The Good Wife is an American legal and political drama television series created by Robert and Michelle King that aired on CBS from September 22, 2009, to May 8, 2016. It focuses on Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies), 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 Kings are executive producers, along with brothers Ridley and Tony Scott, Charles McDougall and David W. Zucker.
A spinoff titled The Good Fight, centered around Christine Baranski's character Diane Lockhart and Cush Jumbo's Lucca Quinn, also starring Rose Leslie and Delroy Lindo, premiered in February 2017. The second spinoff titled Elsbeth, centered around Carrie Preston's character Elsbeth Tascioni and Wendell Pierce's C.W. Wagner, has premiered in February 2024.
Plot
The storyline focuses on Margulies as Alicia Florrick, the wife of Peter Florrick. Her husband has been jailed following a very public sex and corruption scandal. She returns to her old job as a litigator to rebuild her reputation and provide for her two children. The series was partly inspired by the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal.
Main cast
- Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick, the title character of the series. The wife of a disgraced State Attorney, Alicia is forced to return to work as a junior litigator when he is imprisoned. Having spent so many years as "the good wife," Alicia finds herself at the bottom of the work ladder, trying to juggle both home and professional life with the ongoing scandal surrounding her husband.
- Josh Charles as Will Gardner, an old friend of Alicia Florrick's from law school, who is a partner at a prestigious law firm.
- Archie Panjabi as Kalinda Sharma, the firm's in-house private investigator. Kalinda previously worked for Peter Florrick, who had dismissed her. She has a cynical, misanthropic outlook on human behavior.
- Matt Czuchry as Cary Agos, another junior attorney, taken on at the same time as Alicia. In the first episode it is established that there is only one permanent position for the pair at the firm, putting Cary into competition with Alicia. Cary has a romantic interest in Kalinda, which, to date, she has emphatically refused to requite.
- Graham Phillips as Zachary "Zach" Florrick, the son of Alicia and Peter Florrick.
- Mackenzie Vega as Grace Florrick, the daughter of Alicia and Peter Florrick.
- Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart, a senior partner at the law firm which hires Alicia Florrick.
- Alan Cumming as Eli Gold, Peter's campaign manager.
- Zach Grenier as David Lee, head of Family Law, a divorce lawyer, and an equity partner at Lockhart Gardner.
- Matthew Goode as 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.
- Cush Jumbo as Lucca Quinn, a bond court attorney who Alicia encounters at the start of the seventh season. They soon become business partners and develop a close friendship.
- Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Jason Crouse, a calm, experienced hourly investigator whom Alicia hires in the seventh season, where he becomes a love interest to Alicia.
Recurring cast
- Chris Noth as Peter Florrick, Alicia Florrick's husband and former State Attorney of Cook County, Illinois. Currently imprisoned for political corruption.
- Mary Beth Peil as Jacqueline "Jackie" Florrick, the mother of Peter, mother-in-law of Alicia, and grandmother of Grace and Zach, who remains, to date, reluctant to believe in her son's corrupt behavior and is hopeful Alicia and her son will reunite and once again become a family.
- Titus Welliver as Glenn Childs, the current Cook County State Attorney and one of Peter Florrick's longest-standing political and personal enemies; Childs was responsible for leaking the Peter Florrick sex tape to the media.
- Joe Morton as Daniel Golden, a member of Peter's legal team who later works in the State Department.
- Emily Bergl as "Bree", an employee of the law firm for which Alicia Florrick works.
- Chris Butler as Matan Brody, a prosecutor for the Cook County Illinois State's Attorney's office under Glenn Childs.
- David Paymer as Judge Richard Cuesta, a judge that Alicia Florrick has gone to twice.
- Sonequa Martin-Green as Courtney Wells, an employee of the law firm for which Alicia Florrick works; she appears to be a secretary.
- Kim Shaw as Amber Madison, the high-priced call girl whose involvement with Peter Florrick resulted in his imprisonment.
- Scott Porter as Blake Calamar, a private investigator for the firm who competes with Kalinda.
- Renée Elise Goldsberry as Geneva Pine, an Assistant State's Attorney.
- Michael Boatman as Julius Cain, a lawyer and equity partner at Lockhart Gardner who serves as Head of Litigation.
- Mike Colter as Lemond Bishop, a wealthy drug dealer whose business Derrick Bond brings to Lockhart Gardner.
- Dreama Walker as "Becca", Zach's high school girlfriend early in the first season.
- Gary Cole as Kurt McVeigh, a ballistics expert who helps the firm on several cases, and an on-and-off love interest for Diane and later married.
- Martha Plimpton as Patti Nyholm, a rival attorney who opposes the Lockhart, Gardner crew in several cases.
- Jill Flint as Lana Delaney, a lesbian FBI special agent who is Kalinda's on-again off-again love interest.
- Kevin Conway as Jonas Stern, a third name partner in Stern, Lockhart & Gardner when the series begins.
- Carrie Preston as Elsbeth Tascioni, a quirky lawyer introduced in the episode "Mock" as part of Peter's legal defense team.
- Dylan Baker as Colin Sweeney, a major client of Stern, Lockhart & Gardner who has a habit of being accused of murder of women he is involved with.
- Mamie Gummer as Nancy Crozier, a young rival attorney who has been opposing counsel to Alicia in various cases.
- Dallas Roberts as Owen Cavanaugh, Alicia's mischievous, gay younger brother.
- Michael J. Fox as Louis Canning, a rival attorney who has been opposing counsel to Alicia in various cases.
- Mike Pniewski as Frank Landau, a chairman of the Democratic National Committee and as such holds a great amount of say in any political aspirations Peter Florrick may have.
- Anika Noni Rose as Wendy Scott-Carr, a lawyer for the Cook County State Attorney's office and Peter's political rival in season two.
- Skipp Sudduth as Jim Moody, an operative for the Democratic National Committee to whom Eli Gold turns when he needs results.
- America Ferrera as Natalie Flores, Wendy's former nanny and Eli's brief love interest in season two.
- Michael Ealy as Derrick Bond, a new partner in season two. He plays Will and Diane against each other, forcing Diane to plan a new firm.
- Jerry Adler as Howard Lyman, an equity partner at Lockhart Gardner who does not work anymore but collects his profits.
- John Benjamin Hickey as Neil Gross, founder of Chumhum, the series' version of Google.
- Matthew Perry as Mike Kresteva, an attorney who leads a blue-ribbon panel that Alicia is appointed.
- Parker Posey as Vanessa Gold, a political consultant and Eli Gold's ex-wife.
- Anna Camp as Caitlin D'Arcy, a junior associate at Lockhart, Gardner. She is the niece of David Lee and Alicia acts as her mentor.
- Monica Raymund as Dana Lodge, an Assistant State's Attorney who is often on the opposing side of cases of lawyer from Stern.
Episodes
- Main article: The Good Wife Seasons
Production
Development team
The series was created by Michelle and Robert King, who serve as executive producers and show runners. The pair had produced the short-lived legal drama In Justice that aired as a mid-season replacement in early 2006. 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.
Executive producer Dee Johnson added television writing experience to the team. Charles McDougall directed the pilot episode and was the pilot's other executive producer. 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. McDougall left the crew after directing and executive producing the second episode. The series is produced by Bernadette Caulfield who had previously worked on the HBO polygamy drama Big Love; co-producer Ron Binkowski added postproduction 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. 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.
Although the series is set in Chicago, it was filmed in New York. The Kings and the writing staff are based in Los Angeles and use teleconferencing to plan with the director of each episode.
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.
Ratings
U.S. Nielsen ratings
| Season | Timeslot (ET) | No. of episodes |
Premiered | Ended | TV season | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Premiere viewers (in millions) |
Date | Finale viewers (in millions) | ||||
| 1 | Tuesday 10:00PM | 23 | September 22, 2009 | 13.71 | May 23, 2024 | 10.58 | 2009–10 |
| 2 | 23 | September 28, 2010 | 12.84 | May 17, 2011 | 12.58 | 2010–11 | |
| 3 | Sunday 10:00PM | 22 | 2011–12 | ||||
| 4 | 22 | 2012–13 | |||||
| 5 | 22 | 2013–14 | |||||
| 6 | 22 | 2014–15 | |||||
| 7 | 22 | 2015–16 | |||||
Awards
Nominations
Golden Globes
- Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama for Julianna Margulies (2009)
Satellite Awards
- Best Actress in a Series, Drama for Julianna Margulies (2009)
- Best Television Series, Drama (2009)
Screen Actors Guild Awards
- Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series for Julianna Margulies (2009)
- Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2009)
Broadcast
On October 7, 2009, CBS gave the series a full-season pickup, extending the first season from 13 to 22 episodes, later extended to 23 episodes.
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, began airing The Good Wife in January 2014. However, not long after premiering on the Hallmark Channel the show was pulled from the schedule. A weekend broadcast syndication run is scheduled to begin in September 2014, with the series sold in 85% of the country.
The show received an average of 331,000 viewers on Hallmark Channel.
Gallery
Spin-off
The Good Fight
Michelle and Robert King stated in February 2016 that there was a possibility for a spin-off series. By May, CBS was in final negotiations to set up a spin-off, featuring Christine Baranski reprising her role as Diane Lockhart, that would air on streaming service CBS All Access instead of the network, and it was officially ordered to series on May 18 with Cush Jumbo returning as well.
In September 2016, it was confirmed that the 10-episode series would premiere in February 2017. The story picks up a year after the final episode of the original series, with Diane pushed out of her firm after a financial scam 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. In October 2016, former Game of Thrones star Rose Leslie was confirmed to play the role of Diane's goddaughter Maia, and Delroy Lindo was added as Adrian Boseman. Paul Guilfoyle and Bernadette Peters were cast as Maia's parents. The series' title The Good Fight was announced on October 31, 2016.
Elsbeth
On January 31, 2023, it was announced that CBS had ordered a pilot for a new spin-off series titled Elsbeth starring Carrie Preston. On May 9, 2023, the series has ordered straight to series by CBS. It has premiered on February 29, 2024.
References
External links
- The Good Wife on Paramount Global Fandom
- The Good Wife on Wikipedia
- The Good Wife on IMDb
- The Good Wife on TVMaze