The Good Wife

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.

This is not a family/drama series.

This is an intelligent and well written series about politics and the law.

The system, if I may.

The character developments are great, indeed, but the focus of the series is not on the main character as a wife or parent - but as a lawyer, and the cases her firm handles. Her struggles with her husband becomes another way of portraying examples from politics, rather than being the center of the series. With that being said, the drama scenes here and there are extremely well written.

This is a show that grows on you, like great series does, building up slowly - Until you find yourself hooked. It gives me the same feeling as another great TV-series, The Wire. It is also visually stunning.

Take your time with it, watch the whole first season. It won't disappoint you.

This is the best new show of the season. The "story within a story" method is used to great effect, as we follow Alicia's marital woes, the inter-office politics, the husband's efforts to get out of prison, and the family ups and downs at home. Interwoven with these ongoing plot lines, there's a new legal case to tackle each week. I find this show a rich combination of humour, pathos, romance, mystery...

Kudos to the young actors who play Alicia's children (Makenzie Vega and Graham Phillips). They are likable teenagers, neither bratty nor too-good-to-be-true. In fact, I think this show is very well cast overall.

I keep under-estimating this drama; perhaps because there are no big names associated with the production of it - my mistake! This drama continues to capture me hook, line and sinker every week. I am loving it to the point that it has become one of my 'must see' TV shows.

The writing is strong, the acting is as good as one finds on any other hit drama show (CSI franchises, Law & Order franchises, Criminal Law, etc.) and the direction is excellent. The budget is clearly huge. Given all that, this show may not win a bountiful of Emmy's although it may win for the lead actress or the support actress.

However, with all that is on the air these days, this is in the top 10% of all television and the top 2-3% of Drama.

Initially before you watch this show you may believe that The Good Wife is just another legal/political drama but it is so much more. It actually is very witty, intelligent and well researched. The subject matter is also very relevant to today's society. You get an insightful view into the corrupted world of politics and the daily moral struggles lawyers must face.

As the seasons progress and the storyline develops the show is getting stronger. It allows you to be more involved with the characters and share their personal journey. Everybody can relate to the problems and issues they face in one way or another. This is definitely a must watch series.