The Good Wife

This was supposed to be the year the hour-long TV drama took it on the chin. NBC’s bold decision to move Jay to 10 pm, five nights a week, would prove that viewers would choose comedy if given the opportunity. CBS wasn’t buying it, and they have counter-programmed aggressively at 10 pm: CSI: Miami (Mondays); CSI: NY (Wednesdays); last year’s breakout The Mentalist (Thursdays); and on Tuesdays it’s The Good Wife, which has won its time slot every week and has now been picked up for a full season.

Only a few weeks into the new season, The Jay Leno Show is underperforming — America still loves its one-hour “procedural” dramas, as they’re called. “Procedural” about nails it, as there is something comfortingly familiar about a cops-and-courtroom format that wraps up a tidy little mystery every week.

The big difference among the procedurals is in how much of the personal stories we get. Law and Order and CSI are often skimpy on the personal lives of the main players. The Good Wife, however, gives the backstory equal time.

It all starts with Peter Florrick (Chris Noth, Law and Order, Sex and the City), the state’s attorney for Cook County, Illinois, having his life ruined by the revelation of a sex and corruption scandal. He goes to jail, while his wife, Alicia (Julianna Margulies, ER), has to make do — forced out of her fabulous house in the suburbs to a still-pretty-fabulous apartment in the city. Alicia goes back to work as a junior defense counsel, taking a variety of tricky cases (the meat and potatoes of each episode). Peter waits in jail, trying to stay connected to his kids and seriously-pissed-off wife. Was he set-up? Who is out to get him? Is he just trying to make excuses for his cheatin’ heart?

Why is it so strong? Acting: Noth is one of the best, and Margulies, finally, has found the right vehicle after wandering the Hollywood wilderness since ER. Stories: Topical storylines and clever twists make for addictive TV; executive producers/brothers Ridley (Gladiator) and Tony (Top Gun) Scott have made sure the writing is solid. Two levels of drama: You get the mystery of the week along with the season-long storyline about Peter’s Eliot Spitzer-like demise.

Sorry, Jay, there still is an appetite for good drama out there in TV land.

TIVO-WORTHY

V
Remember this series from the ’80s? Me neither. Anyway, ABC hopes to tap that Battlestar Galactica magic by remaking V, in which clever aliens take over from within. Only a handful of wise-to-their-little-game humans can stop them. If your attention span is short, this is perfect, as ABC will only air four episodes now and restart the series in March. (Series premiere Tuesday, 11/3, 8 pm, ABC)

Red Zone Live
The NFL Network has created something like high-potency crack for pro football junkies — all highlights, all day, without commercials. You need a sports package to get the channel, but it takes you around the league to watch any team inside the 20-yard line. Behind the scenes, it’s a huge biting-the-hand-that-feeds-you of the NFL’s sugar daddies at FOX and CBS. As TV, it’s too relentless and incoherent, but when your only other choice is the Seahawks, it’s perfect. (Sundays, 10 am-4 pm, Comcast channel 410)

White Collar
The latest character from the “characters welcome” network is Neal Caffrey, a con man who, once busted, cuts a deal with the FBI to help them, via his shady skills, catch bad guys. (Fridays, 10 pm, USA)