In episode one of the new Showtime series “The First Lady,” Eleanor Roosevelt (played by Gillian Anderson) asks a key adviser (Jackie Earle Haley) to her newly elected U.S. president husband (Kiefer Sutherland) what job the president will give her in his administration.

First lady, she is informed. “That’s not a job. … That’s my circumstance,” Eleanor says, crushed.

“First Lady” keeps saying virtually the same thing, though not always consciously, through its 10-episode run. Starring Anderson, Viola Davis (as Michelle Obama) and Michelle Pfeiffer (as Betty Ford), “First Lady” interweaves experiences from all three women’s lives in each installment, which usually carries a particular theme. The more overarching theme is of sideways victories, as the women use their influence for good without possessing direct power.

Pfeiffer is the standout, as the most reluctant of the three presidential spouses — Betty is already sick of the political wife role in scenes where her husband, Gerald, is still in Congress — who, through her natural candor, brought vital awareness to the once-taboo subjects of mental health, substance abuse and the need for women to get mammograms.

Pfeiffer’s always intense yet multidimensional performance wins our sympathy without ever asking for it and reminds us that this three-time Oscar nominee remains one of the greats. And scenes of her dancing — Betty once studied under Martha Graham and loved to dance — take us straight back to “Scarface” and “Grease 2.”

Emmy recipient Anderson and Oscar and Emmy winner Davis also rank among the greats. But both are misdirected in “The First Lady” to contort their mouths to impersonate their real-life counterparts. This exaggeration is more pronounced given that Eliza Scanlen and Jayme Lawson, the talented actors who play Eleanor and Michelle as younger women respectively, do not perform mouth calisthenics.

Anderson and Davis deliver moving moments, with Davis imparting the effort it took for Michelle Obama to steel herself against the constant microaggressions, not to mention flat-out overt racism, the Obamas faced as the first Black family to occupy the White House. Anderson is heartbreaking in a scene where Eleanor discovers Franklin (Sutherland, equal parts warm and commanding) has been having an affair. An unconventional woman for her day and possibly a lifelong lesbian — the series portrays her midlife relationship with journalist Lorena Hickok (Lily Rabe) as a sexual affair — the young Eleanor nevertheless put her whole heart into her marriage, and Anderson makes her betrayal palpable.

But the Obama and Roosevelt story lines are too full of reflected glories. We see Eleanor consult a book to find the line she will feed to Franklin for his famous “fear itself” speech. Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia push Barack (an affably convincing O-T Fagbenle) — successfully — to do the right thing and support gay marriage.

But once the “great woman behind the man” story line emerges as the show’s primary theme, “The First Lady” cannot help but seem hopelessly old-fashioned — and ill-timed for what already seems like a regressive moment for women in our nation.

This seems like the perfect time to showcase women’s agency, with stories about women who had seats at the table, not on White House sofas while their husbands relayed the stories from the table later that night. Yet creators of prestige dramas set in or near the White House keep giving us stories about women’s proximity to power via marriage.

Hillary Clinton, a presidential spouse who became a senator, secretary of state and the Democratic presidential nominee, was reduced to a wronged wife in last fall’s“Impeachment: American Crime Story”on FX. Although leaps and bounds better than “The First Lady” and chock-full of great female performances, including Edie Falco’s as Hillary, no part of “Impeachment” would pass a Bechdel test. And although we have yet to see Starz’s Watergate-themed limited series “Gaslit” (premiering Sunday, April 24), we know that Julia Roberts top-lines the project as Martha Mitchell, wife of then-Attorney General John Mitchell.

Netflix的“皇冠”展示了real-life women with power, Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, to tremendous acclaim and Emmys all around, including one for Anderson’s unstinting performance as Thatcher. But while the U.S. lacks a monarchy, and thus far, an electorate willing to put a female president in office, its halls of power contain plenty of women whose stories would make great television.

Vice President Kamala Harris is a Black and South Asian woman. Ketanji Brown Jackson was just confirmed to be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. But fascinating stories go back to the 1930s — as alluded to in “The First Lady” — when Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins became the first female Cabinet member and the driving force behind the New Deal.

“First Lady,” created by Aaron Cooley, has been envisioned as an anthology series. So for next season, might we suggest “The Congress”? It could weave in the stories of Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to the House, in 1968, and a groundbreaking presidential contender; and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, whose fascinating political career includes a tragedy-sparked surprise San Francisco mayorship and an illustrious career as a U.S. senatorwhose effectiveness is now being called into question.

And how about, for the anthology’s third season, “The Cabinet”? It could showcase Harris’ rise from San Francisco district attorney, give us the scoop on former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice or reveal what made Attorney General Janet Reno tick.

But our biggest hope is that Anderson, even after playing Thatcher and Roosevelt, still has it in her to play the role she was made for: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

“The First Lady”(TV-MA) airs at 9 p.m. Sundays on Showtime through June 19. Episodes also stream onsho.comand the Showtime app.