Elsbeth is an American police procedural comedy-drama television series created by Robert and Michelle King. It has premiered on CBS on February 29, 2024. It is a spin-off of The Good Wife and The Good Fight, which respectively ran from 2009 to 2016 and 2017 to 2022, from which Carrie Preston originated the role of Elsbeth Tascioni, an "unconventional" attorney who ends up working as a de-facto detective, and the third series in the franchise.
Elsbeth is a "howcatchem" TV mystery show (or reverse whodunit): it shows the audience from the start who the killer is and how and why they committed the crime.
In April 2024, the series has renewed for a second season and set to premiere on October 17, 2024.
Plot[]
The series is focused on Elsbeth Tascioni, the offbeat, unconventional but astute attorney who, after a successful career in Chicago, utilizes her singular point of view to make unique observations and corner criminals alongside the NYPD. She is assigned to oversee a monitorship or consent decree after some controversial arrests.
Cast[]
Main[]
- Carrie Preston as Elsbeth Tascioni
- Wendell Pierce as Captain C.W. Wagner
- Carra Patterson as Officer Kaya Blanke
Recurring[]
- Danny McCarthy as Agent Fred Celetano
- Fredric Lehne as Lieutenant Dave Noonan
- Gloria Reuben as Claudia Payne
- Danny Mastrogiorgio as Detective Bobby Smullen
- Molly Price as Detective Donnelly
- Micaela Diamond as Detective Edwards
- Ajay Naidu as Martin Wali
Episodes[]
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired (U.S. dates) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season premiere | Season finale | |||
| 1 | 10 | February 29, 2024 | May 23, 2024 | |
| 2 | 20 | October 17, 2024 | ||
Production[]
Development[]
On January 31, 2023, a second spin-off was announced, featuring Carrie Preston reprising her role as Elsbeth Tascioni, and writers Robert and Michelle King once again serving as the executive producers in their long relationship with CBS.[1] The second spin-off was officially ordered to series on May 9, 2023.[2]
Shortly after the premiere, creators Robert and Michelle King stated that, although the character of Elsbeth Tascioni originated on The Good Wife, they do not consider Elsbeth to be a spin-off, but a "separate show" inspired by Columbo that happens to use a "character in [their] wheelhouse".
On April 18, 2024, it has renewed the series for a second season.[3]
Casting[]
In January 2023, Carrie Preston was cast to reprise her role as Elsbeth Tascioni in the spin-off series. On March 3, 2023, it was announced that Wendell Pierce and Carra Patterson had been added to the cast as the police officers are C.W. Wanger and Kaya Blanke.[4]
The Kings have indicated that, while they avoided recycling actors for different characters on The Good Wife and The Good Fight, Elsbeth would not adhere strictly to the Good series' shared universe, and therefore some guest stars from the earlier series, such as Linda Lavin, would appear as different characters in Elsbeth.
Filming[]
After the show was ordered to series, the rest of the first season began shooting in January 2024 and wrapped in late April 2024. The first season of the series was filmed in New York and consists of 10 episodes. During a conversation with the press and an open audience to promote the Spanish release of the whole first season, Preston announced that season 2 will be 20-episode long and that filming is scheduled to start on July 22, 2024.
Broadcast and streaming[]
Elsbeth has premiered on February 29, 2024, on CBS. The show is now available to stream on Paramount+. The second season set to premiere on October 17, 2024.
Despite strong viewership for the pilot episode, new episodes will not resume until April 4, five weeks later, when the second and third episodes will air back-to-back. This was blamed on preemptions caused by the 2024 State of the Union Address on March 7 as well as the 2024 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament on March 21 and 28. CBS opted to repeat the premiere episode on March 14 rather than schedule a single new episode between these events.
In Australia it premiered on Paramount+ on April 26th.
In the UK it will premiere on Sky Witness on July 23rd and Germany on Sky One on August 6th.
Reception[]
Critical response[]
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 91% approval rating based on 22 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Carrie Preston's standout character from The Good Wife makes for a great detective in this amiable and clever spinoff." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 70 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Ratings[]
| Season | Timeslot (ET) | No. of episodes |
Premiered | Ended | TV season | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Premiere viewers (in millions) |
Date | Finale viewers (in millions) | ||||
| 1 | Thursday 10:00PM (episodes 1, 3-9) Thursday 9:00PM (episodes 2 and 10) |
10 | February 29, 2024 | 4.59 | May 23, 2024 | 4.90 | 2023–24 |
| 2 | Thursday 10:00PM | 20 | October 17, 2024 | 2024–25 | |||
Gallery[]
.png "Elsbeth (official logo).png (19 KB)")
References[]
- ↑ https://deadline.com/2023/01/cbs-the-good-wife-spinoff-elsbeth-carrie-preston-matlock-reboot-kathy-bates-w-the-pact-watson-cbs-1235246012/
- ↑ https://deadline.com/2023/05/matlock-elsbeth-wayans-comedy-poppas-house-series-order-cbs-1235361320/
- ↑ https://deadline.com/2024/04/cbs-renews-elsbeth-season-2-1235889263/
- ↑ https://deadline.com/2023/03/elsbeth-wendell-pierce-carra-patterson-cast-carrie-preston-cbs-good-wife-spinoff-pilot-1235278244/