Salon.com > The Good Wife

More sex and disasters, please

Wed, 23 May 2012 15:15:00 +0000

There are a few times of year when network television can typically be relied upon to be as interesting as cable: The fall, when the networks vomit out dozens of new programs; February, when the networks cough up a dozen or so more; and May, when all the series that have survived the year try to end in spectacular fashion. During this last period, season-finale time, couples couple, get married and have babies; characters quit, get fired and die; disasters occur; buildings explode; guns blaze; hatches are discovered and protagonists are left dangling off cliffs, both actual and metaphorical. It’s the TV equivalent of blockbuster season, and like blockbuster season, it can and should be fun. Though in recent years cable shows have been responsible for a disproportionate number of the “Holy crap, did that just happen?!” finales (hello, Gus Fring and his brand-new face!), network shows are usually good for at least some insanity, some drama, some transcendent event that will get people talking around the storied watercooler. Not this year. Nope, this year, season finale season has been a bust.

“The Good Wife’s” exquisite season finale

Wed, 18 May 2011 13:19:00 +0000

There are plenty of reasons to watch CBS' "The Good Wife" -- sharp writing; unfussy acting; a savvy sense of what it's like to be a jaded political animal in Chicago -- but for me, it's mainly about the filmmaking. Last night's season finale "Closing Arguments" (spoiler alert for anyone who hasn't watched yet!) reminded me of why I fell in love with this show in the first place, and why I continue to watch it even when its ripped-from-the-headlines plots feel labored and its workplace soap opera tangents become too, well, soapy. Like the series as a whole, this episode -- directed by series co-creator Robert King, and co-written with his wife and collaborator Michelle King -- is old fashioned in the best sense. Every scene is written, acted and directed with maximum intelligence and minimum fuss.

Just look at the final act -- the sequence in which the show's heroine, the lawyer and scandalized political wife Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) and her co-worker and former law school classmate Will Gardner (Josh Charles) celebrate the successful conclusion of a high-profile murder case by getting a room and consummating two seasons' worth of sexual tension. The "Will they or won't they?" thing is an innately predictable and tedious TV gimmick (though damn near foolproof if you like the actors). But the episode knocks the dust off the moment by staging the run-up to the tryst with world-weary reticence and visual flair.

How “The Good Wife” became one of TV’s best shows

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 15:01:00 +0000

Chicago attorney Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies), the heroine of "The Good Wife," isn't one of those scenery-chewing human dynamo characters who often anchor network dramas. If you saw her in a crowd and didn't recognize her as the embattled wife of a disgraced Cook County state's attorney Peter Florrick (Chris Noth), you might not form any immediate impression beyond the fact that she was attractive, elegant and watchful. She's the sort of person who never speaks just for the sake of speaking; she reads the room first, and probably makes a mental flow chart to remind herself of who's powerful and who's not, and what consequences might accrue if she's too familiar with this person or that person. That's not a sign of timidity; it's a life skill. Alicia acquired it from being a politician's wife, a lawyer and a woman -- though not necessarily in that order. She's fascinating -- a plausibly real woman in a medium dominated by bigger-than-life caricatures, and the focal point of the most nuanced and intelligent drama on network TV.

Emmy nominations: Who got snubbed?

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:30:00 +0000

Joel McHale and Sofia Vergara aren't a bad way to wake up at 5:30, what with the boobs and the height and the funny, but it'd be nice if a distinctly West Coast medium like television could have the decency to operate on a more humane West Coast time. Please.

That said, I was pleasantly surprised a few times with the 2010 Emmy nominations, and was, per usual, irritated just as often. Tony Shalhoub, again, for real? (eye roll) "Two and a Half Men" taking up valuable space in any category? (bigger eye roll) And why Aaron Paul of "Breaking Bad" didn't submit his reel in the lead actor category is confounding and shameful -- Bryan Cranston is, arguably, the star of that show but this was Paul's year. His performance as the now-sober meth cooker Jesse Pinkman was, in a word, eviscerating.

The best and worst of the new TV season

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:01:00 +0000

New TV shows usually suck. Take it from someone who watches every single one of them, every single year. Slogging through a herd of untested pilots can feel like speed dating for speed freaks: Twitchy people tell you their life stories in three seconds flat -- they laugh, they cry, they knock over their drinks, stuff blows up, ambulances arrive, roll credits. You're lucky if you escape without a migraine, let alone a venereal disease.

But this year was different. Watching this fall's new shows was like wandering through a magical bar filled with charismatic, funny people and delicious, icy-cold cocktails. Great music was playing, the mood was spirited, and everyone had a charming or poignant or funny anecdote to tell. As long as you stayed away from the ones wearing scrubs and surgical masks -- oh yeah, and the bony, Botoxed cougars -- you were sure to have a great time.

The life of the party this fall is ABC's "Modern Family." In a sea of attractive and witty guests, spewing quips and tossing back drinks, "Modern Family" (9 p.m. Wednesdays on ABC) is that unnervingly funny guy in the corner whose jokes keep making your mojito blast out of your nose. I've been waiting for this show to falter or underwhelm for weeks now, and each episode has been better than the last. Ty Burrell is consistently hysterical as hapless, pandering dad Phil. Here he is in one of my favorite scenes from the pilot:

So your marriage is like an inflamed bunion

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 07:16:00 +0000

Marriage is like an inflamed bunion. It requires a lot of care and attention, but all it does is make you itch and wince in return. You can never get away from it, but you can't touch it as often as you want to, either. You're not supposed to ignore it, but if you look too closely at it, it'll only make you nervous.

The pain and the inflammation might be uncomfortable, but that's what tells you it's healing! Either that, or a deadly infection is coursing throughout your entire body, poised and ready to kill you.

Quiet as a spouse
Being a good spouse isn't easy. We're supposed to be honest at all times, except when it's more prudent to lie. We're supposed to communicate openly, except when it's better to bite our tongues. We're supposed to be supportive and affectionate, except when our honey pie is vaguely repulsed by the sight of us and needs a little breathing room. We're supposed to be utterly committed to our sugar dumpling's happiness, except when that happiness requires half a bottle of Jack Daniels, an eight ball of fine Colombian, and a one-way ticket to Monte Carlo.