Pilot Watch: The Good Wife

BuzzSugar — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:30:30 -0700

The networks have announced their Fall schedules, but which series will be worth watching? Throughout the Summer, as I watch the pilots, I'll be posting my first impressions. Note that a lot can change before a show actually makes it to air, so these aren't reviews, just quick thoughts on how the shows look now. Today's pick: the CBS drama The Good Wife.

What's it about? A politician's wife, shamed by her husband's public sex and corruption scandal, takes a job as a junior associate at a prestigious law firm.

Who's in it? Julianna Margulies, Josh Charles, Christine Baranski, Matt Czuchry, Chris Noth

The good: The parts of the story focusing on Alicia (Margulies) trying to navigate life after her husband's revelations are the strongest moments in this pilot. It's certainly timely to tell a story about a high-profile wife caught in the eye of a political storm, and Margulies ably shows what the effects of such a scandal might be on Alicia's career, her children, and her marriage. Alicia's relationships at work are another promising element: Her boss (Charles) is an old classmate curious to see how Alicia does after so many years out of court, while the firm's investigator becomes a fast friend.

The bad: The legal parts of the show feel just like any other legal procedural; I found myself struggling to pay attention to some of the courtroom scenes. I'm interested in how Alicia gains confidence at work and how developments there resonate through her tortured personal life, but the specific details of the case made the episode drag a bit.

Will I watch? Actually, yes. I didn't expect to like this as much as I did, and I'm interested to see more.

To check out a preview video and some photos, just read more.

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Photos courtesy of CBS

HBO Schedules Some Intense Treatment

BuzzSugar — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 06:30:00 -0700

I'm excited about In Treatment, the forthcoming HBO show starring Gabriel Byrne as a psychotherapist who is in therapy himself - but it's going to take over my life. See, HBO recently released its schedule for the show, and it's ... intense.

The show will air half-hour episodes five times a week for nine weeks. That's a total of 45 episodes - double the number a regular series airs in nine months.

Each night of the week will focus on a different patient for the duration of the series. One patient's story will always air on Mondays, another on Tuesdays, and so on; on Fridays, Byrne's character takes the couch with his own therapist (Dianne Wiest). The other stars, by the way, include Melissa George, Blair Underwood, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Charles, and Embeth Davidtz. Since that adds up to six patients total, I assume one of them is a couples session. (In a pretty cool twist, HBO Select will be airing the sessions at their "actual" times - so if a patient's session is always Mondays at 9 a.m., that's when you'll see the episode.)

This series could be awesome - it has a cool concept, and it's written by a Big Love and Six Feet Under writer and produced by Mark Wahlberg. I really want to like it. But 45 episodes over nine weeks? That's more intense than a college course! What do you think? Would you be willing to watch something like In Treatment - or are you intimidated before it's even begun?

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