Season 6 Spoilers

[Black Knight]

Yes, the show has had a 1.0 rating the past two weeks (its initial 1.1 rating for the most recent episode was adjusted down a tenth). And its ad rates are low, so that whole "wealthy viewership" thing isn't accounting for much. If GW had pulled 1.0 ratings earlier in its run, it would have been gone awhile ago. A S7 renewal will be because of prestige and because they've already stuck with the show so long that they may as well see out the Kings' grand plaaaaaaan rather than take all the criticism of not letting the Kings finish when there was just one more season to go.

 

CBS seems to be taking a wait-and-see approach to its decisions this year - I agree a 7th season isn't guaranteed, although I think they get it. But last year CBS renewed GW, along with other shows, on March 23rd. And even if GW gets a 7th season, there are also questions about the length of the season, and the budget. They'll save some money with AP's exit, but it's hard to see how else they can cut costs given that the guest stars already work for scale (which is one reason why GW is so very dependent on actor availability - it can't pay much, so any other job will take priority for the actors).

[Tetraneutron]

Tomorrow's episode:

I need some Good Wife scoop, please! — Martha

This Sunday’s episode is all about the past coming back to haunt our favorite characters. For Alicia, it’s in the form of her old emails to Will when a journalist somehow gets her hands on them. Meanwhile, Kalinda’s situation is even more troubling. Remember how she faked evidence for Cary? Yep, that comes back into play.

So, that should be good. Alicia being brought down when she's SA because she had an affair, when she rose to public prominence as the scorned wife of a man in just that position. I mean, I expect Alicia will stop the emails from getting out, but it's interesting.

Here's some more stuff. Looks like there's going to be UST between Diane and RD? Please no.

[crashdown]

And even if GW gets a 7th season, there are also questions about the length of the season, and the budget.

 

 

I think The Good Wife is definitely one of the handful of shows that will be seen to have earned the right to have its final season announced AS the final season. I'm sure it'll be getting some sort of season seven (the creators and actors have been talking about that as a done deal for awhile, and they don't usually do that--my guess is that the seventh-season renewal was negotiated at the same time as the season six renewal).  I'm expecting that they'll announce season seven as the final season of The Good Wife.  If they don't announce that, I actually do expect a shortened season eight to be announced as the final season, a la The Mentalist.

[Black Knight]

I think The Good Wife is definitely one of the handful of shows that will be seen to have earned the right to have its final season announced AS the final season. I'm sure it'll be getting some sort of season seven (the creators and actors have been talking about that as a done deal for awhile, and they don't usually do that--my guess is that the seventh-season renewal was negotiated at the same time as the season six renewal).  I'm expecting that they'll announce season seven as the final season of The Good Wife.  If they don't announce that, I actually do expect a shortened season eight to be announced as the final season, a la The Mentalist.

Your speculation about a seventh-season renewal being a done deal a while ago is incorrect - Matt Czuchry, in an interview at the end of October 2014, stated outright that he had not heard anything about a seventh season and that there had been no conversations about it. And while two-season pickups do happen, they've always been for extremely successful shows for their networks (e.g., HBO's Game of Thrones, ABC Family's Pretty Little Liars) and have always been announced; there is no example that I'm aware of for a network negotiating a two-season renewal, for a show with mediocre ratings no less, but not announcing it. As I said in earlier posts, I do think GW will manage to get a S7, but the renewal wasn't a done deal.

 

Also, I don't think The Mentalist sets a precedent for GW. First, it only got a short seventh season so that it could serve as schedule spackle for CBS - it lost its regular slot on the schedule and was just put on once CBS had a hole. CBS could get away with the spackle treatment for a procedural, but it would receive a lot of criticism for doing that with its prestige drama. Even if CBS were willing to weather that criticism, that brings me to my second point, which is that The Mentalist had higher ratings in its S6 than GW has now (and the ratings for GW can easily get worse in its S7, given that most shows go down year-to-year). A S7 for The Mentalist had some value as schedule spackle; a S8 for GW has none.

[crashdown]

Matt just said that he hadn't heard about HIS OWN season seven pickup, not that he hadn't heard about season seven in general (and there's no reason why he *would* have been privy to conversations like that).  i've just noticed that Julianna and the Kings have been talking about specific season seven potential storylines and saying that they'll be starting filming for next season "earlier" this year than they have in the past--they haven't couched anything as a conditional, the way they always have before.  I just have a feeling that there were behind-the-scenes assurances of a season seven done pretty early in the game, even if not as early as last March.  And as I said, I think an eighth season is VERY unlikely, but if season seven is not announced as the final season, I think it starts to become a little more likely.  I'm just pretty confident that everyone is going to know exactly what the series-ending season for TGW is going into it.

[cardigirl]

So tonight's episode is the season finale? That seems rather early.

[crashdown]

No, it's not the season finale--who said it was?  There are five episodes to go.

[cardigirl]

Oh, thanks!  Of course I can no longer find the article that I read this morning that said tonight's episode was the finale.  I'm sure I misread something somewhere.  Glad there are a few more to go.

[Irlandesa]

I think The Good Wife is definitely one of the handful of shows that will be seen to have earned the right to have its final season announced AS the final season. I'm sure it'll be getting some sort of season seven (the creators and actors have been talking about that as a done deal for awhile, and they don't usually do that--my guess is that the seventh-season renewal was negotiated at the same time as the season six renewal).  I'm expecting that they'll announce season seven as the final season of The Good Wife.  If they don't announce that, I actually do expect a shortened season eight to be announced as the final season, a la The Mentalist.

If CBS had negotiated and picked up the show for a 7th season at the same time they picked up the show for a 6th, there is absolutely no reason to not have announced it. 

 

I have heard of creators talking as if a renewal was a strong possibility because the network gives them assurances about how much they support and love the show.  Sometimes they are right and a renewal happens.  Other times, the plug is pulled.  But contract negotiations are going to be a factor unless all they care about is Juliana.

[milkyaqua]

From TV Line's Ask Ausiello:

 

 

 

Question: Anything new and scoopy on The Good Wife? —Brandon
Ausiello: This is new, scoopy and curious: I hear CBS has quietly extended the contracts of the primary cast — that includes Julianna Margulies, Christine Baranski and Matt Czuchry — for two more seasons beyond the current sixth. That’s interesting coming off of Good Wife cocreator Robert King’s comments in last week’s Ask Ausiello, in which he hinted that even though he always envisioned the show ending after seven seasons, the decision, ultimately, rests with CBS. An insider, however, cautions not to read too much into the two-year thing, calling it “typical TV dealmaking.”

Question: Do you have any scoop to offer on Kalinda’s exit from The Good Wife? — ABZ
Ausiello: I heard she was getting killed off. Then I heard she was going to jail. Then I heard she was entering witness protection. Then I heard none of those things are true. Then I heard the killed-off rumor again. Then I saw the below photo Archie Panjabi tweeted Tuesday while on a break from shooting the season finale, and I thought to myself: “Self, that’s not the face of someone who’s about to shoot a death scene.” Does that answer your question, ABZ?

Edited April 8, 2015 by milkyaqua

[crashdown]

Yes, I was just coming here to post the Ausiello spoilers, which are interesting.  First of all, Ausiello is in no sense reliable, so the business about the two-season contract extensions might be nothing.  And second, even if it IS true, it's most likely *is* just a standard network negotiation.  But to me, it says that at the very least, season seven is not going to be announced as The Good Wife's last. I'll stick with this prediction: we'll get a regular 22-episode pickup, and a season eight (probably a short one, announce as the end) is improbable but not impossible.

 

ETA: I suppose it's possible that CBS is thinking in terms of two 13-episode seasons, which isn't all that different from one 22 episode season  Since Madame Secretary is tanking so badly, it would make sense to pair the two shows together as a fall/spring thing in the same timeslot.

Edited April 8, 2015 by crashdown

[TVHappy9463]

Extending contracts is by no means a guarantee. CBS is hedging their bets, they are keeping them in place just in case, but can release those actors a moments notice. It is indeed standard network negotiation.  After last night's episode, the Kings would be smart to stick with the plan and wrap it up after next season. They have teed it up now it is time to wrap it up.   

[readster]

Extending contracts is by no means a guarantee. CBS is hedging their bets, they are keeping them in place just in case, but can release those actors a moments notice. It is indeed standard network negotiation.  After last night's episode, the Kings would be smart to stick with the plan and wrap it up after next season. They have teed it up now it is time to wrap it up.   

 Completely agree. They really have put this to the point they just need to wrap it all up next season. We know Bishop and Kalinda will be gone by the end of the season. Grace would be finishing up high school next year and we know Zach isn't coming back. With the firm and Alicia resigning as SA. Just have it all wrap up next year and have it end with Peter and Alicia divorcing and Grace going on to college and everyone move on to a unknown future but with smiles on their faces they are no longer tied up in everyone else's agendas or back stabbing.

[crashdown]

I couldn't agree more about the advisability of ending it next season--personally, I think 13 episodes would more than suffice. But I just have a niggling feeling that isn't what's going to happen.

[milkyaqua]

Follow-up (sort of) from TV Line's Ask Ausiello re: the Kalinda exit from last week's column:

 

Question: Do you have any scoop to offer on Kalinda’s exit from The Good Wife? — ABZ
Ausiello: I heard she was getting killed off. Then I heard she was going to jail. Then I heard she was entering witness protection. Then I heard none of those things are true. Then I heard the killed-off rumor again. Then I saw the below photo Archie Panjabi tweeted Tuesday while on a break from shooting the season finale, and I thought to myself: “Self, that’s not the face of someone who’s about to shoot a death scene.” Does that answer your question, ABZ?

 

This week:

 

Kalinda exit update: The theory I put forth atop last week’s AA, in which I floated the possibility that none of the prevailing theories being buzzed about will actually prove true, is gaining some ground.

[orza]

My crack theory is that Kalinda does not kill Bishop because she can't do that to Dylan so she warns him that he needs to disappear right away and Bishop offers her a job to go with him, get him set up somewhere with a new identity and life and work for him as his security whatever person for a while.

[Janimo]

Like minds,orza. I was thinking the same thing yesterday. To me that would be much better than going into Witness Protection or being killed off.

[milkyaqua]

From TV Line's Ask Ausiello:

 

Question: What happened to Lana Delaney on The Good Wife? I thought Kalinda said she took her seriously. There’s also the white card they haven’t explained, and Lana’s FBI job. There are so many loose ends with the Kalinda/Lana story. —Eve
Ausiello: We went straight to showrunner Robert King with your question about the hotel-key-looking rectangle that drug kingpin Lemond Bishop wanted slipped into the purse of Jill Flint’s alter ego. (If you’ll recall, Kalinda instead broke it in half, although her refusal to betray her lady love probably did nothing to alleviate Bishop’s concerns about the FBI teaming up with the State’s Attorney’s office to bring him down.) “That’s really a very good question,” says King, with a chuckle. “I think you should continue to wonder. [That plot thread] is not necessarily in the realm of the Russian assassin on The Sopranos, but it is still alive. Let’s just leave it there.” (By the way, Eve, you’ve got to hit the comments and share what brand of ginkgo biloba you take, because your memory for details is pretty impressive!)

Question: Is there a chance for The Good Wife‘s Alicia and Peter to reconnect romantically in the wake of them aligning against the Democratic party machine? Previews for Episode 20 kind of make it look that way. —Russell
Ausiello: Love, as they say, is a many splendored thing, but Team Florrick has its own unique take on the concept, says Robert King, flashing back to Episode 18. “What was very clarifying was that scene when Alicia and Peter say they’re done with arguing… [Peter] starts getting this look in his eyes and [essentially] saying, ‘Let’s f–k,’ and then Alicia is saying, ‘No, no, no, no, that’s not what this is about,'” King offers, with a hearty chuckle. “They wind up just sitting there and drinking together. They’re championing detente in a very fraught relationship just because of exhaustion. At a certain point the human body has a great and strange ability to numb all the pain, and that’s where Alicia and Peter tend to go now.” Nevertheless, faced with an outside threat, “They aid, support and give strength to each other,” he adds. “Whether that goes deeper is a bigger question.” Michelle King, for her part, offers that, “Whether Alicia and Peter are living under the same roof or not, there is something very real there. We’ve seen a very deep connection between these two people throughout the series.” In other words, don’t bet the entire mortgage on Finn Polmar, OK?

[milkyaqua]

From TV Line:  The Good Wife EPs: Kalinda's 'Spark' Will Return Prior to Exit

 

Heading into the final three episodes of the season (starting Sunday, 9/8c on CBS) with so much potential upheaval — and knowing that Kalinda’s portrayer Archie Panjabi won’t be returning for Season 7 — has only increased viewers’ anxiety levels. TVLine caught up with the Kings to get some nerve-soothing intel (and spoilers!) about the boot-ilicious investigator’s fate, the possibility of Peter’s role in Alicia’s downfall, and the romance forecast for Illinois’ first lady.

 

Though frankly, like usual, they don't say much of anything.

 

Edited April 24, 2015 by milkyaqua

[milkyaqua]

From TV Line's Ask Ausiello:

 

Question: Is there any hope for Alicia-Finn shippers on The Good Wife? Tell me yesss. —Chris
Ausiello: Your question is pretty definitively answered in the May 10 finale.

Question: So, Kalinda and Alicia on The Good Wife will share a scene together in the finale. Can you confirm or deny that it’s a flashback? No CGI involved I hope? —Ingmar
Ausiello: I can confirm it’s not a flashback. I can’t confirm how the episode was shot (i.e. body doubles, CGI, etc).

[Thog]

Have we been given any actual evidence that Finn is straight? She's certainly given him enough chances to make a move. He never seems to react definitively one way or the other to Alicia's advances (personal or professional), and he did say he's seeing someone but never specified a gender. Finding out he's gay would answer the question of whether they're getting together. And it would fit in with this season that seems to be all about taking Alicia down a few notches.

[Black Knight]

He was married to a woman and had a son with her, and I forget now what the reason was for their divorce, but it wasn't because he's gay.

 

Of course, his marriage doesn't prove anything, but it is evidence. I do think Matthew Goode has played an attraction to Alicia; Finn holds back because she's married.