Why Christine Baranski Fought the Good Fight

The New Yorker Radio Hour

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

Politics, Arts, News, Wnyc, Books, David, Storytelling, Society & Culture, Yorker, New, Remnick

4.2 • 6.2K 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 WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.
0:09.5	This is The New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick.
0:12.9	After six acclaimed seasons, the good fight is finally coming to an end. The finale aired this month.
0:19.8	And the show's end is a bittersweet one, since in the
0:22.8	minds of many critics and fans, it captured the tensions of our current moment, like no other
0:28.0	program on the air. It starred Christine Beranski as Diane Lockhart, a Chicago attorney who's a die-hard
0:35.0	liberal coping with life in Trump's America.
0:38.6	I'm delighted to welcome Christine Buransky, who is not only a quadruple and probably
0:43.8	more threat performer and a radical fashion inspiration.
0:53.3	But my personal guide through today's political hellscape.
0:57.1	Emily Nussbaum is a staff writer, and she writes often about television for the magazine.
1:02.1	She talked with Christine Beransky at the New Yorker Festival back in 2018,
1:07.0	kind of early in the run of the good fight.
1:09.4	They spoke about the show's politics, the Me Too movement,
1:12.2	and more. Baransky had a long career in theater before her breakout moment on television in the 90s
1:17.7	as the hard-drinking buddy to Sybil Shepard's character on Sybil. Here's Emily.
1:24.1	Christine is a 15-time Emmy Award nominee. She's won two Tonys for the Real Thing and Rumors.
1:29.4	And she has a house in Connecticut where she gets to go skinny dipping at night. So basically,
1:34.5	she's living the life. Welcome. Christine Beranski. Thank you.
1:43.1	We were talking backstage and we immediately went into a political rabbit hole.
1:49.0	So rather than start with anything political, I'm going to start with a clip from Mamma Mia.
1:54.0	Now you're so cute. I like your style.
	...

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