Tonight's episode of THE GOOD WIFE on CBS. BEST hour of commercial TV this year!

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Steve Hoffman, Dec 15, 2010.

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  1. ky658

    ky658 Senior Member

    Location:
    Ft Myers, Florida
    Couldn't agree more, you nailed it exactly!
     
  2. moops

    moops Senior Member

    Location:
    Geebung, Australia
    Yep, totally agree, it's lost me.
    This series died with Will.
     
  3. marcb

    marcb Senior Member

    Location:
    DC area
    Worst episode of a mediocre season this past week, IMO. Is Florrick-Agos going to be hacked now every time the plotlines have nowhere to go? How long before the SA's office gets hacked?

    The whole predictable "dilemmas and conflicted principles of running for office" plotline has now turned into the predictable "dilemmas and conflicted principles of being in office" plotline while dragging along the same cast of uninteresting or neutered characters (except for the apparent welcome departure of the unshaven campaign guru guy...as well as, hopefully, the sanctimoniously dull David Hyde Pierce character).
     
    Rufus McDufus likes this.
  4. The Wanderer

    The Wanderer Seeker of Truth

    Location:
    NYC
    Sunday Night - The CBS Graveyard
     
  5. progrocker71

    progrocker71 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I thought the average viewer age already made CBS the "broadcast TV Graveyard". :D
     
  6. Deesky

    Deesky Forum Resident

    An opinion I don't share, but you could very well make the same jaundiced critique of the show since its inception, if you really wanted to.
     
    bopdd likes this.
  7. marcb

    marcb Senior Member

    Location:
    DC area
    I suppose that's the been the general formula of the show, but (as others have noted) the bigger issue to me is the whole "running for office/winning office" thing has expanded the roles of uncompelling new or relatively new characters (Finn, Lemond Bishop, Eli's kid, wimpy alpha male campaign guy, David Hyde Pierce) and the old interesting characters have been reduced to bit roles as narrow shells of their former characters (Kalinda, Peter, Diane, Cary, David Lee, Eli, Robyn, Elsbeth, Grace). The show was always more about the characters for me than anything else.

    Plus to use the old "held for ransom by computer hackers" gambit twice in a matter of like 10 episodes in same season? Did the writers think the holiday hiatus gave us amnesia? If there was ever a clue that the writers are floundering...
     
    Last edited: Mar 31, 2015
  8. Deesky

    Deesky Forum Resident

    I don't disagree with you too much there, except to say that I like David Hyde Pierce's character quite a bit. I suppose I like the potential of what Alicia's political office might mean when she inevitably deals with her ex-law firm, especially as there is some friction there now, but also look forward to new avenues to explore, because as I mentioned before, the law-firm musical chairs of the past has played itself out. So I see this as a necessary change in direction to shake things up and while I haven't loved all the episodes this season (see my previous comments), I also think there have been many creative and interesting episodes too.
     
  9. colinu

    colinu I'm not lazy, I'm energy saving!

    Why do I have a feeling that the whole SA gig will fall apart?
     
  10. shokhead

    shokhead Head shok and you still don't what it is. HA!

    Location:
    SoCal, Long Beach
    Really enjoyed the episode. Fun. Funny!
     
  11. marcb

    marcb Senior Member

    Location:
    DC area
    Unlike previous seasons which tended to have somewhat up and down ratings, the ratings for this season have been on a fairly steady, linear decline. I'm no expert, but it looks to me as though the arc of the season has not been viewed favorably by a sizable number of viewers.
     
  12. Torontotom

    Torontotom Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    I've really struggled with this season. I find it dull. The SA plotline just isn't interesting. They don't seem to know what to do with Finn (is he a friend? A love interest?). I love Matthew Goode, but he is wasted on the show. The obvious attempts to not put Alicia and Kalinda in a scene together (because of apparent off-screen problems between the actresses) except for random scenes where they talk over the phone has just become laughable since they work in the same office. The subplot with Bishop needs to be wrapped up.

    The SA story did have potential when Castro was running but he inexplicably dropped out and was replaced by David Hyde Pierce's character. The dramatic tension dropped once Castro left.
     
    marcb likes this.
  13. RoyalScam

    RoyalScam Luckless Pedestrian

    Really?
     
  14. bopdd

    bopdd Senior Member

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    If I were a writer on this show who wanted to know what viewers found problematic, I think my head would explode. I can't think of another TV show where the complaints were so broad and so frequently petty. Frankly, I'd love to hear what every one who no longer likes this show is watching, because aside from a handful of TV shows (The Americans, Better Call Saul, etc) I'll still take the worst episode of The Good Wife over pretty much any given program on television. In spite of some obvious flaws, I still find the recent episodes to be compulsively watchable and this show hasn't jumped the shark in nearly the same capacity as a slew of other, similar TV shows. The critiques in general are so commonly nit-picky it's like the writers can't do anything to appease their audience no matter what they try. So I guess here's hoping the show rests on its procedural laurels, doesn't try anything new, refrains from shaking up the character dynamic, gets off the political stuff entirely, puts Kalinda and Alicia "in a room together with more frequency" (sigh), brings Will Gardner back from the grave, and definitely doesn't try to infuse contemporary events into their story lines because if they don't do that the minute it happens it's either unrealistic or dated. Of course even if they do all these things they'll just be accused of either pandering to their audience or being redundant.
     
    Atmospheric likes this.
  15. The Wanderer

    The Wanderer Seeker of Truth

    Location:
    NYC
    They need Patrick Jane to liven things up
     
  16. Torontotom

    Torontotom Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    Yes, apparently they don't get along. Of course, it's all gossip and conjecture but if you think about it, it is odd they have not shared a true scene together other than phone calls. I just find it more distracting now. I know the characters had a falling out but no face-to-face for so long just is odd to me since they all work at the same firm. There's lots of speculation on GW forums if you are interested in reading about it.
     
  17. Squealy

    Squealy Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Vancouver
    The last time Kalinda and Alicia were in the same scene was in episode 14 of season 4. That was over two years ago.
     
  18. bopdd

    bopdd Senior Member

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Your post prompted me to do some research and based on what I'm reading it seems safe to assume that Archie Panjabi has been at least somewhat ostracized from the other members of the show (cast and crew alike). Based on the accounts of slightly obsessive fans, Panjabi wasn't invited to Paleyfest and no one from the show follows her Twitter feed, etc. The most popular theory going around is that Julianna Margulies grew jealous of the fact that Kalinda was proving to be a more popular character than Alicia at the end of season one, which prompted the show's creators to set Kalinda down a path to marginalization. I suppose the proper inference to make is that Panjabi and Margulies didn't get along due to said marginalization and as a result there was lots of behind the scenes tension, leading to the backstory of the Peter Florrick/Kalinda affair and providing the show with the proper excuse to separate the characters. It does paint Margulies in a bad light and make Panjabi out as a martyr of sorts, but who knows who really did what except the people who were actually there.

    Regardless of the whether the above theory is true, it does depict a somewhat fascinating portrait of how off-screen dynamics can heavily influence the direction a show takes on screen. It's also a somewhat classic example of Internet fandom unleashed, whereas people seem to be taking the direction of Kalinda's character very, very personally, keeping close count of many factors with the fervor of overzealous sports fans.

    In any case, I wonder if one of the reasons I still enjoy the show is because I came in late (I'm still catching up on older episodes) and didn't necessarily fall in love with any given character as much as I generally fell in love with the array of interesting characters, the brisk pacing, the subtle satire, the politics, the unpredictability of what any given season might bring, the constant flow of high stakes problems, and the creative courtroom antics that never grew tiresome. For those who were really invested in Kalinda's character, I can see why these recent seasons have been disappointing, and can only hope that the rumors are only half-truths at best--the alternative is to suggest that a great show could've been an even greater show had it not been derailed by the ego of its lead actress. I'm sure it wouldn't be the first time, but in this particular instance the very notion would leave a somewhat sour taste in my mouth. Not sour enough to affect my enjoyment of the show, but enough to at least make me a little more sympathetic to all the disappointed fans.
     
    Last edited: Apr 1, 2015
  19. RoyalScam

    RoyalScam Luckless Pedestrian

    Then again, it seems plausible to me that a woman might not want to be around a woman her husband cheated on her with once upon a time, co-worker or not. :shrug:
     
  20. Lonson

    Lonson I'm in the kitchen with the Tombstone Blues

    I don't think the complaints here are "nit-picking". . . . It's still a good show, but this season is not up to the previous one, imo, and that too was a step-down from the one before. And in particular there was enough political material with Peter and other interactions with the office, I didn't like Alicia running after Cary was finally safe and I'm not looking forward to Alicia as SA, just not the direction I would pick for this show. Give me more law cases and law office stuff.

    To answer the question about "what else do they watch," I watch:

    Elementary
    The Mindy Project
    The Americans
    Modern Family
    The Returned
    Scandal
    Hell on Wheels
    Mad Men
    American Horror
    Gotham
    Nashville
    Empire
    Fast 'n Loud
    Hannibal
    Homeland
    Black Sails

    And more.
     
    Rufus McDufus likes this.
  21. shokhead

    shokhead Head shok and you still don't what it is. HA!

    Location:
    SoCal, Long Beach
    None of those on my to watch instead of GW.
     
  22. Lonson

    Lonson I'm in the kitchen with the Tombstone Blues

    I don't watch these "instead" of but "in addition to" The Good Wife.
     
  23. marcb

    marcb Senior Member

    Location:
    DC area
    I'll repeat what I think the problem is. It's not that the show took chances or shook up the character dynamic. It's that it did so with mediocrity. The State's Attorney race arc has been boring and predictable from the get-go, the newer characters it has accentuated aren't particularly compelling, and the previously interesting characters have been marginalized to the extent their characters are no longer interesting. Throw in a dose of repeating sub-plotlines and you've got an issue. And the ratings apparently reflect that.

    Is this all subjective? Yes. Am I nitpicking? I don't think so. Is it the worst show on TV? No. But I've found myself reflexively hitting the remote during the show on occasion this season. And for me that's a sign that I'm becoming bored by it; which is perhaps the worst thing you can say about a TV show in my book.
     
  24. bopdd

    bopdd Senior Member

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    I've been doing a lot of reading on the general complaints regarding this recent season, and your brand of critique is literally one among a hundred, which was really my initial point. Perhaps your stance is the most common (that the SA arc hasn't really paid off) but it's joined by a legion of other opinions that are often far more subjective and trite. And I'd love to know where you're going when you channel surf away. As far as I'm concerned, it's either this or Walking Dead at that hour, and it's hard to enjoy either show if you just hop in and out. But I'm merely pointing out the fact that the complaints about The Good Wife are so broad and so frequently trivial that it appears there will simply be no appeasing the fan base no matter what the writer's try. I personally still love watching it and now that I'm watching these older episodes, I'm actually rather impressed by its evolution--I consider the show to still be far more inventive than 99% of what other procedurals do, which is barely move forward at all and simply focus on a case of the week. What I see in this new season is a shift where for the first time Alicia is put into opposition against every former coworker and as a result the people responsible for her "upbringing" become a very distinct "other" entity. As I mentioned in my more recent post, I'm not so attached to the characters (who I find to be frequently opportunistic and satirical) that I can't enjoy watching them from a somewhat greater distance. I also find this recent turn of events to be fresh enough in terms of story progress to keep me fully engaged, but if you get bored by it like the others by all means don't watch. Good luck finding something better.
     
    Deesky likes this.
  25. bopdd

    bopdd Senior Member

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    I was specifically asking for shows that all the naysayers would rather watch (not a list of TV shows people watch).
     
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