Wednesday, May 18, 2011

I DON'T HAVE MANY ENEMIES IN LIFE. I GET ALONG WITH REPUBLICANS, PROTESTANTS, CATHOLICS, EVEN A FEW REPORTERS. BUT THE ONE THING I HATE IS AMATEURS: Look, The Good Wife may not quite be "very much the network answer to The Wire," but its recently-concluded second season is very much a show at the top of its game.  Were all the network dramas staying in a hotel, it might well be the $7800 Presidential Suite right now.

Why? MZS calls it "old fashioned in the best sense" -- "Every scene is written, acted and directed with maximum intelligence and minimum fuss.... a series by and about grown-ups, interspersing big moments with small, good things."

I'd like to add two things: first, that there are certain worlds this show seems to get so very right -- the business pressures and details of law firm practice, and the Alicia's emotional universe as a woman who has suffered, endured, emerged and finally had enough of a marriage which no longer benefited her or her children. (Honestly, as much as I liked the confrontation with Peter, the scenes with mother-in-law Jackie have been even more devastating.)

Second, as I've mentioned before, is that I love this show's tertiary cast.  So many characters who drop by for only a handful of episodes each season -- David Lee and the other Lockhart Gardner partners; the parade of quirky judges; Michael J. Fox, Mamie Gummer, Martha Plimpton, and the other opposing counsel; Dallas Roberts as Alicia's brother; the talking lion; Alicia's children's friends, and so many more. I will happily follow this show to Sundays at 9.

13 comments:

  1. Marsha10:27 PM

    Nothing special to add, just "ditto." Very enjoyable and satisfying season.

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  2. I will happily follow it to Sundays, also. I love this show. I enjoy watching grown-ups dealing with grown-up issues. Alicia deals with all the crap in her life the way most of the women I know in our late 30s and 40s deal with ours. There's a lot of gray area, and I think the audience responds to that. 

    Also, I've loved Josh Charles since "Sports Night," and I may put the talking lion plug-in thing on my birthday present list.

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  3. Stevie11:30 PM

    I just started watching it a few months ago so I haven't been able to watch the show's growth, but I've been very impressed by it. Van Der Werff's argument about how there aren't heroes or villains, just interesting characters who make good and bad decisions and handle the consequences of those decisions, really resonated with me.

    And yes, the talking lion was a moment of genious. Also, Alan Cumming's performance fills me with joy every time I see it.

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  4. Eli Gold Reacts To Stuff would be my #3 on the list.

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  5. Anonymous11:10 AM

    I was particularly impressed with how they handled the "tell the kids about the separation" scene as the serious, hard, emotionally devastating scene it needed to be. Would have been easy to pay it lip service - teen kids, pretend they don't care. But they treated it with respect. Reminded me of one of my all-time favorite TV scenes, in the first season of Once and Again when Rick had to tell his young daughter that, no, they never would be a family again, and how he explained in the "confessional" how he may as well have smashed her over the head with a hammer. Brilliant stuff in the way it acknowledged the emotional hit on kids when their parents divorce.

    Which reminds me - has Once and Again gotten credit for the "talk into the camera" device that the mockumentary sitcoms have run with to such great success?

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  6. Tosy and Cosh11:10 AM

    Sigh. Guest is me.

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  7. Maret1:32 PM

    I also love TGW but have nothing much to add to what's already been said about it here. But I'm also a HUGE Once & Again fan and agree with you that how they handled the divorce issue with teens was some of the best scripted and acted portrayals of that subject on TV to date. And I did read an article recently somewhere (can't remember where) that mentioned O & A as one of the first shows to do the talking to the camera thing.

    I really really really wish they would put Once & Again season 3 DVDs out.

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  8. Tosy and Cosh2:24 PM

    Maret - I haven't thought to check, but I don't suppose Season 3 is on Hulu? Somewhere else like that? I know Season One of Chicago Hope was (remember being surprised to see it, since it's not on DVD). Another thing that always made me sad is that Evan Rachel Wood went on to a great career (so far at least), geting tons of high-profile work, while the equally-good Julia Whelan just disappeared.

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  9. Maret2:57 PM

    I know! Julia Whelan was SO GOOD. I also wish Susanna Thompson who played Rick's ex, was on more shows. The rest of that cast has gone on to some pretty decent stuff.

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  10. I have really enjoyed this show from the beginning, but for God's sake TGW people -- change the fake backgrounds behind all the windows to fake backgrounds of Chicago and not NY! I get that they film in NYC and all (and enjoy seeing the shoots around town), but they really should make more of an effort to have it seem like Chicago.

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  11. Tosy and Cosh4:40 PM

    Susannah Thompson was awesome. Good call. And whenever I see Marin Hinkle on Two and a Half men I feel bad for her. And let us not forget Billy Crystal's daughter, eventually to become Taub's wife. And Todd Field, who went on to be come Mr. Big Time Director. And Paul Mazursky! So good as Lily's dad. And Patrick Dempsey! I forgot about Aaron! (Thanks, IMDB)

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  12. According to Wiki, Whelan took four years and went to college, graduating Magna Cum Laude from Middlebury.  She's also probably a tough casting call, since she doesn't really fit into a procedural character type.

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  13. Stevie9:52 AM

    Ha, DJG! Totally agreed. There are many groaners on that level, but one of the worst was when Alicia and Will found the gun on the banks of "Lake Michigan," and you could see buildings on the other side of it.

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