Prepare to say goodbye to ‘The Good Wife’ in May
Questions and answers about TV shows past and present.
Q: I saw a reference to an episode of “The Good Wife” as the final episode. If this is the last episode of the season, I understand. It sounded like the final episode ever. Is “Good Wife” returning in the fall?
A: No. And I have to think you weren’t watching the Super Bowl. CBS stunned fans of the Julianna Margulies drama with an ad during the big game that declared this is, in fact, the last season for the series, with its finale airing May 8. Series co-creators Robert and Michelle King were due to leave the series at the end of the season. They suspected the show would go on without them. CBS instead chose “to end with the seven-year story its creators envisioned, and to celebrate the show’s final run while at the top of its creative game,” a network executive said in a statement. We can argue about how near it is to “the top of its creative game.” There have been narrative stumbles at times. But I still watched every week. And with it gone, I’ll have one less show to adjust my DVR for when football runs late on Sundays.
Q: Why is Michael Weatherly leaving “NCIS”? He’s been there since day one. The show will never be the same.
A: I still hear from people who argue the show hasn’t been the same since Cote de Pablo left. I’ve not seen Weatherly talk about his departure beyond some grateful tweets when the news came out in January.
But keep in mind that day one was 13 years and almost 300 episodes ago. (The “NCIS” characters first appeared on “JAG” in April 2003, with the series beginning that September.) That’s a long time to play a sidekick, even a well-liked one, when Weatherly is still young enough (47) to star in his own show. He has a production deal with CBS, so he could end up owning a series as well as acting in it.
Q: I have been told that Mark Russell is coming out of retirement! What a fresh breath of air for the next eight months of listening to the current politics.
A: Like Rick in Casablanca, you may have been misinformed. The political humorist stopped performing in 2010, had fun traveling and reading, and decided after two years that was enough. Besides, jokes were beckoning.
“I decided to unretire when I heard that members of Congress had been cavorting in the Sea of Galilee.” (As The New York Times reported in 2012, “several House Republican freshmen engaged in a latenight swim in the Sea of Galilee, complete with one skinnydipping congressman.”)
“How can you make that up?” Russell wrote on his website, markrussell.net. On the site, you can find a list of his upcoming performances along with some new jokes. Sample: “If Hillary is elected, whom would she want on the (Supreme) Court? Hint: It would get Bill out of the house.” The site does not indicate any TV plans; the most recent mention is of a special, “Mark Russell’s America,” from 2012.
Mailbag updates: “Mr. Selfridge: The Final Season” will begin on PBS’ Masterpiece on March 27. “Grace & Frankie,” the Netflix series starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, will come to DVD on April12.