The Good Wife: Discussion Thread

[Ben]

I agree with everything JaneAusten has said about the show. I love TGW; it's one of my favourite shows, but this season hasn't been as good. The first half was interesting with Carey taking centre stage and getting his own story (I've felt for a long time that he deserved more meaty material), but once his story was wrapped up, the show kinda stalled, creatively.

I thought the FAL team moving back into the old LG offices was a weird step back, that came off feeling quite random. I'm not that interested in seeing Canning any more than needs be; he works well as a guest character, popping up once in a while, but any more than that is too much. There has been several characters who have just randomly disappeared half way through the season with no explanation, like Robyn. I have enjoyed Bishop taking a more prominent role, but it's a shame Kalinda was sidelined with Bishop in a subplot that was quite isolating. I've really hated how they've handled Kalinda's character generally; they've wasted her in a lot of ways due to having to write around JM/Alicia. The UK is about 4 episodes behind the US, so I don't know if this gets resolved, but there seemed to be plot strands that had no follow up, like Bishop wanting Kalinda to bug the FBI agent (but she smashed it instead), and their relationship just randomly fell off screen once Carey was exonerated.

In fact, with Alicia running for SA, it meant she didn't share that many scenes with Diane, Carey, or Eli, and actually spent most of the season with her campaign team, which was quite odd. I thought when they had Bishop secretly fund her campaign, that it would lead somewhere interesting in the second half, but it didn't, and in fact Bishop/Alicia shared less and less scenes as the season progressed. This season also produced the worst episode so far, with that self-contained narrative of Alicia spending 60 minutes running through her issues and dilemmas via fantasy sequences, that contained those awful "Will" scenes; it just pointlessly stalled everything for no real reason.

But, you're looking at it from a logical perspective, and people don't always behave logically.

Whatever the problem was between them, it has to be something that happened during season 4, b/c that was the last time they shared any scenes together. Before that, any issues hadn't encroached on the show's creative direction. I think it's a shame they couldn't work together for the good of the show; many other actors who hated each other continued to work together.

When did JM first get credited as a producer?

[Mr. Vixen]

Yeah, what the !@#$%^&*] happened to Robin?!

[KMan101]

Exactly, Toups, you can't look at it logically. She's the lead and felt threatened, IMO. Simple as that. It was clear for years Archie/Kalinda was isolated and rarely used. You can still be a lead and have your own show and be jealous of the attention a co-star is getting. I know we all want to believe everyone in the industry just loves each other and gets along but it's also a competitive industry. Jealousy happens.

[Ben]

Even with JM winning loads of awards, it was AP who beat JM to winning the show's first Emmy in 2010, and that had to sting a little. AP/Kalinda's popularity was huge from the first season, and as the star of show, being eclipsed by the supporting actor in popularity had to be a bit of an ego basher. Certainly Kalinda's popularity has never faltered, but I can't say the same for Alicia's. Certainly by season 4, something must have happened BTS for the Kings to ensure that these two never shared a scene again.

[Toups]

JM is a long time primetime veteran and won numerous awards on ER. Plus, AP was in the supporting category and wasn't competing against JM. If there was something to be jealous about, then maybe I could buy the jealous speculation.

[Ben]

Adding fuel to the fire is AP not denying her last scene with JM was faked.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/s170/the-good-wife/news/a649455/archie-panjabi-on-the-good-wife-fakery-i-didnt-make-the-decision.html#~pdSXGwmJO55RIf

I see Matthew Goode is not returning for the 7th season. I think he's a loss to the show, as Finn was a decent, likeable character, who was underused throughout this season.

[YRBB]

Jeffrey Dean Morgan joining THE GOOD WIFE as a series regular! YAAAAAAAASSSSSSS.

[slick jones]

Margo Martindale as a foil for Eli Gold.....That's my favorite bitch!!!!!!!

[BetterForgotten]

I feel like this show is never going to be decent again as it's strictly become a vanity project for Julianna Margulies. 

[marceline]

It jumped the shark last season in the truest classic sense of that phrase. Alicia's run for SA was the equivalent of Fonzie strapping on the water skis.

[slick jones]

Where to start...This week's episode was a really great one, IMO  The combination of Howard and the evil mother in law was just one of the twists I enjoyed this week

[YRBB]

This seventh season, with its remaining 9 episodes, will be the show's last.  

 

This is so sad -- it doesn't feel like it's been on long enough, but if this was truly their creative vision, then I'm all for it. 

 

But, why am I complaining? I've yet to start season 5! 

[slick jones]

Very disappointed to hear this, I really enjoy the show. 

[BetterForgotten]

I honestly feel like this is the right time. The show hasn't felt the same to me since last season. 

[JaneAusten]

I have watched this show regularly from the very beginning, and it's time. Season 5 was brilliant and I actually thought killing off Will was a brilliant move, but rather than optimize it, it seemed to let the steam out of the show. And honestly rather than Alicia being the center of the ensemble, it seemed that Will served that purpose more. Once he was gone it became more the Alicia show while much of the rest of the cast seemed rather aimless. I'm really disappointed in particular that Robyn was dropped, Cary underutilized and kind of aimless, and Diane being used as a glorified extra. The one bright spot was the addition of Lucca and even that seemed to be a bit mishandled in later episodes this season.

I'll miss the show but I think it needs to end at this point and why not end it as originally planned, particularly if the King's planned on leaving after this season as it is.

I'll forever wonder if JM becoming a producer really did alter the show and caused many of the supporting characters to become marginalized. I don't like to think that was the cause, and I actually really have enjoyed JM in this role a lot, but many things still just don't seem to make sense unless her influence became the driving force.