PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA, THE: INSIDE MEDIA: AN EVENING WITH THE GOOD WIFE {LONG VERSION}
Summary
One in a series of seminars presented as part of The Paley Center for Media's Inside Media events in New York. This seminar honors “The Good Wife,” the drama series about a Chicago lawyer who returns to work after her politician husband is embroiled in a public scandal.
Christy Carpenter (chief operating officer, The Paley Center for Media) offers opening remarks about the show before introducing a rough cut of the episode “Boom,” which is screened in its entirety. (For synopsis and credits, see ACCNUM 101251.)
After the episode, Matt Roush (senior critic, TV Guide magazine) moderates the following panelists: Julianna Margulies (Alicia Florrick), Josh Charles (Will Gardner), Archie Panjabi (Kalinda Sharma), Matt Czuchry (Cary Agos), and Christine Baranski (Diane Lockhart).
The panelists discuss topics which include: Margulies’s interest in returning to series television; the show being shot in New York, though it's a Chicago-based series; the program's immediate success; the avoidance of a formulaic style for scripts; Margulies’s initial belief that the show might be “too smart”; upgraded sets and shooting locations; the show's 10 p.m. timeslot and how it "helped kill" its competition, “The Jay Leno Show”; what the show's title means to the actors; the lead character’s uncertain future; the audience’s response to the Alicia-Peter-Will triangle and the birth of “Team Peter” vs. “Team Will” fans; Kalinda’s mysterious “Erin Brockovich”-like character and her ambiguous sexuality; Czuchry’s attempt to make a scene of Cary on drugs seem both credible and "fun"; an emotionally draining scene in the season finale between Baranski and Margulies; accidental spoilers about the law firm-based competition between Alicia and Cary; Baranski’s experience with guest star Gary Cole (Kurt McVeigh); the talent of recurring guest star Alan Cumming (Eli Gold); and how New York offers the “richest pool” of actors to feature.
Questions from the audience then lead to a discussion of the following topics: if real-life politicians’ wives have reached out to the show; surprising plot parallels with former New York governor Eliot Spitzer's scandal aftermath; having actual lawyers on the show’s writing staff; Margulies’s struggle to separate her own emotions from Alicia’s; various quirks of Kalinda’s character; upcoming reveals about Will and Alicia’s history; the cast’s research into law practice; the use of modern technology on the show and the way it appeals to a surprisingly young audience; and whether supporting actor Kevin Conway (Jonas Stern) will return to the show.
Details
- NETWORK: N/A
- DATE: April 21, 2010 6:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:39:28
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 101074
- GENRE: Seminars
- SUBJECT HEADING: N/A
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Christy Carpenter … Host
- Matt Roush … Moderator
- Julianna Margulies … Panelist
- Josh Charles … Panelist
- Archie Panjabi … Panelist
- Matt Czuchry … Panelist
- Christine Baranski … Panelist
- Gary Cole
- Kevin Conway
- Alan Cumming
- Eliot Spitzer