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she says.In a sunny bungalow at Culver Studios with pictures of Links of London Sale Kings' 11-year-old daughter on the walls and a Prohibition-era bar hidden behind a bookshelf, Mr. King, wearing jeans and Adidas sneakers, hosts a "tone" meeting to share his ideas via video conference with the New York-based director and Ms. Kennedy. Mrs. King is in another room interviewing potential production assistants. The Kings' joint workspace once served as the office of "Gone With the Wind" producer David O. Selznick. "We're the least interesting people to work here," Mr. King says.2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Reproduced with permission of copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.They struck out with a show about a modern-day Don Quixote who fights crime with his illegal-immigrant chauffeur, Panza. The networks also took Links of London Necklaces pass on "Judy's Got a Gun," about a single mom returning to the police force after five years. Finally, after five failed pilots and one canceled show, they came up with "The Good Wife."Robert and Michelle King, a married couple who met when working at a shoe store, are the creators of network TV's most high-profile drama, combining high ratings, an affluent audience and critical praise. In its second season, "The Good Wife" has become one of the best-performing new dramas on network TV with 14 million viewers each week as of Dec. 5, according to Nielsen Co. Last season the show won nine Emmy nominations including best drama. Julianna Margulies, who stars as Alicia Florrick, won a Golden Globe for best actress.They finally made it work by cobbling together a patchwork of borrowed ideas and new insights, while hewing to the formal demands of TV genres yet tweaking them at the same time. They figured out when to Links of London R Charm to CBS, their network partner, and when to push back. One by one, things seemed to go right.CBS, for example, had been in the market for a single-female lead show given the success of TNT's "The Closer." Ms. Margulies, best known for her role on "ER," says she had given up on doing another network series. "They just do it by rote and what brings in the numbers. It was depressing," she says. "I call this my cable show that happens to be on a network."The Kings also had to wrestle with a central conundrum. Most television dramas fall into two distinct categories: procedurals, and serialized shows. A procedural like "Law & Order" or "NCIS" provides viewers with a self-contained storyline each episode. Rarely do stories run on from week to week. There are serious business reasons for this: These shows can make a fortune in syndication, mostly because reruns can air in any order.Shows like "Lost" and "Mad Men," by contrast, feature storylines that stretch on for years. They don't do well in reruns, but they can get viewers hooked, especially in recent years when DVR time-shifting has made it easier to keep up. They can make money on other growing revenue streams like DVD season packages, books and downloads.CBS has been the No. 1 network for seven of Links of London Raindance Bracelet last eight years, in part because of a traditional reliance on procedurals, including the hugely popular "CSI" and "NCIS" franchises, plus shows like "The Mentalist" and "Criminal Minds."CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves, who has worked in television his whole career, unabashedly preaches that TV is about familiarity, a comfort level. At a breakfast earlier this year, he said pitches for new shows that begin with "you've never seen anything like this on TV before" usually end up in the reject pile.