When “The Good Wife” comes to a close on CBS on Sunday after seven addictive seasons, fans will be left without a number of guilty pleasures:
Alicia’s (Julianna Marguiles) suits, Diane’s (Christine Baranski) jewelry; Eli’s (Alan Cummings) stuttering exasperation, Peter’s (Chris Noth) reliable baritone. Kalinda’s (Archie Panjabi) leather.
The kids grew up, the love triangles got old (with Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the investigator Jason Crouse, triangulating between Alicia and Peter). He succeeded Will Gardner (Josh Charles) and Finn Palomar (Matthew Goode) and seemed the least credible alternative. But when things got dull, we could always imagine the shoe budget.
This old-style melodrama offered just enough contemporary flavoring to feel fresh. The conventional courtroom drama — hewing to an old-style 22 episodes a season — was sprinkled with cutting-edge nods, whether the intellectual property claims of the Chumhum search engine, the show’s stand-in for Google, or the liberal Democrat/conservative Republican Diane/Kurt (Baranski/Gary Cole) romance, bickering over gun control. The series held a mirror to what we imagine to be our modern selves, with more expensive threads.
No spoilers (the network isn’t releasing advance screeners for Sunday’s series finale), but there’s going to be a hole in our DVR lineup where “The Good Wife” used to be.
We’ll miss David Lee’s (Zach Grenier) fusiness, Jackie Florrick’s (Mary Beth Peil) pursed lips and uptight barbs, Owen Cavanaugh’s (Dallas Roberts) self-deprecating gay jokes.
Often watching “The Good Wife” felt akin to browsing the real estate ads in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine. If you have to ask how much that space costs, you can’t afford it.
The swanky offices of a Chicago law firm (the women too literally pushing through the ceiling to another floor in the penultimate episode) were hard-earned; the well appointed condo the Florricks called home was an emotional battleground, hard-earned, too. The series was a peek into how the other half lives. Unlike the bulk of TV’s crime procedurals and hipster comedies, “The Good Wife” was a glimpse of shiny affluence, home and office, for the Nielsen masses.
The creator-producers Michelle and Robert King deserve credit for making “The Good Wife’s” courtroom drama feel organic. Casting helped, and we witnessed a long line of predictably eccentric guest stars on the bench (Jane Alexander, Denis O’Hare, David Paymer and Kurt Fuller among them) and at the opposing counsel’s table (Michael J. Fox being a favorite). Casting Margo Martindale as Peter’s political operative Ruth Eastman and Eli’s nemesis was a brilliant stroke.
The Broadway names turning up on the series could fill a soundstage: Stockard Channing, Nathan Lane, Joanna Gleason, F. Murray Abraham, John Benjamin Hickey.
Unlike early courtroom dramas, this one was steeped in politics and romance.
Not least, we’ll miss the steady Sunday night wine companion. Per the Twitter feed of the Good Wife writers: “#AliciaFlorrick’s relationship with wine wasn’t exclusive, just cherished and long-standing.”
Of course this once great drama became frustrating. The Cary Agos (Matt Czuchry) storyline went on too long and strayed too far afield, debating for too long whether to paint him as friend or foe. But the show did manage to reinvent itself after the disappointing Will Gardner (Josh Charles) detour, a departure caused not by clever writers but by an actor seeking an out.
Ultimately, “The Good Wife” was a defining drama for the Bill & Hill Clinton era. The wronged political wife spent the seasons finding herself, doing the expected and acceptable thing but always questioning and working to redefine herself.
The legal cases and political rivalries were as complex as the Florrick marriage. But the formula was simple: Stand by your man, smash glass ceilings, end with a glass of wine.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830, jostrow@denverpost.com or @ostrowdp
