Paramount+ Elsbeth (Good Wife spinoff - CBS) (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

ELSBETH stars Carrie Preston (THE GOOD WIFE) as Elsbeth Tascioni, an astute but unconventional attorney who, after her successful career in Chicago, utilizes her singular point of view to make unique observations and corner brilliant criminals alongside the NYPD. Based on the character featured in THE GOOD WIFE and THE GOOD FIGHT.

ELSBETH stars Carrie Preston as Elsbeth Tascioni, Wendell Pierce as Captain C.W. Wagner and Carra Patterson as Officer Kaya Blanke. Robert King, Michelle King, Liz Glotzer and Jonathan Tolins are executive producers. Tolins will serve as showrunner. Robert King directed the pilot from a script he wrote with Michelle King. The series is produced by CBS Studios.​

Trailer:

 

[NeilO]

That sounds like fun.

 

[Matt Hough]

From the trailer CBS played during FBI: International this week, it looks like it's going to be the female equivalent of Elementary. I loved Carrie Preston so much in her Emmy-winning role of Elsbeth that naturally I'll follow her (and the Kings who are producing) anywhere. And the show has been given the prime 8 p.m. Sunday slot after 60 Minutes which is sure to bring in an audience to it for its first few airings.

 

[NeilO]

I just remember that this is the last season of NCIS: LA. So they needed another show for Sunday.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

From the trailer CBS played during FBI: International this week, it looks like it's going to be the female equivalent of Elementary.

From what I understand, Elsbeth is brought in by NYPD to utilize her expertise as a defense lawyer to make sure the police are operating in accordance with the law. And then, in true Elsbeth fashion, she ends up consulting on investigations.

While the Kings wrote and directed the pilot, Jonathan Tolins is going to be the showrunner going forward so that they can keep their focus on "Evil". That being said, Tolins is just behind the Kings with the most writing credits on "The Good Fight" so he knows this world well. And once the show gets going, who knows how much the Kings will be able to stay away; "The Good Fight", after all, was supposed to be Phil Alden Robinson's show, but the Kings couldn't let go.

 

[NeilO]

Apparently they changed their mind on the timeslot. It will be Thursdays at 10 PM. Matlock gets the Sunday slot. (Just as well as Sundays are precarious due to sports overruns.) It probably fits in better on Thursday following another humorous mystery, So Help Me Todd.

CBS Unveils Fall 2023 Schedule: ‘Survivor’ and ‘The Amazing Race’ Get Supersized; ‘CSI: Vegas’ Delayed Until After Football

CBS' fall 2023 schedule includes supersized "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race," as well as Carrie Preston's "Elsbeth" and Kathy Bates' "Matlock."

variety.com

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Huh... so this won't be a Paramount+ original series (w/ correspondingly low episodes count) then? But it should still be accessible on that service, right?

_Man_

 

[NeilO]

Huh... so this won't be a Paramount+ original series (w/ correspondingly low episodes count) then? But it should still be accessible on that service, right?

_Man_

I presume most (if not all) CBS shows are available on Paramount+ On Demand

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Huh... so this won't be a Paramount+ original series (w/ correspondingly low episodes count) then? But it should still be accessible on that service, right?

I don't know if they're going for a full 22-episode season or not with this. Probably depends in part on how long the writers' strike drags on.

The end card of that trailer has both the CBS eye logo and "Streaming on Paramount+" so I imagine episodes will be available to stream on Paramount+ the next day like most other CBS shows.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Reminder: This premieres tonight at 10/9c on CBS.

 

[DaveF]

I keep forgetting about this show! And it didn’t show up on Paramount+ automatically for me. Will start it next week probably.

 

[Malcolm R]

A promo at the end of the premiere episode says the next episode isn't until April 4.

Fun to see Carrie Preston and Stephen Moyer together again.

 

[Matt Hough]

I really enjoyed the quirkiness that I expected, and the twists and turns the Kings are so good at. Yeah, that damn March Madness is keeping her off the screen for a month! Ah, well.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Structurally, this feels a lot like "Columbo", with the commission of the crime shown up front so that the audience knows the perpetrator from the get-go. Elsbeth even gets in the occasional "Just one more thing". It's a smart choice, given that Elsbeth and Columbo both have their share of quirks, and are both routinely underestimated.

Running counter to that episodic structure is the final beat, in which we learn that Elsbeth is actually planted at the NYPD by DoJ to investigate the police captain for corruption, a story that will presumably take a season or more to play out.

Interesting that the only series regulars besides Carrie Preston are Wendell Pierce (as the police captain being investigated) and Carra Patterson (as the patrol cop assigned by the captain to keep an eye on Elsbeth). Presumably this means that there will be a rotating roster of detectives actually assigned to the cases she investigates. That being said, she has great chemistry with both Pierce and Patterson, so I'm fine with that.

The Kings wrote the pilot and Robert King directed it, but Jonathan Tolins is the showrunner for the first season. Given that "Evil" was recently canceled, I'm wondering if the Kings will be more hands on for the second season.

A promo at the end of the premiere episode says the next episode isn't until April 4.

Very odd scheduling decision. Seems like it would have made a lot more sense to hold the premiere until April and use March Madness to promote it. Hard to build momentum when there's a over a month between episode 1 and episode 2.

I really enjoyed the quirkiness that I expected, and the twists and turns the Kings are so good at.

At the same time, it's nice that the show is in a more grounded environment. "The Good Fight" pushed the insanity of the world just about as far as it could be pushed.

 

[Matt Hough]

I'd love to see cameos from Cary Agos, Diane Lockhart, and Alicia Florrick since Cary was mentioned in the pilot. The episode wouldn't have to revolve around them, but it'd be nice to see any of them again.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I'd love to see cameos from Cary Agos, Diane Lockhart, and Alicia Florrick since Cary was mentioned in the pilot. The episode wouldn't have to revolve around them, but it'd be nice to see any of them again.

Maybe if one of them murders somebody!

 

[Wiseguy]

At the moment a new episode is scheduled for March 14 despite the CBS promo with a rerun scheduled for March 30 (a Saturday) before April 4. A total of 10 episodes are planned for season 1. All subject to change, of course.

 

[EricSchulz]

I watched the first episode as I’m a huge Columbo fan (the original seven seasons) and I loved the first season of Poker Face on Hulu. This was good. It was entertaining. But I felt it lacked SOMETHING. It almost seemed like it got solved too quickly a couple times but then another clue popped up. I never watched The Good Wife/Fight so I know nothing of any backstory but I certainly liked Elsbeth. I’m interested enough to continue watching.

 

[DaveF]

I realized that Elsbeth is likely going to be more Poker Face than The Good Wife. Elsbeth was the wacky accent character for the straight-faced main characters of Alicia or Diane to bounce off. But now she’s the lead, full on 100% kookiness fronting every episode with straight faced characters accenting her. And I was worried at first that “Elsbeth” would be too much Elsbeth. But one episode in, I think this will work.

I don’t know that it’s starting as strong The Good Fight or The Good Wife did. And the mystery was resolved too fast in the end: it felt cheated. But fine. It’s ok for some TV to merely be fun; it doesn’t all have to be sublime.

It’s also telling to me that this isn’t The Good <Something>, but it’s Elsbeth. It seems a signal to expect a different tone and themes and approach than prior series.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

At the moment a new episode is scheduled for March 14 despite the CBS promo with a rerun scheduled for March 30 (a Saturday) before April 4. A total of 10 episodes are planned for season 1. All subject to change, of course.

I believe the original plan was to air three new episodes in a row: Last Thursday, March 7th, and March 14th. But when this Thursday's episode was bumped for the State of the Union address, they decided to hold off until April.

I don’t know that it’s starting as strong The Good Fight or The Good Wife did. And the mystery was resolved too fast in the end: it felt cheated. But fine. It’s ok for some TV to merely be fun; it doesn’t all have to be sublime.

I think a key difference is that this show is more fundamentally a procedural than "The Good Fight" (or even "The Good Wife"). Those shows used the episodic plots primarily as a means to illuminate character. This feels more plot-driven, which is fine.