First post. Thanks to other IMDb reviews, I decided to give The Good Wife a try. And boy I was not disappointed. Julianna Margulies leads a stellar ensemble cast, the acting and script writing is near-flawless, and the weekly stories are believable yet not over-the-top. A nice almost Thriller main storyline flows throughout the episodes, adding a compelling undercurrent to what could have been just another legal drama.
The Good Wife examines the lives of legal professionals as affected by their cases and work circumstances. It certainly does not mirror the style of any other legal drama in style, timing or episode structure, and I believe it has found a well-deserved niche of it's own on current high-quality television drama.
I highly recommend you watch this series if you enjoy fine acting and tight, coherent and interesting story lines.
Greg PS. Thankfully there is no "This is based on a true story" etc. tag-line to distract the viewer from the scriptwriters obvious prodigious talents, and a very enjoyable hour of weekly escapism!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1st May 2012 Review Update (no spoilers): ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have just finished watching Season 3. Literally sitting on the edge of my couch. WOW!. Since my original review this fantastic drama has grown in depth and breadth - I can now place it (almost) with Deadwood, Dexter, The Walking Dead, Battlestar Galactica and Six Feet Under as an all time television great - no exaggeration.
The interplay between characters (of whom the depth is truly 3 dimensional) is complex, yet does not try to confuse the viewer in an attempt at narcissistic scriptwriting "greatness" (We all know shows that do that). It just flows.
Amongst the stellar cast, my favorite character would have to be exotic and mysterious Kalinda Sharma, played by the mesmerizing Archie Panjabi (2009 Emmy award winner for best actress, and Chopard Trophy winner for the phenomenal 2007's "A Mighty Heart").
Subtle humor is so well crafted and acted, you are guaranteed at least one belly laugh per episode; these become almost a small gift from the writers - an (we want these characters to resonate with you) unexpected and welcome tangent from the often serious, sometimes even chilling story lines.
Truthfully I can't recall one episode where I reflected "gee that was a bit dull, I guess they had to do that to pad out the season". Forget the usual clichéd formula episodes from the Scriptwriting For Dummies handbook - you won't find them here. No lame flashbacks, no "24 hours earlier" and no musical/costume themed episodes here thanks. Just gritty, compelling and eminently enjoyable television.
The Good Wife is simply superb.
