5 out of 5

Created by: Robert King, Michelle King

covers seasons 1 – 7

Let me lay it down for you, plain and true: Besides Breaking Bad, I cannot name another full-seasoned (e.g. 20+ season episode) show that ran for multiple seasons and did not deliver one clunker of an episode.  Not every episode may be required viewing, but neither was any episode a waste of viewing time.

At least, I couldn’t name another, until I watched The Good Wife.  Yup.  A show I never would have suspected of it; a show this cartoon and horror movie lover likely wouldn’t have given a second glance had it come via random recommendation.  Thus must we once again praise the era of easy-access TV, and the cross-pollination of impressively challenging and tech-savvy ideas creators the Kings fed into their series post this one – BrainDead and the connected Good Fight – for encouraging me to give the show a watch.

That mark of quality aside, a simple test for me for rewarding TV viewing is, firstly, whether or not I remember character names – especially if they’re not the stars – and secondly, whether or not I find myself upset or pleased by the choices those characters make.  While I’m conflicted regarding the route the show takes in its fifth and sixth season, driving deeper divides between characters the show had nudged along to endearing maturity in the years prior, I cannot deny how invested I was in their plights – in all of their plights – which means that I also remembered all of their names.

The general setup of Good Wife is pretty straight forward: State’s Attorney Peter Florrick (Chris Noth) is caught up in a prostitute-a-sleepin’-with scandal.  Behind the scenes, his marriage dissolves, but appearances are maintained; meanwhile, his wife – star Julianna Margulies as Alicia – attempts to re-start her life by resuming the practice of law, landing a job at Lockhart (Christine Baranski) & Gardner (Josh Charles), a prestigious, big bucks law firm.  Kick off the learning-the-ropes legal procedural, with TV requisite romance (firm partner Will Gardner is an old flame), inter-office intrigue, and just-in-time-for-the-end-of-the-episode saves.  Standard Law & Order stuff, with a female lead for the moms to cheer along with, eh?  Yes, there’s no denying that template exists: there’s very much a vein explored of gender politics and child rearing and etcetera.  But it’s just a template.  The show does so much more than that.

Building off of the case-a-day format, a growing cast of consistently reoccurring clients and subplots – subplots relevant to the development of the characters, the show, and the firm – become wonderfully entwined, giving The Good Wife an incredibly firm base of support for exploring the reality of its proposed situation: not only the role of gender in the workplace and the public eye, but deeper questions on identity in general, and bravely unanswered (for a major network show) queries on the nature of morality.  There’s a lot of questions from both sides proposed; the show’s writers are certainly liberal, but they’re willing to toss their own logic back in their face, and it’s incredibly refreshing and rewarding.  The balance between diving into emotional waters and the drier, more technical stuff is also masterfully handled, both overall and inter-episode; the amount of detail (or at least convincing detail) is impressive, and the before-the-major-headlines tech topics are surprising.

Seven seasons of this.  Seven seasons of having roles and topics I’d initially not cared for become favorites, or things I kept looking forward to getting back to.  Even Alicia’s kids are fantastic.

I’m floored this world continued on with The Good Fight.  I’m exhausted from having watched damn near the entirety of The Good Wife straight, but I couldn’t stop myself.  Only now I can’t stop singing the show’s praises.  But if I can convince one other doubter like m’self to give it a shot, then my braveness in watching this much television is most certainly justified.  Uh huh.