Except for sports, most broadcast TV genres just aren't as dominant, or even as good, as they used to be. But though cable has grabbed most of the ground and momentum, there are still islands of excellence where broadcast television proves, week in and week out, it still can present the best. Ladies and gentlemen, as Exhibits A through C, I give you: 60 Minutes for news, Modern Family for comedy, and The Good Wife for Drama...

The Good Wife, with its most recent episode, knocked me out. Not only did it advance several stories at once -- the legal case of the week, the political machinations of Peter's election campaign, Alicia's long-simmering uncertainty about her relationship with colleague Will -- but it gave Archie Panjabi, as investigator Kalinda, one of broadcast TV's sexiest scenes in recent memory.

Then, right after that, it gave her another one.

The first had Kalinda dealing with a seductive job offer from a female FBI agent -- an offer delivered as that same agent, who has been after Kalinda for a while, strategically removed her shoe, extended her foot and aggressively placed it under cover of the restaurant tablecloth. Yikes.

Then Kalinda left that assignation to encounter Blake, a private investigator with whom she also has a tempestuous history.

Their hotel room scene together was a molten-hot tango of smoldering distrust: frisking one another, stripping to prove no one was wearing a wire, then kissing passionately after all the posturing foreplay. Except that, after all that, Kalinda hit Blake in the side with a baseball bat, crumpling him to the ground. Double yikes.

Broadcast TV has constraints that cable TV doesn't, but I don't remember seeing any one scene that sexy elsewhere on TV this season -- much less two in a row.

But what's most impressive about The Good Wife is what it shares with both Modern Family and 60 Minutes: Its overall intelligence, and its deep, talented roster.

The Good Wife is Julianna Margulies' show, and she's great as Alicia -- a stone face of withheld reactions, for the most part, unless her brother squeezes them out of her. But it's also a show where you could happily follow, or even give the lead to, a ridiculously long parade of other players.

Without complaint, it could be Chris Noth's show, zeroing in on his political fortune as ex-con Peter Florrick. Or it could be Alan Cumming's show, embodying the spirit of The West Wing as Eli, Peter's super-savvy campaign manager. It could be Josh Charles' show as law partner Will, or Christine Baranski's show as fellow partner Diane. Scott Porter as Blake, and Matt Czuchry as Cary, are fascinating as unblinking adversaries -- and Panjabi, as Kalinda, already has stolen enough scenes to earn a spinoff.

So, for that matter, has Michael J. Fox, after two appearances as devious attorney Louis Canning. And the judges... well, I could keep going and going, and raving and praising, but that's precisely the point. The scripts and the acting are equally superb in The Good Wife -- more than enough to qualify it as A Great Drama. Watch it Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.

As for the other shows I mentioned, 60 Minutes is televised Sundays at 7 p.m. ET on CBS, continuing a tradition of not underestimating the audience that it has maintained for a mind-blowing 43 years. Sunday's episode was a perfet example of the show's usually perfect blend.

For breaking news, there was the national scoop of the first TV interview with Sen. Scott Brown, the Massachusetts Republican who earned the state seat previously held by Democrat Ted Kennedy. Lesley Stahl profiled him about his new book, which contains very personal insights about childhood physical and sexual abuse -- but got to the heart of his independent political stance as well.

On the international scene, there was Bob Simon's explanation of how a fruit vendor's frustration in Tunisia led to the current waves of revolution rocking the Middle East. Then there was Scott Pelley's look at the history behind the movie The King's Speech -- not only interviewing stars Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, both of whom are up for Oscars this weekend, but the grandson of the speech therapist played by Rush.

A big bonus there: He shared with 60 Minutes the original copy of the speech given by King George VI, complete with markings for stutter-avoiding pauses.

One wonderful story after another, delivered by one skilled TV reporter after another. On broadcast TV, there is no equal to 60 Minutes, and never has been.

And, finally, there's Modern Family, shown by ABC Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET.

Rather than belabor the point about the intelligence (what a smart, funny comedy it is!) of this series, and its remarkable cast (is there anyone on this show who can't, or hasn't, made you laugh out loud?), I'll just beg you to watch it, if you aren't already.

Give all six of the leading adult players their props: Ed O'Neill (as Jay) is drier than dust, Sofia Vergara (as Jay's younger wife, Gloria) is a spit-take spitfire, Ty Burrell (as Phil) has a perfect self-deprecating deadpan, Julie Bowen (as Phil's wife and Jay's daughter) is an alluring mix of uneasy insecurity and effortless sex appeal...

And last but certainly not least, there are Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet (as, respectively, Jay's gay son Mitchell and Mitchell's significant other, the needy and showy Cameron), seen at the top of this column with Cameron in his alter ego Fizbo clown costume. Ferguson and Stonestreet, as Michaell and Cameron, may well be the funniest TV couple of the decade.

All three shows are brilliant. And -- here's a statement I can't say a lot -- you don't need cable to watch any of them.