First, the audience was treated to a screening of next week's The Good Wife episode, which will air on April 27th. You will not want to miss it. Then Julianna Margulies (Alicia), Josh Charles (Will), Archie Panjabi (Kalinda) and Matt Czuchry (Cary) came out. With the exception on Archie, I had been a fan of every member of the cast from their previous work. ER, Sports Night, Gilmore Girls, Sex and the City and the numerous works of Christine Baranski were some of my favorites. Julianna looked absolutely beautiful. Much prettier than on screen, even though that wouldn't seem possible. Matt Czuchry (I still can't pronounce his last name) was hysterical. I never would have guessed him to be so funny. And Archie has a heavy British accent and was the shyest of the bunch.
Julianna said that when she decided to come back to television she was looking for a cable TV show, because there are less episodes so it would be easier for her as a mother. However when The Good Wife came along she had to take it. She couldn't believe that a network would put such a smart, multi-layered show on the air. The Good Wife originally was art imitating real life, but with new scandals involving politicians arising, it sometimes seems that now life is imitating art.
Julianna also spoke about playing a mother of two teens. She made a very important point, that came up when she spoke about Alicia taking the computer out of her son's room when she found out what he had been doing. Her point is that no matter how good your relationship is and how much you bond with your teens, you still have to be their parent and not their friend.
Josh was asked about the relationship with his character, Will, and Alicia. Will they or won't they? Should Alicia wind up with him or her husband? He feels that what they've done so far feels right. His character wasn't very happy and was tired of the law until Alicia came to his firm and now his passion for the law has be reawakened. Archie was very nervous at first playing the part of Kalinda and never would have thought her character would become so popular. The role was originally explained to her as being like Erin Brockovich. She was wearing the tall boots that Kalinda wears at the Paley Center because she said that when she puts them on, Kalinda takes over. There has been speculation about Kalinda's sexual orientation and Archie said that we will get an idea about it in the season finale.
During all of the above, Matt Czuchry, interrupted whenever appropriate, with hysterically funny comments. Both the audience and cast couldn't stop laughing. However when Matt Roush began asking him questions, he did get a little more serious. They discussed the contest between Cary and Alicia and that it was very hard shooting that episode, which will air in two weeks. And of course, they can't tell us who wins.
At that moment, Christine Baranski arrived (she had been working) and Julianna filled her in on what they were talking about. Without realizing it, Christine let the cat out of the bag as to who wins and loses the contest. Nobody could believe it, especially Christine. Both cast and audience couldn't stop laughing, especially when Christine comically tried to take it back. I will not spoil the episode for you. Then there were all kinds of jokes about spoilers and Josh said "I'm going to tell you all how Lost ends!". What a great time.
When The Good Wife panel ended, as I was leaving, Matt Czuchry was exiting the building. A group of fans were outside and he couldn't have been nicer. He signed autographs and took pictures. I couldn't help asking for a picture with him and I told him what a big Gilmore Girls fan I am. The picture came out a little blurry but meeting him was wonderful and was the entire Paley Center Good Wife experience.
