Considering TV’s tradition of copying what works, then copying those copies, it says a lot that no show rips off “The Good Wife.”
Or dares to try. A whip-smart blend of workplace derring-do and domestic melodrama, this CBS series has kept safe distance from TV’s echo chamber, immune to a discernible formula or gimmick.
It manages to stay both mainstream and offbeat. A neat trick.
Airing its fifth-season finale at 9 p.m. today, “The Good Wife” has replenished the stripped-bare legal-drama genre with complex storylines that employ human relationships as much as courtroom brinksmanship.
It is often funny, yet never less than gripping as it forgoes (with the rarest exceptions) screeching tires, fisticuffs and gunplay.
Oh, sure, lawyer Will Gardner was gunned down in a March episode that narratively served the wishes of Josh Charles, who played him, to depart.
But this weariest of legal-drama tropes (a courthouse shooting!) rocked the audience as much as it did Will’s associates.
No wonder: It was so unexpected for “The Good Wife” to shed blood.
Despite fans’ sorrow at losing Will, “The Good Wife” remains bursting with great characters played by a stellar troupe including Christine Baranski, Archie Panjabi, Matt Czuchry and Alan Cumming, aided by a bounty of guest stars that currently includes Michael J. Fox in a delicious story arc.
They are led by Julianna Margulies, who plays the titular protagonist, Alicia Florrick, a stay-at-home mother and former Chicago attorney forced to go back to work at the start of the series after a sex-and-corruption scandal sent her Cook County State’s Attorney husband (Chris Noth) to jail.
Back in September 2009, this seemed a juicy premise. But marital betrayal with a good-wife-as-victim was only the stepping-off point.
“We knew that Alicia should confront that initial crisis, but then grow and change,” said Michelle King, who, with her husband Robert King, created the series.
“We wanted to follow that trajectory and see her strengths develop, not just live in a world of infidelity and its aftermath,” Michelle King said.
“In your office every day, you’re not dealing with dragon slayers, you’re dealing with people metaphorically stabbing you in the back,” Robert King said.
As a show that relies on words and ideas over flash and dash, “The Good Wife” more closely resembles certain boutique cable series such as “Mad Men” than the slate of procedurals CBS dines out on.
But the Kings say the network has supported them in their resistance to a copycat approach.
Meanwhile, the Kings embrace the less-is-more constraints broadcast TV imposes in certain areas. Like the bedroom. In its own distinctive way, “The Good Wife” excels as a very racy show.
“You never see a breast or a behind. We concentrate on faces,” Robert King said. “But when the actors are very good, and our actors are, that can make those scenes even sexier and dirtier.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
