‘The Good Wife’ Doesn’t Plan to Tie Up All the Loose Ends
The Good Wife doesn’t plan to tie up all the loose ends
“I don’t think the best finales wrap up all the loose ends,” co-creator Robert King said at a Tribeca Film Festival celebration of the departing CBS drama. “They are novelistic. And novels, sometimes there’s a little ambiguity, which is fun.” He paused, then added: “‘Fun’ is the wrong word. Resonant. You want a last episode that resonates.”
“Seeing so many prominent female characters exit at once is strange”
Maureen Ryan points out that today’s Stana Katic Castle departure comes amid a slew of actresses exiting their TV roles. “Adding to that strangeness,” she says, “is the fact that now series leads are fair game… well, it’s very odd, to say the least. Not to mention disturbing. I’m finding it difficult to think of a heterosexual white male lead character in a drama who was written off his show or killed off in the last few months. I’m having trouble coming up with many instances of that scenario this spring — if any.” PLUS: “To save money on a TV show, just get rid of the women”!
Doris Roberts dies at 90
Roberts, who passed away Sunday, won four Emmys for her Everybody Loves Raymond matriarch role. She also won a best supporting actress Emmy for St. Elsewhere. Today, Raymond creator Phil Rosenthal recalled hiring Roberts and basing her character on his mom. “I read about 100 women for this part, everyone of a certain age in Hollywood and in New York read with this scene and Doris Roberts came in and there wasn’t even a close second,” he says. “She was so hilarious and she just hit it out of the park and she got the mother that was in my head because it was my mother in tone and spirit.” PLUS: Patricia Heaton calls working with Roberts “a privilege,” and Ray Romano says Roberts had an “energy and a spirit that amazed me. She never stopped. Whether working professionally or with her many charities, or just nurturing and mentoring a green young comic trying to make it as an actor, she did everything with such a grand love for life and people and I will miss her dearly.”
Black-ish was creator Kenya Barris’ 19th attempt at a sitcom pilot
Barris recalls the long road to getting Black-ish on air, including resisting ABC’s attempts to call it Urban Family or The Johnsons, in a New Yorker profile from Emily Nussbaum (who won a Pulitzer Prize today). In it, Barris expresses worry over the Hope episode before its airing, discusses ABC’s deep bench of minority show creators and says timeslot competitor Empire just isn’t a good show. “Just because someone’s handicapped, doesn’t mean he’s not an a**hole,” he says of Empire. “I can’t call this dude a d*ck because he’s in a wheelchair? Same thing—just because someone is black and they do something, doesn’t mean it’s dope.”
Better Call Saul creators address Gus Fring rumors, reveal that Fargo‘s creator pitched skipping Saul Goodman entirely
Co-creator Peter Gould said Fargo’s Noah Hawley suggested that the big twist on Better Call Saul be that it never moves on from Jimmy McGill to Saul Goodman. Vince Gilligan says it’ll be “kind of a minor tragedy” when they do move on “because Saul Goodman is not as good a guy, not as likable” as Jimmy McGill.
Pat Boone accuses SNL of being anti-Christian for parodying his new movie God’s Not Dead 2
Boone says the show went over the line with the God is a Boob Man sketch from this past weekend. “I won’t waste my breath demanding an apology,” he says. “They don’t answer to me. They answer to the one they defame, and there are consequences.”
Samantha Bee is grateful that Full Frontal launched amid so much real-world craziness
“I know it wasn’t just for us,” she tells Katie Couric, “but it was really nice of everybody to be so crazy the year that we were launching our show. That was thoughtful.”
Dax Shepard says he was molested as a child
The Parenthood alum made the revelation on Sirius XM’s The Jason Ellis Show, saying: “It took me 12 years to tell anyone. And then all that time, I was like, a) ‘It’s my fault,’ as generic as that is, I’m like, ‘it’s my fault. And I’m gay, I must have manifested this because I’m secretly gay.’ I had all these insane thoughts for 11 years or 12 years.”
Did Girls know how special this season would be?
Showrunner Jenni Konner, who directed the season finale, says of the accolades over Season 5: “Knowing it was going to end, I’m sure informed our process, and gave us higher stakes: Speak now or forever hold your peace. And knowing the vague idea we had of the way everything was going to end affected everything. But that being said, everyone keeps saying that (this was a great year), and I couldn’t be happier at everyone’s reaction, but I certainly didn’t see it coming. But I never see anything coming.” PLUS: Taxi Driver inspired the final shot.
Madam Secretary was granted a rare opportunity to film in the actual United Nations
“We’re being very careful about our Cokes and crumbs and the walls that we will not scratch,” says Tea Leoni, whose grandmother, Helenka Pantaleoni, was the founding director of the U.S. Committee for UNICEF.
Did Bill Clinton impersonate Phil Hartman’s Bill Clinton SNL impression?
The former president was captured today helping himself to a French fry off a customer’s plate (with permission). PLUS: Stephen Colbert helps solve Hillary Clinton’s “cheesecake problem.”
John Singleton’s FX Snowfall drama undergoing major changes
The 1980s cocaine-epidemic drama pilot, forcing reshoots and casting changes.
12 Monkeys returns, continuing to push storytelling boundaries in Season 2
It’s attempts at pushing boundaries aren’t always successful, but at least the Syfy series is trying something different.
J.J. Abrams reveals what TV shows he’s watching
Transparent, Togetherness and, he tells Chris Rock, “Have you heard of this Game of Thrones?!” PLUS: Abrams wouldn’t name the actress who was so rude on Alias.
Here are all the Season 2 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt-30 Rock crossovers
A LaDonica joke from a 2006 30 Rock episode resurfaced 10 years later on Kimmy Schmidt.
Gilmore Girls reunites the Huntzbergers
Gregg Henry posted a pic of him and his TV son, Matt Czuchry, on the Gilmore revival set.
Real Housewives of Dallas star was taken aback by discussion of her porn past
“I never thought the word ‘porn’ would be used, because it’s not porn,” says Tiffany Hendra, a veteran of several adult films.
Why a new showrunner is not enough to save Vinyl
The HBO drama ended its season struggling with its main character, played by Bobby Cannavale. As Alan Sepinwall notes, “The Richie problem is emblematic of Vinyl as a whole. Even if (new showrunner Scott Z.) Burns magically fixes every flaw — which doesn’t usually happen when outside people are brought in to rescue a sagging show (see also Smash season 2) — the ‘It’s much better now!’ critical narrative almost never brings back viewers who left during the bad old days, much less brings in people who were reluctant to sample to begin with.” PLUS: Here’s where Vinyl went wrong this season, Vinyl‘s 15 producers after Terence Winter’s exit — including nine “executive producers” — is “insane,” and Vinyl bizarrely opened up to its mistakes in the season finale.
