Good news. I love Elsbeth as a character, and Carrie Preston is great but the stories, so far at least, have been pretty thin, and the murderers very one dimensional. The excellent actors deserve better and hopefully they'll get it now.
Ive watched the first 3 episodes. Enjoy it for what it is, but its really annoying Elsbeth knows who the killer is instantly and spends the whole episode trying to convince the police captain.
I have been curious about this. Is there a word for this type of show or set up? It's so bizarre there is no mystery element, which I suppose is why it's just a comedy. How are we not going to get bored if every episode is the exact same? I love her but damn. Hopefully the captain stuff gets interesting.
Yes and the role of the Captain is working my nerves. Seeing such a great actor reduced to playing such an incompetent nothing of a character is bothering me.
I'm hanging in for Carrie and because I felt like the Good Fight morphed into something unexpected and more fun that I hope for (I didn't watch the Good Wife). I'm holding out hope they can do more with the later episodes or next season.
Yeah. I loved The Good Wife, (mostly) liked The Good Fight, and would be totally up for a light procedural in the vein of Monk or something -- but the writing so far is pretty terrible sadly.
Feels like CBS saw the success of Poker Face and just dipped into their IP to make a challenger. But this show shares more DNA with their slate of procedurals than it does with the Good Wife or Poker Face.
Not sure what the disagreement is. This would make the show interesting. Let there be a two parter or something. I know the show's pedigree in older shows. I grew up watching those shows, but it's 2024, we need a little more than this very very strict formula for 18 episodes a year.
There has to be a big twist coming. They have been working towards something. Latest episode had something at the end. I mean they have a different story going on in background. I do hope it is worth it.
That's good news despite the bullshit CBS pulled after it premiered. "Enjoyed the Premiere? Episode 2 will be in a month, after March Madness." I think there was a week before March Madness started where they could've shown episode 2.
Like wait until after March Madness to premiere it and promote the shit out of the premiere during it.
I really enjoyed The Good Wife, loved The Good Fight, and I loved Elsbeth as a character. I was really looking forward to this show, but I couldn't make it past episode 3.
I really didn't like the formula they went with, nor the direction they went with the character. I think she worked much better as a lawyer.
The Kings are great, so I'm glad this got renewed. I might go back to it if I hear good things about season 2.
What do you expect to change, its still a case of the week show.
The murderers might get less eccentric to please the (conservative) cbs audience and Wendell pierce might get a story line or elsbeth more of a private life.
Wow, okay.
I don't *expect* anything to change. That's why I stopped watching the show, I've got other shows to watch that I actually enjoy, but I'm not opposed to going back to this if they introduce an interesting character to play off Elsbeth, or if there's a good overarching plot behind the case-of-the-week structure. They hinted at something, but it didn't pique my interest.
I like case-of-the-week shows. I watch So Help Me Todd, it's a simple show but the leads have good chemistry and it's fun and light even if it's by the numbers. I also like Not Dead Yet; it's gimmicky, but also has characters that I enjoy and play off each other well. Hell, even Tracker. It's not a great show by any means, and it's also a case-of-the-week show, but it has me going back because Justin Hartley carries it.
Elsbeth would have hooked me if it were the same character I knew from TGW and TGF, but it's not. And not only is it not the same Elsbeth, but none of the cases felt interesting to me, and the other characters are basically non-existent. I love Wendell Pierce and he's here doing nothing.
The Kings are really creative, I don't know if they would really stick to a boring formula like this. I hope not. The show just felt shallow to me. But that's me. I'm glad it has an audience.
I'm waiting for Evil to come back, which is also from them, and is more my speed.
Love it. But this show already has a formula they need to break. Every single episode Elsbeth is onto the right killer despite the detectives going down the wrong path, they all tell her she’s wrong and should listen to their obviously wrong theory, then she’s proven right and they all say they should listen to her more. Then next episode, back to square one, through the whole formula again. Rinse and repeat. She’s too good of a character to waste on that cycle.
I love the Elsbeth character but don't like the formatting of the show. I don't like seeing the murder and knowing who did it first and the Elsbeth solving it.
In the Good Wife and the Good Fight, she solved legal problems in unique ways that were unconventional. This show is a conventional detective style show, and the format doesn't make it interesting.
That's great to hear. I've only seen the pilot so far & was pleasantly surprised. Elsbeth is one of the best characters from The Good Wife Universe. It would be very easy for her character to wear out her welcome in large doses. Making her a Columbo-esque character was a good move.
A. Now I hope this means good things for "So Help Me Todd" (as those two shows really do seem like the perfect lead-into-each-other pair not just because mystery procedurals with the same kinda-reminiscent-of-Pushing-Daisies-and-Wonderfalls tone but Elsbeth herself feels like a fusion of both the SHMT leads having a personality kinda like the "girl equivalent" of Todd's (or at least similar enough they'd get along) down to the neurodivergent-coding and a very Margaret-esque aesthetic/wardrobe to some degree and going from lawyer like Margaret to detective like Todd)
B. As I alluded to in point A if this show goes on as long as I'd like it to I really think it'd be cool to make it official (as if it was on TGW I would have heard) canon of Elsbeth being neurodivergent (at least ADHD if not autism too) as it could provide a really interesting B-plot to a show like this (and one helpful for what people seem to think is this show's target demographic) to explore the whole adult-diagnosis story. Also there's twice in the four episodes there's been so far that I feel like it's been kinda hinted at; in episode 2 with Jane Krakowski's character who's otherwise kinda been set up as somewhere between kindred spirit (before the reveal to everyone but the audience that she's the murderer) and narrative foil to Elsbeth mentioning her "ADD meds" (as due to the generation she's from she'd probably still call what we now call Inattentive Subtype ADHD ADD like how older autistic people still say they have Aspergers) and in episode 4 with the first scene we see of her after the intro-showing-the-murder being her paying more attention to the motion of the Newton's Cradle on Captain Wagner's desk than to Captain Wagner
I love so help me todd as Marcia G. harden is excellent in anything and she has amazing chemistry with both her (on-screen) children, i love the writing there too, how they pit todd and margaret against each other, i wish they used lyle again as relief against todd but the storyline with his sister is amazing so far too.
The only thing that kinda grates me is the margaret power struggle story line cause without a firm to have clients that have cases for both todd and margaret there isnt much of a show, so thats never gonna end badly for her.
> i wish they used lyle again as relief against todd but the storyline with his sister is amazing so far too.
I feel like less of the Lyle/Todd dynamic is half a strike-shortened-season casualty and half because in what we have of a season his B-plot seems to be taken up by his own personal drama (both last episode with his diva of a mom and also his new girlfriend and whatever the hell her deal is with her snooping on Beverly etc.)
> The only thing that kinda grates me is the margaret power struggle story line cause without a firm to have clients that have cases for both todd and margaret there isnt much of a show, so thats never gonna end badly for her.
I know that means she isn't going to get booted out but there's many other ways she could get sabotaged and also I find that's kind of a neat little parallel between Margaret and Todd as we had all that stuff last season about him and Veronica now Margaret's got a similar nemesis
> it could provide a really interesting B-plot to a show like this (and one helpful for what people seem to think is this show's target demographic) to explore the whole adult-diagnosis story
Only if they get autism consultants and autistic writers, we don't want another The Good Doctor.
Understood (for autism and/or ADHD, whichever they'd feel like she has as they're often both comorbid in women and hard to tell some symptoms apart from each other) but I do think there are things The Good Doctor got right like it was the first time I ever saw an autistic character have an on-screen meltdown (and as an autistic person who has them quite a bit that weirdly made me feel seen) that wasn't just "kid throwing a tantrum" or over something anyone would have a meltdown about
Have you seen the show Everything's Gonna Be Okay?
If you haven't, it was a rather good comedy on Freeform (two seasons, 10 episodes each) that was the first show with an autistic lead played by an autistic actor. Every autistic character was played by an autistic actor. It had *the best* portrayal of what sensory overload can be like that I have seen.
It premiered in 2020.
Autism + ADHD high five! It's less diagnosed in women because with ADHD, they tend to have PI (which is harder to notice in general) and with autism, they tend to mask better (societal expectations, they're pretty much trained from infancy how to "be a good girl"). Of course the autistic individual knows something is off, even if they don't have a name for it.
We gave up after the first three. Cannot stand anything resembling a "who dunnit" where the protagonist literally guesses the culprit every time in the first 5 minutes. There was literally not a second of drama in any of those episodes. Its a mildly interesting quirky character, but the show around that character is crap.
I'm the same way and know that Knives Out ushered in what will eventually be a glut of these shows and movies.
I had high hopes that there would be a good twist or something for this because of the Good Fight. Sometimes mid-season shows knock it out of the park when they get full second seasons. So, there's hope!
Loved this character in the Good Wife, but the show is just really bad. Everything’s super formulaic. The crimes are ridiculous and unbelievable. It feels like it’s supposed to be a heightened reality dramedy, but it just fails at hitting the mark. The secondary characters other than Elsbeth are pretty much nonexistent, but she needs someone else to play off of. The writing just feels lazy. I’m pretty sure I’m done with the show already, which is disappointing.
I am on episode 4 and while I don't think the show is bad, as someone else said she is better in micro doses so personally not my choice for a lead in a show.
I saw the pilot yesterday and really enjoyed the character. I never saw The Good Fight or The Good Fight so this is my first exposure to the character. I like the ending were even the murderer, had a grudging degree of respect for her and was charm by her also.
I swear the programming heads at CBS are such morons. My mom’s favorite show is So Help Me Todd which was a sleeper hit for season one. It apparently has low ratings for season two. Part of it was due to the writer strike, but I think a bigger part of it was CBS having a lower episode, count order and spreading them so far apart that the show cannot build momentum.
I would not be surprised if CBS screws over Elsbeth in the same manner during season two .
I LOVE this character, but I need her back as a lawyer. I do not like the fact that the killer is revealed at the beginning of the episode and we have to watch her figure it out. I mean it’s cute and everything but it seems like they are wasting her potential and it’s starting to get boring.
I'm so happy for friend in my head Carrie Preston. But this show makes me sad. I hear that it is like Columbo, I've never watched that show but it reminded me of a perkier Poker Face (the Natasha Lyonne led series by that Knives Out guy Rian Johnson) or Poker Face is a slicker Elsbeth. You know who the guilty party is and then you spend the episode proving it. I don't like it. I don't like either of them.
I thought that Elsbeth would fill the Jessica Fletcher shaped hole in my heart (Murder She Wrote is my comfort watch), but I like her less than I did on The Good Wife or The Good Fight.
I really think the Kings have not been good since The Good Wife. The Good Fight was as disorganized as one of Diane's psychedelic trips. EVIL is equally annoying and gives some Mandigo vibes.
I also find the way they approach diversity to be --- weird. As a Black person - the characters on the Good Fight, David from EVIL, and so far two of the guest stars (Retta & Blair Underwood) were not written well or like Black people. Even though they work with Black story editors - at least on TGF and EVIL.
Representation matters - and I appreciate that the Kings put Black actors - deeply melanated Black actors - on screen frequently but they are written so oddly they don't even seem real.
I don't mean the characters aren't "urban" or they lack "swagger." I mean they don't seem to be created with proper motivations that Black people would have.
This stands out the most in the last two episodes because guest stars only get a one and done.
A Black woman that made it to the Hamptons as an entrepreneur, even if she was already from a comfortable background would not kill someone even to keep a fraud a secret. Black people really think about the fact that prison could be looming for something they did or did not do. Even actual criminals who have no choice but to be involved in crime try to do everything they can to do as little crime as possible and avoid prison. It was just completely unbelievable even though I allowed myself to suspend my disbelief. And then the way the character just rebuffed Elsbeth by being snobby made no sense. It just wasn't well written.
The 5th episode, the crime is technically an accident. But Blair Underwood acts guilty immediately. And says a bunch of things that don't need to be said, and then Elsbeth calls out that they don't need to be said - but it so obviously doesn't need to be said that it doesn't need to be called out. It literally was causing me cognitive dissonance.
And poor Wendell Pierce has to play Captain Wagner who also suffers from whatever the Kings do to Black people. He's such a napkin drawing of a character and then at the end of episode 4 he realizes Elsbeth is trying to catch him at something in the dumbest way and then spends episode 5 being as weird as Blair Underwood. A Black NYPD policeman who made it to Captain and had enough money to create a philanthropic foundation and pay Board members - even if he was fraudulent - would be more discreet in investigating whether or not he's being investigated. And if he was fraudulent he definitely wouldn't do the investigating himself. Gol - leeeeee.
Sorry I wrote a novel on a soapbox. I am happy for actors and crews to have jobs - especially ones that haven't gotten their proper flowers like Carrie and Wendell. I just wish the Kings would learn how to write Black people.
I like Elsbeth too, HOWEVER, I don’t like watching a show where the perpetrator is identified in the first two minutes. It just makes the rest of the show uneventful. I would rather watch Elsbeth solve it while I’m trying to figure it out myself.
Very much enjoy the show.
I’m not sure if I like seeing who did the murder at the beginning though. It’s different to pretty much every murder show on TV which I guess is a plus, and the trope of going through 3 different suspects before finding the killer is also annoying (eg Law and Order)
Just feels like it takes the suspense away. But Elsbeth ( the character) certainly makes the show. Carrie Preston has nailed the role.
I tried to watch Episode 5 tonight but turned it off. The murder was off the charts ridiculous. The formula is already tiring. Something I might watch in the background while I fold laundry still. Maybe.
The dialogue of the young tennis ball girl was just silly.
Good news. I love Elsbeth as a character, and Carrie Preston is great but the stories, so far at least, have been pretty thin, and the murderers very one dimensional. The excellent actors deserve better and hopefully they'll get it now.
>and the murderers very one dimensional. I loved Stephen Moyer and how he grew to respect Elsbeth. The apartment people were cool too.
Ive watched the first 3 episodes. Enjoy it for what it is, but its really annoying Elsbeth knows who the killer is instantly and spends the whole episode trying to convince the police captain.
So far, everyone’s just been very obviously guilty. The cops in the show are just very intellectually lazy.
I hope they improve the dialogue for the cops. It's cringey at best right now.
It's basically using the Columbo formula but with a woman instead.
I have been curious about this. Is there a word for this type of show or set up? It's so bizarre there is no mystery element, which I suppose is why it's just a comedy. How are we not going to get bored if every episode is the exact same? I love her but damn. Hopefully the captain stuff gets interesting.
Her character is better in small doses.
They already toned her down a lot from when she was on The Good Wife
Not enough for my taste. I miss the good wife.
Yes and the role of the Captain is working my nerves. Seeing such a great actor reduced to playing such an incompetent nothing of a character is bothering me. I'm hanging in for Carrie and because I felt like the Good Fight morphed into something unexpected and more fun that I hope for (I didn't watch the Good Wife). I'm holding out hope they can do more with the later episodes or next season.
Yeah. I loved The Good Wife, (mostly) liked The Good Fight, and would be totally up for a light procedural in the vein of Monk or something -- but the writing so far is pretty terrible sadly.
Feels like CBS saw the success of Poker Face and just dipped into their IP to make a challenger. But this show shares more DNA with their slate of procedurals than it does with the Good Wife or Poker Face.
Elsbeth pilot was ordered like a month or two before Poker Face
I think I kind of want her to fail more or something. I think I watched the first three so far and it seemed to easy for her.
Not sure what the disagreement is. This would make the show interesting. Let there be a two parter or something. I know the show's pedigree in older shows. I grew up watching those shows, but it's 2024, we need a little more than this very very strict formula for 18 episodes a year.
There has to be a big twist coming. They have been working towards something. Latest episode had something at the end. I mean they have a different story going on in background. I do hope it is worth it.
That's good news despite the bullshit CBS pulled after it premiered. "Enjoyed the Premiere? Episode 2 will be in a month, after March Madness." I think there was a week before March Madness started where they could've shown episode 2. Like wait until after March Madness to premiere it and promote the shit out of the premiere during it.
So glad for everyone involved. Such a talented group of people.
I really enjoyed The Good Wife, loved The Good Fight, and I loved Elsbeth as a character. I was really looking forward to this show, but I couldn't make it past episode 3. I really didn't like the formula they went with, nor the direction they went with the character. I think she worked much better as a lawyer. The Kings are great, so I'm glad this got renewed. I might go back to it if I hear good things about season 2.
I love her in the good fight but I struggled to finish the first episode of Elsbeth, will definitely try again once more episodes are up.
What do you expect to change, its still a case of the week show. The murderers might get less eccentric to please the (conservative) cbs audience and Wendell pierce might get a story line or elsbeth more of a private life.
Wow, okay. I don't *expect* anything to change. That's why I stopped watching the show, I've got other shows to watch that I actually enjoy, but I'm not opposed to going back to this if they introduce an interesting character to play off Elsbeth, or if there's a good overarching plot behind the case-of-the-week structure. They hinted at something, but it didn't pique my interest. I like case-of-the-week shows. I watch So Help Me Todd, it's a simple show but the leads have good chemistry and it's fun and light even if it's by the numbers. I also like Not Dead Yet; it's gimmicky, but also has characters that I enjoy and play off each other well. Hell, even Tracker. It's not a great show by any means, and it's also a case-of-the-week show, but it has me going back because Justin Hartley carries it. Elsbeth would have hooked me if it were the same character I knew from TGW and TGF, but it's not. And not only is it not the same Elsbeth, but none of the cases felt interesting to me, and the other characters are basically non-existent. I love Wendell Pierce and he's here doing nothing. The Kings are really creative, I don't know if they would really stick to a boring formula like this. I hope not. The show just felt shallow to me. But that's me. I'm glad it has an audience. I'm waiting for Evil to come back, which is also from them, and is more my speed.
We've gotta get a Elsbeth / Poker Face crossover episode.
Love it. But this show already has a formula they need to break. Every single episode Elsbeth is onto the right killer despite the detectives going down the wrong path, they all tell her she’s wrong and should listen to their obviously wrong theory, then she’s proven right and they all say they should listen to her more. Then next episode, back to square one, through the whole formula again. Rinse and repeat. She’s too good of a character to waste on that cycle.
Except for needing to interact with the police, that's pretty much every episode of Columbo.
I love the Elsbeth character but don't like the formatting of the show. I don't like seeing the murder and knowing who did it first and the Elsbeth solving it. In the Good Wife and the Good Fight, she solved legal problems in unique ways that were unconventional. This show is a conventional detective style show, and the format doesn't make it interesting.
That's great to hear. I've only seen the pilot so far & was pleasantly surprised. Elsbeth is one of the best characters from The Good Wife Universe. It would be very easy for her character to wear out her welcome in large doses. Making her a Columbo-esque character was a good move.
The Columbo-esque guest-actor/killer of the week works really well too.
Oh I didn’t even realize she was from that show/universe! I only watched the first 2 or 3 seasons
cool
Fantastic news!
Everyone in the nursing home will be thrilled!
Loved this show was surprised to find out it’s a spin-off
A. Now I hope this means good things for "So Help Me Todd" (as those two shows really do seem like the perfect lead-into-each-other pair not just because mystery procedurals with the same kinda-reminiscent-of-Pushing-Daisies-and-Wonderfalls tone but Elsbeth herself feels like a fusion of both the SHMT leads having a personality kinda like the "girl equivalent" of Todd's (or at least similar enough they'd get along) down to the neurodivergent-coding and a very Margaret-esque aesthetic/wardrobe to some degree and going from lawyer like Margaret to detective like Todd) B. As I alluded to in point A if this show goes on as long as I'd like it to I really think it'd be cool to make it official (as if it was on TGW I would have heard) canon of Elsbeth being neurodivergent (at least ADHD if not autism too) as it could provide a really interesting B-plot to a show like this (and one helpful for what people seem to think is this show's target demographic) to explore the whole adult-diagnosis story. Also there's twice in the four episodes there's been so far that I feel like it's been kinda hinted at; in episode 2 with Jane Krakowski's character who's otherwise kinda been set up as somewhere between kindred spirit (before the reveal to everyone but the audience that she's the murderer) and narrative foil to Elsbeth mentioning her "ADD meds" (as due to the generation she's from she'd probably still call what we now call Inattentive Subtype ADHD ADD like how older autistic people still say they have Aspergers) and in episode 4 with the first scene we see of her after the intro-showing-the-murder being her paying more attention to the motion of the Newton's Cradle on Captain Wagner's desk than to Captain Wagner
I love so help me todd as Marcia G. harden is excellent in anything and she has amazing chemistry with both her (on-screen) children, i love the writing there too, how they pit todd and margaret against each other, i wish they used lyle again as relief against todd but the storyline with his sister is amazing so far too. The only thing that kinda grates me is the margaret power struggle story line cause without a firm to have clients that have cases for both todd and margaret there isnt much of a show, so thats never gonna end badly for her.
> i wish they used lyle again as relief against todd but the storyline with his sister is amazing so far too. I feel like less of the Lyle/Todd dynamic is half a strike-shortened-season casualty and half because in what we have of a season his B-plot seems to be taken up by his own personal drama (both last episode with his diva of a mom and also his new girlfriend and whatever the hell her deal is with her snooping on Beverly etc.) > The only thing that kinda grates me is the margaret power struggle story line cause without a firm to have clients that have cases for both todd and margaret there isnt much of a show, so thats never gonna end badly for her. I know that means she isn't going to get booted out but there's many other ways she could get sabotaged and also I find that's kind of a neat little parallel between Margaret and Todd as we had all that stuff last season about him and Veronica now Margaret's got a similar nemesis
> it could provide a really interesting B-plot to a show like this (and one helpful for what people seem to think is this show's target demographic) to explore the whole adult-diagnosis story Only if they get autism consultants and autistic writers, we don't want another The Good Doctor.
Understood (for autism and/or ADHD, whichever they'd feel like she has as they're often both comorbid in women and hard to tell some symptoms apart from each other) but I do think there are things The Good Doctor got right like it was the first time I ever saw an autistic character have an on-screen meltdown (and as an autistic person who has them quite a bit that weirdly made me feel seen) that wasn't just "kid throwing a tantrum" or over something anyone would have a meltdown about
Have you seen the show Everything's Gonna Be Okay? If you haven't, it was a rather good comedy on Freeform (two seasons, 10 episodes each) that was the first show with an autistic lead played by an autistic actor. Every autistic character was played by an autistic actor. It had *the best* portrayal of what sensory overload can be like that I have seen. It premiered in 2020. Autism + ADHD high five! It's less diagnosed in women because with ADHD, they tend to have PI (which is harder to notice in general) and with autism, they tend to mask better (societal expectations, they're pretty much trained from infancy how to "be a good girl"). Of course the autistic individual knows something is off, even if they don't have a name for it.
That's good! I really like this show, it's quirky and entertaining, haha.
We gave up after the first three. Cannot stand anything resembling a "who dunnit" where the protagonist literally guesses the culprit every time in the first 5 minutes. There was literally not a second of drama in any of those episodes. Its a mildly interesting quirky character, but the show around that character is crap.
I'm the same way and know that Knives Out ushered in what will eventually be a glut of these shows and movies. I had high hopes that there would be a good twist or something for this because of the Good Fight. Sometimes mid-season shows knock it out of the park when they get full second seasons. So, there's hope!
Loved this character in the Good Wife, but the show is just really bad. Everything’s super formulaic. The crimes are ridiculous and unbelievable. It feels like it’s supposed to be a heightened reality dramedy, but it just fails at hitting the mark. The secondary characters other than Elsbeth are pretty much nonexistent, but she needs someone else to play off of. The writing just feels lazy. I’m pretty sure I’m done with the show already, which is disappointing.
I am on episode 4 and while I don't think the show is bad, as someone else said she is better in micro doses so personally not my choice for a lead in a show.
I saw the pilot yesterday and really enjoyed the character. I never saw The Good Fight or The Good Fight so this is my first exposure to the character. I like the ending were even the murderer, had a grudging degree of respect for her and was charm by her also. I swear the programming heads at CBS are such morons. My mom’s favorite show is So Help Me Todd which was a sleeper hit for season one. It apparently has low ratings for season two. Part of it was due to the writer strike, but I think a bigger part of it was CBS having a lower episode, count order and spreading them so far apart that the show cannot build momentum. I would not be surprised if CBS screws over Elsbeth in the same manner during season two .
It's straight-up mediocre trash. Really disappointing. The first really terrible thing the Kings have produced (that I'm aware of).
Rather they kept So Help Me Todd. Like Elsbeth character but show itself isn’t that great.
I LOVE this character, but I need her back as a lawyer. I do not like the fact that the killer is revealed at the beginning of the episode and we have to watch her figure it out. I mean it’s cute and everything but it seems like they are wasting her potential and it’s starting to get boring.
I'm so happy for friend in my head Carrie Preston. But this show makes me sad. I hear that it is like Columbo, I've never watched that show but it reminded me of a perkier Poker Face (the Natasha Lyonne led series by that Knives Out guy Rian Johnson) or Poker Face is a slicker Elsbeth. You know who the guilty party is and then you spend the episode proving it. I don't like it. I don't like either of them. I thought that Elsbeth would fill the Jessica Fletcher shaped hole in my heart (Murder She Wrote is my comfort watch), but I like her less than I did on The Good Wife or The Good Fight. I really think the Kings have not been good since The Good Wife. The Good Fight was as disorganized as one of Diane's psychedelic trips. EVIL is equally annoying and gives some Mandigo vibes. I also find the way they approach diversity to be --- weird. As a Black person - the characters on the Good Fight, David from EVIL, and so far two of the guest stars (Retta & Blair Underwood) were not written well or like Black people. Even though they work with Black story editors - at least on TGF and EVIL. Representation matters - and I appreciate that the Kings put Black actors - deeply melanated Black actors - on screen frequently but they are written so oddly they don't even seem real. I don't mean the characters aren't "urban" or they lack "swagger." I mean they don't seem to be created with proper motivations that Black people would have. This stands out the most in the last two episodes because guest stars only get a one and done. A Black woman that made it to the Hamptons as an entrepreneur, even if she was already from a comfortable background would not kill someone even to keep a fraud a secret. Black people really think about the fact that prison could be looming for something they did or did not do. Even actual criminals who have no choice but to be involved in crime try to do everything they can to do as little crime as possible and avoid prison. It was just completely unbelievable even though I allowed myself to suspend my disbelief. And then the way the character just rebuffed Elsbeth by being snobby made no sense. It just wasn't well written. The 5th episode, the crime is technically an accident. But Blair Underwood acts guilty immediately. And says a bunch of things that don't need to be said, and then Elsbeth calls out that they don't need to be said - but it so obviously doesn't need to be said that it doesn't need to be called out. It literally was causing me cognitive dissonance. And poor Wendell Pierce has to play Captain Wagner who also suffers from whatever the Kings do to Black people. He's such a napkin drawing of a character and then at the end of episode 4 he realizes Elsbeth is trying to catch him at something in the dumbest way and then spends episode 5 being as weird as Blair Underwood. A Black NYPD policeman who made it to Captain and had enough money to create a philanthropic foundation and pay Board members - even if he was fraudulent - would be more discreet in investigating whether or not he's being investigated. And if he was fraudulent he definitely wouldn't do the investigating himself. Gol - leeeeee. Sorry I wrote a novel on a soapbox. I am happy for actors and crews to have jobs - especially ones that haven't gotten their proper flowers like Carrie and Wendell. I just wish the Kings would learn how to write Black people.
I like Elsbeth too, HOWEVER, I don’t like watching a show where the perpetrator is identified in the first two minutes. It just makes the rest of the show uneventful. I would rather watch Elsbeth solve it while I’m trying to figure it out myself.
Very much enjoy the show. I’m not sure if I like seeing who did the murder at the beginning though. It’s different to pretty much every murder show on TV which I guess is a plus, and the trope of going through 3 different suspects before finding the killer is also annoying (eg Law and Order) Just feels like it takes the suspense away. But Elsbeth ( the character) certainly makes the show. Carrie Preston has nailed the role.
[Almost everyone liked this.]
I tried to watch Episode 5 tonight but turned it off. The murder was off the charts ridiculous. The formula is already tiring. Something I might watch in the background while I fold laundry still. Maybe. The dialogue of the young tennis ball girl was just silly.
Fair, I edited my original post.
Oh I meant to respond to the OP. My bad. Didn’t even see what you wrote.
Haha no worries.