The Good Wife (2009– )

Alicia has been a good wife to her husband, a former state attorney. After a very humiliating sex and corruption scandal, he is behind bars. She must now provide for her family and returns to work as a litigator in a law firm.

Creators:

Michelle King, Robert King

Stars:

Julianna Margulies, Matt Czuchry, Josh Charles

Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 14 wins & 64 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Julianna Margulies	...	Alicia Florrick (90 episodes, 2009-2013)
Matt Czuchry	...	Cary Agos (90 episodes, 2009-2013)
Archie Panjabi	...	Kalinda Sharma (90 episodes, 2009-2013)
Josh Charles	...	Will Gardner (90 episodes, 2009-2013)
Christine Baranski	...	Diane Lockhart (90 episodes, 2009-2013)
Alan Cumming	...	Eli Gold (63 episodes, 2010-2013)
Makenzie Vega	...	Grace Florrick (61 episodes, 2009-2013)
Chris Noth	...	Peter Florrick (61 episodes, 2009-2013)
Graham Phillips	...	Zach Florrick (56 episodes, 2009-2013)
Mary Beth Peil	...	Jackie Florrick (37 episodes, 2009-2013)

Storyline

Alicia Florrick is the wife of a former state attorney for Cook County. He has been imprisoned after a sex and corruption scandal. Alicia must deal with the public humiliation. She must also fend for her two children. After years of being a housewife and mother, she returns to work as a litigator at the law firm Stern, Lockhart & Gardner. She must now prove herself in the courtroom.

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Plot Keywords:

law firm | corruption | courtroom | defense attorney | family relationships | 

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Taglines:

Don't let the name fool you.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Official Sites:

CBS [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

A férjem védelmében

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Scott Free Productions, King Size Productions, Small Wishes

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The series was partly inspired by the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal. It also draws on other prominent American political sex scandals, such those of John Edwards and Bill Clinton. Creator Michelle King also noted that in these political scandals, the women are lawyers (Hilary Clinton, Elizabeth Edwards).

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Connections

Referenced in Family Guy: The Giggity Wife (2013)

User Reviews

Soapy seduction

If I were limiting my rating of this show to the realm of present-day American TV, I'd rate it a 9.5. It's the only show I go out of my way to see. And why? Because it's the only one that gets me worked up over the characters, in other ways than by having them murdered or suffering from some dire disease. Dramatic involvement has fallen out of fashion on TV in the U.S.--most shows are too cool to care--and so I take an old-fashioned satisfaction in becoming variously worried, relieved, angry, or cheerful about what the characters are doing and what is done to them. My suspension of disbelief is facilitated by a sharp cast and vivid direction, which puts emotional suspense and its concomitants--focus, pace, mood, foreshadowing--ahead of all else.

...And I have just now realized that what I'm describing, or working toward describing, is a seduction. That pinpoints the type of pleasure the show furnishes, and explains the slight suspicion it engenders. Watching it, I feel as if I'm being enjoyably had by a high-priced, attractive call girl who's very good at what she does; but it is what it is, no more. And so, though I count myself a fan of the show, I can't for a second regard it as serious drama, although it's endeavoring to pass as such. Apart from a strong satirical streak--more like marbling, really, since it runs through every part--what it is is soap opera of a fairly high order, showing genuine cleverness and feeling. Of course it bears only a tenuous relation to real life: the legal cases are resolved patly, in sudden courtroom revelations; the personal turmoils resolve themselves into neatly defined crossfires; and in between, one gets little sense of life as it's lived, i.e. continuously. What does Julianna Margulies do in her office all day? What do her kids do while she's at work? The show doesn't care much. It's concerned with the big scenes, the sweeping flourishes, the successive waves of crisis that batter its heroine.

Margulies' persona, probably even more than her performance, is what holds it all together. The series sets her off like a diamond, but she's the gleaming center. Somehow the actress seems universal: elegant yet earthy, modern but timeless; one can imagine her in any form in which a beleaguered heroine might figure, from Jacobean tragedy to telenovela.

...And so I keep watching.