Anyone Watching "The Good Wife"?

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I love "The Good Wife". I think it's one of the best written, best acted shows on broadcast TV. No, change that. I don't think it's one of the best, I think it is the very best.

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/the_good_wife/

And I'm not alone in my feelings...

Quote:

'The Good Wife' stands by her man, but which one?
September 24, 2010
by VERNE GAY

THE SHOW "The Good Wife," CBS/2, 10 p.m.

REASON TO WATCH Sophomore season begins, with two outstanding newcomers to the cast - Michael Ealy and Scott Porter.

THE SHOW As fans well know, the relationship between Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) and Will Gardner (Josh Charles) - one of her bosses at law firm Lockhart, Gardner - was sealed with a kiss last season, then unsealed. It's complicated, of course. She ended the season in the figurative stand-by-her-man pose that she had at the start of the season. Support husband and disgraced Cook County State's Attorney Peter Florrick (Chris Noth) or ditch the two-timing slug? And what about Will? Out of jail and back on the election trail, Peter is summoning her to his side at a news conference, just as Alicia's cell rings. It's - guess who! - Will. Tonight, Lockhart, Gardner has merged with a D.C.-based firm, bringing in a new partner, Derrick Bond (Ealy) and his firm's investigator, Blake (Porter). Will they clash? And how will Blake, er, merge with Kalinda (Archie Panjabi)? Life, meanwhile, just got more complicated for Alicia because Peter's archrival Glenn Childs (Titus Welliver) wants to embarrass her to get at her husband.

MY SAY "The Good Wife" probably would have won an Emmy for best drama last month except for an immovable object known as "Mad Men." For that reason, "Wife" wasn't a victim of gratification denied as much as gratification delayed. The big award will come in time, and tonight's jewel of an episode - "Taking Control" - establishes why. Like "Men," "Wife" has an obsessive attention to detail; it's a hurricane of detail, in the visual touches, legal patter and the actors' unspoken flourishes. Nothing seems extraneous or out of place. Also like "Men," this show cares as much about silence as words, or that which isn't said (also a form of eloquence). Not to dismiss those words or the people who say them: This is a remarkably well-written and well-acted series.

BOTTOM LINE The best drama on the major broadcast networks. A great season awaits.

GRADE A+

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/the-good-wife-stands-by-her-man-but-which-one-1.2314258

So, are there any other fans of this show around?

Want to meet here to discuss each weekly episiode?

Will Alicia stay with Peter?

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Is no one else watching this exceptionally good drama series?

For those of you who haven't seen it, it's about the wife of a disgraced politician--he was caught in a sex scandal and sent to jail. She was the loyal wife we always see, glumly and silently standing next to these men when they make their public resignation speeches (like the wife of former NY governor Elliot Spitzer). Except when these two left the stage after the press conference, she smacked him across the face (which is how we'd really like to see these betrayed wives behave). And the focus of this show is how the wife continues to deal with the aftermath of what her husband has done.

In this case, the wife is a lawyer who had given up her career to focus on her husband and children. Because of financial necessity, while hubby is in jail awaiting trial, she sells their home and moves to more affordable digs and she returns to work as a lawyer. The show focuses on her legal cases and interactions with others at the law firm, as well as her life with her children, and her continuing uncertainty about what to do about her marriage (hubby is currently at home under house arrest).

The entire cast is top notch. The scripts are very well written, and the situations (both the legal aspects and the domestic drama) are adult and compelling. The full situation with hubby's transgressions, and his legal entanglements, unfolds rather gradually, so, as in real, things are somewhat ambiguous, and the wife processes this information, and each revelation, as her awareness deepens. She's got a lot to adjust to, both in terms of her functioning within the law firm, and in her newly changed relationship with her husband, because her entire once comfortable world has been altered. Her choices aren't that clear cut or easy, but this wife is a very smart cookie, and Julianna Margulies plays her with all the complexity she deserves--she is wonderful in this role.

If you haven't seen The Good Wife, I certainly suggest you give it a look.

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@firefly,

One of my two favorite shows this season. It keeps getting better. All the characters are multi-dimensional. I am particularly fascinated by Archie Punjabi. I think she often steals the show. If you aren't watching, give it a try! (Other favorite show--Lie To Me.)

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@firefly,

yes, it's one of the best but totally underappreciated IMHO

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I love the show. Can't wait for it to come back. OMG, I've become my parents, we're either taping the show or making sure we are here to see it.

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@Meminger,

Meminger wrote:

I am particularly fascinated by Archie Punjabi. I think she often steals the show.

Me too.

Lemme guess ... you're a dude, right?
(I only say that because I am, and Kalinda steals just about every show for me.)

My favourite episode so far, however, was probably the episode early in Season 4 where this stoic female colonel and judge in the military justice system, who earlier sat in judgement of a case Alicia tried, reappears with a young sidekick, a pretty young JAG lawyer. The JAG lawyer was apparently sexually assaulted in Afghanistan, and the colonel is trying to get her to enlist Alicia's help in a civil suit against her assailant. As she pleads with the JAG woman to let Alicia help, she magically transforms from GI Jane into this loving, compassionate mother character, and you get the sense she she's the JAG person as her daughter or something. I don't think I've ever seen acting quite that good on TV, but there are many other scenes on this show that come close.

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@firefly,

I haven't seen good wife ever. Can you tell me it story.

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@kumkum,

It's been running for several seasons now. Try Googling it, sometimes the story line can be outlined for you.

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@firefly,

It seems that "The Good Wife" (TV) reflects a timeless human fascination with characterizing and understanding feminine labor. This sounds like feminist talk, but it can be general anthropology too, as was explored in the fable story of Helen of Troy in "The Illiad" (Homer), a woman whose charms catalyzed a great battle.

In the modern era, the American scandal involving Amy Fisher and her extra-marital love affair with Italian-American married man Joey Buttafuoco which resulted in the murder attempt of Buttafuoco's wife sparked a media frenzy and reminded everyone of the sort of society emotions that make programs such as "The Good Wife" (TV) reflective of angst economics.

I think "The Good Wive" (TV) is as entertaining at least as the American legal drama "The Practice" (TV).

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I 've seen very few of those episodes
because when the show was advertized at its beginning
it was shown to be of quarreling between husband n wife; I dont wanna watch domestic strife,
but I 've seen a few (very few) episodes, recently. It represents legal practice in Illinois, does it???

I must say that the depositions of testimony that thay run there
are radically different than the ones we ran in NY.

Ours were formal and precise in our questioning.
Any decent NY trial lawyer taking a deposition,
or representing his client in defense of one,
aggressively asserted or defended his client' s evidentiary rights.
When a lawyer got even slightly out-of-line in his question,
I answered:
"Declined, as to form (or as to substance, stating the specific objection)."

On that show, those depositions don t even have the structure of a discussion
over coffee; thay r like random chaos, devoid of the practice of law
under the law of evidence. I was taken aback.
Maybe its just fiction and thay don t really do that there; I dunno.

David

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While representing Glenn Childs' wife, Marie Browning, in their divorce, Alicia gets more info into Peter's fall from grace. Meanwhile, a wrongful death suit against caustic TV commentator Duke Rosco results in Will getting cozy with his opposing counsel.

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@nazia08,

nazia08, you seem to be watching the early episodes of The Good Wife.

In the current season, the last two episodes have delivered a staggering--and quite unexpected--dramatic punch. A main character was suddenly killed off with absolutely no inkling that this was going to happen, and, amazingly, no media news leaks of this plot twist, and the effect was jaw-dropping for viewers. I just sat in stunned disbelief, the way one reacts to a sudden death, as the show's characters also reacted to the news. It was gripping. The following episode showed their individual expressions of grief in a way that was so real, and so on target, it was almost difficult to watch. Both the writing and the performances were absolutely top-notch. This has been television drama at it's best and most immediate.

I had begun to grow a little bored with this show, but, after the last two episodes, I am riveted, and can't wait to see how this death continues to impact and affect these characters and the storyline.

Anyone else here watching the current season? What did you think of this jolting turn of events?

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I watched the good wife last night, all the way up until 9pm when she closed her curtains.

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Anyone Watching "The Good Wife"?

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