The Good Wife (TV series)

The Good Wife
Intertitle (season 1)
Genre	Legal drama
Created by	Robert King Michelle King
Starring	Julianna Margulies Matt Czuchry Archie Panjabi Graham Phillips Makenzie Vega Alan Cumming Josh Charles Christine Baranski
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	68 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Ridley Scott Tony Scott Dee Johnson David W. Zucker Michelle King Robert King Brooke Kennedy
Location(s)	Chicago
Running time	43 minutes
Production company(s)	Scott Free Productions King Size Productions CBS Television Studios CBS Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Picture format	480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV)
Original run	September 22, 2009 (2009-09-22) – present
External links
Website

The Good Wife is an American legal drama that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2009.^[1] The series was created by Robert King and Michelle King. It stars Julianna Margulies, Christine Baranski, Archie Panjabi, Matt Czuchry and Josh Charles, and features Chris Noth in a recurring role. Executive producers are the Kings, Ridley and Tony Scott, Charles McDougall, and David W. Zucker.^[2]

On October 7, 2009, CBS gave the series a full-season pickup, extending the first season from 13 to 22 episodes,^[3] later extended to 23 episodes.^[4] On January 14, 2010, CBS renewed the drama for a second season,^[5] which premiered on September 28, 2010.^[6] On May 18, 2011, CBS renewed The Good Wife for a third season, airing Sundays at 9:00 p.m.^[7] On March 14, 2012, CBS renewed the show for a fourth season.^[8]

The series and its cast have won a number of awards. Julianna Margulies has been widely recognized for portrayal in the lead role, winning an Emmy in 2011, a Golden Globe in 2009, Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2010 and 2011, and a Television Critics Association Award in 2010. Archie Panjabi won a supporting actress Emmy in 2010. The series has won a Peabody Award and has been twice nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series and the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series. In total, the series and its cast have been nominated for 14 Emmy Awards in its first two seasons.

Plot

The series focuses on Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies), whose husband Peter Florrick (Chris Noth), a former Cook County state's attorney, has been jailed following a very public sex and corruption scandal. Alicia returns to her old job as a litigator (after taking years out to be a stay at home mother) to provide for her two children.^[9] The series was partly inspired by the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal,^[10] as well as by other prominent American political sex scandals, particularly those of John Edwards and Bill Clinton:

Michelle [King]: We came up with the idea about a year and half ago. There had been this waterfall of these kinds of scandals, from Bill and Hillary [Clinton], to Dick Morris, to Eliot Spitzer, to name just a few. I think they’re all over our culture. And there was always this image of the husband up there apologizing and the wife standing next to him. I think the show began when we asked, "What are they thinking?" And Robert and I started talking about it from there. ... You know, what’s interesting about a lot of these political scandals is that the women are lawyers, too. Hillary [Clinton] is a lawyer. Elizabeth Edwards is a lawyer. I think that got us thinking along those lines. That is, we knew she had to go back to work, and we had so many female lawyers to draw on.^[11]

Main cast

• Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick: The wife of Peter, a disgraced state's attorney; Alicia returns to work as a junior litigator at the law firm Stern, Lockhart & Gardner. Having spent so many years as "the good wife", Alicia finds herself at the bottom of the career ladder, trying to juggle both home and professional life with the ongoing scandal surrounding her husband with whom she has two children, Zach and Grace. In season 3, Alicia is a third-year associate at the firm. She and Peter are separated, and she has a sexual affair with Will but by mid-season she breaks it off. Toward the end of season three, Peter announced his candidacy for governor of Illinois; Alicia stood at his side as he made the announcement.

• Josh Charles as Will Gardner: An old friend of Alicia's from Georgetown University and a partner at the law firm. In season 3, Will and Alicia have an affair. Will is suspended from practicing law for six months as punishment stemming from an old bribery scandal.

• Archie Panjabi as Kalinda Sharma: The firm's in-house private investigator. Kalinda previously worked for Peter for two years. He fired her after accusing her of working two jobs. After becoming good friends, Alicia finds out Kalinda had an affair with Peter before she knew Alicia, damaging their friendship. Kalinda has a cynical, misanthropic outlook on human behavior. She has sexual relations with people of both genders. She often plays a major part in winning cases for Lockhart Gardner, although not always ethically or legally. The character's signature wardrobe piece has become a pair of knee-high boots;^{[12][13][14][15]} the character initially wore pumps but Panjabi felt that boots "grounded her in the character".^[16]

• Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart: A senior partner at the firm, she supports other female lawyers. She is liberal and has strong opinions on many issues, including an extreme dislike of guns and violence, although in one plot line she had a romantic relationship with a conservative ballistics expert.

• Matt Czuchry as Cary Agos: In the first season, Cary is a junior associate at Lockhart Gardner. In the first episode, it is established that there is only one permanent position, putting Cary into competition with Alicia. At the end of first season, the firm selects Alicia, and Cary goes to work for the state attorney's office. In season 3, Cary is appointed Cook County Deputy State's Attorney. Cary is subsequently demoted. Dissatisfied with the demotion, he accepts an offer to return to Lockhart Gardner.

• Alan Cumming as Eli Gold: Eli is Peter's campaign manager. His style of management is to be blunt, often rude. Eli is separated from his wife and has a daughter, Marissa (played by Sarah Steele), who is similarly outspoken and shares a healthy relationship with her father. He has a brief shot at romance with Natalie Flores (played by America Ferrera), a student who worked in the past as a nanny for Wendy Scott-Carr. Eli leaks details to the press of Natalie's status as an illegal immigrant but as he comes to know her he is seen to regret this and later helps her get a job as an intern at Lockhart Gardner. Cumming's portrayal of Gold has been compared to Rahm Emanuel.^[17] He was promoted to the main cast in season two.^[18]

• Graham Phillips as Zachary "Zach" Florrick: Son of Alicia and Peter.

• Makenzie Vega as Grace Florrick: Daughter of Alicia and Peter.

Recurring cast

• Chris Noth as Peter Florrick: Alicia's husband, and current and former Cook County State's Attorney. He was imprisoned for political corruption. During his trial, it was revealed he had patronized prostitutes numerous times. In season one, he was released from prison to house arrest using electronic monitoring. However, he was later cleared when a court dismissed the corruption case against him. In season one’s finale, Peter launched an ultimately successful campaign for his old job. At the end of season 3 he launches his campaign for governor of Illinois.
• Mary Beth Peil as Jackie Florrick: Peter's mother. She is reluctant to believe in her son's corrupt behavior and is hopeful Alicia and Peter will reunite and once again become a family. Jackie's meddling in Alicia's and the children's lives annoys Alicia.
• Titus Welliver as Glenn Childs: Former Cook County State's Attorney. Childs was responsible for leaking the Peter Florrick sex tape to the media. He is Peter's arch rival and will do anything to keep Peter from emerging from disgrace. After Peter's fall, he was the new state's attorney. During Peter's campaign for the top spot, Glenn is forced to withdraw his candidacy due to the fact Peter knows of his illegal dealings with nannies. He now works as an AUSA (Assistant United States Attorney).
• Michael Ealy as Derrick Bond: A new partner at the merged Lockhart Gardner & Bond. He plays Will and Diane against each other, forcing Diane to plan a new firm. He fails when Will and Diane find out his scheme and turn on him. In "Great Firewall" he is removed as a named partner.
• Anika Noni Rose as Wendy Scott-Carr: Ran unsuccessfully against Peter and Childs for state's attorney. Scott-Carr reappears in season 3 as a special prosecutor hired by Florrick.
• Joe Morton as Daniel Golden: A member of Peter's legal team. Now works in the State Department.
• Michael Boatman as Julius Cain: A partner and head of Litigation at the firm.
• Zach Grenier as David Lee: A partner and head of Family Law at the firm.
• Scott Porter as Blake Calamar: A private investigator for the firm who competes with Kalinda. He tries to frame Kalinda for putting a doctor in a coma but fails. He finds out that her former name was Leela Tahiri and Peter helped her change it. In return, she slept with Peter. After this revelation, he disappears after Bond is removed as name partner.
• Dallas Roberts as Owen Cavanaugh: Alicia's mischievous, openly gay, younger brother.
• Chris Butler as Matan Brody: A prosecutor. After Blake confronted Kalinda in "Ham Sandwich" about her one-night stand with Peter, Blake leaves after giving one last interview to Matan.
• Michael J. Fox as Louis Canning: Canning is a rival attorney who has been opposing counsel to Alicia in various cases. Canning is afflicted with tardive dyskinesia, which he often uses to curry sympathy with judges, juries, and witnesses. He offers Alicia a job in "Wrongful Termination", which she rejects.
• Carrie Preston as Elsbeth Tascioni: A quirky lawyer introduced in the episode Mock as part of Peter's team. She returns in the third season to help Alicia when she gets in trouble with the Treasury Department. Later in that season, Will hires her to help him when Wendy Scott-Carr investigates him for judicial bribery.
• Monica Raymund as Dana Lodge: An Assistant States Attorney in Florrick's office
• Renee Goldsberry as Geneva Pine: An Assistant States Attorney in Florrick's office.
• Anna Camp as Caitlin D'arcy: A junior associate at the firm. Alicia acts as her mentor.

Crew

The series was created by Robert King and Michelle King who also serve as executive producers and show runners.^[2] The pair had produced the short-lived legal drama In Justice that aired as a mid-season replacement in early 2006.^[19] The creators had previously worked extensively in feature films. Scott Free productions helped to finance The Good Wife and Ridley Scott, Tony Scott and David W. Zucker are also credited as executive producers.^[20][21] Executive producer Dee Johnson (ER, Commander in Chief and Army Wives) added television writing experience to the team.^[19][21]Charles McDougall directed the pilot episode and was the pilot's other executive producer.^[22] McDougall had previously enjoyed success as the director of the pilot for Desperate Housewives. All seven executive producers returned when a full series was ordered and they were joined by executive producer Brooke Kennedy.^[23] McDougall left the crew after directing and executive producing the second episode.^[23][24] The series is produced by Bernadette Caulfield who had previously worked on the HBO polygamy drama Big Love. Co-producer Ron Binkowski added post production experience to the pilot and returned for the first season.

Several new producers were added to the crew once CBS ordered a full season. Angela Amato Velez joined the crew as a consulting producer and writer bringing legal experience from her careers as a police officer and legal aid attorney and writing experience from the police dramas Third Watch and Southland. Todd Ellis Kessler, who had recently completed production on The Unit and had previously worked on legal drama The Practice, joined the staff as a co-executive producer and writer.^[25] Kessler's fellow The Unit producer Ted Humphrey served as a supervising producer and writer and then as co-executive producer and writer. Corinne Brinkerhoff completed the production team as a writer and co-producer. Brinkerhoff had previously worked as a writer and story editor on Boston Legal.

Episodes

Ratings

Season	Episodes	Timeslot (EST)	Original airing			Rank	Viewers (in millions)
			Season premiere	Season finale	TV season
1st	23	Tuesday 10:00 p.m.	September 22, 2009	May 25, 2010	2009–10	#18	13.12[26]
2nd	23		September 28, 2010	May 17, 2011	2010–11	#16	13.00[27]
3rd	22	Sunday 9:00 p.m.	September 25, 2011	April 29, 2012	2011–12	#26	11.83[28]
4th	TBA		September Fall	TBA	2012–13	TBA	TBA

International broadcasts

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2011)

Country	TV network(s)	Notes
Argentina	Universal Channel
Costa Rica	Teletica	Season 1 premiered in 2010 and ended in April 2011; Season 2 will begin in October 2011.
Australia	Network Ten	Season 1 premiered on Monday nights from February 8, 2010,[29] but moved to Sunday nights at 8:30 p.m. from April 11, 2010. Season 2 premiered on Wednesday nights from October 20, 2010, but was moved to Thursday nights at 8:30 p.m. from January 20, 2011.
Belgium	RTL-TVI French VijfTV Dutch	Premiered on February 4, 2011, in French. Shown Friday nights at 8:20 p.m.
Brazil	Universal Channel	Premiered on November 9, 2009 as The Good Wife - Pelo Direito de Recomeçar ("The Good Wife - For the Right to Start Over").[30]
Bulgaria	Hallmark Channel TV7	Season 1 premiered on January 24, 2010. Season 2 premiered on January 5, 2011.
Canada	Global V	Premiered on September 22, 2009, in English, airing Tuesday nights at 10:00 p.m. (including simultaneous substitution of CBS broadcast) Season 2 premiered on September 1, 2010, as Une femme exemplaire ("The Good Wife", in French),[31] airing Wednesday nights at 8:00 p.m.
Croatia	HRT, Universal Channel	Season 1 premiered on HRT 2 on January 4, 2011 as Dobra žena ("Good Wife" in Croatian).
Cyprus	CyBC
Czech Republic	Universal Channel	Broadcasted as Dobrá manželka ("Good Wife" in Czech).[32]
Denmark	TV 2 Denmark	Episodes 1-11 were broadcast in 2010. Episodes 12-23 will be broadcast in 2011.
Dominican Republic	Universal Channel
El Salvador	Teledos	Season 1 premiers in 2012.
Finland	Nelonen	Premiered on May 31, 2010 as Good Wife.
France	M6	Premiered on February 3, 2011 at 8:45 p.m.
Germany	ProSieben Kabel 1	Premiered on March 31, 2010 at 10:15 p.m. on Prosieben. Season 2 premiered on March 11, 2011 at 9:15 p.m. on Kabel 1.
Greece	Skai TV	Premiered on October 28, 2010 at 10:00 p.m.
Hong Kong	TVB Pearl	Premiered on April 22, 2010 at 10:30 p.m.
Hungary	TV2, Universal Channel	Season 1 premiered on Hallmark Channel (now Universal Channel) on January 24, 2010[33] as A férjem védelmében ("In my husband's protection"). Later Season 1 was also premiered on the countrywide-available TV2. Season 2 was also aired on Universal Channel, it was premiered on February 7, 2011[34].
Ireland	RTÉ Two	Season 1 premiered Monday March 15, 2010 at 9.30pm and completed its run on August 16, 2010. Season 2 premiered on Thursday July 7, 2011 at 9.00pm and completed its run on October 13, 2011.[35][36] Season 3 premiered on April 19, 2012 at 9.30pm.[37]
Israel	Yes Yes Drama, Channel 12
Italy	Rai 2, Fox Life	Premiered on October 9, 2010, airing Saturday evenings on Rai.
Japan	NHK	Premiered on Tuesdays at 11:00 p.m. since October 5, 2010.[38]
Malaysia	DIVA	Premiered in January 2009, airing Mondays at 9:00 p.m.
Mexico	Universal Channel
The Netherlands	NET 5[39]	Premiered on January 1, 2010.
New Zealand	TV3 (New Zealand)	Season 1 premiered in February 2010, airing Tuesday nights at 9:30 p.m. Season 2 premiered in March 2011, airing Sunday nights at 9.30 p.m.
Norway	TV2	Premiered on March 10, 2010 on Wednesdays at 9:40 p.m.
Panama	Universal Channel
Philippines	Velvet/Diva Universal	Premiered on July 8, 2010.
Poland	13th Street	Premiered on January 20, 2010 as Żona idealna ("Perfect Wife").
Portugal	Fox Life	Premiered September 14, 2010
Puerto Rico	WAPA-TV	Premiered in 2010 as "The Good Wife"; is translated as La Esposa Ejemplar ("The Exemplary Wife"). Tuesday at 9:00pm. Second Season finale was aired in April 3, 2012.
Romania	DIVA	Premiered in 2010 as The Good Wife (Romanian: Soţia perfectă); season 2 last episode aired as of July 2011.
Russia	Domashny	Premiered in 2010.
Saudi Arabia	MBC 4	Premiered on January 19, 2010.
Serbia	Universal Channel, Happy TV	Season 1 premiered on Hallmark Channel (now Universal Channel) as Dobra žena ("Good Wife" in Serbian). Later, in January 2012, season 1 was also premiered on the Happy TV.
Singapore	Hallmark Channel	Premiered in January 2010.
Slovakia	TV JOJ	Premiered on August 22, 2010 as Good Wife.
Slovenia	Universal Channel, POP Brio	Premiered on September 7, 2010 on POP Brio, airing Tuesdays at 8:55 p.m.
South Africa	M-Net, SABC 3	Premiered February 2010
Sweden	TV4	Premiered April 13, 2010 at 9:00 p.m.
Switzerland	TSR 1 (French) RSI La 1 (Italian)	Premiered on November 5, 2010 (French). Premiered on March 3, 2010 (Italian).
Taiwan	Diva Universal (Asia), PTS & HiHD	Season 1 premiered on Hallmark Channel (Asia), airing Monday to Friday at 11:00 p.m. since September 1, 2010 on PTS and HiHD. Season 2 premiered on January 10, 2011 on Diva Universal (Asia), airing Mondays at 9:00 p.m.
Thailand	Hallmark Channel	Premiered in January 2010.
Turkey	Dizimax	Premiered on January 22, 2010
Uruguay	Universal Channel
United Kingdom	Channel 4, More4	Premiered on Monday, January 25, 2010 and, starting the following week, first run episodes shown on More4 on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. (with Channel 4's screening the following Wednesday). Season 2 premiered on January 6, 2011 at 9:00 p.m. on More4; the rest of season 2 will also be shown weekly in the 9:00 p.m. Thursday slot on the channel, but unlike season 1 will not get a screening on Channel 4.[40] Season 3 premiered on January 12, 2012 at 9:00 p.m on More4[41]
Venezuela	Universal Channel

Reception

The first season of the show received generally favorable reviews. It scored a Metacritic rating of 76 out of 100 based on the views of 26 critics.^[42] In reviewing the first early episodes many critics praised the acting talents of the cast. The Chicago Tribune commended the show saying "one of the best parts of the show is Alicia's complicated relationship with her husband, who humiliated his family with a sex scandal but also appears to be a pawn in a larger game being played by high-level politician".^[43]

The New York Daily News report, in a review of the lead character's performance said "Margulies puts a powerful combination of cold fury, bewilderment and tenacity into Alicia Florrick, the wife of a disgraced Chicago politician in a new series that readily admits it ripped itself from the headlines"^[44] while The Baltimore Sun predicted that "With all four [actors] bringing their 'A' games to the pilot, it looks as if CBS could have another winning 10 o'clock drama."^{[citation needed]}

There were a few reservations as to the long term success and plot of the show with the San Francisco Chronicle concluding that "There's nothing inherently wrong with The Good Wife other than it's a legal series with too many close-up shots of knowing glances and 'attagirl Alicia' moments of empowerment that you saw coming 20 minutes prior".^[45]

The second season of the show was generally better received than the first. It currently sits at 89 out of 100 on Metacritic indicating universal acclaim.^[46]

Time magazine's James Poniewozik named it one of the Top 10 TV Series of 2010^[47] and 2011, saying, "The ability to keep growing: that's what makes a good Wife great".^[48]The Salt Lake Tribune in its list of the Top 10 series of 2011 ranked The Good Wife #3, explaining "The mix of fascinating legal drama and even more fascinating personal drama is superb."^[49]

References

Further reading

• Rooney, David (May 19, 2010). "On TV, a New Refuge for Stage Actors". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/arts/20wife.html?. 

External links

• Official website
• The Good Wife at TV.com
• The Good Wife at the Internet Movie Database

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