Anyone here watching "Elsbeth"?

Whoops, my bad: it's at the opera, not a Broadway show, and the dudebro busts out a phone! (Thankfully Miss LuPone wasn't present.)

So, no recent threads then, R2/R3?

[quote] So, no recent threads then, R2/R3?

See R1.

I've tried a couple times, OP, but I can't seem to get into it. I like Preston, but her character is too quirky for me.

I like it a lot.

What kind of fucking name is Elsbeth? It should be Elizabeth or Beth. Make a decision!

Elisasue?

I loved the last season.

Haven’t watched the premier episode for this year yet.

[quote] They pay dearly for their sins!

Well, only HE does.

Casting director must be gay. Daniel Davis AND Nathan Lane in the same episode?

The show was great! Nathan is such a hoot.

Carrie wore some beautiful outfits this time around. That blouse was fantastic.

She has major dyke vibes.

This show and the new Matlock have basically the same premise. Quirky rich woman improbably comes in with a hidden agenda and solves every case.

Except for the rich part, that High Potential chick is the same fish-out-of-water story as well.

It's a fun show, not intended to be Breaking Bad. And it has fun performances from the NYC theater crowd.

I hope they bring Laura Benanti back.

She’s a little too quirky for an hour. Better in small doses like Good Wife and Good Fight. IMHO.

Maybe I missed something. *Why* is she quirky? Is there an explanation? I understand why Monk was quirky.

[quote]*Why* is she quirky?

Surprise anal.

R21 😂 I laughed/farted.

Her fashion sense, the fact she carries about ten random bags/totes (why is that, btw?)

Her thinking and reasoning is bizarre and random. But there is a method to her madness.

She’s great. I’m liking her more than Maddie Matlock.

Although, I thought she had been caught in her lie when the top lawyer went to her apartment. How’d she know she would go? They’re paying for an apartment in Queens!

I want to

I wanted to like this so much. I really like Carrie Preston, and I love how they cast so many NY theater people. But it just seems like it's trying too hard and the tone it really 'off.'

I simply cannot imagine that character getting its own spin-off. Worked amazingly, in small doses, in the sometimes very serious Good Wife. Not so much anymore in the progressively ludicrous Good Fight.

It's twee.

I hate twee.

Miss LuPone is not talented enough for the opera.

[quote]Maybe I missed something. *Why* is she quirky? Is there an explanation?

Not really. She was a recurring character for over a decade on "The Good Wife" and "The Good Fight," but her MO then was at least similar to what happens in the new show. On those shows, everyone simply assumed she was either a ditz or lunatic, but then she schooled every single person to the contrary by the end of each show. That's not workable in the same fashion on a show with her in the lead – obviously the NYPD knows she's brilliant – but I think the "quirk" here is simply defying the "ditzy broad" stereotype.

[quote]This show and the new Matlock have basically the same premise. Quirky rich woman improbably comes in with a hidden agenda and solves every case.

Yes, and the original "Matlock" in the '80s stole "Columbo's" premise, now being used by this show, the "Matlock" reboot, and of course "Poker Face" (handily the best of the bunch since it's not constrained by network budgets and 42-minute runtimes). Your point is ...?

[quote]Casting director must be gay. Daniel Davis AND Nathan Lane in the same episode?

I watched its first season, and this was handily the gayest episode yet. (Particularly after Nathan's character's supposed "late wife" was entirely fictional.) Kaya's also giving me dyke vibes this year for some reason.

Christian Borle seems to have a recurring role (he was first-billed in the guest stars) but this week they only used his voice.

Having never seen The Good Wife before until just a few months ago, I have no idea who that new person is.

I saw 1 episode where she appeared, season 1, I think. Does she do more in later seasons?

So now Elsbeth’s real-life hubby will appear on the show.

Michael Emerson will play a judge on the show.

I’ve always liked him as an actor. Especially on Person Of Interest.

R30 Christian Borle was a recurring character on The Good Wife as a smarmy lawyer. I wonder if he'll be the same character or a new one. Nathan Lane was also on TGW and had an episode with Elsbeth, but he played a different character on Elsbeth. It would be fun if they carried over some of the characters from TGW and TGF universe.

Were TGW and TGF as twee as Elsbeth?

This show seems to be down my alley but now if you don't catch a CBS show live on TV it's not always available to view a few days later, and I am uninterested in Paramount Plus.

Same thing happened several years back - I got into The Good Place and Superstore but I could never catch up a day or two later on NBC and then I just lost interest.

So what's her secret?

R31, Elsbeth's appearances on the original two shows were always sporadic, and usually one-offs IIRC. Bit of a long story, but both shows had probably two dozen total "rotating" and usually "quirky" characters who showed up now & then, including Elsbeth. Also, like the "Law & Order" shows, "The Good Wife" and "The Good Fight" had 80% of Broadway as guest stars at some point. (Even Jonathan Groff was on a "Good Wife" episode briefly as the witness in a trial, back when he was being a drunken ho and sleeping around in the early 2010s.)

No, R34, those shows were in no way "twee." It's almost like they were an odd fusion of a legal procedural, but with strong undercurrents of soap opera-esque drama. "The Good Wife" was fairly straightforward: they based the concept on all the politicians like Anthony Weiner who invariably "confess" to some tawdy extramarital affair – in addition to a corruption scandal that lands him in jail – at a press conference, with the dutiful "good wife" standing next to him. On the show, Chris Noth played the cheater (Peter), and Julianna Margulies played the wife (Alicia). Since they had no savings and Peter ended up in jail for his crimes, and Alicia hadn't worked since leaving the workforce to have kids nearly 20 years prior – but rather conveniently both went to law school and kept her license valid – she ends up working as a first-year associate at a Chicago law firm.

"The Good Fight" was considerably different, and based on the original show's best supporting character, Diane, played by Christine Baranski. Since it was on Paramount+, they could thankfully employ far racier dialogue and topics, and the literal entire show changed direction when Trump won in 2016. Like the rest of us, the showrunners fully expected Hillary to win, and after seven full seasons of minding her tongue on "The Good Wife" (always solely on CBS), her first scene in "The Good Fight" is watching the 2016 election returns at her apartment and screaming "FUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!"

So: they retooled it as a Trump satire, and it's one of the few shows that's successfully done so, given that it's an EPIC challenge. (Claiming Haitian migrants in Springfield are stealing, and eating, pets sounds like extreme satire on its own, but it's obviously nothing of the sort.)

R36 I do think The Good Fight became too much of a ridiculous soap opera at some point, and it was no longer good TV. The first two seasons were incredible. And then, with all the Judge Wagner stuff, it became patently ridiculous.

Not watching in protest of CBS canceling So Help Me Todd to pay for these two new shows. I really liked So Help Me Todd.

Thanks, R36.

I’m liking what I’m seeing so far.

R37, I'd agree that "The Good Fight" had a few weak episodes – and that the Judge Wackner storyline was odd, even with someone as talented as Mandy Patinkin in the role – but definitely not that only its first two seasons were good. Its biggest problem in its later seasons was losing so many great characters, including the ones played by Delroy Lindo & Cush Jumbo. Also, Rose Leslie was intended to be the show's "other" lead, aside from Christine Baranski, but she simply wasn't a good fit on the show – and nor was the actor who played Barbara and was forced out at the beginning of S2 via adding Audra McDonald to the cast. (Which, to be clear, was one of its BEST ideas, and she was a far better "co-lead" than Rose Leslie. Any actor needs gravitas to perform side-by-side with Christine Baranski on camera, and hiring the world's literal only actor with SIX Tony wins AND in all four acting categories abso-fucking-lutely worked.)

Its fourth season was on the skids, and somewhat ironically saved by Covid forcing it to shut down production after only seven episodes had been filmed. Dispatching Marissa & Jay to check out Jeffrey Epstein's Caribbean compound was just, well, weird, as was totally ripping off its "lawyer with a photographic memory" bit from "Suits." S5 & S6 were subpar only because every other season was so focused on Trump: both seasons arrived after Biden won. (They did, however, manage to work Jan. 6 into the final season's plot as a core element.)

S5 started with one of its single best episodes – titled "Previously On....", meant entirely ironically – and it managed to deftly cover the RIDICULOUS amount of real-life ground that passed since its Covid-shortened season. They wrote out two series regulars as well as Hugh Dancy's character (whose final scenes were filmed via Zoom, since he was on lockdown in the UK at the time); delved into the end of Trump's presidency along with Jan. 6; Covid and the BLM/George Floyd protests (and Trump's suppression of them); RBG's death - as one of Diane's longtime personal heroes - and Fucker McConnell forcing Amy Coney Barrett's nomination through before Trump left; Marissa opting to return to law school; AND Jay coming down with long Covid. In ONE EPISODE!

I'd agree that its first two seasons were its best, but even now it's the only Paramount+ series – and one of a surprisingly small number of streaming series, period – to last six seasons. (Even "Star Trek: Discovery" only lasted five.)

I find CBS TV shows are generally not for me.

Fair point, R41, but OTOH I'd also argue most *network* shows aren't for me (or you, or really any American under the age of 30). Primetime network TV as we know it is already in a death spiral. The difference nowadays – primetime hasn't been profitable for the networks since the internet began pulling away both viewers and advertiser dollars – is that the ratings even for morning and late-night shows is also plummeting. Less than 15 years ago, "Today" and "The Tonight Show" were both generating over $150 million EACH in annual profit, which is entirely why their hosts have long been the highest-paid TV talent – or at least they *were*. I have no idea what Stephen Colbert makes, but I'm pretty sure it's less than the $30 mil per year Letterman used to get.

Also, "Elsbeth" is one of only two network shows *I* still watch, the other being "The Equalizer." I like its social justice message, but if I'm being honest, I really love seeing the absurdity of portraying Queen Latifah – who's easily 100 pounds overweight, and VERY obviously does none of her own stunts – as some sort of ninja-like fighter who can singlehandedly take down a dozen mercs with nothing more than a ballpoint pen and a baton.

I liked Bull.

R38’ Elsbeth isn’t new. It performed better than So Help Me Todd, which is why it’s back.

The episode with Jane Krakowski as a power real estate broker and murderess!

She really aged, looks like she slept in a dehydrator.

i watch for the guest stars. plus that weird actress like a snarky version of carole kane.

Elsbeth is an easy and amusing hour of TV... nothing wrong with that. I watched the episode with Nathan Lane... it was fine, could have been better, BUT there were other laughs along the way, did you see the bench on the street with Jane Kralowski's real estate ad? Ha! Definitely battered looking. And Elsbeth's conversation with another season 1 character? Also amusing...

What was the grand and gorgeous venue they used that stood in for the opera house in the last episode?

On Columbo, did the audience always know who the killer was all along?

Yes.

I’ve enjoyed the few eps I’ve seen… enough. I mean, it’s pretty ludicrous that she has access to these crime scenes and witnesses, and the stories aren’t that complex.

"How did they do it" mysteries get very repetitive. And I feel kind of lazy watching them. It's a very simple narrative structure and the character Elsbeth doesn't have a great range of behaviors to display figuring out each one. I think this will prove to be a weakness of this otherwise mildly entertaining series. I realize they are aiming for the lowest common denominator of viewer, very undemanding. The witty and campy acting is the charm.

She really is good. Count me as one who liked her character in small doses on Good Wife and didn’t think a show centered on her would work.

I haven't watched it for the reasons R53 mentioned, but this sounds like Jessica Fletcher on the spectrum.

I like her sidekick Kaya. They need to focus on her and Wendell Pierce a bit more.

In the part of season one I watched, I felt sorry for the actress who played Kaya because they didn’t give her any personality traits or interesting material.

Glad to hear they eventually develop her, because these shows require fun and interesting regulars, especially given relatively how thin the mysteries are.

I really enjoyed the guest stars. In season one they attracted a lot of good ones, And they give them lots of fun material to play with. So you get actors like Jane Krakowski having the screen time and slightly camp material and going to town with it.

No I’m watching Georgie & Mandy’s first marriage.

The fashion episode was more than "slightly" camp.

[quote]BUT there were other laughs along the way, did you see the bench on the street with Jane Kralowski's real estate ad? Ha! Definitely battered looking.

The premiere had like FIVE Easter egg references to the first season! (including Jane)

The multiple tote bags are getting distracting.

I didn't know a single one of the "special guest stars" in this week's episode. Either that means they're not that special, or that I'm very old and not up with who's who these days. (Or both.)

Was this the first episode where we didn't know who the killer was up front?

Similar shows Pokerface, Will Trent and High Potential are superior to Elsbeth

I've known one of the showrunners, Jon Tolins, for years. He's a very nice and funny guy.

Episodes 3 and 4 have both sucked.

I found an older French show (Notre Dame hasn't burnt down yet) called The Paris Murders, whose main character is very like Elsbeth.

Pamela Adlon and Laura Benanti

Until I realized she'd be much older now, I thought Pamela Adlon was Janeane Garofalo.

[quote]Pamela Adlon and Laura Benant

And Michael Davenport.

I posted R67 and also mistook her for Janeane Garofalo for 1 minute.

This episode kind of sealed the deal for me. This series now offically sucks. It's supposed to be fun and campy but I find it ham-fisted.

EXCLUSIVE: The hit CBS dramedy series Elsbeth continues to stack up stars for its sophomore season with the addition of Sullivan Jones (Interior Chinatown, Big George Foreman), Ioan Gruffudd (Titanic, Fantastic Four) and Alan Ruck (Succession, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off). Season 2 premiered on October 17 and currently airs Thursday nights at 10 p.m.

Based on the character featured in The Good Wife and The Good Fight, Elsbeth Tascioni (Carrie Preston), the astute but unconventional consent decree attorney working with the NYPD to catch New York’s well-heeled murderers utilizing her unique point of view.

Jones will recur as Cameron Clayden, a handsome medical examiner in New York.

Gruffudd guest stars as Angus, a handsome Scottish artist who witnesses a murder in New York through a video art installation that connects to his small Scottish town. Sparks fly between Angus and Elsbeth when they join forces to solve the murder from across the pond in this Valentine’s Day special episode.

Ruck will guest star as Peter and Bill Henderson, twins known for their dominance in the hedge fund space after growing up working class in Queens. While Peter is the shrewd and cutting CEO of Hepson Capital, his twin brother Bill left his career in finance for a life of spiritual enlightenment that led him to give away his fortune. Either one or both will be the big baddie of the episode.

I, too, miss 'So Help Me Todd'. It's too bad they couldn't renew that show and 'Elsbeth' and add 'Matlock' as well. Then move all three to Sunday nights, after '60 Minutes'. These three are great 'Sunday night' series.

Love it

Despite the show's triumphant return for a second season in late 2024, CBS has yet to make a decision regarding the fate of Elsbeth season 3. However, this isn't particularly surprising, though it probably won't take long for the network to renew or cancel the spinoff of a spinoff.

R75, that doesn’t make any sense.

Of course they haven’t made a decision about the third season. They haven’t made this decision about the next season of anything at this early part of the season .

I can't handle this crazy Elsbeth bitch for the length of the copious number of promos CBS runs. Annoying! I'd like to see her bumped off and they do an episode with Maddy Matlock solving the case.

R76 After the second episode aired of 'Matlock', they renewed Kathy Bates' series not only for more episodes this current season (giving it a full season) but for next year, as well. The ratings were that impressive to CBS. (I believe they did the same thing last year for freshman series 'Tracker', which was a hit within its first two episodes).

After about 5 episodes, a network can tell where the ratings are going, and decide to order additional episodes of a show for a full current season, for the following season, or stop it at the original episodes ordered thus far (usually 10 - 12). 'Elsbeth' just aired its fifth episode this past week, nothing has been said for the past couple of days, so we shall see where it lands.

Between Elsbeth, Only Murders in the Building and The Gilded Age, every Broadway actor is working full-time on tv!

Really, I'm kind of sick of seeing the same faces trotted out for every show. Nathan Lane, Patti Lupone and Jane Krakowski for example are forced upon us way too much. LuPone and Krakowski have always given me hives but are featured on almost every NY show.

Is NY casting that lazy and only hiring people they don't need to audition?

[quote]Between Elsbeth, Only Murders in the Building and The Gilded Age, every Broadway actor is working full-time on tv!

I would like to see James Cusati-Moyer working full-time on TV! He's coming back to New York after starring in Slave Play in London this year. I could obsess over him the way the NAC troll obsesses over NAC. And James is definitely gay.

We’re hooked on Elsbeth, it’s like Family Guy that you don’t have to think too hard and can relax and watch after a hard day’s work. They also fold any loose threads neatly into the ending and walk away from watching a few weeks.

You have to understand providers have more technology and tracking ability of those that watch the shows than ever before. Some new variables would be what time audiences stream, how close to release of episode, whether they renew a subscription to watch, are they watching on phone or full size TV, are they watching ONLY th show than turn off tv?

These are all indicators of a show’s “Stickiness” they didnt have 20 years ago.

R78, Matlock is a new show. Networks do that sometimes with new shows to signal to the audience that the show is a keeper.

They don’t do it early in the second season. Ever.

[quote] They don’t do it early in the second season. Ever.

"NBC has ordered a third season of its hit drama La Brea. Season two resumes tonight with back-to-back episodes at 9 and 10 p.m. on NBC and next day on Peacock."

"Syfy handed “Resident Alien” an early season three renewal. The comedy/drama based on the Dark Horse comics ranks among the year’s most-watched cable series."

"CBS has renewed its hit firefighter drama Fire Country for Season 3, the network announced Tuesday. Season 2 is still early in its run, so it's a bit early to predict what will happen in Season 3."

R83 Well that blows R82's theory right out of the water. Thanks for posting.