"The Good Wife" CBS Pilot Show

I was asked to review the pilot of an upcoming series this fall on CBS entitled "The Good Wife." On hearing the name I thought it was going to be a sappy show about an obedient wife and put together stay at home mom. But was I ever wrong!!

I was intrigued from the beginning when Peter Florrick (played by Chris Noth) opens up the show with a news conference announcing his resignation as District Attorney due to a very public sex and political corruption scandal. And there stands his wife Alicia (played by Julianne Margulies) standing right by his side, portraying "the Good Wife;" but yet you can see that she is frozen like a deer in the headlights, astonished that she is caught in this position.

As the cameras flash and questions are yelled to the resigning District Attorney, he finishes his statement, grabs his wife's hand and leads her out of the room, caught up in his own world. But as soon as they step into the empty hallway, she slaps her husband across the face, and you realize that soon the tables will turn.

This show is ripped straight from the headlines, depicting a politician who lived a corrupt life, with no regard to his wife or family, and they are the ones who suffer the consequences when their dirty laundry is aired in public. But in our world the media is so caught up in shining the spotlight on the criminal, very rarely do they show sympathy towards the innocent families that are devastated by the fall out.

This show follows Alicia Florrick, a dedicated mother of two teenagers, after her husband is sent to jail and she has to sell their house to pay for Peter's legal fees. She ends up going back to work as a junior associate at a prestigious Chicago Law Firm where she joins her former law school classmate and firm partner Will Gardner (Josh Charles), after being out of the courtroom for 13 years. She gave up her law career to support Peter's career and raise their children, now she has to start at the bottom and prove herself amongst public ridicule as a corrupt politician's scorned wife.

It is wonderful to watch her gain her confidence as she jumps into a pro bono case that the law firm is involved in and starts using her skills as a sharp defense attorney. She finds an ally in Kalinda (Archie Panjabi), the firms tough in house investigator and for the first time in years, Alicia trades her identity as the "good wife" and takes charge of her own destiny.

I applaud the writers of this show and I look forward to watching the series and routing for Alicia Florrick this fall.