Sunday, February 23, 2025, 8:03PM |  40°
MENU
Advertisement
In
1
MORE

Verdict: 'Good Wife' best new drama bet of fall season

Eike Schroter/CBS

Verdict: 'Good Wife' best new drama bet of fall season

TV review

So often quality TV is defined mostly by writing. But CBS's "The Good Wife" is both a well-written legal drama and a terrific showcase for actress Julianna Margulies, who elevates the already-good material with her perceptive, open performance.

Margulies stars as Alicia Florrick, wife of Illinois state's attorney Peter (Chris Noth, "Law & Order"), who, in the opening scene, resigns his post amid a hooker and ethics scandal. The opening scene replays the familiar sight of a wife standing by her disgraced husband as he apologizes and resigns his position in a hastily called press conference.


'The Good Wife'
  • When: 10 tonight on CBS.
  • Starring: Julianna Margulies.

When this plays out in real life, viewers may feel for the wronged spouse, but in "The Good Wife" Margulies shows not only Alicia's pain but also her disorientation as life as she knew it gets ripped away. During the press conference, Alicia focuses on a piece of thread on her husband's suit, presumably in an effort to distract herself from her husband and the media horde.

Advertisement

Six months later, Alicia has become the family breadwinner while her husband plots his comeback from a prison cell. After 13 years of caring for her family, Alicia goes back to work for a corporate law firm, where she's treated as an object of pity and privilege.

She gets the job from a law school chum (Josh Charles, "SportsNight") and only after she begins work does she learn she's in competition for a permanent position with a young shark (Matt Czuchry, "Gilmore Girls") who gets put on an important-to-the-firm case while the firm's top litigator (Christine Baranski, "Cybill") tasks Alicia with pro bono work.

Her first case: defending a single-mother murder suspect with whom Alicia begins to identify.

At home, Alicia tries to keep her children in check, which is difficult when her daughter calls to ask if the rumors that dad's prostitutes were teenagers are true. Complicating matters, Alicia's cold mother-in-law (Mary Beth Peil, "Dawson's Creek") has decided to "help" with the children, but she mostly annoys Alicia's teen daughter.

Advertisement

But the show's most interesting emotional undercurrent is Alicia's relationship with her jailed husband. He's eager to get things "back to normal," oblivious to her pain. She's conflicted at every turn. Betrayed as a wife, Alicia looks stricken when listening to a voice mail from her husband that his defense team may have found a winning legal strategy.

The timely nature of "The Good Wife" -- coming off scandals that made former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and current South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford household names -- gives the show a zeitgeisty zing, but credit writers Michelle and Robert King and star Margulies with making this show the fall's best drama bet.



First Published: September 22, 2009, 8:00 a.m.

RELATED
Comments Disabled For This Story
Partners
Advertisement
The University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning
1
business
Amid funding uncertainty, Pitt pauses doctoral admissions
Pickers at Bonnie Brae Fruit Farms in Huntington Township, Adams County, harvest golden delicious apples on Sept. 10, 2024. President Donald Trump’s administration has frozen funding on several federal programs, including many that are under USDA and help farmers make their facilities more climate-friendly, protect against damage from wildlife, and help them employ more workers.
2
news
Pa. farmers feel funding pinch as federal freezes trigger labor and infrastructure instability
A new report advises retirees in 2025 to aim for just 3.7% when withdrawing from savings -- down from 4%. Over a 30-year retirement, that could mean the difference between financial security or outliving your cash in your 80s or 90s, financial experts say.
3
business
How much can retirees safely withdraw from their nest eggs? Financial experts weigh in.
Prospect Rutger McGroarty is right on track according to Penguins assistant general manager Jason Spezza.
4
sports
From The Point: When are the kids getting called up? Jason Spezza details the Penguins’ ‘thought-out’ plan
Carole Lee Fritsche Timblin
5
news
Carole Lee Fritsche Timblin, passionate educator and gift shop owner, dies at 89
In "The Good Wife," Julianna Margulies portrays Alicia Florrick, a wife and mother who must re-enter the workforce as a defense attorney after her husband's very public sex and political corruption scandal lands him in jail.  (Eike Schroter/CBS)
Eike Schroter/CBS
Advertisement
LATEST ae
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story