In the Netflix political thriller Zero Day, a cyberattack shuts down America’s electronic infrastructure. The blackout lasts only one minute, but that’s enough time to leave thousands dead and the surviving millions in a state of fear. With a subsequent cyberattack looming, the government rallies an extraconstitutional task force to locate the source of the initial one. And believe it or not, the least of this terminally dull show’s problems is that the damned committee doesn’t even convene until the second episode.

The first episode is spent establishing the man placed in charge of this task force, ex-President George Mullen (Robert De Niro), who’s as reluctant as you’d hope for anyone to be when entrusted with such a degree of power. But Mullen is less a character than an idea, the fictional concept of the American president made flesh. Emerging from retirement, he makes...