The Good Wife

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 (having taken 13 years out to be a stay-at-home mother) to provide for her two children.^[10] The series was partly inspired by the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal,^[11] 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.^[12]

• 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 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 leaves it to start a new firm with Cary.
• 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 a one night stand with Peter before she knew Alicia, damaging their friendship. Kalinda has a cynical, misanthropic outlook on human behavior. She is bisexual. 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;^{[13][14][15][16]} the character initially wore pumps but Panjabi felt that boots "grounded her in the character."^[17]
• 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. As season 4 ends he forms a new firm bring with him the other 4 year lawyers at the firm and Alicia.
• 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.^[18] He was promoted to the main cast in season two.^[19]
• Graham Phillips as Zachary "Zach" Florrick: Son of Alicia and Peter.
• Makenzie Vega as Grace Florrick: Daughter of Alicia and Peter.

• Chris Noth as Peter Florrick: Alicia's husband and 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, winning the governorship as Season 4 concluded.
• 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.
• Zach Grenier as David Lee: Head of Family Law at Lockhart/Gardner.
• Titus Welliver as Glenn Childs: The former Cook County State's Attorney. Childs was responsible for leaking Peter Florrick's 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 after Peter finds out about his illegal dealings with nannies. He now works as an AUSA (Assistant United States Attorney).
• Michael Boatman as Julius Cain: Head of Litigation at Lockhart/Gardner.
• 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.
• Anika Noni Rose as Wendy Scott-Carr: Ran unsuccessfully against Peter for state's attorney. Scott-Carr reappears in season 3 as a special prosecutor hired by Florrick.
• Michael Ealy as Derrick Bond: A new partner in season 2. 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.
• Joe Morton as Daniel Golden: A member of Peter's legal team who now works in the State Department.
• Chris Butler as Matan Brody: A prosecutor. After Blake confronts Kalinda in "Ham Sandwich" about her one-night stand with Peter, Blake leaves after giving one last interview to Matan.
• Renee Goldsberry as Geneva Pine: Another assistant state's attorney in Florrick's office.
• Jill Flint as Lana Delaney: A lesbian FBI special agent who is Kalinda's on-again off-again love interest.
• Monica Raymund as Dana Lodge: An assistant state's attorney in Florrick's office.
• Anna Camp as Caitlin D'arcy: A junior associate at the firm. She is the niece of David Lee and Alicia acts as her mentor. She leaves Lockhart & Gardner in the third season to become a stay-at-home mother.
• 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.
• Martha Plimpton as Patti Nyholm: Nyholm is a rival attorney who recurrently opposes to the Lockhart & Gardner crew. She is a strong, scheming lawyer who mostly represents big companies. She has two kids whom she often uses to win time or the affect of judges and witnesses.
• 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.
• Dallas Roberts as Owen Cavanaugh: Alicia's mischievous, openly gay younger brother.
• Stockard Channing as Veronica Loy: Alicia's mother who has been absent and detached from her.
• Nathan Lane as Clarke Hayden: A court-appointed trustee in charge of getting the firm out of bankruptcy in the fourth season.
• Amanda Peet as Captain Laura Hellinger: A former Army captain and military lawyer. While in Afghanistan, a contractor attempted to rape her. She is now an assistant state's attorney in Florrick's office.
• Marc Warren as Nick Saverese, Kalinda's abusive ex-husband, whom she had been avoiding by changing her name. He appears in season 4, after being revealed as the unseen person entering Kalinda's apartment in a cliff-hanger at the end of Season 3.
• Gary Cole as Kurt McVeigh: A ballistic expert that helps the firm on several cases, and an on-and-off love interest for Diane.
• Matthew Perry as Mike Kresteva: An attorney who leads a blue ribbon panel that Alicia is appointed to in Season 3; and later becomes Peter's Republican rival in the general election for Illinois governor during Season 4.
• Jess Weixler as Robyn Burdine: The firm's second in-house private investigator, hired during season 4.
• Mamie Gummer as Nancy Crozier: Crozier is a a young and female rival attorney who has been opposing counsel to Alicia in various cases.

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.^[20] The creators had previously worked extensively in feature films. Scott Free productions helped to finance The Good Wife and Ridley Scott, Tony Scott (till his death) and David W. Zucker are also credited as executive producers.^[21][22] Executive producer Dee Johnson added television writing experience to the team.^[20][22] Charles McDougall directed the pilot episode and was the pilot's other executive producer.^[23] 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.^[24] McDougall left the crew after directing and executive producing the second episode.^[24][25] 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.^[26] 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. 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.^[27]

^[33][34]

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; 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 three seasons of The Good Wife are available on Amazon Prime, with the current Season (4) coming later this year. Hulu Plus will roll out previous seasons of the show in September 2013, while Hallmark Channel will begin airing The Good Wife in January 2014. A weekend broadcast syndication run is scheduled to begin in September 2014, with the series sold in 85% of the country.^[35]

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.^[36] This led to it achieving a high level of fame amongst the Bitcoin community.^[37][38]

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.^[54] 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".^[55] 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".^[56] The 4th season also received critical acclaim, with a 86 out 100 on Metacritic, indicating "universal acclaim".^[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."^{[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".^[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]

• Rooney, David (May 19, 2010). "On TV, a New Refuge for Stage Actors". The New York Times.

• Official website
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• The Good Wife at IMDb