The Good Wife is a series that ran from 2009-2016. The 23-episode first season aired during the 2009/2010 TV season. It saw the return to network TV as a series regular for Julianna Margulies, nine years after she left ER, playing a Chicago lawyer named Alicia Florrick. The premise is that her husband, Peter, the IL state's attorney (played by Chris Noth), resigns from office amid a combined sex and corruption scandal (back when that kind of thing mattered). After that opening scene, the show immediately does a time jump to almost a year later when Peter is in prison. Alicia decides to dust off her law degree and work as a junior associate at a large Chicago law firm, at which her best friend from law school, Will (played by Josh Charles), is one of the senior partners along with Christine Baranski's character, Diane. The main cast is rounded out by her fellow junior associate, Cary (played by Matt Czuchry), and the firm's investigator, Kalinda (played by Archie Panjabi).
With that as a background, the show essentially becomes a weekly procedural with a case-of-the-week format with larger themes (like Alicia trying to adjust to life as a kind of single working mother, her husband appealing his conviction, which junior associate will get the permanent position, and a will they, won't they sexual tension between Alicia and Will). It does an excellent job of being as realistic as the courtroom scenes of any show I have seen. Given how boring actual trials tend to be, no show can be 100% accurate, so there is always some "ask a question and give a closing argument in response to the witness' answer" that you get in any show or movie that portrays trials. Sometimes, the show has cases that clearly play off of real-life events, but most are made up. Sometimes, things play out pretty straightforward, and other times, there are twists. There is also some good old-fashioned Chicago political corruption thrown in. I think the show did a good job of not being too cookie-cutter with the storylines and kept things interesting throughout the season.
The DVD set is a six-disc set with many extras. There are commentary tracks with the showrunners and cast on select episodes, deleted scenes on many episodes (which also allows an option to play the deleted scenes with commentary by at least one of the writers), a 17-minute featurette on real-life events that the show fictionalized, and an hour and 15-minute making of feature (which is split up into several parts you can watch individually, or using play-all). So, if you like to get shows on physical media when there are a lot of bonus features, this is worth picking up.
Overall, the show is well-written and acted. It does not tie up everything and ends on kind of a cliffhanger going into season two. If you are a fan of procedural dramas, this one holds up well. As someone who discovered the show late, I think it would be enjoyable even if it premiered this year as opposed to a decade ago. Chances are, most people who are reading this by now will already be fans of the show, but if you are one who is just checking it out for the first time, it is worth the time to watch.
With that as a background, the show essentially becomes a weekly procedural with a case-of-the-week format with larger themes (like Alicia trying to adjust to life as a kind of single working mother, her husband appealing his conviction, which junior associate will get the permanent position, and a will they, won't they sexual tension between Alicia and Will). It does an excellent job of being as realistic as the courtroom scenes of any show I have seen. Given how boring actual trials tend to be, no show can be 100% accurate, so there is always some "ask a question and give a closing argument in response to the witness' answer" that you get in any show or movie that portrays trials. Sometimes, the show has cases that clearly play off of real-life events, but most are made up. Sometimes, things play out pretty straightforward, and other times, there are twists. There is also some good old-fashioned Chicago political corruption thrown in. I think the show did a good job of not being too cookie-cutter with the storylines and kept things interesting throughout the season.
The DVD set is a six-disc set with many extras. There are commentary tracks with the showrunners and cast on select episodes, deleted scenes on many episodes (which also allows an option to play the deleted scenes with commentary by at least one of the writers), a 17-minute featurette on real-life events that the show fictionalized, and an hour and 15-minute making of feature (which is split up into several parts you can watch individually, or using play-all). So, if you like to get shows on physical media when there are a lot of bonus features, this is worth picking up.
Overall, the show is well-written and acted. It does not tie up everything and ends on kind of a cliffhanger going into season two. If you are a fan of procedural dramas, this one holds up well. As someone who discovered the show late, I think it would be enjoyable even if it premiered this year as opposed to a decade ago. Chances are, most people who are reading this by now will already be fans of the show, but if you are one who is just checking it out for the first time, it is worth the time to watch.
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