. Created by Farhad Safinia; written by Mr. Safinia (pilot only), Richard Levina and Lyn Greene; pilot directed by Gus Van Sant; Mr. Safinia, Mr. Van Sant, Mr. Levine, Ms. Greene, Kelsey Grammer, Brian Sher and Stella Bulochnikov, executive producers; Dan Clancy, production designer; Juliet Polcsa, costume designer; Kasper Tuxen, director of photography.  WITH: Kelsey Grammer (Mayor Tom Kane), Connie Nielsen (Meredith Kane), Kathleen Robertson (Kitty O’Neil), Hanna Ware (Emma Kane), Jeff Hephner (Ben Zajac), Martin Donovan (Ezra Stone), Francis Guinan (Gov. McCall Cullen), Rotimi Akinosho (Darius Morrison) and Troy Garity (Sam Miller).
In âBoss,â a new Starz series, Kelsey Grammer plays a Chicago mayor who controls everything but the melodrama.