The Good Wife

For other uses, see The Good Wife (disambiguation).
The Good Wife
Genre Legal drama
Political drama
Created by Robert King
Michelle King
Starring
Composer(s) Danny Lux (2009)
David Buckley (2010–2015)
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 7
No. of episodes 156 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)
Producer(s) Ron Binkowski
Corinne Brinkerhoff
Location(s) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada ("Pilot")
New York City (all other episodes)
Running time 43 minutes
Production company(s) Scott Free Productions
King Size Productions
Small Wishes Productions (season 1)
CBS Television Studios (season 4–7)
CBS Productions (season 1–3)
Distributor CBS Television Distribution
Release
Original network CBS
Picture format 1080i (16:9 HDTV)
Original release September 22, 2009 (2009-09-22) – May 8, 2016 (2016-05-08)
Chronology
Followed by The Good Fight
Related shows The Good Wife (South Korea)
External links
Website

The Good Wife is an American legal and political drama television series that aired on CBS from September 22, 2009 to May 8, 2016.[1] The series focuses on Alicia Florrick, the wife of the Cook County State's Attorney, who returns to her career in law after the events of a public sex and political corruption scandal involving her husband. The series, created by Robert and Michelle King, stars Julianna Margulies, Josh Charles, Christine Baranski, Matt Czuchry, Archie Panjabi, and Alan Cumming, and features Chris Noth in a recurring role. The executive producers are Ridley Scott, Charles McDougall, and David W. Zucker.[2] The Good Wife is a heavily serialized show featuring many story arcs that carry over several episodes, as well as stand-alone procedural storylines that are concluded by the end of each episode. The serial plots have been especially showcased in its highly praised fifth season. This is a rarity among The Good Wife's broadcaster CBS, as most of its shows are procedural.[3]

The Good Wife won numerous prestigious awards, including five Emmys and the 2014 Television Critics Association Award for Outstanding Achievement in Drama. The performances of the show's cast have been particularly recognized, with Julianna Margulies's role as Alicia Florrick receiving significant praise.[4] The show has especially received wide acclaim for its insight on social media and the internet in society, politics and law.[5][6][7] CBS announced in a promo aired during Super Bowl 50, on February 7, 2016, that the show was ending with its seventh season. The final episode aired on May 8, 2016.[8][9] A spinoff, The Good Fight, was announced on May 18, 2016.

Premise

The series focuses on Alicia Florrick (Margulies), whose husband Peter (Noth), the former Cook County, Illinois State's Attorney, has been jailed following a notorious political corruption and sex scandal. After having spent the previous thirteen years as a stay-at-home mother, Alicia returns to the workforce as a litigator to provide for her two children.[10]

Spitzer
Edwards
The Eliot Spitzer (left) and John Edwards scandals served as inspiration for The Good Wife

Production

Conception

The idea to create a series that focused on the wife of a high-profile male politician following the events of a public sex scandal, was conceived by writers Michelle and Robert King after they observed prominent American scandals of this nature, such as those involving former president Bill Clinton and North Carolina senator John Edwards. The image of a wife standing silently beside her husband as he publicly admitted to his sexual or political misconduct has, according to Robert King, become a sort of cliché.[11] This image led the Kings to question why these women stood by their husbands, as well as to wonder about the events that followed on that initial announcement. They were further intrigued by the fact that many of the wives were lawyers, who had halted their personal careers for the sake of their husbands' professional ambitions.[11] The actual idea for the series was first postulated in the weeks following the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal of 2008.[12] As Michelle King, explains:

“ We came up with the idea about a year and a 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 are 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.[13] ”

Production team

Robert and Michelle King at the 2015 PaleyFest presentation for The Good Wife

The series was created by Michelle and Robert King, who 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.[14] The creators had previously worked extensively in feature films. Scott Free productions helped to finance The Good Wife and Ridley Scott, Tony Scott (until his death) and David W. Zucker are credited as executive producers.[15][16]

Executive producer Dee Johnson added television writing experience to the team.[14][16] Charles McDougall directed the pilot episode and was the pilot's other executive producer.[17] 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.[18] McDougall left the crew after directing and executive producing the second episode.[18][19] 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.[20] 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. David W. Zucker is an executive producer on the show, having been nominated for four Primetime Emmys and one PGA Award. His credits included Judging Amy, The Pillars of the Earth, and Law Dogs.[21]

Authenticity of plot and characters was achieved through the use of script consultants, including Karen Kessler, who is a founding member and president of Evergreen Partners Inc., a public relations and events planning firm.

Cast and characters

Main cast

Actor Character Season
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Julianna Margulies Alicia Florrick Main
Matt Czuchry Cary Agos Main
Archie Panjabi Kalinda Sharma Main
Graham Phillips Zach Florrick Main
Makenzie Vega Grace Florrick Main
Josh Charles Will Gardner Main Guest
Christine Baranski Diane Lockhart Main
Alan Cumming Eli Gold Recurring Main
Zach Grenier David Lee Recurring Main
Matthew Goode Finn Polmar Main
Cush Jumbo Lucca Quinn Main
Jeffrey Dean Morgan Jason Crouse Main

Main characters

The wife of Peter, a disgraced State's Attorney, she returns to work as a junior litigator at the law firm Stern, Lockhart & Gardner, through her old law school friend Will Gardner, for whom she has feelings. 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. Alicia is smart, independent, fiercely protective of her children, and much more than just a good wife. She excels at keeping a cool exterior. She is rarely ruffled and almost always thinks through what she is going to say, choosing her words for maximum impact or sting. Alicia graduated top of her class from Georgetown University Law Center in the mid-1990s. After graduation she worked at Crozier, Abrams & Abbott for about two years but left to focus on her kids and Peter's career. She and her gay younger brother, Owen, have a loving relationship despite having personalities that are polar opposites. In Season 3, Alicia is a third-year associate at the firm. She and Peter are separated, and she has an affair with Will; but, by mid-season, she breaks it off. Alicia struggles with her feelings for Peter. She is deeply hurt and has not entirely forgiven him, but she still loves him. Toward the end of Season 3, Peter announces his candidacy for governor of Illinois; Alicia stands at his side as he makes the announcement. In Season 4, Alicia gets and takes a promotion as an equity partner of the firm and begins planning to start a new firm with Cary. After Will dies in Season 5, Alicia goes into a period of mourning, and separates from Peter, maintaining their marriage for the sake of their careers. In Season 6, Alicia runs for State's Attorney and develops a friendship with prosecutor Finn Polmar. Soon after winning the election, Alicia is caught up in an electoral fraud scandal, and though innocent, must resign her post. Broken and humiliated once again, she returns to law, and is offered a legal partnership with her arch-rival Louis Canning.
Kalinda previously worked for Peter for three years. He fired her after accusing her of working two jobs. Kalinda is unflappable, inscrutable, fiercely private, and occasionally physically violent. She is exceptionally good at her job, although her tactics are not always strictly legal. She is often the key to the firm's winning a case, usually at the eleventh hour. She generally does not work well with others. Although Kalinda doesn't let many people close to her, she becomes good friends with Alicia, with the aid of tequila shots; and she feels protective of her. After becoming friends, Alicia finds out Kalinda had a one-night stand with Peter before she knew Alicia, damaging their friendship; but over time, the two start to reconcile. Kalinda has a cynical, misanthropic outlook on human behavior. She is openly bisexual and has a series of relationships through the show, mostly with women and often because they can help her with a case. Kalinda once claimed that she prefers women because to her, women are better lovers than men for women understand her needs and feelings better. Very little is known about Kalinda when the series begins, and she is incredibly secretive about her past. The character's signature wardrobe piece has become a pair of knee-high boots;[22][23][24][25] the character initially wore pumps but Panjabi felt that boots "grounded her in the character."[26] In Season 4, it is revealed that Kalinda has an estranged abusive husband, Nick Saverese, played by Marc Warren. Kalinda also grows romantically close with Cary. In Season 6, she desperately tries to save Cary from a malicious prosecution on drug-related charges while Alicia is busy running for office, and at a point of desperation, fakes a Brady violation through computer hacking to have Cary's charges dropped. Later, when her deception is caught, she is forced to surrender drug dealer Lemond Bishop to the State's Attorney's office in order to spare Diane from prosecution; Diane had unknowingly used the fake evidence in court. In order not to be found by Bishop for turning him over to the state's attorney office, Kalinda disappears for her own safety.
An old friend of Alicia's, in the pilot he helped her get a job with the firm and is constantly trying to avoid appearing as if he favors her. This is complicated by the fact that the two have feelings for each other. Will and Alicia have an affair beginning at the end of season two. In season three they break up when Alicia's daughter goes missing, and Alicia decides she needs to focus more on her children. He is seen as very much of a ladies' man throughout the series and had various love affairs and girlfriends. Will generally had a good working relationship with Diane Lockhart, his co-managing partner at the firm, and the two demonstrate a shrewd ability to guide their business, even through difficult times. Will plays in a regular pick-up basketball game with other attorneys and judges, and has friendships with the players that are eventually scrutinized. During season three, Will is suspended from practicing law for six months as punishment stemming from an old bribery scandal but returns to the firm in season four. In season five after much planning, Alicia and Cary leave Lockhart & Gardner to start their own firm; Will takes this betrayal personally. In Episode 15 of the fifth season, he is shot and killed in the courtroom by his client Jeffrey Grant (played by Hunter Parrish).
She is liberal and is a champion of women's causes, thus having 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. She speaks fluent French and seems to have an active social life. Among her paramours is Kurt McVeigh, a firearms expert and conservative Republican, whom Diane is drawn to despite their political opposites and her dislike of guns, and they eventually marry. Although she is initially sceptical of Alicia Florrick's abilities as a lawyer when she joins the firm, Diane becomes a sort of mentor to her. But she is a mentor at a distance, and her support often comes by way of cryptic advice that only points Alicia in the right direction. She does not hesitate to tell anyone when she thinks they are wrong. Diane is often torn between supporting Alicia and Cary Agos when the two are in competition.
In the First Season, he is a first year associate at Lockhart Gardner with Alicia Florrick. 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 three, Cary is appointed Cook County Deputy State's Attorney, though he subsequently demotes himself for having an in-office affair. Dissatisfied with the demotion, he accepts an offer to return to Lockhart Gardner. He is often placed in rivalry with Alicia and sometimes resents her for this and her political connections thanks to her husband, Peter Florrick, the disgraced State's Attorney. His own career trajectory takes many twists and turns, often because of bad luck, but Cary maintains his integrity and loyalty to individual relationships he has formed. He seems to have a crush on Kalinda Sharma, the firm's investigator. It is later revealed that Cary has a very difficult and distant relationship with his father, Jeffrey Agos, a lobbyist in Washington, D.C., who does not ever seem to think Cary is good enough. As season four ends, after not getting the partnership at Lockhart Gardner that he sought, he forms a new firm bringing with him the other fourth year lawyers at the firm, and manages to convince newly minted Lockhart Gardner partner Alicia to come with them.
He is the elder of the Florricks' two children, the older brother of Grace Florrick, grandson of Jackie Florrick and Veronica Loy (Alicia's mother), and nephew of Owen Cavanaugh. Zach has an interest in politics, at one point joining Peter's campaign as an intern. Zach is smart, stubborn and also has a strong sense of right and wrong, which has led him to not be afraid of questioning authority figures at times. Zach's computer skills and technical know-how also expose lies that are being spread about his dad. Beyond his computer skills, he shows an aptitude for using the law like his mother. He is protective of his mom because of what his father has put her through. Zach is coping with his parents' separation and starting at a new school and also starting to date. Throughout the series, Zach dates the scheming Becca and later a girl named Neesa who happens to be African-American and whose race and religion are occasionally brought into his father's campaign, which causes some issues. This becomes complicated when his father is released from prison and contemplates a run for office, making his children's life political fodder, despite their mother's best efforts. Zach eventually goes to Georgetown University.
She is the younger of the Florricks' two children, the younger sister of Zach Florrick, granddaughter of Jackie Florrick and also Veronica Loy (Alicia's mother), and niece of Owen Cavanaugh. Although pretty and compassionate, she is friendless, which is most likely due to her personality. She begins to become deeply religious, thanks to a friend at school, much to Alicia's bemusement, and questions her faith and reads the Bible, which Alicia does not understand, but tries to support. She is naïve and young for her age. She has a tutor, Jennifer, who likes to bust out dancing in public. She has many questions about her father's infidelity, which she does not understand. She previously idolized her father, and despite his sins, she wants her parents to get back together. Grace was not happy about the move from their house in Highland Park to their apartment, and initially struggles to make friends in school.
Eli consults for Peter when he considers a return to office. His style of management is to be blunt, often rude. Eli is politically astute and doesn't waste time with niceties. Eli is separated from his wife, Vanessa Gold, who has political aspirations of her own, and has a daughter, Marissa, who is similarly outspoken like her mother and shares a healthy relationship with her father. Eli believes that securing the support of Peter's wife Alicia is crucial to any ambitions he may harbor, and he quickly realizes that Alicia is no pushover and his usual wife-coddling techniques will not work. He mostly seems to respect the boundaries Alicia sets up, particularly where they concern her children Zach and Grace. As a top political consultant who is also an expert in damage control, Eli has talks with Diane Lockhart and Will Gardner about joining their firm in some way. Eli seems genuinely invested in Peter Florrick and respects both him and Alicia, although she is often a frustrating enigma to him. He has a brief shot at romance with Natalie Flores, 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.[27] He became a main character in season two.[28] Eli is Jewish, but not very religious. He does, however, request the Sabbath off. In season 5 Peter asks him to be his chief of staff, which he accepts.
The Family Law division is responsible for a sizeable chunk of the firm's income, so David has more sway than Diane or Will would like. David is misanthropic and is prone to scowling, sarcasm and being directly rude to people when he thinks things are not going his way. More than anything, he is unambiguously concerned with making money. He particularly hates Julius Cane, the firm's head of litigation and an equity partner. Nevertheless, at rare moments, Alicia Florrick turns to him for help and he comes through. Although no easy judge of character, he has a liking for Alicia's mother, and sporadically asks Alicia about her. After recurring in the first four seasons, he was promoted to a series regular for the fifth season.
Introduced in the fifteenth episode of the fifth season; Finn Polmar is the Assistant State's Attorney who prosecuted Jeffrey Grant (played by Hunter Parrish) who was being defended by Will Gardner. During a shooting in the courtroom, Finn is wounded pulling a dying Will to safety. As Finn recovers from his injuries, Alicia later seeks him out looking for answers after Will's death, and even acts as Finn's lawyer when the State's Attorney's Office tries to scapegoat him. In the Sixth Season, he is the Assistant State's Attorney up against Florrick-Agos, trying to take down one of their top clients, drug kingpin Lemond Bishop (played by Mike Colter). Finn leaves the State's Attorney office midway through the Sixth Season to start his own practice, and he represents Alicia in exit negotiations with Cary and Diane, though he declines Alicia's invitation to work with her. Finn's sister died of a drug overdose, he is divorced, and has a son. At one point Finn confides in Alicia that he and his wife had a miscarriage. Finn's character was intended to help fill the gap Will's death left behind, but he left the show after season six.[29][30]
A bar court attorney who Alicia encounters at the start of the seventh season.[31]
A calm, experienced hourly investigator whom Alicia hires in the seventh season, where he becomes a love interest to Alicia.[32]

Recurring cast

Actor Character Season
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Chris Noth Peter Florrick Recurring
Mary Beth Peil Jackie Florrick Recurring
Renee Elise Goldsberry Geneva Pine Recurring Guest
Michael Boatman Julius Cain Recurring Recurring Guest
Mike Colter Lemond Bishop Recurring Guest Recurring
Denis O'Hare Judge Charles Abernathy Recurring Guest Recurring Guest
Chris Butler Matan Brody Recurring Guest Recurring
David Fonteno Judge Robert Parks Recurring Guest Recurring
Titus Welliver Glenn Childs Recurring Guest
Dreama Walker Becca Recurring Guest
Gbenga Akinnagbe Isaiah Easton Recurring Recurring
Sonequa Martin-Green Courtney Wells Recurring
Pedro Pascal Nathan Landry Recurring
Jill Flint Lana Delaney Recurring Guest Recurring Recurring
Gary Cole Kurt McVeigh Recurring Guest Recurring
Martha Plimpton Patti Nyholm Recurring Guest
David Paymer Judge Richard Cuesta Recurring Guest Recurring
Kevin Conway Jonas Stern Recurring Guest
Kim Shaw Amber Madison Recurring Guest
Carrie Preston Elsbeth Tascioni Recurring Recurring Guest
Dylan Baker Colin Sweeney Recurring Recurring Guest
Joe Morton Daniel Golden Recurring Guest
Karen Olivo Giada Cabrini Recurring Guest
Emily Bergl Bree Recurring
James Carpinello Anthony Burton Recurring
Terry Kinney Gerald Kozko Recurring
Mamie Gummer Nancy Crozier Guest Recurring Guest
Paulina Gerzon Shannon Vargas Guest Recurring Guest
Ana Gasteyer Judge Patrice Lessner Guest Recurring Guest Guest
Felix Solis Kevin Rodriguez Guest Recurring Guest
Dallas Roberts Owen Cavanaugh Recurring
Michael J. Fox Louis Canning Recurring
Mike Pniewski Frank Landau Recurring Guest Recurring
Anika Noni Rose Wendy Scott-Carr Recurring Guest
Tim Guinee Andrew Wiley Recurring Recurring
Rita Wilson Viola Walsh Recurring Guest
Rachel Hilson Neisa Dalmar Recurring Guest
Kelli Giddish Sophia Russo Recurring Guest Guest
Elizabeth Reaser Tammy Linnata Recurring Guest
Skipp Sudduth Jim Moody Recurring Recurring
JD Williams Dexter Roja Recurring Recurring Recurring
Jeremy Strong Matt Becker Recurring Guest
Frederick Weller Wilk Hobson Recurring Guest
America Ferrera Natalie Flores Recurring Guest
Scott Porter Blake Calamar Recurring
Michael Ealy Derrick Bond Recurring
Jerry Adler Howard Lyman Guest Recurring
Edward Herrmann Lionel Deerfield Guest Recurring Guest
John Benjamin Hickey Neil Gross Guest Recurring Guest
Nicole Roderick Nora Guest Recurring
Eric Ruffin Dylan Bishop Guest Recurring Recurring
Susan Misner Simone Canning Guest Guest Recurring
Matthew Perry Mike Kresteva Recurring
Kurt Fuller Judge Peter Dunaway Recurring Guest Recurring
Grace Rex Martha Reed Recurring Guest Guest
Anne Marsen Jennifer Recurring Guest
Anna Camp Caitlin D'arcy Recurring Guest
Parker Posey Vanessa Gold Recurring
Lisa Edelstein Celeste Serrano Recurring
Monica Raymund Dana Lodge Recurring
Amy Sedaris Stacie Hall Recurring
John Shea Jeffrey Agos Recurring
Michael Kelly Mickey Gunn Recurring
Jess Weixler Robyn Burdine Recurring
Stockard Channing Veronica Loy Recurring Guest Recurring
Miriam Shor Mandy Post Recurring Guest
Nathan Lane Clarke Hayden Recurring
Vincent Curatola Thomas Politi Recurring
Dominic Chianese Judge Michael Marx Recurring Guest Recurring
Kyle MacLachlan Josh Perotti Recurring Recurring
Marc Warren Nick Savarese Recurring
Amanda Peet Laura Hellinger Recurring
Maura Tierney Maddie Hayward Recurring
T. R. Knight Jordan Karahalios Recurring
Yul Vazquez Cristián Romano Recurring
Brian Dennehy Bucky Stabler Recurring
Ben Rappaport Carey Zepps Recurring
Michael Cerveris James Castro Recurring
Charlie Pollock Detective Gifford Recurring Guest
Christian Borle Carter Schmidt Recurring Guest
Zach Woods Jeff Dellinger Recurring Recurring
Tobias Segal Tyler Hopkins Recurring Recurring
Michael Kostroff Charles Froines Recurring Guest
Jason O'Mara Damian Boyle Recurring
Melissa George Marilyn Garbanza Recurring
Jeffrey Tambor Judge George Kluger Recurring
Jordana Spiro Jenna Villette Recurring
Hunter Parrish Jeffrey Grant Recurring
Eric Bogosian Nelson Dubeck Recurring
Bhavesh Patel Anthony Edelman Recurring
Michael Urie Stephen Dinovera Guest Recurring
David Krumholtz Josh Mariner Recurring Guest
Jason Babinsky Howell Recurring Guest
Steven Pasquale Johnny Elfman Recurring
David Hyde Pierce Frank Prady Recurring
Connie Nielsen Ramona Lytton Recurring
Linda Lavin Joy Grubick Recurring
Taye Diggs Dean Levine-Wilkins Recurring
Oliver Platt R.D. Recurring
Edward Asner Guy Redmayne Recurring
Margo Martindale Ruth Eastman Recurring
Christopher McDonald Judge Don Schakowsky Recurring
Peter Gallagher Ethan Carver Recurring
Nikki M. James Monica Timmons Recurring
Vanessa Williams Courtney Paige Recurring
Brian Muller Brian Carter Recurring
Rob Bartlett Bernie Bukovitz Recurring
Matthew Morrison Connor Fox Recurring
Will Patton Mike Tascioni Recurring
Howard McGillin Lloyd Garber Recurring
John Magaro Roland Hlavin Recurring

Recurring characters

Episodes

Season Episodes Originally aired Nielsen ratings
First aired Last aired Rank Viewers
(millions)
1 23 September 22, 2009 (2009-09-22) May 25, 2010 (2010-05-25) 18 13.12[34]
2 23 September 28, 2010 (2010-09-28) May 17, 2011 (2011-05-17) 16 13.00[35]
3 22 September 25, 2011 (2011-09-25) April 29, 2012 (2012-04-29) 26 11.83[36]
4 22 September 30, 2012 (2012-09-30) April 28, 2013 (2013-04-28) 27 10.98[37]
5 22 September 29, 2013 (2013-09-29) May 18, 2014 (2014-05-18) 23 11.43[38]
6 22 September 21, 2014 (2014-09-21) May 10, 2015 (2015-05-10) 22 12.17[39]
7 22 October 4, 2015 (2015-10-04) May 8, 2016 (2016-05-08) 27 10.84[40]

Season 1

As a junior associate at a prestigious Chicago law firm, Alicia Florrick joins her longtime friend, former law school classmate and firm partner Will Gardner, who is interested in rekindling their former relationship. The firm's top litigator and other partner, Diane Lockhart, likes Alicia's work and her connections, so she and Will award her with a full-time associate position following a trial period. Alicia beats out Cary Agos, a clever young attorney who takes a job in the state's attorney's office, now bitter and vengeful. Alicia finds an ally and a friend in Kalinda, the firm's tough and mysterious in-house investigator. Gaining confidence every day, Alicia transforms herself from embarrassed politician's scorned wife to resilient career woman, especially for the sake of providing a stable home for her children, 14-year-old Zach and 13-year-old Grace. Now that Peter is back home and planning to run for office again with help from Eli Gold, his cunning image consultant, Alicia continues to redefine herself and her role in her family's life.[41]

Season 2

Season 2 begins where season 1 left off with Will and Alicia discussing how to have an affair without the media finding out. Before the plan is conceived, however, Eli Gold takes possession of Alicia's phone and deletes a pivotal voicemail. Alicia, now under the impression that Will doesn't have a plan, suppresses her feelings for Will, and the workplace environment becomes awkward when they are in vicinity of each other. With Alicia as a 2nd year associate after being chosen over Cary Agos, who has now been hired as a deputy state's attorney leading to Lockhart & Gardner, they often find themselves battling each other in court. Peter, now released from prison and cleared of charges, begins his campaign to run as State's Attorney against current State's Attorney Glenn Childs. A new main partner, Derrick Bond, joins the firm Lockhart & Gardner—now known as Lockhart/Gardner & Bond. However, a feud between Diane and Will occurs when Will begins siding with Derrick Bond's suggestions. Diane requests Kalinda to check into Will's and Derrick's past. She discovers that they had a connection in Will's old law firm in Baltimore. At the same time, a new investigator joins the law firm—Blake Calamar. Brought in by Derrick Bond, he is determined to uncover Kalinda's past. When Will discovers that Bond has also been deceiving him, Will and Diane work together to remove Bond as a main partner, but wait until Bond brings in a "super PAC" (political action committee) client worth $100 million a year. Blake eventually uncovers that Kalinda had changed her name from "Leela" and that Leela slept with Peter Florrick when she used to work for him in the state's attorney's office. Alicia finds out about the affair on the night that Peter wins the election for state's attorney. Alicia separated from Peter, gains a stronger attraction to Will, and begins to have sexual relations with him.

Season 3

Season 3 takes place the following morning after season 2 with Alicia now as a third year litigator on track to become partner while having an affair with her boss Will Gardner. She is given an office on the 29th floor, the only third year litigator with an office on the floor. Peter Florrick's crisis manager Eli Gold joins the firm to prepare for Peter's campaign for Governorship of Illinois, while Alicia acts as a bridge between Lockhart & Gardner and his campaign. Peter, now as State's Attorney, battles with Lockhart & Gardner from case to case while the firm begins to get a short-term liquidity problem. Diane and Will try to acquire a bankruptcy department from a competing law firm that's closing down due to the double dip recession, and they notice that a bankruptcy department is the only area that will survive a double dip recession. When Diane tries lobbying to become the State's Attorney's Civil Defender, she begins to suspect an affair between Will and Alicia. The affair, however, ends by mid-season after Alicia realizes she's been putting her needs before those of her children. The second half of the season focuses on Will Gardner being indicted for a crime he committed in his old law firm and ultimately being suspended for 6 months. Peter decides to run for Governorship of Illinois and Kalinda's past comes back as it is revealed she has a husband who's searching for her.

Season 4

Season 4 focuses on Lockhart & Gardner's efforts to come out from bankruptcy after rival lawyers Louis Canning and Patti Nyholm team up to take them down. A trustee, Clarke Hayden, is appointed to watch over the firm, but Will and Diane are not happy once he starts getting in their way. Trying to gain money, the firm offers partnership to some associates, because they need their initial payment. When the debt is cleared, only Alicia is made partner and the other offers are delayed. Feeling angry, Cary teams up with the other fourth-years to start a new firm. Meanwhile, Peter Florrick runs for Governor. Eli is once again leading his campaign, although things get complicated when he finds out he is being investigated. Alicia befriends Maddie Hayward, who sponsors her husband's campaign, but ultimately it turns out she is running up against him and Mike Kresteva. In a B plot Kalinda's past comes to haunt her in the form of her husband Nick. Once he starts threatening people in her life, she needs to get rid of him. The firm also hires a new investigator to help her at work – Robyn Burdine. On top of all, Alicia is back with Peter, but having a hard time suppressing her feelings for Will. Season 4 ends with Peter Florrick winning the race as Governor of Illinois and Alicia deciding to quit Lockhart Gardner and join Cary Agos in forming a new firm.

Season 5

Season 5 takes place after Alicia joins Cary in opening a new firm. They take some of Lockhart/Gardner's (now known as LG) clients, but they need to survive under the fierce backlash of their ex-employers.

After winning the elections, Peter is now governor. Eli is his chief of staff and is having some problems with Marylin Garbanza, Director of the Governor's Ethics Commission. Meanwhile, the investigation of a ballot box, full of fake votes for Peter, may ruin his career. At the end of episode 15, Will Gardner is fatally shot in a courtroom by his client. This had a tremendous effect on many of the characters, particularly Alicia, Diane and Kalinda, all of whom reconsidered the course of their respective careers following his death. Finn Polmar was also introduced as a new ASA who befriends Alicia. Alicia decides to split up with Peter but will stay married in the public eye, as it benefits both of their careers. Louis Canning joins Lockhart Gardner as a partner and keeps Will's name on the letterhead, making the firm "Lockhart Gardner and Canning"; he and David Lee plot to kick Diane out of the firm. At the end of Season 5, Diane asks if she could join Florrick Agos with her $38 million in clients. Zach goes away to college and Eli asks Alicia if she would run for State's Attorney.

Season 6

In the Sixth Season of The Good Wife, Alicia is presented with several interesting options: run for State's Attorney, or lure Diane to her new firm and continue to fight cases in the cutthroat world of Chicago law.[42] Cary is arrested, charged with helping traffic $1.3 million worth of heroin. Diane's offer to join Florrick/Agos stands on the condition she gets an equal vote with Alicia and Cary. David Lee and Louis Canning get suspicious of Diane when she declares her intention to retire. Against Alicia's wishes, Eli conducts polling on a potential campaign for the State's Attorney office for Alicia and discovers that she has a very good chance of winning against the incumbent. He schemes to get Peter's approval. With Cary in jail, Diane joins Florrick Agos to form Florrick Agos & Lockhart. Cary is let out on bail, but when he goes to a college reunion out of state, the terms of his bail are revised, and he is not allowed within 30 feet of Kalinda, who worked for Bishop and whom the court considers dangerous. In an FBI wiretap, it is revealed that Lemond Bishop had plans to assassinate Cary because he suspected Cary might turn. Bishop also pressures Kalinda into spying on her lover Lana Delany. Diane finds a void in the Lockhart Gardner and Canning building office contract and in a hostile takeover, evicts Canning, enabling Florrick Agos & Lockhart to move in. During Cary's cross examination, he takes a plea deal of four years (two years with good behavior) when he realizes that the jury thinks he's guilty and has no case. He's later cleared of all charges, in part because Kalinda faked evidence. Alicia Florrick wins the race for the State's Attorney's office over her competition, talkshow personality Frank Prady. The law firm comes under attack by hackers and five years of emails are leaked online in retaliation for their participation in a piracy case. Alicia is interviewed by journalist Petra Moritz in a post election "puff piece" where she unsuccessfully tries to exploit Alicia's past with Will via the hacked emails. When Alicia and Peter work together to thwart the bad press, she alleges that Alicia committed voter fraud by rigging voting machines. Andrew Wiley investigates the state's attorney's Brady violation against Cary and discovers Kalinda's fake evidence. Alicia is forced by the Democratic Party to resign as State's Attorney, in order to cover up the fact that the voting machines were actually rigged for a more important Democratic candidate in order to protect the party's super majority in the state senate. Aware that evidence presented in Cary's defense was fraudulent, Geneva Pine pressures Kalinda to get evidence against Bishop while simultaneously pressuring Cary to do the same thing, playing their affections for one another against both. Kalinda successfully copies information from Bishop's computer onto a flash drive, and attempts to frame a high-ranking member of Bishop's crew. Bishop is arrested, but his associates realize that Kalinda was responsible. In danger, she says goodbye to Cary and Diane, and leaves a note for Alicia. Attempting to find her, Cary goes to Kalinda's apartment and discovers it completely cleared out and ransacked: Kalinda has gone on the run.

Season 7

Season 7 begins with Alicia resisting going to work with Louis Canning and deciding to let Peter run for vice-president (as Hillary Clinton's running mate). Eli hires Ruth Eastman (Margo Martindale), however she becomes Peter's campaign officer leaving Eli out. Alicia, taking cases by herself, hires a private investigator Jason Crouse (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) in Kalinda's absence. Alicia finds a new ally in a bar attorney Lucca Quinn (Cush Jumbo) and the two become friends, sharing cases. In the latter part of the series, Peter gets investigated for another corruption charge involving Murder during his second time as State's Attorney by Assistant U.S. Attorney Connor Fox. Peter hires Elsbeth Tascioni's ex-husband Mike Tascioni after noting a conflict of interest. As Alicia throws a house party for Peter's mother-in-law Jackie Florrick and Howard Lyman, Mike drops out leaving Diane to represent Peter in his trial. Alicia asks Peter for a divorce and agrees to it, once his trial was over. After Jason tells Alicia she will never divorce Peter if he goes to jail, Alicia focuses all her efforts on proving Peter's innocence - especially when Grace tells her she won't go to college if her father gets arrested. Alicia discovers a way to prove Peter's innocence - by discrediting Diane's husband Kurt McVeigh after he made a mistake on the case when analyzing the guns used in the murder. After an argument with Diane, Alicia convinces Lucca to cross examine him on the stand also alluding to Kurt's indiscretions and infidelity leaving Diane humiliated. Eli begins moving political donors away from Peter noting that it was Alicia all along who has real political potential even after a failed State's Attorney campaign. Peter is offered and takes a deal where he doesn't have to go to prison but must resign from office as Governor, he also begins divorce proceedings with Alicia but asks for one more favour - to stand by his side one last time as he resigns from Office. At his press conference, Alicia thinks she sees Jason waiting for her in a hallway and as soon the press conference finishes, walks off immediately leaving Peter behind. After finding out it wasn't Jason waiting for her, Diane approaches Alicia before slapping her and walking off. Alicia realising her actions is left alone in the hallway before fixing herself up and wiping away tears to walk away to a future of ambiguity with her relationship with Jason, career and political future.

Broadcast

On October 7, 2009, CBS gave the series a full-season pickup, extending the first season from 13 to 22 episodes,[43] later extended to 23 episodes.[44] On January 14, 2010, CBS renewed the drama for a second season,[45] which premiered on September 28, 2010.[46] On May 18, 2011, CBS renewed The Good Wife for a third season, airing Sundays at 9:00 pm[47] On March 14, 2012, CBS renewed the show for a fourth season.[48] On March 27, 2013, CBS renewed The Good Wife for a fifth season.[49] On March 13, 2014, CBS renewed the show for a sixth season.[50]

Technology and the Internet

The Good Wife has been well received among technology enthusiasts, being described by Clive Thompson of Wired as "the most tech-savvy show on TV".[51] The show has explored the relationship between technology and the law, covering topics including Bitcoin, Anonymous, viral marketing in political campaigns, voice control software, crisis management in the controversial AT&T and T-Mobile merger, virtual conferencing robots, and NSA surveillance. For example, one of the firm's recurring clients is a fictional internet search company known as Chumhum, which among other issues has faced privacy lawsuits for selling users' personal data to the Chinese and Syrian government. The Good Wife was the first TV show to feature Bitcoin, the virtual internet currency, with an episode featuring Bitcoin first broadcast in January 2012.[52] This led to it achieving a high level of fame amongst the Bitcoin community.[53][54]

In the season 5 premiere, a Double Robotics robot was featured on the show which allowed a litigator to teleconference from home by controlling a tablet on wheels. However, rather than glorifying the robot's features, The Good Wife turned it into a punchline with practical jokes and problems the robot could have such as it not being able to maneuver around an office and bumping into walls, doors and people and low Wi-Fi connectivity leading to buffering and loss of visual and voice communication of the person working at home.[55] In Episode 9, "Whack-a-Mole" The Good Wife featured a version of Reddit called "Scabbit" and how it affects the law and the downsides of having an "average joe" being an investigator trying to find a domestic terrorist. It also deals with injunctions of taking down a defamatory web page on "Scabbit" but having another similar web page pop up soon after. In Episode 11, "Goliath and David" the story is based around a TV show Drama Camp who stole an Indie band's cover of a rap song and deals with the legality of copyright infringement. It was inspired by Jonathan Coulton who created a cover of "Baby Got Back" and Glee, the TV series, which used an identical cover on the show. The character Robyn Burdine, a private investigator for Florrick/Agos, discovers that the show Drama Camp had to release the song on iTunes in Sweden before releasing it in the USA and that the engineers directly ripped the Indie band's track constituting actual theft.

In Season 6 Episode 2, The show tackles employee poaching in the workplace for social media companies and employee wage-fixing by The Good Wife's Google stand-in "ChumHum" and how they worked with other companies to fix employees salaries. In Season 6 Episode 5, Florrick, Agos and Lockhart deal with ransomware on the office computers. In Season 6 Episode 15, the episode revolves around the case of a 3D Printed gun that misfired and hit an innocent bystander. It takes an in-depth look at 3D printing and how modifications to CAD design, the printer model being used and the environment a 3D printer is being used in can affect how an object is created and second amendment laws for downloadable firearms. In episode 17 "Undisclosed Recipients", the law firms email system gets hacked as retaliation in a case with a movie studio suing "Wharf master", the show's stand in for an illegal torrenting website. This begins an arc when the hackers forward further emails to Petra Morris: a journalist who is making a puff piece about Alicia Florrick's recent win for state's attorney. This leads to a voter fraud conspiracy resulting in an innocent Alicia withdrawing her name in contention for the State's Attorney's office.

Season 7 dealt with topics such as self driving cars, Google's racial facial detection, racial bias in online mapping applications and the NSA. Season 7 episode 14 deals with a case mirroring the missing iPhone 4 prototype with a ChumHum iPad like tablet. Season 7 episode 18 deals with the very current topic of regulating the use of drones and its impact on the privacy vs. commerce discussions.

Reception

The Good Wife has received widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike. The New York Times says that The Good Wife "stands out among newer fall shows" and that it is "miles ahead of anything else that's on at the moment."[56] 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."[57] 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"[58] 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." 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."[59] Time Magazine's James Poniewozik named it one of the Top 10 TV Series of 2010[60] and 2011, saying, "The ability to keep growing: that's what makes a good Wife great."[61] The Salt Lake Tribune in its list of the Top 10 series of 2011 ranked The Good Wife No. 3, explaining "The mix of fascinating legal drama and even more fascinating personal drama is superb."[62] AOL named Alicia the 19th Most Memorable Female TV Character.[63] Verne Gay of Newsday said, "Like Mad Men, Wife has an obsessive attention to detail; it's a hurricane of detail, in the visual touches, legal patter and the actors' unspoken flourishes. Nothing seems extraneous or out of place. Also like Men, this show cares as much about silence as words, or that which isn't said (also a form of eloquence)." Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club: "The series also feels impeccably researched and lived-in, just as The Wire did. The Good Wife may not seem like the logical successor to The Wire on the surface, but it’s revealed itself to be a series nearly as complex, humane, and deep as that earlier show, and all in reduced network running-times with heightened restrictions on content."[64] The Guardian (Bim Adewunmi): "But as the 100th episode – part of a near-flawless season five – shows, The Good Wife is uncommonly good. If you're looking for a quality drama box set to escape the family this Christmas, look no further. It has no smoking, brooding male anti-hero, and it's not a period piece, but The Good Wife is exciting and smart and underrated."[65] The guardian referred to The Good Wife as a "miracle of the small screen" that was "not really seen on that scale since the days of Cagney and Lacey."[66]

As a broadcast network television show which is usually stigmatised compared to its cable competitors, it has received what is considered unusual critical acclaim: USA Today said that The Good Wife is "broadcast's best drama", while The Atlantic said that the show "is delivering the best drama on network television".[67][68] TIME referred to it as "the best thing on TV outside cable".[69] TV critic Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker compared Alicia Florrick, the show's protagonist, to Walter White of Breaking Bad.[70] Esquire called The Good Wife "The Best Show on Television Right Now (Both Network and Cable)," claiming that the season 5 episodes "Hitting The Fan" and "The Next Day" were possibly the best television episodes produced that year, noting, "It's a rare show that starts to come into its own in the middle of its fifth season, but somehow CBS’s The Good Wife has managed to do it."[71] Chancellor Agard of The Daily Beast said, "'Hitting the Fan' is so momentous because of the degree to which it contrasts with last week’s equally excellent episode, 'Outside the Bubble.'" [72] Don Kaplan of the New York Daily News said, "Now the drama’s in its fifth season, a time when most shows either go on autopilot or start offering "very special" shark-jumping episodes. But the producers and cast of "Wife" somehow managed to kick over the chessboard where the show has been played for years, scattering the pieces to the wind and reinventing "The Good Wife" as one of the most gripping dramas on television. Period."[73] It was named the Favorite Current TV Show by the Harris Poll.[74] In 2013, TV Guide ranked the series #59 on its list of the 60 Best Series of All Time.[75]

Rolling Stone described Seasons Six and Seven as a "study in sprawl, with dozens of stranded characters and dead-end storylines: Alicia spent the show's sixth season running for political office only to end up right back where she started". Salon stated that Season Six "fell apart, seemingly overnight" in the latter part of the season. On the eve of the finale, it’s hard to tell what this season has been about: We watched an election, a stint in prison, an investigation of a drug dealer, and the aftereffects of voter fraud, but it has been difficult to assemble the events into a cohesive narrative". The abrupt fall in critical reception and viewership in the latter half of the sixth season spawned rumors of Wife's impending demise, which was confirmed as CBS hesitated before finally ordering a seventh season and subsequently announcing it as the last.[76] Season Seven has received criticism for the "incredibly uneven [plotting], sucking so much of the vitality and urgency out of the show". Variety noted that in Season Seven that "there were notably more of subplots and segues that were, at best, time-fillers and at worst, eyeroll-inducing" and said it "was obvious that it was time for the show to go".[77] TV.com observed that "obituaries for the show were already burying it instead of praising it, pointing to where it all went wrong, or that it wasn't even truly that great to begin with. An episode like "End" solidified a lot of those arguments. Hell, it solidified a lot of my arguments about this season being a grab bag of ideas."[78] The New York Times opined that Season Seven "never sparkled or caught fire the way the series did in its best seasons, when it was broadcast television’s leading argument for continued relevance in the peak-TV era. The weekly legal cases — the show was resolutely procedural almost to the end — were still intelligently devised and briskly dispatched, but they felt familiar and not very urgent, and more than ever seemed to be lecturing viewers about current events", which was further "pummeled by cast defections and bad decisions".[79]

The ensemble cast of The Good Wife had been praised as "one of the best casts in television, and it was supplemented with an awe-inspiring array of guest stars — one way for the Kings to flaunt the advantages of a network budget. Half the cast of The Wire passed through its halls, as did more Broadway stars than there are in heaven," although at the end of the series the guest stars were increasingly placed in "throwaway roles."[80] However, with the exit of male lead Josh Charles (who played Will Gardner) in season five, Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya of The A.V. Club opined that the show's "writers really struggled to rebuild that same type of long-term emotional storytelling. His departure left a gap that was never fully filled again."[81] While reviewers acknowledged that Charles' departure was inevitable (and praised how Will was written off dramatically), they questioned decisions made by the writers for seasons six and seven that further hurt the show. Archie Panjabi's portrayal of Kalinda Sharma was well-regarded during the first three seasons, but Sonia Saraiya of Salon felt that her character ended up sidelined by a much-criticized plotline in seasons four to six, amid a rumored rift between Panjabi and producer Julianna Margulies where they didn't share any screen time for their final 50 episodes.[82] In season seven, longtime stalwarts like Cary Agos and Diane Lockhart were reportedly marginalized to irrelevance with a lack of compelling storylines, in favor of promoting new characters like Lucca Quinn and Jason Crouse.

TV ratings

Season Episodes Timeslot (ET) Original airing Rank Viewers
(in millions)
Season premiere Season finale TV season
1 23 Tuesday 10:00 pm September 22, 2009 May 25, 2010 2009–10 No. 18 13.12[83]
2 23 September 28, 2010 May 17, 2011 2010–11 No. 16 13.00[84]
3 22 Sunday 9:00 pm September 25, 2011 April 29, 2012 2011–12 No. 26 11.83[85]
4 22 September 30, 2012 April 28, 2013 2012–13 No. 27 10.98[86]
5 22 September 29, 2013 May 18, 2014 2013–14 No. 23 11.43[87]
6 22 September 21, 2014 May 10, 2015 2014–15 No. 22 12.17[88]
7 22 October 4, 2015 May 8, 2016 2015–16 No. 27 10.84[40]

DVR ratings

Season Averages in Live+7 DVR Ratings:

Awards and nominations

Robert King, Michelle King, Julianna Margulies, Christine Baranski, Mary Beth Peil, Matt Czuchry and David Zucker of The Good Wife at the 70th Annual Peabody Awards

The series and its cast have won a number of awards. Julianna Margulies has been widely recognized for her portrayal in the lead role, winning the Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, Critics' Choice Television Award, TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama, and twice for the Screen Actors Guild Award. The series has also been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards in its first four seasons, with Margulies winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama for the first half of the first season in 2010. In addition, the series won a Peabody Award in 2010,[96] and has been thrice nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series and twice nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series. In total, the series and its cast have been nominated for 35 Primetime Emmy Awards in its first five seasons.

In 2010, Archie Panjabi won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal as Kalinda Sharma. In 2011, Julianna Margulies won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal as Alicia Florrick. In 2012, Martha Plimpton won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal as Patti Nyholm. In 2013, Carrie Preston won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for playing Elsbeth Tascioni. Nathan Lane was nominated for his guest role as Clarke Hayden. In 2014, Julianna Margulies won her second Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her work on The Good Wife with the winning episode "The Last Call". On December 12, 2013, the series received three Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Television Series – Drama, Best Actress – Television Series Drama (Margulies), and Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries, or Television Film (Charles).[97] On May 28, 2014, the series was nominated for five Critics' Choice Television Awards for Best Drama Series, Best Actress in a Drama Series (Margulies), Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Charles), Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Baranski), and Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series (Preston).[98]

Broadcast

Syndication

The Good Wife has been sold in a complex multi-window deal that involves two streaming partners, Amazon and Hulu; a basic cable network, Hallmark Channel; for $400,000 per episode and broadcast syndication, for a combined license fee of nearly $2 million per episode. "This is an off-network model for a unique serialized show in today's television ecosystem," said Leslie Moonves, President and CEO, CBS Corporation.

Under the deal, the first six seasons of The Good Wife are available on Amazon Prime. Hulu Plus rolled out previous seasons of the show in September 2013, while Hallmark Channel, which reportedly paid $350,000 and $400,000 per episode,[99] began airing The Good Wife in January 2014. However, not long after premiering on the Hallmark Channel the show was pulled from the schedule.[100] A weekend broadcast syndication run is scheduled to begin in September 2014, with the series sold in 85% of the country.[101][102]

Syndication Ratings: 331,000 viewers on Hallmark Channel [103]

International

Spin-off

Main article: The Good Fight

In February 2016, Michelle and Robert King, when asked about a spin-off, stated that there was a possibility for a spin-off series.[118] In May 2016, CBS was in final negotiations to set up a spin-off featuring Christine Baranski reprising her role as Diane Lockhart, but would air on CBS All Access instead of the network.[119] The spin-off was officially ordered to series on May 18, with Cush Jumbo returning as well.[120]

In September 2016, it was confirmed that the 10 episode spin-off will premiere in February 2017, with the story picking up a year after the final episode of the original series and seeing Diane pushed out of her firm after a financial scam involving her mentee wipes out her savings, resulting in her move to Lucca Quinn's firm. Sarah Steele was also added to the cast, returning as Marissa Gold and appearing as Diane Lockhart's secretary-turned-investigator. [121][122] In October 2016, former Game of Thrones star Rose Leslie was confirmed to play a lead in the show, the role of Diane's goddaughter Maia and Delroy Lindo was added as Robert Boseman.[123][124] Paul Guilfoyle and Bernadette Peters were cast as Maia's parents.[125]

The series' title, The Good Fight, was announced on October 31, 2016.[126]

References

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  2. 1 2 "The Good Wife on CBS 2009, TV Show". TV Guide. February 9, 2009. Retrieved October 30, 2011.
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