Some SPOILERS for past seasons of The Good Wife
The new season of The Good Wife began on Sunday. I didn’t watch it, just like I barely watched last season. Just my opinion: ever since Julianna Margulies came on as producer of TGW in 2011, the show isn’t as good as it once was. It went from “Alicia navigating her way through a strong ensemble with many other story lines” to “The Alicia Show.” And making it all about Julianna/Alicia makes the show more boring and infuriating, quite honestly. Alan Cumming didn’t have much to do in whole seasons and Christina Baranski is largely wasted.
But the biggest fallout from making everything into The Alicia Show is what went down with Archie Panjabi. It was long-rumored that Archie and Julianna did not get along, and that once Julianne became a producer, there was a noticeable shift away from Archie/Kalinda having quality storylines. Archie quietly fulfilled her contract and left the show last season, and apparently the bad blood between Archie and Julianna was so awful, they didn’t even film their last scene together – the director had to use a split screen! Shortly after that, Archie basically (sort of) confirmed the rumors when she was like “Hey, talk to the PRODUCERS.” Of which Julianna is one. So, anyway, as Julianna is hyping the new season, she addressed the long-simmering rumors of a feud. Her answer is… odd.
File this one under the “life not imitating art” category: It has been widely rumored that Good Wife actresses Julianna Margulies and Archie Panjabi have had a years-long, hush-hush feud behind the scenes of their hit CBS drama. But that’s all bogus, according to Margulies, who used an appearance at the New Yorker Festival on Sunday to finally dismiss any hostility between the two Emmy-winning actresses.
“Right, I’ve heard about [the feud]. Who says that? It’s totally gossip,” Margulies said. “I heard that question had been asked to Robert King. There’s no story there, sorry … I actually had heard [that rumor] and I feel that it has been talked about and answered. I feel people just like to have gossip or make something into something that isn’t there. There’s no animosity on my part. It’s a shame, because I wonder if it was two men, when one finds out that he f–ked his best friend’s wife, if it would get that same attention, you know what I mean?”
Despite fans and critics widely panning the use of the split screen for Alicia and Kalinda’s farewell, with many noting the awkward body language and general disconnectedness between the two, Margulies defended the scene, as well as its technical direction. “It was shot the way Robert wanted to shoot it, and the story line, too,” she said. “You also have to remember, there’s difficulty … [Panjabi] was also doing another show, called The Fall. I went along with whatever Robert asked me to do and I did it happily.”
“I actually had heard [that rumor] and I feel that it has been talked about and answered.” Yeah, it was answered by Archie Panjabi when she basically told everyone that it was your call as a producer. I mean… is anyone really buying what Julianna is selling? It’s a shame too, because before this feud really heated up, I was a fan of Julianna and I wanted The Good Wife to succeed. But nowadays… ugh. I can’t. My impression is really and truly that Julianna is an unpleasant person to work with.
As for the aside that Julianna makes about how they couldn’t film the last scene together because Archie was working on The Fall… well, Archie tweeted this:
http://t.co/7Ci8jY9lSf. @TheFallTV was not even in production at that time and I was in New York ready to film the scene!
— Archie Panjabi (@PanjabiArchie) October 5, 2015
Meaning there was absolutely no reason for the scene to be shot in split screen other than the fact that Julianna Margulies is a pill.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Team Archie! And I agree – I’m totally done with the Good Wife, which is a shame because I loved it for years.
Same!
I watched it last night and really miss Kalinda. I noticed they have new character who is a woc.
For her sake, I hope she does not get more popular than Julia, otherwise she’ll be out too.
I agree that Dianne and Eli need more screen time. The show is not the same.
Once they got into the political run for JM’s character, the law story lines got lost in the shuffle..too bad, they were the reason most of us were fans early on. Last nite was so-so..although I like the Eli-revenge angle.
Yep, they almost re-enacted the infamous bar scene, except Julianna and the new Kalinda can stand to be on the same set together!
I do feel like two male actors could have had the split screen for whatever dumb reason and it wouldn’t have made the headlines as much as a “cat fight!” story involving two high-powered women actors. Nonetheless, still indefensible and unprofessional as heck — as an actor making off-set drama and as a producer wasting money and time.
I don’t agree at all that the show has gotten worse since 2011. It’s at the same level if not a little better since then.. the writing is still amazing & sharp. It’s moreso who’s at the center of that writing (a stronger focus on Alicia having an independent story line) that has shifted, but the quality of The Good Wife is still very high i think. Also, GREAT, great, great, supporting cast acting! I still miss Will though 🙁
I thought the last season with Will was very strong. The show in which Will threw Alicia out of the law firm was amazingly good!! After Will died and it became the Alicia show, I lost interest. I still watch, but barely.
I watched it last night, it was okay. But I am definitely Team Archie.
It used to be a great show with great characters like Diane and Eli and now is just “blergh” with the extra Alicia.
And what about the Elspeth Tascioni character? Didn’t that actress win an Emmy? That probably explains it.
I loved this show because it is filmed in NYC and they always had a great cross section of NY actors popping in and out. HAD. The show was a success because of that and good writing, not because of Margulies.
Yup. Not a fan of the “Julianna Margulies Show” – it was the overall ensemble that made the show watchable.
Same here. I just can’t get past the cut together scene at the end of last season. I’m not usually interested in on-set politics but this was so blatant that it was impossible to ignore. It’s really spoilt my enjoyment of the show and I’m blaming Margulies for this. Team Archie all the way.
Me, too. JM seems like a real prima donna. I think she is difficult to work with.
On every site I have read about this (it’s the same info in slightly different ways) there are tons of people like me/us who will not watch the show again. Everything that’s been said (or not said) about this issue shows that JM is the reason there was bad blood. Worse, she comes off as a petty, insecure diva who probably has no woman friends and doesn’t understand how poorly that reflects on her character (and I don’t mean the character she plays).
I did love this show, but it’s on the heap with the rest of my LadyTV (i.e. Shondaland) that I can’t watch now either. Le sigh.
Having sex with your best friend’s wife? What was THAT alluding to?
I’m wondering, too!
She was referring to their characters. Archie’s character slept with Alicia’s husband in the past and that was the cliffhanger finale one season, when Alicia found out about it. They used that storyline to sideline Kalinda and keep her away from Alicia.
This is such a lame excuse that most people see through. That storyline by ACTORS was a blip in the series. Julianna is such an unprofessional, jealous byotch.
I’ve never watched the show so I dont know what the characters dynamics were but wouldnt a betrayal of that kind justify keeping the characters apart? Or is the suspicion that the betrayal was only written to sideline Archies character?
Naya, as someone on this thread has noted the actresses shared scenes AFTER the revelation about the affair. So, basically that’s a lie.
On the show Archie Panjabi’s character had sex with the husband of Julianna Margulies’ character.
My take was that if the two actors were male, no one would be talking about this beef. But every time its two women, the media talks and talks and talks.
That’s definitely true. Tom Hardy punched a well-known director and everyone in the industry and the media knows about it, yet there’s been practically no press coverage outside of a few BIs, If two women ever had a physical fight it would be headline news.
I get the lead actress having a temper tantrum and not wanting to work with someone for whatever reason. Not the first time, won’t be the last time. But it’s not like Julianne was the only producer on that show – there are Executive Producers who would still be her boss. How on earth did they let this get so bad? That seems like a pretty big fail on the showrunner’s part, especially since it was pretty clearly to the detriment of the show.
Exactly. Actors dislike one another all the time, they have love affairs that go bad, they have divorces, they have fights- plenty of other actors on long-running tv shows have to continue to share scenes with exes and enemies. The fact that Julianna Margulies was able to let her animosity towards another actor completely dictate the terms to the extent that the showrunners actually film them separately in split screen is ridiculous, and shows really poor management by the people in charge of this show.
I assume Juliannas character is indispensible and in cases such as that, a clash between the Lead and the Showrunner usually leads to the showrunners firing, which especially sucks when you are also show creator. Perhaps these producers didnt feel this specific battle was worth fighting.
I didnt know Christine Baranski was in this show, Archie should have sought advice on how to handle a crazed star/producer enraged over their co-stars unexpected critical acclaim from the woman who survived Cybill and a series of show runner sackings.
Obvs Margulies went to the network to get them to agree to her not filming scenes with Panjabi. There’s no way on earth the showrunners would have agreed to it. But TGW is the only critically acclaimed show the CBS has and JM is the titular hero so anything she wants the network gives her. It is staggeringly unprofessional behaviour and I’ve since completely gone off the show because of JM’s behaviour. It’s a shame. I used to love TGW.
“I wonder if it was two men, when one finds out that he f–ked his best friend’s wife, if it would get that same attention, you know what I mean?”…I don’t, what? Is she saying Archie f-ked someone she shouldn’t? Can someone explain this?…I’m just too tired.
She talking about the characters from the show.
It was the storyline on the show. Alicia found out that Kalinda was one of Peter’s other women.
Regarding TGW – last night seemed like it was back on track, to me. Alicia is once again in the underdog role. She’s been humbled professionally, she made a new friend (a new Kalinda), Eli seems to have a good role again this year. On the downside, Baranski was underused and there was a weird story about Cary, but other than that, I’m on board with the season.
Throughout this whole situation (for several years), Julianna Margulies has said that the reasons she and Archie haven’t shared scenes together is because there was an affair between their characters (Archie’s character slept with the husband of Julianna’s character)- the characters had a personal rift back in season 1, and so Julianna has justified not sharing scenes with Archie in later seasons on that initial rift. However, it’s bogus because the two actresses shared multiple scenes together in season 2, after the affair storyline.
Basically, Julianna is trying to deflect questions about a very real interpersonal matter between herself and another actor by saying that it’s all due to storyline, and it’s sexist to even question it. Which, no. I can totally understand that an affair would end an onscreen friendship between the two characters, but it in no way explains why the two actors can’t even share a screen together in scenes that were written for them.
I will miss Archie. I hate the way the show has become all about Alicia, it’s a shame because I watched to see the other cast members.
Panjabi is not backing down. Margulius must be p!ssed…
Good for her, it’s funny when someone tries to blame someone else and they stand up for themselves. Now the onus is on Julliane and it’s only furthering the rumors that she was jealous.
woman needs to lay off the botox.
I watched last night and it looks as though Alan Cumming may have a more significant role this season as he is now Peter Florick’s “worst enemy”, so, yay! And the addition of Margo Martindale(+++).
I haven’t watched it in years. But I think the bad blood went down when Archie became kind of a breakout character on the show and was getting a lot of acclaim and her part even beefed up because of it. Didn’t she win an Emmy? I think the lead character, Julianna, was bent out of shape, and it paved the way for how everything evolved as the years went by regarding the dynamic with Archie.
I think Panjabi won an Emmy before Marguilies did and that was the start of the problems. I only watched the first season and Panjabi was clearly the breakout character of the show. I never thought Margulies was a good actress. Mostly dull. But this behaviour demonstrated pettiness that I didn’t think she would do. So it is no hardship to stop watching TGW at this point.
Hate when women screw other women over and then claim it’s all sexism that’s making folks judge. That’s some Grade A level Swifting right there.
Odds are she screwed herself in the process. I’ve heard lots of people complain about how they don’t like the new ‘Alicia show’ format and how boring and repetitive the show has become. It’s a shame that when this woman tasted the tiniest bit of fame and reward she became foolish with it and ultimately damaged the show that gave her that spotlight. Wonder what she’ll do when it’s cancelled?
Archie is a great actress. Wish her well.
I’ve always found Julianna Margulies to be a one-note actress. When we used to watch this show, I called her Blankface.
Also, she used to lie about her age; until she gave birth to her son, she used to claim she was born in 1971, then it changed afterwards to 1967.
ETA: just checked and now it’s 1966, which I would guess is her actual age.
I would not harp on this issue and have great empathy for the age pressures women face, but Blankface’s poor acting skills have always grated on my nerves.
1971??!! Is that a joke?? i was born in 1967 and remember back to the ER days that she was older than me. I haven’t followed her career since ER but factoring in the time that’s past, her face looks much older, hagggard (and thinner) than other actresses in the same age group – Sandra Bullock, Halle Berry for example. She needs a new skin care regime.
I’ve never understood the JM talent either. She was the one thing on ER I did not like, and couldn’t get into the Good Wife b/c of her stone face acting & abilities.
Panjabi really blew a hole thru JM’s story with that one tweet. I give her kudos for not being cowed into silence. Fallen is such a superior show too. That must burn up JM.
She keeps getting work done… her face changes twice a season. Right now her eyes are wider open and her eyebrows are much higher. I’m impressed how well she does act with all that facial work to maneuver her expressions around.
That said, I always found Panjabi naturally stone-faced and one-note on the show without surgical assistance.
The backstage nonsense is ridiculous, but I can’t say I miss Kalinda on the show. (I can’t believe they didn’t wrap up her dead husband storyline, though; I thought for sure her last season was going to be a Murder One-style all-season-long treatment of her murder trial.)
What jumped out at me was this:
“There’s no animosity on my part.”
Most people would give a general blanket statement, but she was oddly specific there. Alluding that the animosity was from Archie?
Maybe Marguiles felt that Panjabi didn’t respect her as the star/producer and was trying to get too big a spot on the show or went over her head to the executive producers. After stamping her down, Marguiles was super zen about it as the more powerful person on the show, while Panjabi was still bent out of shape about it? This doesn’t make sense, though, because Marguiles is clearly the one who refused to film scenes together; that indicates significant over-the-top animosity.
Alicia is the worst chracter on the show and JM is not a great actress. Christine Baranski and Alan Cumming, along with Panjabi, were interesting ones.
Those are/were my favorites, too. Especially Cumming. Love that guy!
Is Julianna saying that Archie effed her husband’s best friend? Am I reading that right?
On the show Archie’s character slept with Margulie’s husband, Chris Noth.
My fave character on that show is Eli by far – hope he gets more screen time.
I haven’t watched TGW for a couple of years. Julianna is such a one-note actress.
But I’m here about that dress. It looks like the costume I wore for a dance recital when I was five … BACK IN THE SEVENTIES. Mine wasn’t see-through, obviously — which would have been a significant improvement for JM’s dress.
I lost interest in this show after Josh Charles left.
I like Marguiles and this show even though I think it’s a bit past its prime… but seriously, Team Archie.
I’ve never seen the show, but come on. Baranski and Cumming are both legends. Archie everyone praises to the high heavens. But the show revolves around an actress known primarily as ‘the nurse with the great curls from ER’? Really?
I love, love that Archie had the balls to call JM on her lie. Go girl!
I don’t watch the show and no nothing about this alleged “feud”. Just came here to say that i met Archie once and she was really lovely!
I’ve never seen the show and haven’t paid attention to JM since her ER days. Yeah, that long. So I can make a semi-snarky comment about how much work she’d had done on her face. It’s really, really scary. She looks frozen and worse than Nicole Kidman. And this whole story makes her sound as petty as hell. You’d think someone with her extensive TV experience would be generous and pragmatic by thinking about the show’s success overall, and not just about herself. It’s a cut-throat world they work in, I guess.
Pretty is as pretty does, and Margulies is starting to resemble Cruella De Vil.