The Good Wife may be the last of its kind, the last TV show that has 22 episodes a year of relatively high quality. All credit to Robert and Michelle King, who created the show and stayed with it from beginning to end (they wrote and directed the final episode). And all credit to Julianna Margulies, who stayed with the show for its entire run, with her plastic surgery being done gradually so that her blank and relatively inexpressive face helped to express her isolation at the end of the show, when she was left without her boyfriend, her best friend, her husband (a divorce at last) and children (off to college).
When I was growing up TV shows had the same characters but plots did not generally overlap from episode to episode. This all changed with Hill Street Blues, Steven Bochco's show that started in 1981 and was followed by high-quality shows such as L.A. Law, ER and The West Wing. The rise of these shows coincided with the rise of the VCR and the internet: if you missed a show you might have a friend who taped it or you might be able to watch it on-line. No more graduation ceremonies postponed so that everyone could watch the finale of MASH. Now we even have "on demand" for most shows; one doesn't even need a DVR or internet connection (though one cannot fast forward through the commercials.
Alicia Florick, Margulies character, was intelligent and resilient, especially in her work as an attorney. Her real love was lawyer Will Gardner (played by Josh Charles), who died in season five and whom she never stopped loving. One of the reasons the show was able to remain lively was the regular introduction of new characters, including a new partner for Alicia (Lucca, played by Cush Jumbo) and a new boyfriend (Jason, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan) in the final season. And the writing was always excellent, with detailed and interesting legal cases and constant battles among the lawyers.
No comments:
Post a Comment