“Elsbeth” ranks as the second most watched newcomer on CBS this year, averaging 11 million viewers on CBS, Paramount+ and CBS TV apps. Its second season launches on CBS on Thursday, October 17 and will be available the next day streaming on Paramount+.

A spinoff of “The Good Wife” and “The Good Fight,” “Elsbeth” stars Carrie Preston as scene-stealing Elsbeth Tascioni, an astute but decidedly unconventional lawyer-turned-investigator who makes oddball observations – like Peter Falk’s “Columbo” – and corners elusive criminals.

Transferred to Manhattan from Chicago, Elsbeth was assigned by a federal prosecutor to monitor the activities of New York officers under legal scrutiny for corruption.

Bizarrely dressed as a tourist with a foam Statue of Liberty crown, giddily sunny Elsbeth arrives on the job, relying on her disarmingly naïve demeanor to disguise her legal acumen. Skeptically greeted by Capt. C.W. Wagner (Wendell Pierce), she’s befriended by NYPD officer Kaya Blanke (Carra Patterson) and soon proves her worth in this police procedural.

As envisioned by mischievous creators Robert and Michelle King, quirky Elsbeth always wears contrasting patterns, playfully carrying numerous tote bags – an outlandish look that renders her both hard to miss and easy to overlook.

Previewing the premiere episode of Season 2, a womanizing finance executive is stabbed to death after a night at the opera. Because of a ringing cell phone, Elsbeth suspects obsessed music lover Philip Cross (Nathan Lane). 

In the 2024-25 season, showrunner Jonathan Tollins revealed that Pamela Adlon will play one of America’s most revered chefs/owner of New York’s hottest restaurant.  Despite anger management training, her rage turns deadly when a staff member’s side hustle causes havoc in the dining room, blowing a major deal. 

After that, Vanessa Williams plays a chic, ultra-wealthy VIP at an exclusive Fifth Avenue jewelry store who takes her passion for gems to the next level. Then Rob Riggle is a billionaire whose colleague dies in a freak accident while training for a frivolous space mission. And Brittany O’Grady is a former child star turned scandalous party girl defining her career’s next chapter.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Elsbeth” is a spunky, slyly shrewd 7. Right now, its entire 1^st season is streaming on Paramount+.

In “Wolfs,” George Clooney and Brad Pitt play rival underworld ‘fixers’ who must reluctantly work together to clean up a crime scene at a posh New York City hotel. This buddy/action dramedy was originally supposed to have a major theatrical release but plans obviously changed.

Written and directed by Jon Watts (“Spider-Man: No Way Home”), it’s certainly not a thriller and not exactly a comedy, although Clooney and Pitt obviously find it somewhat amusing.

Like most police procedurals, the plot begins with a body sprawled on the floor surrounded by blobs of blood. A local district attorney (Amy Ryan) booked a hotel room to frolic with a younger man who may or may not have been a prostitute. Somehow he fell off the bed, cracked his head on a glass table and, apparently, died.

Desperate, she finds a number on her iPhone and when it’s answered says, “I was told if I ever need serious help to call this number,” adding, “There is only one man in the city who can do what you do.”

Soon a discreet ‘fixer’ (Clooney) arrives on the scene and gets to work with garbage bags and duct tape. He’s interrupted by the arrival of another ‘fixer’ (Pitt) summoned by the proprietor who is worried that scandal could taint the hotel’s reputation. 

These two unnamed ‘fixers’ eye each other suspiciously, bickering and bantering  before actually removing the body and attempting to dispose of it, along with a stash of drugs tucked in a backpack behind a sofa.

Complications mount as the supposed corpse revives. He’s a curious kid (Austin Abrams) who may or may not have been involved with an Albanian cartel. Lacking a cohesive plot, there are too many chases, including a tediously tiresome one that begins in neon-lit Chinatown and ends near the Brooklyn Bridge. 

The New York Times reported that Clooney and Pitt banked $35 million each for their participation. Clooney dismissed that figure at a Venice Film Festival press conference, but the Times is sticking by its reporting.

On the Granger Gauge, “Wolfs” is a frustrating, forgettable 5, streaming on Apple TV+.