I fell out of love with The Good Wife when Josh Charles left the show, and after that season, I just stopped watching. I still haven’t watched the season after that, which is when Archie Panjabi left (after her contract ran out). Part of it was that Will and Kalinda were two of the biggest reasons to watch the show, and part of it was that Julianna Margulies – who is the producer and star – had forced the show to become all about her character, Alicia, and The Alicia Show is boring. There were long-standing rumors about Julianna’s unprofessional behavior towards Archie in particular – rumors which Archie confirmed after she left the show, directly contradicting the bulls—t excuse Julianna tried to throw at fans.
While I no longer watch the show, I have kept up with the gossip around the show. Most Good Wife fans believe that the quality of the storytelling has fallen off a cliff, and some have even theorized that the writers are not only phoning it in, but that everyone involved with TGW kind of hates Julianna. Guest stars keep coming in, only to back out at the last minute (the second they work with Julianna for a day?). Plot lines go nowhere. Nothing is ever resolved. Christina Baranski is desperately underutilized. You get the idea. Most people believed this season, the seventh season, would be the last (and SHOULD be the last). Then, more than a week ago, the creators and executive producers announced that they were leaving the show. Julianna is literally the last person standing.
CBS dropped a bombshell at TCA last week, revealing that The Good Wife creators/executive producers/showrunners Robert and Michelle King will be departing the series after the current seventh season. While not completely unexpected — the duo had publicly discussed a plan to do the show for 7 seasons — the move compounds the uncertain future of the series, which also faces the fact that the contracts of most of its original cast members, including star Julianna Margulies, are up.
CBS Entertainment president Glenn Geller was pretty confident that The Good Wife “can certainly continue” beyond the current seventh season, and producing studio CBS TV Studios has been working on a succession plan, with The Good Wife executive producer Craig Turk tipped to take over showrunner duties from the Kings after working under them for the past few seasons. But the confluence of the two things — cast’s contracts expiring and the Kings’ exit — certainly complicates plans for continuing the series. Robert and Michelle King have written every pivotal episode of The Good Wife and have earned all but one of the show’s major writing awards nominations.
I hear Margulies was joking when she told a room full of casting directors last night at the Artios Awards’ tribute to the Kings that “I’m unemployed come April, and I think you haven’t seen me in a while, at least not in person, so I thought I should show up.”
Margulies was not lying — she does not have a contract beyond Season 7 after only adding one extra year at a previous renegotiation. Alan Cumming also is said to have a one-year-deal as he has been doing short-term contracts, while Matt Czuchry is believed to be the only major Good Wife cast member signed for Season 8.
There hasn’t been much movement on negotiating new contracts with the actors that I’ve heard of but things are supposed to start moving soon, and a decision on whether the series will continue or not is expected to be made in the next few weeks so the show — the last broadcast drama to get major awards recognition — can get a proper sendoff. The decision will likely hinge on whether Emmy winner Margulies, who also is a producer on the show, would want to return, something that she certainly raised doubts about with her comments last night, jest or not.
So Julianna is joking around with people about being unemployed after this season? Ugh. Honestly, it seems like CBS is fine doing another season, but it’s my sincere hope that they finish it quickly, in the next few months. I don’t know of any original fans still watching, and at this point, I would be willing to bet that there are few people who want to work on TGW for one more whole season. Put this show out its misery.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I stopped watching after Archie left and I heard about how Julianna treated her.
That split screen fiasco when Archie left was insulting to any TGW fan. That capped it for me, I haven’t watched since.
I remember watching the scene and thinking, this doesn’t look right. It became apparent in about two minutes that the actresses weren’t in the same room. What a joke.
+1000
Yeah I feel like most did.
Though the quality of the show hasn’t dwindled or faltered.. it’s still incredible sharp and we’ll written. It’s just not the same focus or the same as it was the first few seasons.
I agree with you @sarah, the problem isn’t the dialogues or the development, it’s the fact that they made all the characters bland so Alicia would sound less plain. Julianna Margulies isn’t even a good actress, her character is the same she played in E.R., but a doctor instead of a nurse. If she wasn’t so selfish and stupid, people would still be watching the show and she would still have a job.
I respectfully disagree Sarah. I’m rewatching the series on AmazonPrime, and I’m amazed at how much better the writing was in the first three seasons. I liked the season after Alicia left the firm, but when they killed off Will, the show plummeted. And kalinda was a bada$$ the first few seasons and then they didn’t know what to go with her.
I watch for Diane and Eli – that’s it. JM must be some prima Donna to refuse to do the final scene with Kalinda. Good riddance TGW.
@Mia V. She gets the moping roles for some reason.
If Robert and Michelle King decide to do a new series with the focus on Christine Baranski. Plus somehow get Archie Panjabi back, I would certainly watch that. Right now not so much
Archie has a development deal with FOX. How they will utilize it remains to be seen. But at least she is generating money.
They should have ended it a couple of seasons back. It’s amazing how quickly it went from the best show on network television to a complete and total hate-watch.
I do think the problem is Julianna. Her character is the worst part of the show, always has been. Audiences preferred practically every other character over her, from the regular cast to the guest characters that showed up twice! Yet as soon as she became an exec producer, the show became more and more focused on her character, and they haven’t attempted to change that at all even though it’s been destroying the show for years now.
Her character barely interacts with any other character. It’s not just Kalinda, stupid contrivances meant Alicia also had limited screen time with Will, Diane and Cary after she became an exec producer. As the show goes on she interacts less and less with the regular guest actors, including the actor who plays her son. This latest season they basically brought in a whole new cast for her to act with and separated the storylines to the point where it may as well be two different shows. They also did that a bit in the previous season. New cast members keep leaving, obviously before they were expected to as storylines end abruptly and pointlessly. Now the creators have left, which is crazy because they always talked about that show like it was their baby. There’s clearly a huge problem there, and it’s clearly Julianna.
I wonder what she’ll do after it ends. I doubt any showrunner would ever cast her again, and I don’t see her doing much film.
Alicia was NEVER the best character, I always found her petulant and annoying, but the other ones, Eli, Diane, Kalinda, Cary, they were good. And slowly, they were all turned into background for Saint Alicia. Kill this show.
agree 100%! I loved this show the first few seasons, because of Eli, Kalinda, etc. I lost interest when Will was killed off and then after the Kalinda fiasco, i was done. As much as I love Alan Cumming, I couldn’t stand to watch any scene with Alicia in it which now is 99% of the show.
@Cricket Eli became an Alicia kiss-ass, that’s unbearable to watch and God knows Alan Cumming is trying.
I agree. Love Christine, Cary, and Alan, and Archie. I haven’t watched any episodes this season, and doubt that I can stomach Alicia well enough to ever watch again.
Oh god, yes.
Yes, please yes!! Everyone has stopped watching now. Why clog up the primetime slots C4?
Yes, please. Can we change the expression to “Bye, Alicia”?
Lol yes this is perfect. Bye Alicia! Last season was awful. After that I stopped watching and have never looked back. This woman’s ego ruined what was once an amazing show.
The body language in the top photo between Baranski and Margulies says it all.
I notice that also and can’t help but wonder what happened right after the picture was taken.
I stopped watching after Khalinda left. I got tired of the “poor Alicia” show, everyone’s against her, blah blah blah
Oh god yes, me too.
I love Archie – she’s utterly engaging in everything – and much of the rest of the original cast were excellent too, especially Alan Cumming but I never actually liked Alicia all that much, so once it completely centered on her, meh.
Yes! This once very good show has gone off the rails, and limited or removed everything interesting about it. They had the best supporting cast, but they were ignored and have mostly left. It’s a shame, but hopefully Christine and Matt can move onto better things.
Well, if there’s a big storyline planned involving the return of Kalinda and others within the circle of her estranged husband, then no, it shouldn’t be “put out of its misery.” Not at all.
The writers have to put together a lot of drama on that and it can be done, (esp if Archie agrees to return) as well as introducing some new characters.
I can’t imagine Archie coming back or Margulies allowing it.
That ship has sailed.
I stopped watching after Will died and Archie’s leaving told me I had made the right decision.
The Will died scenes also weren’t up to par. The show needs better writers and new characters esp if they can’t lure Kalinda back if it wants a good ten year run.
I didn’t realize the show was still on the air. So I guess that would be a yes, it’s time to say goodbye.
How about bringing back the characters that left and get rid of JM? Just rename the show.
I think the name is part of the problem. She should’ve broken up with Peter (the bad husband) a long time ago. The first four seasons were amazing. But the writing went downhill. The constant creation of fake characters that are exactly like real world people in the news is what became tiresome for me. It felt like the show was trying too hard to be clever.
I would like to see everyone stay and Julianna go. They can rename it. Because I really enjoy watching the other characters. I think the show is smart and showcases great talent.
What I get really annoyed with is that I find that show constantly keeps having the characters work for Lockhart/Gardner and then work for someone else/on their own and then they’re back to Lockhart/Gardner etc.
I haven’t watched this show in many years; I basically checked out around season 3, but I always thought it was one of the best shows on television. Very smart writing and a great cast. It’s very unfortunate that one bad apple (Julianna, apparently) caused a great show to go haywire. TGW had the potential to last many more seasons with the original cast. NCIS comes to mind as a long running and successful show due in large part to the great camaraderie between the actors which comes through on-screen. Even though some original cast members are leaving NCIS, they all seem to be leaving on good terms and leaving the door open to future guest appearances. By contrast, everyone following TGW gossip knows how horribly things ended with Archie and Julianna not even wanting to be in the same room together to film Archie’s final episode. It’s just so ridiculous, and yes, these conflicts are felt by fans and negatively affects the quality of the show. This show is the best thing that ever happened to Julianna’s career and she managed to screw it up because of her narcissism and ego. I doubt she will be in that much demand after TGW ends.
My, how this show has fallen, maybe not in the ratings, but only 2 years ago in season 5, it was getting so much acclaim. That whole Archie thing offended alot of people. I personally like Alicia and Peter together, they deserve one another. I have only watched a few shows this year, when I had nothing better to do.
I still watch the show while working out, but it was never as good as the hype surrounding it. That said, it REALLY jumped the shark two or three seasons ago. And Julianna was NEVER good. IDK why she gets such accolades. Some of her scenes this and last season have been truly, laugh-out-loud awful.
While they are putting the Good Wife out of its misery. How about the Law and Order Shows, NCIS shows, Hawaii 5 O. Blue Bloods and the Burt Wolf’ Chicago fire and PD shows It is time for new stuff. These dramas clog up the tv with boring script lines. I have not watched them for years, but really time to cancel many of these shows.
Diane runs for POTUS with Eli signing on as her Chief of Staff… I’d watch the hell out of that show.
This show has always been a snoozefest and a half and I have never gotten the praise JM gets for this. I think she’s such a bland and boring protagonist. I just don’t care for her.
I guess I’m in the minority, I find Kalinda really annoying, works way too hard at being a sexy badass.
Christine Baranski seems under used in everything she does, it’s a shame…she’s very good.
Agree. Love Archie, couldn’t bear Kalinda. Give Baranski her own show.
co-sign!
I’m late to TGW series and have been catching up as I can, I’m on season 4 now. I’m bored with the Kalinda/husband story line, it needs to end. I’ve been a huge Christine Baranski fan since her Cybil days, I still quote her from that show. I have a hard time seeing Matt Czuchry as anything but Logan Huntzberger, and doing a throw-back scene to the Gilmore Girls didn’t help any. Did make me laugh though. Alan Cummings is absolutely brilliant and I can’t get enough of his character.
I’m also catching the new shows on Sunday night and do see how it’s changed, but I’m still loving it. And I agree that it would be much better if it were more about Diane, Cary and Eli. And bring back Kalinda.
The Good Wife has turned into one big fashion show, with Alicia tripping from client to court room in her four-inch Manolo stilettos. If they put half as much energy into the writing, I might watch it again; but as it stands now, Alicia/Julianna bores me to tears.
yes. it’s taking up valuable space on the tv timeslots.
I keep thinking of ways they can kill Alicia, so she can go be with Will and they can make the show be about Diane, Cary, and Eli. That’s not a good sign.
I love the show, but I have to agree with most of the comments here. I keep waiting for something to happen, anything, alas, it’s the same old pile of crap. It wouldn’t surprise me if this was the last season. The last few episodes kind of hinted at Eli being in love with Alicia, so if that were to be explored in the plot/story I could see the show being popular again?, but as it stands…it’s so….boring. There’s nothing new re conflicts and I think not having a solid love interest for Alicia has killed the show.
JM seems like the bad kind of strong woman. Wouldn’t want to have her as a colleague. Didn’t she embarrassingly call out Josh Charles for leaving at the GGs some year during her acceptance speech? He looked shocked and embarrassed. I mean, after all those years in TV, she should know that the stronger the cast, the better the show. Self-interest made her unemployed this time.
It’s done. Stick a fork in it. They need to perform a mercy killing. It has become boring.
I’ve watched this show from the beginning. It was a great show at one point, but over the past two years has completely fallen apart. It seems that the writers don’t know what to do with the characters anymore. Most of the main characters (other than Alicia) have no story line! It’s frustrating. I was determined to watch until the bitter end, but if this isn’t the last season then I might reconsider that.
I’ve been catching up with the show, but it’s no fun anymore. I would’ve liked for it to recover, but the flow is damaged. It must hurt for a crew to watch their ship sink. While it’s still just one word against the other: hearing about what’s been going on behind the scenes, things make even more sense now. The stiffness can’t go unnoticed. I mean, Christine Baranski is doing one h*ll of a job, impeccable as always, but that still can’t make up for so many other scenes with JM where colleagues appear transfixed. Too bad. JM seems to be at fault, and I hope she learns from how things developed. When you’re an actor and you can’t celebrate your colleagues’ successes, brilliant scenes or storylines, you’ll be partying alone at some point. And especially when you’re the producer, it would make sense to cater for a positive environment. I feel bad for assuming and putting all the blame on one person, but it really does seem like it’s JM’s fault.
About Kalinda: went back and forth between liking and disliking her character. Sometimes the storylines seemed forced. Also, just because she’s bisexual, she’s having so much more sex than all the other characters and automatically sleeps with people – didn’t quite get that. Switching to real life, I have a lot of respect for Archie Panjabi for not backing down and saying “no” to that certain narrative. That’s very cool. 🙂