The Good Wife begat The Good Fight begat.... Elsbeth?

That's right, Carrie Preston is reprising the role of Elsbeth Tascioni for a CBS pilot which takes her occasionally recurring, fan favorite character seen on The Good Wife and in its spin-off, to a brand new drama show that has her in New York working alongside the NYPD.

The previous Good Wife/Fight shows were set in Chicago, with outside location shooting rarely ever disguising that they were filmed in New York. Beyond that, there aren't many more details announced about the show.

As longtime readers of the ABW newsletter know, I'm a pretty big fan of TGW & TGF, so I'm very happy to have heard this news. I like that they are moving her to a new city to shake up the status quo - it allows them to tweak the character to be slightly more mainstream audience friendly.

CBS Orders Pilots For ‘The Good Wife’ Spinoff ‘Elsbeth’ Starring Carrie Preston & ‘Matlock’ Reboot With Kathy Bates, Writers Rooms For ‘The Pact’ & ‘Watson’
The decline in broadcast pilots continues. CBS has ordered its fewest drama pilots ever in a pilot season: two. Also part of a trend, both are based on IP from established auspices and big-name tal…
DeadlineNellie Andreeva

Of course, it is just a pilot and while I do feel somewhat certain we'll see this one go to series, I'm not sure I could wait so long to see it on screen. Thanks to the power of AI and ChatGPT, we don't need to wait...

I'm listening, Frasier reboot

Oh wow. Because time is a flat circle and we often find ourselves back where we began, Dr Frasier Crane is moving back to Boston. The upcoming Frasier spin-off sitcom (which is seemingly titled FRASIER) is taking the character back to Boston where the character originated on Cheers. But that's not all - the Frasier pilot will be directed by legendary director James Burrows who has a bit of a gift when it comes to directing sitcoms.

Burrows was there behind the camera for the first appearance of Frasier on a season 3 episode of Cheers. He also directed the first episode of Frasier.

It is curious that the show is set in Boston - is this to open the door to potential Cheers guest stars? Does Sam Malone still even run that bar? And lets say that the show does go there and re-introduce these characters to the world of Frasier... could we see a new Cheers spin-off from FRASIER?

‘Frasier’ Revival to Take Place in Boston; James Burrows to Direct First Episode
The “Frasier” sequel will return to where it all began: Boston. That city, of course, was the setting for “Cheers,” the series that first introduced the character of Frasier…
VarietyMichael Schneider
  • Would you believe me if I told you The Blacklist starring James Spader was still on TV? Not for much longer, however, as the show will end with its 10th season. Read: THR
  • Not only will Chris Pratt return for season 2 of The Terminal List on Amazon Prime Video, but a prequel series starring Taylor Kitsch is also in the works. Read: Variety
  • Docu-series The Circus will return Feb 26. Read: thefutoncritic
  • Jerrod Carmichael will star in a comedy documentary series about his day-to-day life for HBO. Read: thefutoncritic
  • Alicia Silverstone will reprise her role from Clueless in a Super Bowl ad. Read: Variety
  • Top tier Netflix subscribers will now have access to spatial audio and see the number of devices they can use go from 4 to 6. Read: The Verge
  • There's an actual TV show called MILF Manor? Read: NY Post
  • The Dr Phil daily talk show is coming to an end after a 21 year run. Read: TV Insider

That's it for today. This has been quite the week already for news. What might tomorrow bring?