Staying In

“I feel like I got my cable show. I just happen to be on CBS.”

That’s what The Good Wife star Julianna Margulies told reporters last week at a panel for the show during  TCA Winter Press Tour. Margulies was joined by creators Robert and Michelle King, who spoke about the complexities and gray areas that make the CBS show feel more like a cable drama. After the panel (check out my recap here) the Kings spoke further with a small group of reporters, including myself, about who’s coming back, Scott Porter’s future on the show, whether Alicia has to be a wife, trading titles with Cougar Town, and the show’s interesting mix of religion and politics.

Out: It seems that Blake (Scott Porter) will become a victim of pilot season. When asked if Porter would be written out or become a series regular, Robert King replied, “He’s not going to be kept as a series regular. I mean I think we’re losing some of these people to pilot season. So we built it with the mind that we’d have to finish his arch by a certain point. So there is this battle royale between him and Kalinda and obviously… I don’t want to give away who wins, but guess.”

There are no plans at this moment for Lili Taylor to return, but King pointed that they “don’t have all of this season worked out yet. We are writing the 16th episode and shooting the 15th episode right now.”

Returning: Gary Cole makes his return as McVeigh Feb. 22; Michael J. Fox will return for a third, to-be-determined episode following his second appearance on Feb. 8; Dreama Walker, who plays Becca, will be back in episodes 12 and 16; and Jill Flint appears as Kalinda’s friend within the FBI in episode 14.

“She’s just a really good contrast with Kalinda,” said King of Flint’s character. “Kalinda’s finding that she’s losing her resource in the state’s attorney’s office. So she goes to basically her higher friend, which would be Jill Flint. But what comes with that is obviously the sexual interest the two have with each other. First of all, the 14th episode, it’s very charged because it involves politics, but also eroticism.”

Alicia’s brother Owen will continue to shed light on his sis in the 14th and final episodes of the season. “If we could have Dallas Roberts for every episode, we would,” said King. “The only problem about following Dallas Roberts’ life as Owen is it takes you off the path of the law. Same with Elizabeth Reaser’s character. She takes us off the path to sports. So it’s hard to kind of break away from our point of view of legal to go follow him around. But we love him. We also love him and what he does to… Did you like the scene with him and Jackie? … It was so good.  It kind of elevated Mary Beth Peil too. She was so good.”

The producers also trying to get Martha Plimpton back for episode 21, by which she’ll be done shooting Fox’s Raising Hope.

Wish list: King wasn’t kidding when he said during the show’s TCA panel that he wanted Donald Rumsfeld to guest star. “No, it wasn’t a joke. We were writing a fictional character too,” he explained. “But it’s an episode about moral relativism of what is considered torture and what is not. We had, in a deposition, a character brought in that would defend basically what is aggressive interrogation techniques. Having said that, we’re willing to go fictional.” But if they can get him – first, they have to ask, which they haven’t yet — King wants Rumsfeld to play himself as part of the lawsuit. “It’s not about him. He’s being brought in as a witness to help the people who are being sued,” he said.

Also on their wish list: Meryl Streep, mother of recurring guest star Mamie Gummer. “I mean if Mamie would talk to her mother,” laughed King. “I mean we all have dreams.” Speaking of mothers…

Are you my mother?: King said they’re “torn” about the idea of introducing Alicia’s mother. If they do bring her in, they “don’t want to do stunt casting for the mom.” “It might be in the realm of not some high profile actor, but someone who’s very real within that,” he said.

Politics and love: Eli will continue to have a role within the show once the State’s Attorney election is decided. For one, “He’s a client of the firm and he brings his business there,” said  King. “But no matter what happens with the campaign, you never stop campaigning. I mean once you either win or lose one campaign, you’re on to the next.” The campaign will get more complicated for Eli when America Ferrera joins the cast for three episodes as “someone who Eli thinks he’s going to use in the campaign, but in the process, he struggles with the fact that he’s becoming attracted to her.”

“He’s going to use her to create a scandal about Wendy in the campaign,” continued King.

The big question: Who should Alicia be with? While the producers are smart enough not to let the answer to that question slip, they did admit that they know who they think Alicia should be with. “I mean it’s sad to say some of it is creative,” said King. “Some of it revolves around contractual issues and so on. But creatively we do.”

While they have a person in mind, King admitted that Alicia is “not necessarily required to be a wife. But is it something in Alicia’s personality that feels obligated because she made that commitment. She’s a very dedicated person. We’ve been playing with that.”

Plus, if Alicia becomes single, the show could have a Cougar Town title problem on its hands where the name doesn’t reflect the show. “We should just change names with them,” joked King. “They could get Good Wife and we’ll get Cougar Town.”

When the parents are away, the children will play: Zach and Grace will continue to get involved in their parents’ political lives as they grow older. “They’re growing up now, so they’re not just the kids watching everything happen,” said Michelle King.

In some ways, Zach and Grace are smaller mirror images of their parents. “Zach, we’ve always thought was a pragmatist about politics, which is why he wants to know what Eli’s job is,” said Robert King. “Because it’s about how do you get things done, not idealistic about the things getting done.”

Grace, on the other hand, “is more of an idealist,” he continued. “Grace is someone in search of a cause. Right now, she’s kind of sniffing around Christianity. Then Zach is much more, ‘How can I help my dad win?’ So they’re both going to influence the campaign in some ways before the end.”