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PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT

Interview with Columnist Nicholas Kristof; Interview with Her Highness Princess Ameerah Al-Taweel; Interview with Julianna Margulies

Aired September 22, 2011 - 21:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


PIERS MORGAN, CNN HOST: Tonight, is this the most dangerous man in the world?

MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (Through Translator): While using their imperialistic media network, they threaten anyone who questions the holocaust and September 11.

MORGAN: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in New York to meet the world's leaders and I talk to him today.

So I was curious as to whether you are prepared to admit that you're not perfect.

AHMADINEJAD (Through Translator): Everyone makes mistakes. I'm just one of those many. But I will certainly make a list, perhaps for you specifically.

MORGAN: The "New York Times'" Nick Kristof interviewed him this week. I'll ask him what does Iran really want.

Plus a worldwide exclusive, the Saudi princess married to one of the richest man in the world, and crusading for women's rights in the Middle East.

And ripped from the headlines, that cheating hearts.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I did not have sexual relations with that woman.

MARK SANFORD, FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA CONGRESSMAN: I've been unfaithful to my wife.

ANTHONY WEINER, FORMER NEW YORK CONGRESSMAN: I've exchanged messages and photos of an explicit nature with about six women over the last three years.

ELIOT SPITZER, FORMER NEW YORK GOVERNOR: I've acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family and that violates my or any sense of right and wrong.

MORGAN: That's what they say in public, but what goes on behind closed doors?

Tonight, Emmy winner, Julianna Margulies and the case of one of the hottest shows on TV, "The Good Wife."

This is PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT.

Good evening. "New York Times" columnist, Nick Kristof is here with me. And we're going to get to talk about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in just a moment. First, we want to turn to a devastating day in the markets.

Asian stocks are reacting right now. South Korean shares have been down 3.5 percent. Australian stocks down 2 percent. That's amid fears of a global recession leading to a huge sell-off on Wall Street with the Dow dropping 391 points.

The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 didn't fare much better.

I mean, Nick, we've had lots of turmoil throughout the summer in the stock markets, but there is a sense today from all the experts, all the analysts, we could now be heading into another form of recession.

What's going on here?

NICHOLAS KRISTOF, NEW YORK TIMES COLUMNIST: Well, I think insecurities are feeding up on each other and although there's a sense that the problem is maybe fixable in economic sense but they may not be so fixable in a political sense. And to that extent, you know, our 401(k)s depend to some degree on the willingness of Greek parliamentarians to find the political will to resolve their problems and then there's Spain, and Italy, and of course, our own problems in Washington certainly don't help that.

MORGAN: I mean there's a kind of sense that there's a real disconnect now between politicians almost everywhere in the world and reality. Is that the sense you're getting?

KRISTOF: Yes. Certainly, the problems in this country were very much inflamed. I mean if you look at confidence levels in this country, they were hugely inflamed by the debt crisis that we had in July, and the same thing is happening, I think, in Europe.

That, you know, we essentially know how to fix those problems. But is there the will in Germany, in Brussels, and is there the will in Greece and Spain and Italy? That is what is really very unclear right now, and that is what is creating this kind of anxiety in the markets.

MORGAN: Let's turn to the Iranian president, Ahmadinejad. He's a fascinating character. I've spent about three hours with him today and you I know interviewed him earlier in the week.

I found him sort of -- almost mesmeric. I mean there's a character who everyone knows nobody really seems to like him, he's portrayed as Dr. Evil. And yet in the flesh, I know you found him -- I found him sort of charismatic, he was smart, he dealt with a lot of media figures very, very adeptly, I thought. He knew his brief, he knows about world affairs, ferociously defensive of everything that he's done, and yet in the middle of all, he comes out with these outrageous statements which go around the world and creates huge headlines. My feeling being, this all appeals to his own home base. It's all very selfishly done.

What do you make of him?

KRISTOF: You know, I have -- I have a fairly different take. I think he has kind of zero charisma. He -- you know he's somebody who has this reputation for being a firebrand partly because he says these incredibly provocative things.

He -- I think he really enjoys tossing hand grenades right and left. But he's very subdued, as you know, he kind of mumbles the way he speaks. And he says things that just seem so bizarre, so calculated.

And I asked him about the famous picture of Annette Sultan, the young Iranian woman who was shot in the chest and lay bleeding. And you know this was a moment he might have shown a certain amount of reticence. And instead, he concocted this tale about how the BBC and his enemies had somehow killed her in a sort of snuff film.

And that just seemed the kind of thing that was --

MORGAN: But of course you say that because he's -- you know, he's like most despot in the sense that he doesn't ever do anything wrong. I asked him that directly. We'll play a little clip from this encounter where I asked him that directly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: Mr. President, could you tell me, what are the biggest mistakes that you've made in your presidency?

AHMADINEJAD (Through Translator): I will make a list and make it available to you at the end of the meeting.

MORGAN: Give me -- give me the top three.

AHMADINEJAD (Through Translator): One of them is that I got to meet you quite late in the game.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: And so you don't think he's charismatic. I thought that was quite a funny answer. And he went on -- I then said to him, look, the reason I'm asking you is because Dick Cheney, the vice president, recently wrote a book in which he went through eight years of being -- running this country without ever making a mistake. And I was curious, do you think you're perfect? And Ahmadinejad said, no, I don't think I'm perfect.

But of course, throughout the course of the three hours it rapidly became clear to me that he doesn't think he makes mistakes, that he was absolute in everything he said. But I sort of take issue a little bit. I think one of the reasons that he manages to inspire still large amounts of his country, although his popularity is certainly waning, is that he's got an ability to rally them with his rhetoric, I felt.

KRISTOF: I'm just wondering who was more offended by that comparison, him or Dick Cheney.

(LAUGHTER)

KRISTOF: You know the -- I think that he's on the defensive essentially internationally and at home. At home, he's on the defensive, he's been losing power vis-a-vis their supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khomeini. He made a power play, he was pushed down. He couldn't even get the hikers released when he said they were going to be.

Internationally, I think that Iran used to get a certain amount of credit basically for sticking its thumb in the eye of the America and people should have respected it. And these days, with Arab Spring, they don't have to turn to tyrannical government and Iran to do that. They have other -- people have other things to find pride and to find joy in.

And -- so I think that -- and you look at the poll ratings for Iran. They've gone down considerably. So I think he really is on the defensive and he comes here partly to enjoy the limelight.

MORGAN: He says the door isn't shut now on getting back on terms diplomatically with the U.S. Do you think that's a possibility?

KRISTOF: I don't know. But he did make one important offer, one important olive branch. He said that if the U.S. or other western powers will supply 20 percent enriched uranium, then Iran will stop that enrichment.

We don't know -- there are a lot of reasons to be very skeptical but it's worth pursuing. That could be a real offer. It's something that they had refused to do in the past. We should -- we should pursue that.

MORGAN: Nick Kristof, as always, thank you very much.

KRISTOF: My pleasure.

MORGAN: The Arab Springs made revolution from Tunisia to Egypt and beyond, but what would it mean for women's rights in the Middle East?

Here's what Saudi Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal told me this recently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCE AL-WALEED BIN TALAL, SAUDI ARABIA: We heard a lot lately about the right of women to drive in Saudi Arabia. I think the issue is a lot more deeper than having ladies only drive the cars. We need ladies to have their equal rights like men.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: Joining me now is a woman who made that cause her own. Her Highness Princess Ameerah Al-Taweel, the vice chairman of the board of the Al-Waleed Bin Talal Foundation.

Your Highness, thank you for joining me.

HER HIGHNESS PRINCESS AMEERAH AL-TAWEEL, ALWALEED BIN TALAL FOUNDATION: Thank you for having me in your show.

MORGAN: Now it's unusual to see a young Saudi woman appearing on western television like this. How have you managed to break down these barriers?

AL-TAWEEL: Well, I guess two things. One is being part of this generation, multilingual, globalized, interconnected generation, where we have that global culture. And second, because I have great support. I think if you don't have support behind you, you really can't do anything. And my husband has incredible support for me.

MORGAN: Well, he's a remarkable man. I had him on this show. And he's just like this whirlwind of energy.

AL-TAWEEL: Yes.

MORGAN: And dynamism. You know, he's one of the richest men in the world. He's the richest Saudi in the world. But the money didn't seem to be the motivating factor. He wants to drive change in his country more than anything else.

And when I met you both, and I had the pleasure of meeting you both, I got the sense you were in this together. And, you know, he employees other female staff now, he wants to get you driving a car in Saudi Arabia, which at the moment, women can't do, right?

AL-TAWEEL: Yes.

MORGAN: Do you think it will happen soon? Do you think the barriers are coming down fast enough?

AL-TAWEEL: Well, I really hope they do. I think that -- like you said, it's important to have men like my husband speak up not only in power but be public about. He had the first female pilot. He said if a woman can't drive in Saudi Arabia, she can fly. And having more men in power is important. Nevertheless, building civil society and building those communities of women to speak up is important as well.

A lot of Saudi women want to drive. And you know we all heard about that day. And I know personally a lot of the women who went out to drive, had the courage to drive. But a lot of women wanted to drive but didn't want the chaos and the unsafe environment that they could drive in.

So I think a decision by the king is the best way to go with this, just like the decision made in the '60s with women education and now 60 percent of enrollment in universities, even more than men are women. So a decision has to be made, a systematic decision whereby it comes safety.

MORGAN: Can you drive?

AL-TAWEEL: In Saudi Arabia?

MORGAN: No. Can you drive a car? Have you had lessons?

AL-TAWEEL: Everywhere I go.

MORGAN: You drive every where else?

AL-TAWEEL: Everywhere I go.

MORGAN: The only place you can't drive a car is in your country?

AL-TAWEEL: In the desert I can.

MORGAN: Yes.

AL-TAWEEL: Yes.

MORGAN: What are the things that really frustrate you about Saudi Arabia now that you'd love to change quickly as a young woman there?

AL-TAWEEL: I wouldn't say frustrated. If we were frustrated, you wouldn't see us here. We see a channel. We see links, we see paths of change. There's a lot of reforms happening in the government with women empowerment, with equal rights, with a lot of things.

And our job as NGOs is to actually help facilitate those changes and build civil society. One of the things we're doing at the Al- Waleed Bin Talal Foundation, we supported a program to actually help employee 600 women lawyers. We have -- we're blessed to have women graduating from law including -- you know one of them is my sister.

So one of the things we're doing at the foundation, we created this workshop where 600 women can gather together, learn about -- with another organization, learn about the tools to channel their voices, and you know they're saying the wheel that squeaks the most gets the grease? So we're trying to get them to squeak in an evolutionary way. And that's one of the things we're doing at the foundation.

MORGAN: Can you appear like this on television in Saudi Arabia or would you have to be covered up?

AL-TAWEEL: That's a tough question. I never appeared on Saudi TV. Nevertheless not because of the covering up story. I have no problem wearing that. I have no problem since I was raised with it. But nevertheless, I don't want to look in a certain way to please anyone else. You know this is me. I'm not doing this to send a certain message. This is the way I am. MORGAN: When you're walking the streets of somewhere like New York, for example, you know, you live a very glamorous jet set lifestyle, all the places you go to outside of Saudi Arabia, women are free to be exactly how they would like to be.

That's really where I'm getting at about the frustration. I mean, do you want the rate of change in Saudi just to be faster? Are you impatient for that?

AL-TAWEEL: I think the whole region is impatient. You know my grandmother told my mother step by step, my mother told me step by step. There's no way on earth will I tell my daughter step by step.

We're impatient and we want to change. But nevertheless, we're very much optimistic. Seventy percent of bank accounts in Saudi Arabia are owned by a woman, highest rate of women entrepreneurs in the MENA region, the Middle East and North Africa region, is in Saudi Arabia.

A lot of women are successful in business and the educational sector and the health care sector. And we're getting progress. Definitely I would like to see more progress in other fields like the legal sector. But we're getting there. We're just starting to --

MORGAN: Are women treated with more respect, do you think, as they become able to enjoy better education and encouraged to do so? Is there a higher level of respect now?

AL-TAWEEL: I think this generation is different than any other generation other than the fact that they're globalized and interconnected. They don't look at woman as their inferior to them. They look at them as equal to them. And that's one of the things that encouraged women in my society. The fact that a lot of the men in their family actually are very supportive of them working, supportive of them acquiring better education, even traveling on scholarships that the king has made for a lot of women in Saudi Arabia.

MORGAN: Tell me about your husband. Do you think he could ever end up running Saudi Arabia?

AL-TAWEEL: My husband?

MORGAN: Yes.

AL-TAWEEL: I think that -- I mean I --

MORGAN: Many people think he should be.

(LAUGHTER)

AL-TAWEEL: Well, I can never anticipate the future. All I can tell you is that he's already considered a role model and a leader. And we need more leaders like him.

MORGAN: How did you find Bill Clinton? AL-TAWEEL: Incredible. He's an incredible man. He cares. He really wants to listen. He doesn't want to assume what are the solutions, how can we help. Yesterday, at the panel at the Vital Voices in the Middle East panel, he was listening. And --

MORGAN: What about President Obama, because he attended I think somebody --

AL-TAWEEL: He made a speech before that, at another panel. And I was a member of the audience there. Impressive man.

MORGAN: Are you a fan of his?

AL-TAWEEL: President Obama?

MORGAN: Yes.

AL-TAWEEL: Sure.

MORGAN: Do you think he's a force for good for women's rights in the world?

AL-TAWEEL: Sure. I think the best thing President Obama made is -- you know the American dream, is that message coming back again. And we were very excited in Saudi Arabia. And I think all the region to watch the elections when President Obama won. And for me, he's definitely a voice of hope and a voice of change.

And he is for woman empowerment. I mean look at his wife, Michelle, my god. She's incredible. So -- yes.

MORGAN: I want to ask you about something that's been in the news, in the "New York Times" in particular this week because I know that you have a strong opinion about this. Your husband has been linked with these old allegations. He assaulted a model on a yacht in Spain in 2008.

AL-TAWEEL: Yes.

MORGAN: What is your view of this? Because it seems a very odd story and he's provided plenty of documentation to say he wasn't anywhere near Ibiza or Spain at the time. What would you like to say?

AL-TAWEEL: I was with him the whole time. We were in another country when these supposed allegations happened. And I was with him in Cannes and (INAUDIBLE), and we were together the whole time. It's impossible for it to happen. And for me, it's -- like you said, it's very surprising for a credible newspaper to report such a story without further investigation.

MORGAN: Has it been upsetting to you as his wife?

AL-TAWEEL: Yes. I think such allegations will not only harm a person, it will harm his wife, his kids, everything, everyone who cares for him will feel that pain. And he built such a strong reputation, I don't think it will be shaken by this. Because you know at the end of the day, the rule of law.

And we'll see what the court says. And we're definitely 100 percent sure and all the documents are there for the media to see and we ask them to investigate. And if you have something to hide, you wouldn't ask people to investigate.

MORGAN: Thank you very much. This has really been a real pleasure.

AL-TAWEEL: Thank you so much. Pleasure being in here.

MORGAN: Thank you for coming in.

AL-TAWEEL: Thank you so much.

MORGAN: When we come back, what really goes on behind the scenes of political marriages? I'll talk to Emmy winner Julianna Margulies and the cast of "The Good Wife."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIANNA MARGULIES, "THE GOOD WIFE": 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 Kieran. You handle my long hours with such grace and understanding.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: A triumphant Emmy moment for my next guest. She's the star of what may be the hottest show on TV today, certainly my vote for the hottest show on TV. And that's "The Good Wife."

Welcome, Julianna Margulies.

MARGULIES: Thank you. Thank you.

MORGAN: What a moment that was. I saw you the night before at a party.

MARGULIES: Yes.

MORGAN: And you were sort of giddy with excitement. You also had next to you this handsome Adonis of a husband of yours.

(LAUGHTER)

MARGULIES: Adonis.

MORGAN: That you then paid tribute to. He was an impressive character. He's not a politician but he is a lawyer.

MARGULIES: Yes.

MORGAN: Ironically.

MARGULIES: Ironically, he is. Actually now he's running a company but yes, he's a lawyer by trade.

MORGAN: I think the only cast member to win an Emmy on "ER"? Is that right?

MARGULIES: That is true. Yes.

MORGAN: And here you are again scooping it again. Does it get boring? You've won eight SAG awards, which I think is an all-time world record. Even Jack Nicholson hasn't won eight SAG awards. You know that?

MARGULIES: Well --

MORGAN: You're the top dog.

MARGULIES: But I don't think that's fair because I've done a lot of television. So if Jack Nicholson -- I mean they only do one movie every three years. So I'm sure if Meryl Streep did a movie a year she would have --

MORGAN: Is it the ultimate sort of -- I don't know, is it the ultimate affirmation of your acting prowess, of all the work you put in, when you win these big awards, when you win an Emmy? Do you feel like, OK, it's worth it?

MARGULIES: Well, I always -- 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 to these characters. So I always feel like it's worth it. It's gratifying.

It's one thing in this business to actually work. Five percent of the Screen Actor's Guild works. It's another to do work that's satisfying and that people are loving. And then to get accolades on top of it, I mean it's surreal, to be honest. It feels very -- I keep saying to my husband, this isn't normal. You know?

(LAUGHTER)

MARGULIES: Because we sort of came right 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, and then -- you know, and I was like, truly? This doesn't happen. And he's like, well, it's happening. And I thought, I should hear it and enjoy it for a minute because I know it goes away like that.

MORGAN: Now one thing about your part is that she's getting ever more evil. And I always liked evil characters. I think you were just taking it all far too gently early on and then slowly but surely in the last season, I thought you came into this grip of right. I'm taking no more of this doormat nonsense.

MARGULIES: Yes. I think evil might be a little bit of strong word, you know? MORGAN: My initial thinking really.

MARGULIES: No.

MORGAN: A lot of (INAUDIBLE).

MARGULIES: But you're absolutely right. 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 and I think she has nothing to lose now, so she's taking a little bit of darker road, I like to say and --

MORGAN: Are you a good girl in real life?

MARGULIES: 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 people who don't show up to a set knowing their lines because you're keeping 150 people waiting. But I like to have a good time and I like to be a little mischievous also.

MORGAN: I heard after the Emmy triumph on Sunday, you had a rather late night, Julianna?

MARGULIES: We had a late night and I did. The good girl side of me kept saying to my husband, you know, we have the Hollywood Foreign Press Conference tomorrow morning and I have to be up by 8:00, and he said, you just won an Emmy, we're going to party.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

MORGAN: We are now Thursday and your voice still seems a little quirky.

MARGULIES: It's so hoarse. Yes. It's still hoarse.

MORGAN: That's one hell of an evening.

MARGULIES: The music was loud and I was talking a lot.

(LAUGHTER)

MORGAN: You said in your -- in your victory speech that you try to be a good wife to your husband. Everybody --

MARGULIES: I said I love being your good wife.

MORGAN: Well, right. Well, everybody must -- when they meet you always ask you, ad nauseam, what does it mean to be a good wife? So what does it mean to be a good wife?

MARGULIES: That's a very good question. And they do ask that often, and I think it's different for very person. I mean, for me, I think being a good wife is communicating completely honestly with your spouse so you're always on the same page and there's never miscommunication. That's a good marriage.

MORGAN: Let's have a little break and I want to ask you to think about this until we come back, if you discovered your Adonis-like husband was behaving like your on-screen husband, what would you do to him? Don't answer yet.

MARGULIES: OK.

MORGAN: Just hold the thought however murderous it may be.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have an interview set up for "The Tribune."

(CROSSTALK)

CHRIS NOTH, "THE GOOD WIFE": Absolutely not. I'm not doing any more interviews. I want you to cancel all of them. That's it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I tell Channel 2 we don't have a comment at the present tonight. But we emphatically question the authenticity of this tape.

NOTH: Hey. You all right?

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: Wow. That was some slap. Even now you're cackling as you watch yourself do that.

MARGULIES: Well, it sounded very loud over here.

(LAUGHTER)

MORGAN: Did you actually strike the poor man?

MARGULIES: I did. He was really great about it. It was three times I -- why I struck him. And he said, I was on "Sex & The City" for six years, I've been hit many times. Go for it. He didn't seem to mind.

But that was -- I heard Robert and Michelle King, our executive producers and creators, say, to them that was her wake-up call, slapping him.

MORGAN: It's interesting. I've (INAUDIBLE) before that, you know, a lot of the parallels with "The Good Wife" and the storyline and everything, particularly involving your character, are drawn on real-life scandals, particularly the Eliot Spitzer one, and you said you remembered watching him giving the press conference we showed at the top of the show and his wife next to him and how sorry you felt for her. And you sort of vowed this could never be a scenario you'd find yourself in. MARGULIES: Yes. I think every woman did at that point.

MORGAN: Yes.

MARGULIES: Were watching Eliot Spitzer. Yes.

MORGAN: I mean lots of women these days stand by their man. (INAUDIBLE) you see it with everyone.

MARGULIES: Yes.

MORGAN: What do you think of that? I mean could you imagine doing that? Would you stand by your man?

MARGULIES: I really think it would depend on the situation. But honestly, if it was the kind of thing that Alicia Florrick went through, if it was me personally, no, I wouldn't put myself through that humiliation. I wouldn't be able to stand at a podium knowing he had slept with hookers and humiliated his entire family, and what -- how you then explain that to your children that you're still with a man like that.

I personally could not do that.

MORGAN: You came from a divorced background yourself. Your parents split up when you were quite young.

MARGULIES: Yes.

MORGAN: And you said that the reason you didn't marry until you were in your 40s, it was precisely because you didn't want to get it wrong like your parents.

MARGULIES: Right.

MORGAN: What were the memories you had of them splitting up and your life that you came I think to the United States with your mother and -- how much do you see of your father?

MARGULIES: Well, actually when I was -- when we're very little -- my parents split when I was 1. And it was a very amicable split. For the most part --

My father moved to Paris and so my mom, to keep the kids together, we all moved there. And then he moved London and we moved to Sussex, 30 miles south of London.

MORGAN: Sussex. That's where I'm from. Where did you go?

MARGULIES: (INAUDIBLE), darling.

MORGAN: What?

MARGULIES: Yeah.

MORGAN: I'm from a village called Newik (ph). It's four miles away.

MARGULIES: I went to school in Forest Row.

MORGAN: You didn't?

MARGULIES: I did.

MORGAN: That's a mile from my village. Would could have been -- hang on. You didn't ever go to that nightclub in East Greenster (ph), did you?

MARGULIES: No. I left when I was 13.

MORGAN: That's very -- could have been very awkward. I'm suddenly having these flashbacks. How extraordinary. You were literally raised literally around the corner from me.

MARGULIES: Usually I have to tell people, if you go on the A-22, you'll miss it if you blink.

MORGAN: I absolutely know exactly where you are. I went to school in Dane Hill (ph), which is half a mile from Forest Row.

MARGULIES: That's very funny.

MORGAN: How bizarre. We need a break after that. When we come back, I am going to bring in your TV love interest, not the husband, obviously, but Josh Charles, the dashing, handsome Josh Charles. I want to know how that last scene ended in the last season.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH CHARLES, ACTOR: There's no doubt that he'd be living a great life right now, except for that 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. In my case, that meant smoking a lot of dope.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: That was Josh Charles in Aaron Sorkin's "Sports Night." He's now joining Julianna and I at this desk. Obviously, the first question, I suppose for you, is how did things end up when the hotel door shut at the end of last season? Because your good friend here went on a TV show earlier this week and said things got steamy. What does that mean exactly?

CHARLES: I think people are going to find out soon enough on Sunday night on CBS.

MORGAN: I mean, there are allegations that we see your butt. Is this correct?

CHARLES: Allegations?

MORGAN: That's what I'm hearing.

MARGULIES: David Letterman is obsessed with asking what we would see. He kept saying your butt? Are we going to see your butt? I was like, no. You might see some thigh.

CHARLES: Still a little bit of thigh. No butt.

MARGULIES: He was obsessed with the butt.

MORGAN: No butt at all? Not a glimmer?

MARGULIES: I just don't think so.

MORGAN: Really? Even a suggestion will drive ratings.

CHARLES: I don't know if there's any butt.

MARGULIES: It's steamy.

MORGAN: How much do you enjoy this show? Because it seems to me you've got the most brilliant cast that you could possibly have. Every time I think they can't improve on it, you go and hire -- like Lisa Edleston's joining you from "House" or Michael J. Fox comes in, or something like this. And they just make it even better.

It's brilliantly written show, isn't it, with great characters?

CHARLES: Absolutely brilliantly written. And we have a great talent pool here in New York City of such great theater actors. And our casting director, Mark Sachs, I think Julianna would agree, just does such a brilliant job of bringing those people together.

They're here. They want to work. And the kings just write so beautifully for them. And every week, it's a gift to see not only the script, but then which actors we're going to work with, that some of us have done plays with, or we've admired their work.

So --.

MORGAN: Now my big issue with you, Josh, is that you Tweeted two weeks ago, "I'm so glad Arsenal won today because Piers Morgan will be in a good mood on Thursday when Julianna, Christine, Allen and I do his show."

I didn't even know you knew what Arsenal was. For my many followers on Twitter --

CHARLES: How could I not know. Following you on Twitter, it's all you talk about.

MORGAN: You know they're having the worst season ever. That's a good time to start supporting it.

CHARLES: That doesn't scare me away. I really just want to gather all the information. As you accuse me of earlier, I'm not flirting with trying to figure which team. I want to get all the information.

MORGAN: You're a Baltimore Ravens fanatic.

CHARLES: Yes, I am.

MORGAN: Then you should understand the pain that I'm going through.

CHARLES: The Ravens are good. They're not under performing. The Ravens are good. The Oriole, by the way, that would be a more apt --

MORGAN: Do you like Twitter? Because you're not on Twitter. You're very much, as you said, an e-mail and text person.

MARGULIES: I can e-mail and text.

MORGAN: Why don't you like the whole social network thing?

MARGULIES: It's not that I don't like it. I just -- honestly, I'm a mother of a 3.5-year-old, with a full time job, five days a week, 14 hours a day. I don't have no time.

MORGAN: You have another half hour a day.

MARGULIES: I have no time. I don't know how people have time.

MORGAN: You had a great moment earlier, because you met one of your heroes backstage in Nick Kristof of the "New York Times," who is a brilliant guy to follow, because often he just Tweets in real time from wherever he is. As he said to me before, it's kind of become the new form of information to the public from reporters like him.

CHARLES: I said last night -- you know, we were at work and I was following all the Troy Davis story while we were filming. While I was following all these people's Tweet, I really realized for the first time what Twitter was all about. And just feeling all that beautiful humanity coming through my iPhone, which was kind of hard to believe.

MORGAN: Did you see what Alec Baldwin was up to last night? He was virtually self-imploding. But I loved the visceral rage that he was -- whichever side of the argument you were on, I love the fact that Twitter allows somebody like him to vent his spleen over a big breaking news story in that way.

It was extraordinary to read. He took everybody down with it, didn't he?

CHARLES: I enjoyed it as well.

MARGULIES: Isn't there a danger with Tweeting, like drunk dial? Isn't there a drunk Tweeting danger?

MORGAN: I think there's even worse dangers than that. I think there should be certain rules. Never get on Twitter after more than two drinks. Never get on after midnight. Never follow an ex girlfriend would be definitely top of the list, I think, don't you?

CHARLES: Absolutely.

MORGAN: Josh, tell me about your real life. Are you as pathetically unlucky in love in real life as you are on-screen?

CHARLES: Actually, no. I'm very lucky right now. I have a beautiful girlfriend.

MORGAN: You are. Thank God for that. The endless misery you have to go through on the show. Seriously. My wife's always like, he's such a good looking, smart guy. Why can't he keep a girl? What's wrong with him. That's what happens after a while. What's wrong with him?

CHARLES: I know, exactly.

MORGAN: Real life, things are a lot happier?

MARGULIES: Things are much better for me than Will Gardner, as far as his emotional life.

MORGAN: Is she comfortable with these steamy love scenes that you're about to unfurl on the nation?

CHARLES: My girlfriend, Sophie, is not only comfortable with it. She wants to see it. So --

MORGAN: Your husband, you banned from watching?

MARGULIES: No. I said to him -- I said I think the first episode, honey, might be steamier than I thought. He said, good, I'll send Sophie flowers.

CHARLES: That's part of it, the joy of it, though, is that Jules and I go back. We're just so comfortable together. I think it makes it really easy. We have great partners that understand what we do.

MARGULIES: We're all friends. We go out to dinner together.

MORGAN: Speaking of friends and partners, we're going to bring out two more. These are your other co-stars, Christine Baranski and Alan Cumming. So we'll see them after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES: What do you think?

CHRISTINE BARANSKI, "THE GOOD WIFE": I think you're holding something against her.

CHARLES: I'm what?

BARANSKI: Alicia. Maybe it's unconscious, maybe it's not, but you're being hard on her?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: That's Christine Baranski in 'The Good Wife", She joins me now, along with co-star Alan Cumming. Welcome to both of you.

So this is what I like about this particular moment of the show, because you've been married very contently to one man for the last 30 years.

BARANSKI: Twenty seven, but who's counting.

MORGAN: The perfect personification of a long lasting, happy, monogamous marriage. You, Alan --

ALAN CUMMING, "THE GOOD WIFE": I knew you were going next to --

MORGAN: You, unless I'm wrong, were once quoted as saying "I don't believe monogamy is feasible" and I've been married to a woman and to a man?

CUMMING: Not at the same time, though.

MORGAN: That's the only complication that could have made this more interesting. So come on then, let's discuss monogamy for a moment, because your show is littered with the opposite of monogamy. Everyone is at it.

Let's have the monogamy debate. You go first. Why is monogamy not feasible? There's a glittering example sitting right next to you?

CUMMING: As man, I didn't feel my gender is particularly attuned to be monogamous. I don't think as an animal -- as a male animal, I don't think we are meant to be monogamous.

MORGAN: Really?

CUMMING: Yes.

MORGAN: If you can get away with that? How would your girlfriend treat you coming back home and saying, I'm an animal and I can't be monogamous.

MARGULIES: Such a loaded question.

CHARLES: Wow, Piers -- Arsenal is playing Saturday, you said, right?

(CROSS TALK)

CUMMING: I don't think it's -- our show is based on a lack of monogamy. The whole notion for our show that so much of art, so much of stuff you talk to people across this table about is about the fact that monogamy isn't working. I don't -- you know what the biggest thing I think is -- it's not the fact that monogamy isn't feasible. It's that we don't think that, you know, sexual infidelity -- we think that's the worst betrayal.

Actually, I think there are much worse ways you can betray your partner than that.

MORGAN: Do you? Like what?

CUMMING: Like betraying them in friendship or betraying their trust. If we were --

MORGAN: Cheating on them is betraying their trust.

CUMMING: If you are to think about it this way, like, hey, it's a physical thing. It's a desire that we have and we can't -- if you're kind with it, then maybe it is going to be OK. I think if we as a culture were conditioned to think that's something maybe -- like in France, maybe it happens, maybe we deal with it in a way, and we brush it into a place that we're all able to let it disperse and be OK with, then maybe we would be able to have happier lives.

MORGAN: Christine?

BARANSKI: I think a big factor is when you have children and you're raising a family, staying together, I think the greatest gift Matthew and I gave our kids was staying together and working things out. It can be really hard. And you are endlessly shifting your weight.

But we have two grown daughters and they seem to be both in wonderful relationships. So it isn't even a question of monogamy or not. It's like, this really makes sense just to make this work.

MORGAN: Do you understand why --

BARANSKI: It feels good because it makes your children happy.

MORGAN: Do you understand how her character then would stand by her man?

BARANSKI: Yes. In fact, if you asked Julianna about the women who stand by their men instead of deserting them, I think a big factor -- for instance, Silda, she had two daughters of an age to really know what was going on. I think she probably just, you know, closed ranks and said, we're going to get through this as a family with as much dignity as we can, rather than talk to the press, make a dramatic exit, whatever.

You notice that woman just got very quiet and dignified. I saw her at an event. She was just so beautifully dignified. I think she did that for her kids.

CUMMING: There's also the worry that if that happens, your hair will change. Because I don't know if you realized that in the new season of "The Good Wife," since there's been changed to Julianna's, a certain change -- her hair has changed as well.

MORGAN: Am I hearing you saying it with your hair currently, slightly alarming condition itself. So not quite sure you're the one to be dishing out hair advice.

CUMMING: Not advice. It's merely observance. On television, if you get some action, you get a different hairdo.

CHARLES: Very observant.

MORGAN: What I love about your character is apparently it's based on Rahm Emanuel, the former White House chief of staff for Barack Obama. And Eli Gold is in 'The Good Wife." And of course, the link is that Ari Gold from "Entourage" is based on Ari Emanuel, who is Rahm's brother. It's a horrible, evil little axis.

CUMMING: Don't you just feel for their other brothers, that Zeke one who --

(CROSS TALK)

MORGAN: He hasn't got any TV show?

CUMMING: I think that must be awful.

MORGAN: Your character is wonderful.

CHARLES: Or amazing.

MORGAN: Do you think he's inherently an evil person?

CUMMING: No, not at all. No, he's got selfness to him. He has a humor to him.

MORGAN: Has he, though? Wouldn't he, in the end, do anything for political gain?

CUMMING: Yes. But he still has a chink in his armor.

MORGAN: Does he have a moral compass, though?

CUMMING: Yes. It's just kind of slanted a little further.

MARGULIES: Also this season, you are going to see -- Parker Posey plays his ex-wife. You get to see a whole different side of him, which is really exciting.

MORGAN: You are fascinating. You have got an ex-wife.

CUMMING: In real life.

MORGAN: Yes. And in real life, you have also recently gone through a civil partnership.

CUMMING: I have a husband.

MORGAN: That's unusual. Talk to me about that.

CUMMING: What would you like to know, Piers?

MORGAN: I don't know. Whatever you think I should know.

MARGULIES: I saw them kissing at the Emmy's.

MORGAN: Did you really?

MARGULIES: After you lost --

CUMMING: MFG.

MARGULIES: Right. Yes.

CUMMING: He gave me a conciliatory snog.

MORGAN: You've always given wonderful interviews over the years. You came out as a bisexual and said, you know, I like women and men. Are you sure now you're on the right side of the fence?

CUMMING: Yes, I am.

(CROSS TALK)

CUMMING: I mean, I -- I mean, do you mean Jules and Christine? I'm not going to break up my marriage for either of you. Sorry. Josh, maybe.

(CROSS TALK)

MORGAN: What do you think of all these politicians, talking of politics, who on the Tea Party side of the Republicans, are coming out and saying same-sex marriage is disgusting and can't happen?

CUMMING: Well, I think if -- I think, you know, there's such -- America's this country full of such hatred in terms of politics. And the politics of hate is so rampant. And now the only kind of minority that can really be dealt with in that way is the gay population.

So it kind of makes sense. But, of course, I just think it's -- I think it's awful. I think that the Tea Party have some very, very -- some quite sensible notions, actually, when -- on paper. But also that kind of seems to be an umbrella thing that just covers up a lot of real homophobia and racism.

BARANSKI: I think most of America has moved past it. I really do.

CUMMING: I do too.

MORGAN: I get the sense they are moving past it.

CUMMING: I just think the Tea Party is out of touch with America, actually. That's the sad thing for them to have to come to terms with.

MORGAN: Let's have a good break, come back and talk about the new season of "The Good Wife." I want to know all the gory details. What can we look forward to, including the ongoing debate about whether there is any butt action on Sunday. If there is, I'm watching it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORGAN: Back to the cast of "The Good Wife" in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You didn't read about unless you subscribe to the Israel National News. Two days later, an Israeli woman gave birth in a Palestinian hospital.

Where did you read it? AP, CBS News, every major paper. Google it. Go ahead. This is a PR war and they are winning.

CUMMING: Michael, I do not go to your house and tell you what novels to write. I do not go to your committee and tell you what lobbyists to hire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: That was Alan Cumming in "The Good Wife." The show's season premier is this Sunday night on CBS at 9:00 pm. Back with me now, Julianna Margulies, Josh Charles, Christine Baranski and Alan Cumming.

I've got read you this Tweet. You'll love this, Christine. "Christine Baranski is just too classy. I can't handle it half the time. I am loving her on this segment."

BARANSKI: I knew there was a reason I wanted to do your show.

MORGAN: Too classy for your own good.

CHARLES: Classiest Buffalo Bills fan I have ever me.

BARANSKI: I'm from Buffalo, from the Polish neighborhood in Buffalo. Josh and I talk about football. How about those Bills?

(CROSS TALK)

BARANSKI: Buffalo Bills, two and zero.

CHARLES: This is American football.

MORGAN: Buffalo Bills, whatever. Let's get back to "The Good Wife." There's only one type of football, and it doesn't involve helmets. Let's talk about "The Good Wife." I need some juicy bones to lob on this barbecue tonight, because we want them all tuning in on Sunday. So --

BARANSKI: Well, they have to come out of the hotel room, right?

MORGAN: Exactly. Do you guys realize what's happened? When do you realize they're at it? (CROSS TALK)

CUMMING: There's a lot of suspicion. It's still -- I would say it's still -- I mean, you know, duh, for the story and tension, we don't know for a while. The whole season last season is about are they going to get together.

MORGAN: It was unbearable. I was willing them into that hotel room.

CUMMING: This was --

MARGULIES: My favorite question from people on the street is, so what happened when you closed the door? We held hands and drank wine. What do you think happened?

MORGAN: Are you confirming, equivocally, that sex took place?

CUMMING: She's got a new hairdo?

MARGULIES: I think any adult who goes a hotel, 7,800 dollars for the night? You're not going to sit there for 7,800 dollars.

CHARLES: Have you ever done that?

MORGAN: He is not going to waste that kind of money is my sense, not his character.

MARGULIES: Much too smart.

BARANSKI: Married lady, she could have chickened out.

CHARLES: Will is what you call a closer.

MARGULIES: You have to put alcohol into the picture, too. She really hasn't had had any in two years.

MORGAN: She hasn't. She's been waiting a long, long time for this.

MARGULIES: Thus the haircut.

MORGAN: Be like a smoldering volcano.

CUMMING: Her hair just actually curled at the moment of orgasm, because it's waiting too long.

MORGAN: Have you all seen the first episode?

MARGULIES: No

CUMMING: No.

MORGAN: Do you all get together for a "Good Wife" party?

MARGULIES: See it Sunday. (CROSS TALK)

CHARLES: Alan and Julianna and I are going to live Tweet Sunday from Julianna's apartment.

MORGAN: Fantastic.

CUMMING: I don't have a tele. So I don't actually see it. I just watch it on the Internet afterwards.

BARANSKI: Let's just say in terms of the show, the fact that Peter Flooric (ph) got re-elected, this is happening. I mean, we don't have to give anything away in terms of the plot. But this affect the internal office, you know, the terra firma.

MORGAN: Leave it on a cliff hanger.

(CROSS TALK)

MORGAN: You're giving too much away. Leave it as a cliffhanger. That was brilliant. Thank you all so much. I love the show. I love you all. I can't wait. Sunday, 9:00 pm.

That's all for us tonight. "AC 360" starts right now.