Why Christine Baranski Fought the Good Fight

The New Yorker Radio Hour

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

News, David, Books, Arts, Storytelling, Wnyc, New, Remnick, News Commentary, Yorker, Politics

4.2 • 5.5K Ratings

🗓️ 29 November 2022

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The veteran stage and screen actress Christine Baranski first became a household name thanks to her Emmy-winning turn on the nineties sitcom “Cybill,” and her Tony-award winning work on Broadway. But “The Good Fight” took her to another level. As Diane Lockhart, a Chicago attorney and diehard liberal, Baranski captured the tensions of the political moment of Donald Trump, and the show ended its run this month. Emily Nussbaum could barely contain her excitement when sat down with Baranski at The New Yorker Festival in 2018 for a wide-ranging conversation about Baranski’s career and the timeliness of “The Good Fight.”

This segment originally aired April 12, 2019.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNWC Studios and The New Yorker.
0:10.0	This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, I'm David Remnick.
0:13.1	After six acclaimed seasons, the good fight is finally coming to an end.
0:17.3	The finale aired this month.
0:20.0	And the show's end is a bittersweet one.
0:22.5	Since in the minds of many critics and fans, it captured the tensions of our current
0:26.3	moment like no other program on the air.
0:29.9	It starred Christine Buransky as Diane Lockhart, a Chicago attorney who's a die-hard liberal,
0:36.0	coping with life in Trump's America.
0:38.8	I'm delighted to welcome Christine Buransky, who is not only a quadruple and probably
0:43.9	more threat performer, and a radical fashion inspiration.
0:54.0	But my personal guide through today's political hellscape.
0:57.2	Emily Nusbaum is a staff writer, and she writes often about television for the magazine.
1:02.3	She talked with Christine Buransky at the New Yorker Festival back in 2018, kind of early
1:07.7	in the run of the good fight.
1:09.6	They spoke about the show's politics, the MeToo movement, and more.
1:13.7	Buransky had a long career in theater before her breakout moment on television in the
1:17.2	90s, as the hard-drinking buddy to civil-shepherds character, on Sybil.
1:23.1	Here's Emily.
1:24.1	Christine is a 15-time Emmy Award nominee. She's won two Tonys for the Real Thing in Rumors,
1:29.6	and she has a house in Connecticut where she gets to go skinny dipping at night.
1:33.2	So, basically, she's living the life.
	...

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