Elsbeth

It starts with the murder. Once a body is discovered, the quirky "detective" makes "friends" with the murderer by asking advice of him or her. Even when the murderer finds the detective annoying. The detective lets on that the murderer is, in fact, the prime subject by telling him or her every new piece of evidence that is discovered. The murderer will often admit to the crime confident there is not enough evidence to convict. But of course there is. The murderer is often a person of wealth or influence. It's still a very cute show, both my wife and I enjoy it. It's just not original. But what is anymore.

Many people here have quite rightly pointed out that the format of this show is Columbo. That's fine. I have no problem with that. I loved Columbo and I loved the Elsbeth character in The Good Wife and Good Fight. The only issue here is the length of the episodes. Columbo episodes were an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half long. This gave the rumpled detective loads of time to play cat and mouse with the murderer. Elsbeth episodes are a feeble 45 minutes, so it often feels like everything is getting wrapped up before Elsbeth has even taken her coat off and sat down. Maybe some longer episodes for the second season please.

Elsbeth has come back. We are delighted.

For those who are not acquainted with her, it is a come-back indeed, as she is (to my knowledge) the only secondary character who has outlived not just one show (as Saul, of Better Call Saul), but two different long and successful series (The Good Wife and The Good Wife) and who has won people's heart to the extent of deservingly having her own show now.

Reencountering her in The Good Fight was a lovely surprise years ago, I remember. Meeting her again in this show promises to be truly exciting. The first episode was a pleasure, although the action seems to have a more comedic vein here than in those other productions. (Carrie Preston can do comedic passes while doing crime investigation indeed, and the hybrid works.)

The winks to fans of The Good Wife/Fight were there too. Will we meet Cary Agos here again? Oh, that could be great!

Elsbeth's kooky and loony attitude to lawyering now seems to be transferred to police internal surveillance. Don't be fooled by Elsbeth. Her brain is razor sharp, behind her apologetic, oddball and candid habit of annoyingly intruding into the work of the smart-asses who know it all. You can imagine the rest.

It may be the case that Michelle and Robert King will make it again with this new show, much to our enjoyment. I hope so.

Edit: After watching almost the whole first season, my initial impression has lost some enthusiasm. The comedic tone works in a contradictory way. I liked the "former" Elsbeth more, in a more serious environment, as the seriousness of the legal battles highlighted and added value to her oddity much more than this half-comedy, half-procedural spirit. It is watchable, though.

This show is fun,it's columbo 2.0 but with a goofier columbo. Like columbo,she immediately knew who did it in episode number one. I love the humor and goofiness of Arlene. Lol (sorry,couldn't resist) the show is refreshing and reminds me of the greats in my day. Columbo,McCloud,Hart to Hart,McMillion and Wife and so forth. Only 1/2 way through first episode and definitely hooked. I hope the writing holds up,it gets an audience and runs for a long time. It's really rare we get a show the last few years that's not trying to push some agenda on me. I will definitely be watching every episode. Give it a try.

Robert & Michelle King are the talented writing duo responsible for some of the best network TV shows in recent years, including "The Good Wife" and "Evil." After ending "The Good Fight," 2024 brings us yet another such spinoff of "The Good Wife," one named for that show's kooky lawyer character named "Elsbeth." The Leap Day pilot episode sets up the show's clever premise: that her title character has been designated an impartial observer of the NYPD in a formal legal consent decree to hopefully ferret out any police corruption in the ranks. But in the meantime she cannot help but help those hapless officers solve their trickiest cases. Like Columbo's classic show, we are privy to the perpetrator's machinations, but get pleasure from observing the observer, Elsbeth, investigate and determine those guilty of the crime(s). Carrie Preston is outstanding in the lead role, and Wendell Pierce excels in the role of the NY Police Captain, who may or may not be on the straight and narrow himself. I'll revisit my rating of 8/10 stars as we proceed.