The Good Wife: Too Smart for TV?

Television reminds me of a state-mandated standardized IQ test for the American viewing audience. I guess truly smart people don't watch TV at all, but I'm not one of them. Even so, my viewing tastes are eclectic. My eyes glaze over when even intelligent people start talking about "American Idol." With nearly three times as many viewers as "The Good Wife," the talent show is a phenomenal television success by any measure. Does this mean I'm not smart? Or just that I'm not herd-smart?

I'm not cutting edge, I'll admit that. I didn't "discover" the joys of reckless gunfire and gratuitous violence on "24" until it was running into its 6^th season. I first experienced the thoughtful, rational humanity of one of my favorite actors, Kim Delaney, in a legal procedural called "Philly" -- 4 years after it was cancelled. Nielsen never bothered to contact me.

I worry that my late interest in CBS's "The Good Wife" will jinx it in some way. Starring actor Julianna Margulies has justly won awards for her inspired performances as Alicia Florrick, newly returned to the precarious insecurities of the legal working world. Margulies is not the starlet type and has a "different" look which plays well into this legal procedural.

The last time I saw a penetrating stare of the caliber that Margulies routinely displays in "The Good Wife" was in the eyes of a Fort Benning drill sergeant. All seeing, all knowing, unyielding, and thoroughly unforgiving.

I'm amazed that nearly every account I've read about "The Good Wife" highlights the sleazy marital infidelity of husband Peter and Alicia's position as the enduring wife. Then we inevitably go on to catalogue the sexual sins of Bill Clinton, John Edwards, Elliot Spitzer, and others too numerous to list. Is that the attraction of "The Good Wife?"

Au contraire. The show's a success because it's an intelligent legal drama with a terrific cast, lately bringing in Alan Cumming as Eli, the potential political rebuilder of Peter's damaged career. Eli is to "The Good Wife" as Ari Gold is to "Entourage," and both are shameless.

I saw one episode of "The Good Wife" that wasn't so hot, but the most recent May 11 episode was good television. True to life, the firm of Lockhart and Gardner is struggling, and new fresh-faced legal talent must be forever mindful of the difficult economic environment. Alicia is actually new-old talent-back in the workforce after husband Peter gets caught sucking the toes of a prostitute and lands in jail. So I've heard.

More to the point, the law firm has to cut staff and the choice is between Alicia and Carey. Carey's the aggressive and callow legal colt who gleefully plays the angles and seems to be winning until he loses when Alicia takes a meeting with Eli (Allan Cumming) where he gets her rich new clients to buttress the sagging bottom line of the firm. Senior associates are grateful, and Alicia keeps the job.

Real life has no sub-plots and that's another reason to like "The Good Wife." It doesn't condescend. Plots and subplots occur simultaneously and have equal importance. The camera and plot action is fluid, natural, interrupted (sadly) only by commercials. That's true to life also, isn't it, life interrupted by commercials?

In the Tuesday, May 11 episode, the law firm has a high-profile wife of rock star client in the midst of a multi-million dollar divorce settlement. The rock star has a motorcycle accident on his way to the law firm to sign divorce and settlement papers. The now comatose rock star has an estate, a younger new model soon-to-be-wife, and an infant son, suddenly appearing to complicate the legal issues. The girlfriend wants to pull the plug on the comatose rock star so her baby will get everything in probate. The cheated loyal wife of many years wants her estate back and to keep her husband alive so she can manage it. The opposing veteran lawyers are shrewd and remorseless as they jockey for position. Alicia's investigative assistant goes well beyond the job description to help the firm solve what has morphed into a murder case.

The only thing not complicated about the latest episode is that everyone wants money--lots of it. Julianne Margulies, as Alicia, shines light into the seamy corners of the legal world, with moral clarity, with sang-froid, with that penetrating and yet impenetrable gaze.