The Good Wife (2009)
The Good Wife is a 2009 drama series created by Michelle King and Robert King. It stars Julianna Margulies, Christine Baranski and Matt Czuchry.
Alicia Florrick's husband, the Cook County State's Attorney, goes to jail in a very public sex-and-corruption scandal, and Alicia goes back to work. Julianna Margulies plays her as a woman rebuilding a legal career she abandoned years earlier, now the sole support of her family and the target of every camera in Chicago. The CBS series follows her from junior associate upward through a cutthroat firm, mixing case-of-the-week courtroom sparring with office politics and slow-burn personal drama. Christine Baranski, Josh Charles, and Archie Panjabi fill out a sharp ensemble, and the writing keeps Alicia's loyalties satisfyingly hard to read.
Quick answers
What is The Good Wife about?
Alicia Florrick's husband, the Cook County State's Attorney, goes to jail in a very public sex-and-corruption scandal, and Alicia goes back to work. Julianna Margulies plays her as a woman rebuilding a legal career she abandoned years earlier, now the sole support of her family and the target of every camera in Chicago. The CBS series follows her from junior associate upward through a cutthroat firm, mixing case-of-the-week courtroom sparring with office politics and slow-burn personal drama. Christine Baranski, Josh Charles, and Archie Panjabi fill out a sharp ensemble, and the writing keeps Alicia's loyalties satisfyingly hard to read.
When was The Good Wife released?
The Good Wife was released on 22 September 2009.
How many episodes does The Good Wife have?
The Good Wife has 156 episodes across 7 seasons.
Who made The Good Wife?
The Good Wife was created by Michelle King and Robert King.
Where can I watch The Good Wife?
The Good Wife is available on Paramount Plus, Paramount+ (Via Amazon Prime), Paramount+ (Via Apple TV), Google Play, Amazon and AppleTV.
Where to watch The Good Wife
Stream: Paramount Plus, Paramount+ (Via Amazon Prime), Paramount+ (Via Apple TV)
Rent: Google Play
Buy: Amazon, AppleTV, Fandango at Home, Google Play
Cast
- Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick
- Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart
- Matt Czuchry as Cary Agos
- Alan Cumming as Eli Gold
- Archie Panjabi as Kalinda Sharma
- Josh Charles as Will Gardner
- Chris Noth as Peter Florrick
- Makenzie Vega as Grace Florrick
- Graham Phillips as Zach Florrick
- Zach Grenier as David Lee
- Mary Beth Peil as Jackie Florrick
- Matthew Goode as Finn Polmar
Similar series
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The Good Wife in our writing
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A few thoughts on The Good Wife
Arthur Miller's The Crucible offers the same courtroom pressure and public shaming in a very different century. Crooked House pulls a family lawyer into a murder investigation, and Damage traces a respectable public man undone by scandal, the exact wound Alicia is left to manage. The Godfather rounds it out as a study of power protecting its own.
Legal dramas with courtroom sparring
The Good Wife pairs case-of-the-week courtroom fights with the grind of building a career at a cutthroat firm. These legal dramas share that structure, moving from opening argument to verdict while lawyers trade sharp objections. If Alicia's week-to-week trials kept you watching, these keep the gavel swinging.
Women rebuilding careers and holding their own
Alicia Florrick restarts a legal career from scratch after her husband's scandal, the sole support of her family under a public spotlight. These dramas center women who claw back power in law and politics, balancing ambition against everything they owe at home. Her kind of quiet, relentless comeback.
Morally complex ensemble dramas about power
Beneath the trials, The Good Wife is about compromise: who Alicia becomes to survive the firm and the party machine. These prestige dramas share that appetite for moral gray areas, following flawed people through institutions that bend them. Watch when you want the office politics to cut as deep as the plot.
Scandal, betrayal and power on the page and screen
The Good Wife opens on a sex-and-corruption scandal that upends one family and feeds every camera in Chicago. These stories run on the same currents of betrayal, ambition and public disgrace, from a mob saga to a tale of political espionage. The messy machinery of power, in books and film.