Listen to Roger Currie’s commentary on television
Many couch potatoes, including myself, have abandoned much of what is offered on conventional television, switching instead to the edgier shows that are offered from non-network sources like HBO and Netflix.
To survive and prosper in the old world of TV, producers have definitely got to kick things up a notch or two. Such is the case with The Good Wife, now in its 5th season on CBS, and Global here in Canada.
In an effort to keep its large audience, the producers have elected to take the series and blow it up. Julianna Margulies is Alica Florrick, the dutiful single mom who stands by her skunk of a husband played by Chris Noth, even though she has the hots for legal teammate Will Gardner, played by Josh Charles.
The skunk is now the Governor of Illinois, in an extreme example of art imitating life. This season Alica has thrown in with young pups in the firm who have elected to strike out on their own and take some major clients with them. The result is the total war that came to a head in last week’s episode.
It’s a pattern not unlike what happened years ago on a Canadian TV drama called Street Legal. At the beginning it was mostly about interesting legal cases, but when the numbers got shaky, the producers opted for soap opera, and the more outrageous the better.
The Good Wife tries to make a number of statements about loyalty, about ‘taking one for the team’, no matter how difficult that may be. When the chips are down, who gets thrown under the bus when the main players are motivated by self-preservation ?
Does any of this sound familiar ? Change some of the character names to Duffy and Wallin and Harper and Nigel Wright, and you have real life in the capital of Canada as winter approaches.
I’m Roger Currie
