she's played everything from the president to thelma in "thelma and louise." i loved "commander in chief," which was the great series you took part in. it was like my "west wing" fix and suddenly i woke up and it was gone. what happened? >> that's what happened to me, too. i woke up and my show wasn't on anymore. >> were you disappointed as i was? >> devastated. if it was ever brought back, i have the whole publicity angle worked out that it was have maybe a profile shot of me at the desk and say, look who just got re-elected. >> the weird thing is, i reckon after watching that, you were more presidential in that role than many of the presidents i would say over the years, like martin sheen. both of you were very electable in those roles. >> right. >> in your case, i know you've become this great standard bearer for all things women, but in that role, that was doing it for you, i felt. >> absolutely. is that how you felt? >> absolutely. it was funny how many people would say, i would vote for you in real life. and i'm like, i'm just play thing character on tv. >> this is what i like about you, geena davis. you started off to become this woman who is fighting for female rights. you were a victoria secret model. and you starred in a film called "earth girls are easy." an unlikely starting base. tell me about your journey through this weird little trip you've been on. >> right, right. yeah. now that you lay it out like that, may believe it's even more remarkable that i have the humble beginnings. exactly. it was all sort of an evolution. part of what happened in the early days is that i wanted to play interesting and unusual characters. i wanted to have some sort of challenge and not just be the girlfriend of the person doing all the interesting things. that's why i ended up in movies like "beatle juice" and "earth girls are easy" because it was interesting for me to do and then eventually i did "thelma and louise" and that changed everything. >> let's have a look. i loved that film. this is you and brad pitt, of course. >> what did you rob? >> hmmm, well, let's see. let's add it up here. i robbed a gas station, a couple convenient stores, liquor stores. >> of all the movies where you would want to do a sequel, i would have thought love scenes with a naked brad pitt had to be high on the list. i mean, in hollywood people come back to life, don't they? >> yeah. i really -- some people wanted to say it was m-- >> was it cracked up to being in bed with a naked brad pitt? every woman who is watching this is wondering what it was like. >> i know. sometimes i will answer by saying, it was worth the $6,000. >> let's get serious, because you've had this sort of frivolous buildup to the new geena davis. you spoke at the clinton global initiative. and the main kind of thesis i think of where you're coming from is that women are still portrayed in a fairly ludicrous way by the media, female politicians i guess as well. why do you tefeel this way abou it? >> from the reaction women had to "thelma and louise," it made me realize we don't give women the stunt to feel about like that about female characters that often. we don't get to come out of a movie feeled pumped and inspired. so after that, i made my choices based on the women that will be watching the movie, would they like the character, would they get something out of it. and so that's why playing the president was like the perfect thing. so i had all this spidey sense about women's roles already. and when my daughter was 2, she's 9 now, and i started watching little kids things with her, i was horrified to see this tremendous gender imbalance in what we're showing to the littlest kids. i thought it was very disturbing. >> what kind of things? >> well, so i have an institute that's now -- that's a research based institute. we've fostered the most research ever done on gender representations in media. what we found is that in all family film ratings, g, pg, pg-13, for every male -- female character, there are three males. and if there are so few women, it's saying women take up less space in the world than men. so if that's all that kids see is this huge imbalance, it becomes internalized. >> what do you think of the way modern female politicians are portrayed? i'm talking particularly of sarah palin, michele bachmann, but there seems to me, which ever side of the political divide you come at with them, they are treated in a different way to men. >> they are, they are. it is because it's so rare. we have to get to a point where it's completely normal. when i was doing the show, interviewers would ask did i think we would see a female president in our lifetime? first of all, i would say, what censutury are you from? yes, we will. we have to get to where it's just as likely for a woman to be the president as a man. and we're not anywhere close to that yet. and so every woman gets so focused on and ends up representing the whole gender rather than just -- >> are you concerned politically that the most likely people to become the next president of the united states are, as we stand i guess sarah palin, michele bachmann, because there are no democrats circling around. >> you don't mean the next president, you mean the first female president. >> it's more likely to be one of these tea party candidates, because they're the only ones currently showing their faces in this particular face. >> well, in this race, right. >> does it worry you that it's that end of the market? it does, doesn't it? i know your cup of tea. >> i think probably well not have a female president in this election. >> are you saying you'll open your heart? >> interpret it as you will. >> do you think hillary would have made a good female president? >> absolutely. >> is it a regret that she didn't win that standoff with barack obama? >> you know, i supported and adore barack obama and i think he's doing a great job. you know, you can say well, would somebody else have done it differently? it's hard to know. if she had gotten elected, we might be saying barack would have done something different. but i think she would make an extraordinary president. >> are you tempted to go into political life yourself? you've tasted it in a dramatic way. you're making important speeches at these conferences. has it given you a little bit of a taste? >> you know, i liked it very much. it went to my head a little -- no, there was one scene where i've -- we arrive at the white house and the secret service are opening the car doors and i go in the white house. and there was a tape keeping the people that were watching the civilians, they were watching, off the set. when they took the tape down, people were coming up and i looked at the secret service, the extras who were playing secret service guys and thought, what are they doing? i thought, oh, my gosh. >> you thought you were the president for a fleeting second. >> i did. so i said hey, pretend you're actually secret service. >> is it just this magnificently intimidating figure. you came in today wearing these long heels, you're already six foot tall, so you tower over men. so therefore one swoop you are basically making us all feel, you know, a little intimidated. that's an advantage, isn't it? >> i'm not sure that's everyone's reaction. >> i think so. when you march into these conferences, you must get these guys going, wow, okay. she not only played the president -- >> right, right. >> she's intimidating. >> i have a certain amount of gravitas which helps, yes. >> what is the state of play with hollywood and the way that they treat women do you think? lots of barriers have been smashed down, it's not like it was 40 years ago. but where could hollywood still improve, do you think? >> well, in exactly what i was talking about in reference to kid's movies is have more female kashg terse and have them do more interesting things. we found that a great majority of the female characters in kid's movies are hyper sexualized, they're narrowly stereotyped. if the more hours of television a girl watches the fewer option lgs she thinks she has in life. so there's clearly a strong message coming through that's negative. so we go to studios and present our research and i say, change some of the characters to female where it doesn't matter. just think about it consciously. when you're putting together the crowd scene, think why are there so many guy there is this scene? just populate the movie with women. and if you have that many women, naturally there are going to be many diverse types. >> i think the simpler way is bring back "commander in chief" and make people think it's time for a woman president in real life. we're in it together. you're not going to say no, are you? >> no. >> you can start monday. >> i'm ready to go. if elected, i will serve. >> geena davis, thank you very much. >> thank you. coming up next, julianna margolies. 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[ male announcer ] just like you, business pro. just like you. go national. go like a pro. ♪ and the flowers and the trees ♪ ♪ all laugh when you walk by ♪ and the neighbors' kids run and hide ♪ deep inside you, there's a person who refuses to be kept deep inside you. ♪ but you're not ♪ you're the one be true to yourself. what's healthier than that? you know, the ones who do such a super job, they're backed by the superguarantee®? only superpages®. wherever you are, wherever you're going, you'll find the super business you need. so next time, let the good guys save the day. get the superguarantee®, only at superpages®. in the book ... on your phone or online. to my spectacular husband, i love being your good wife, and i'm so grateful you have no political aspirations. and i just want to say thank you to you and to our sweet boy. you handle my long hours with such grace and understanding. >> a triumphant emmy moment, star of one of the hottest shows on tv. and that's "the good wife." welcome, julianna margolies. >> thank you. >> i saw you the night before at a party and you were giddy with excitement. you also had next to you this handsome adonis of a husband of yours who you then paid tribute to. he's not a politician, but he is a lawyer ironically. >> he is. now he's running a company, but yes, he's a lawyer by trade. >> how do you feel -- i think you're the only cast member to win. >> that's right. >> does it get boring? you've won eight sag awards. even jack nicholson hasn't won eight. you're top dog. >> i don't think that's fair, because i've done a lot of television. they only do one movie every three years. >> is it still the ultimate affirmation of your acting prowess when you win these big awards, when you win an emmy, do you feel like it's worth it? >> honestly, i always feel like it's worth it, because i've gotten very lucky with great writing and playing great characters and having people respond. so i always feel like it's worth it. it's gratifying. it's one thing in this business to actually work. it's another thing to do work that's satisfying and people are loving. and then to get accolades on top of it, it's surreal. to be honest, it feels very -- i keep saying to my husband, this isn't normal. because we sort of came out of the gate and he didn't know the business and the first time out to l.a., we came back with a golden globe. i was like, truly, this doesn't happen. he's like, it's happening. >> the thing about your park, she's getting ever more evil. you were taking it far too gently early on and last season i thought you came into this grip of rite. i'm taking no more of this door mat nonsense. >> i think evil may be a strong word. i think what's happening now is she's seeing that being a good girl got her nowhere, and she's seeing that people's evil ways seem to constantly come into her existence. i think she has nothing to lose now, so she's taking a darker road i like to say. >> are you a good girl in real life? >> i'm a real mix. i'm the kind of person who always has to be on time, and i'm incredibly professional. i don't have a lot of stomach for a people that show up to a set not knowing their lines. but i like to be mischiefous also. >> we are now thursday and your voice still seems to be working. >> the music was loud and i was talking a lot. >> you said in your victory speech that you try to be a good wife to your husband. >> i said i love being your good wife. >> does everybody ask you when they meet you, what does it mean to be a good wife? >> they do ask that often and i think it's different for every person. for me being a good wife is communicating completely, honestly with your spouse. you're always on the same page and there's never a missed communication. >> let's have a little break. i want you to think about this. if you discovered your husband was behaving like your on screen husband, what would you do to him? don't answer yet. just hold your thought, however murderous it may be. 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[ male announcer ] call today for a free home loan review. we'll offer a free android smartphone to you! one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. hey, jessica, jerry neumann with a policy question. jerry, how are you doing? fine, i just got a little fender bender. oh, jerry, i'm so sorry. i would love to help but remember, you dropped us last month. yeah, you know it's funny. it only took 15 minutes to sign up for that new auto insurance company but it's taken a lot longer to hear back. is your car up a pole again? [ crying ] i miss you, jessica! jerry, are you crying? no, i just, i bit my tongue. [ male announcer ] get to a better state. state farm. tell channel 2 we don't have a comment at the present time. >> hey, are you all right? >> wow, that was some slap. even now you're cackling as you watch yourself do that. >> it sounded very loud over that. >> did you actually strike -- >> i did. it was three times i struck him. and he said i was on "sex and the city" for six years, i've been hit many times. he didn't seem to mind. but that was -- i heard robert and michelle king, our executive producers say, to them that was her wakeup call, slapping him. >> it was interesting. you said before that a lot of the parallels with "the good wife" and the story line involving your character, are drawn on real life scandal and you said you remember watching eliot spitzer give the press conference we showed at the top of the conference and his wife standing next to him and how sorry you felt for her. and how you vowed this would never be a scenario you would be in. lots of women stand by their man. what do you think of that? would you stand by your man? >> i really think it would depend on the situation, but honestly, if it was the kind of thing that alicia went through, if it was me, no, i wouldn't be able to stand at a podium he had slept with hookers and humiliated his family and how you would then explain that to your children how you're with a man like that. i could not do that. >> you came from a divorced background yourself and you said the reason you didn't marry until you were in your 40s was because you didn't want to get it wrong like your parents. what were the memories you had of your parents? how much did you see of your father? >> my parents split when i was 1, and it was an amicable split for the most part. my father moved to paris, so my mom, to keep the kids together, my mommed move there, and then we moved to sussex. >> that's where i'm from. >> i went to school in forest row. >> that's a file from my village. did you ever go to that nightclub? >> no, i left when i was 13. >> it would have been very awkward. i'm suddenly having these flashbacks. you were literally raised around the corner from me. >> i usually have to tell people you'll miss it if you blink. >> i went to school in dane hill. >> yeah. that's very funny. >> how bizarre. we need a break after that. when we come back, i'm going to bring in your tv love interest, josh childs, the dashing handsome josh childs. i want to know how that last scene lasted in the last season. 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[ male announcer ] write your story with the new citi simplicity card. no late fees. no penalty rate. no worries. get started at citisimplicity.com. ♪ hush, little baby ♪ don't you cry ♪ soon the sun ♪ is going to shine ♪ [ male announcer ] toyota presents the prius family. ♪ walk if i want, talk if i want ♪ [ male announcer ] there's the original one... the bigger one... the smaller one... and the one that plugs in. they're all a little different, just like us. what's vanishing deductible all about ? guys, it's demonstration time. let's blow carl's mind. okay, let's say i'm your insurance deductible. every year you don't have an accident, $100 vanishes. the next year, another $100. where am i going, carl ? the next year... that was weird. but awesome ! ♪ nationwide is on your side there's no doubt he would be living a great life right now, except he's dead. because when you're 14 years old, all you ever really want to be when you grow up is your 16-year-old brother. and in my case, that meant smoking a lot of dope. >> obviously, the first question i suppose for you, how did things end up when the hotel doors shut at the end of last season? because your good friend here went on a tv show this week and said things got steamy. what does that mean exactly? >> i think people are going to find out soon enough on sunday night on cbs. >> there are allegations that we see your butt, is this correct? >> allegations? >> david letterman is obsessed with asking that. he kept saying, are we going to see your butt? >> maybe a little thigh. >> no butt at all? >> i don't think so. >> i don't know if there's any butt. >> how much do you enjoy the show? it seems you've got the most brilliant cast. every time i think they can't improve on it, michael j. fox comes in and they make it even better. it's a brilliantly written show. >> absolutely brilliantly written and we have the most amazing talent pool in new york city and our casting director just does such a brilliant job of bringing th