When it comes to capturing the attention of television audiences — whether they’re bingeing a certain corseted costume drama or two long-running corporate legal sizzlers — the actress Christine Baranski is the veritable gift that keeps on giving.
The indomitable Baranski, 72, enjoys a well-wrought reputation for her work on the New York stage, but it is the small screen that has given the versatile performer the most recognition by consumers of American television programming.
Baranski portrayed the same character on two TV dramas. Her character Diane Lockhart appeared first on the CBS nighttime legal drama The Good Wife. After that show ended its seven-year run, Baranski starred in the spinoff series, The Good Fight, which followed the exploits of Diane Lockhart for another six years.
More recently Baranski traded corporate law for bustles and buggies in Julian Fellowes’s period New York drama, The Gilded Age.
Lisa and Tandy review both programs in this latest episode of The Hollywood Beat.