The Good Wife (2009–2016)
Trivia
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Spoilers (2)
During an Emmy roundtable for "Hollywood Reporter" in 2014, Julianna Margulies revealed that she was only the third choice for the lead part on the show. Ashley Judd and Helen Hunt turned down the role of Alicia Florrick.
Julianna Margulies wore a wig for her character and spent a reported fourteen hours a day, five days a week, and nine months out of the year working on this show.
Archie Panjabi (Kalinda Sharma) claims that when she was nominated for an Emmy award, nobody recognized her. She arrived on the red carpet to get her picture taken and "every single photographer in the line put their camera down." That same night she won the Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.
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 (Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Edwards).
All episode titles in seasons one through four have the same number of words as the number of the season in which they appear. All season one episodes have one-word titles (for example, Doubt), all season two episodes have two-word titles (for example, Real Deal), all season three episodes have three-word titles (for example, After the Fall), and all season four episodes have four-word titles (for example, Anatomy of a Joke). Later seasons reverse this formula. All season five episodes have three-words titles (for example, The Bit Bucket), season six's have two-word titles (for example, Dear God) and season seven episodes have one-word titles (for example, Taxed) completing the cycle.
According to Julianna Margulies, after three exhausting years juggling the demanding show schedule and dealing with her baby's first years, she made a deal with Creators Robert King and Michelle King. Starting in season four, for those big courtroom scenes that take several hours to be filmed completely, Margulies would shoot the scenes where Alicia is an active part first, then they would shoot scenes with the other cast members, where she would have to be in the background for coverage once or twice, and then she would leave the set to prepare her next scenes, or have the rest of the day off.
During a 2011 interview on the National Public Radio program "Talk of the Nation," Alan Cumming (Eli Gold) confirmed that his character is loosely based on longtime political operative (and, as of 2011, Mayor of Chicago) Rahm Emanuel. Cumming said that Gold's undeveloped backstory includes a former career as a concert pianist, inspired by Emanuel's early-life, pre-politics ambition to become a professional ballet dancer.
Archie Panjabi took Kalinda's trademark boots and leather jacket with her when she left.
On July 11, 2012, during the filming of an episode, in which she was guest-starring, Kristin Chenoweth was struck by a falling piece of lighting equipment. She was knocked unconscious by the blow, and was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. After several months of recovery, in which it was unsure if she would be able to return to her role, Chenoweth reported in September 2012 that her medical issues included not being able to "form a sentence after it happened", a skull fracture, and continuing pain in her ribs and hip.
The show earned two Emmy nominations in the Writing category, the first one for the pilot, and the second one for the series finale.
Guest stars who have played themselves interacting with the show's fictional characters include: Clinton Administration advisers Vernon Jordan and Donna Brazile; Presidential MSNBC anchor and Political Commentator Chris Matthews; financial television hosts Lou Dobbs and Jim Cramer; and O.J. Simpson's lawyer and co-founder of The Innocence Project Barry Scheck. Actor, lawyer, and politician Fred Thompson plays Frank Michael Thomas, a thinly veiled version of himself (Thomas is also a former actor, lawyer, and politician). New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared in the season four finale.
The show was set in Chicago, but filmed in New York City. The pilot was filmed in Canada, and filming was planned to continue there, but Julianna Margulies asked the producers to shoot in New York City, because she had just become a mother, and couldn't leave for Canada for nine months a year.
Creators Robert King and Michelle King always made clear that they had a seven-year plan for the show.
By the time Archie Panjabi's Kalinda was written out at the end of season six, rumors had begun to circulate that she and Julianna Margulies did not get along on-set. When asked to comment on this rumor, Margulies explained that since Panjabi was simultaneously shooting segments her television series The Fall (2013) in the U.K., the bar scene between both women in this show had to be filmed with body doubles in alternating over-shoulder reverse angle shots, and not because they couldn't bear to be in the same two-shots together. For her part, Panjabi has disputed this account of events, tweeting that not only was her new show not in production at the time, but that she was "in New York, ready to film the scene" in question.
The show was based on Robert King and Michelle King's observation of real-life scandals. When they pitched the project, the couple noticed there were several occurrences of political scandals in which powerful women were involved. The question of why these women stayed around, and what comes after public humiliation, formed the basis of this show.
Julianna Margulies won two Emmy awards for her performance - one in 2011 and one in 2014. She was nominated a total of four times.
Archie Panjabi could only play the character of Kalinda in boots. She stated: "I've tried wearing shoes, but it doesn't work. Her walk changes."
Julianna Margulies always wanted Alicia to leave Peter (Chris Noth), but believed she wouldn't leave him until she found true love.
Julianna Margulies' husband, Keith, is actually a lawyer.
Matt Czuchry (Cary Agos) was unaware his character would be going to prison until he saw a prison jumpsuit in his wardrobe fitting.
Christine Baranski (Diane Lockhart) said her dream guest on the show would have been Alan Rickman. She'd have liked him to "sweep her off her feet".
Elisabeth Shue was considered for the role of Alicia Florrick, but turned down the role to spend more time with her family.
Robert King said the writers knew how the show would end "after the first thirteen (episodes)."
Kalinda's (Archie Panjabi's) estranged husband, Nick (Marc Warren), left the show earlier than intended. It was clear his introduction had hit a wrong chord with fans. "You don't give James Bond a girlfriend", Robert King explained. "This was not a place where the audience wanted to go."
There were seven writers, in addition to Robert King and Michelle King, who worked on the show. Of those seven writers, three were also attorneys. The team had a legal consultant, too.
According to Julianna Margulies, whenever there were "weird, kinky, strange" scenes in the script, it had been written by Robert King.
At the end of the second quarter of Super Bowl 50 (February 7, 2016), CBS used the transition from the game to the half-time commercial break to announce that 2016 was the final year for the series, and that there were nine first-run episodes remaining.
This show took place in Cook County, Chicago, Illinois, the same as Cook County General Hospital, the setting of ER (1994), where Julianna Margulies played Nurse Carol Hathaway.
Alan Cumming (Eli Gold) is Scottish, not American.
Josh Charles originally wanted to leave this show at the end of the fourth season. It was Julianna Margulies who convinced him to stay until mid-season so Robert King and Michelle King could write him a proper exit.
The creators of the show tried to have Carrie Preston (Elsbeth Tascioni) for several episodes in season seven, but her contract with Crowded (2016) only allowed her to do one.
Carrie Preston reprised her role of Elsbeth Tascioni on this show's spin-off, The Good Fight (2017).
Eli Gold (Alan Cumming) was modelled after Chicago politician Rahm Emanuel, former Chief of Staff of former President Barack Obama.
The creators of this show, Robert King and Michelle King, have been married for thirty-three years, in 2020.
Season seven's campaign storyline was written to purposely mirror the current political stage. Robert King claimed "we're trying to parallel what's happening on our show with what's happening in reality."
Chris Noth, and guest stars Richard Brooks , Jill Hennessy, S. Epatha Merkerson, Fred Fred Thompson, Julianne Nicholson, Eric Bogosian, and Jay O. Sanders were all series regulars in the "Law & Order" franchise. Despite starring in that franchise with all but Thompson and Sanders, with Brooks, Hennessy, and Merkerson in the original series, and with Nicholson and Bogosian in the "Criminal Intent" spin-off, Noth does not share a single scene with any of them here.
In one episode, Peter (Chris Noth) mistakenly thinks Eli (Alan Cumming) is coming out to him, saying he couldn't care less if Eli was gay. Cumming really is bisexual.
Cush Jumbo (Lucca) joined the series cast in season seven after Christine Baranski suggested to Creators Robert King and Michelle King that they see her in the one-woman show "Josephine and I" (about jazz singer Josephine Baker) at New York's Public Theater in 2015. Cush had been an avid fan of the series from the beginning.
In Dead Poets Society (1989), a young Josh Charles played a prep school student who was destined to become a "great lawyer". In Snakes on a Plane (2006), Julianna Margulies played a flight attendant who was quitting her job to go to law school.
While Eli Gold was loosely based on Chicago, Illinois Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Rahm Emanuel's brother, Ari Emanuel, was also the basis for the character Ari Gold in HBO's Entourage (2004).
Robert King and Michelle King only got three and a half weeks off a year. The rest of the year was spent working on this show.
Elsbeth Tascioni's (Carrie Preston's) unseen personal assistant was called "Fantasia". The vampire bar in Preston's other show, True Blood (2008), was called "Fangtasia".
Chris Noth, Julianna Margulies, Christine Baranski, Zach Grenier, and Mary Beth Peil appeared on Law & Order (1990).
Michael J. Fox played a lawyer with a neurological disorder (tardive diskinesia, rather than Fox's own Parkinson's, but close enough) which he played up to gain sympathy from jurors he argues in front of. This backfires against a paraplegic judge in one episode: the judge basically says, "Yeah, so what?" and tells him to get on with the case.
Mike Colter reprised his role of Lemond Bishop on this show's spin-off, The Good Fight (2017).
Jerry Adler reprised his role of Howard Lyman on this show's spin-off, The Good Fight (2017).
Maura Tierney (Maddie Hayward), Jerry Adler (Howard Lyman), Steven Pasquale (Johnny Elfman), and Michael J. Fox (Louis Canning) appeared on Rescue Me (2004).
Various celebrities guest starred on the this show, including Matthew Perry (Friends (1994)), America Ferrera (Ugly Betty (2006)), Jason Biggs (American Pie (1999)), and Sarah Silverman.
Roger Brenner played the role of a law clerk on this show. He has, in total, appeared in nineteen different episodes playing various characters throughout the course of the series: Episode 7.15 The Good Wife: Targets (2016) - Law Clerk (uncredited) Episode 7.12 The Good Wife: Tracks (2016) - Courtroom Gallery Lawyer (uncredited) Episode 6.6 The Good Wife: Old Spice (2014) - Equity Partner Lawyer (uncredited) Episode 6.2 The Good Wife: Trust Issues (2014) - Equity Partner Lawyer (uncredited) Episode 5.18 The Good Wife: All Tapped Out (2014) - Equity Partner Lawyer (uncredited) Episode 5.16 The Good Wife: The Last Call (2014) - Equity Partner Lawyer (uncredited) Episode 5.5 The Good Wife: Hitting the Fan (2013) - Equity Partner Lawyer (uncredited) Episode 5.4 The Good Wife: Outside the Bubble (2013) - Equity Partner Lawyer (uncredited) Episode 4.16 The Good Wife: Runnin' with the Devil (2013) - Law Firm Client (uncredited) Episode 4.14 The Good Wife: Red Team, Blue Team (2013) - Equity Partner Lawyer (uncredited) Episode 4.12 The Good Wife: Je Ne Sais What? (2013) - Chicago Political Boss (uncredited) Episode 4.5 The Good Wife: Waiting for the Knock (2012) - Breadmaker (uncredited) Episode 3.21 The Good Wife: The Penalty Box (2012) - Lawyer (uncredited) Episode 3.20 The Good Wife: Pants on Fire (2012) - Lawyer (uncredited) Episode 3.18 The Good Wife: Gloves Come Off (2012) - Lawyer (uncredited) Episode 3.14 The Good Wife: Another Ham Sandwich (2012) - Lawyer (uncredited) Episode 3.7 The Good Wife: Executive Order 13224 (2011) - Lawyer (uncredited) Episode 3.5 The Good Wife: Marthas and Caitlins (2011) - Lawyer (uncredited) Episode 3.4 The Good Wife: Feeding the Rat (2011) - Lawyer (uncredited)
Creators Robert King and Michelle King have their own television production company in partnership with CBS called "King Size Productions".
After CBS was accused in a G.L.A.A.D. report of not having enough LGTBQ characters on their shows, Alicia's gay brother, Owen, was created for the show.
Alicia Florrick's astrological sign is Pisces. In season one, episode four, "Fixed", Alicia finds a videotape of Peter and her children planning a surprise birthday party for her. The date on the video tape is marked "3-16-09". Even if the surprise party was off a few days, the date is well within the date range for Pisces.
The grey and white pantsuit worn by Alicia is the same one worn by David Spade in Rules of Engagement (2007) when Russell interviews for a magazine.
Despiste the creators announcing their plan for wrapping up the show with season 7, at the moment there were serious talks of doing a season 8, even with Julianna Margulies expressing interest in keep doing the show. But after realizing that 7 seasons was always the plan for the Kings, Margulies announced that her loyalty was with them and she wouldn't do more episodes.
Spoilers
Will's death was the result of Josh Charles' own decision to leave, not the creators' decision. Once he decided not to renew his contract, Robert King and Michelle King had to write around his exit.
Even the creators weren't convinced they'd be able to keep Will's (Josh Charles') death a secret. Michelle King claimed she was waiting for the secret to come out right up until the moment the show aired.
