"The Good Wife" Review: CBS Finds a Winner

If you’ve only seen the promos for “The Good Wife,” you probably think it’s a drama about a wife of a disgraced politician and how she puts her family back together.

But you would only be half right as it is also a smart courtroom drama. So smart in fact, that I think CBS may finally have the show that will break its Tuesdays at 10 p.m. jinx…

Julianna Marguiles is Alicia Florrick, a loving wife and mother until the day her husband, Peter (Chris Noth) is forced to resign as the Cook County State’s Attorney as part of a sex scandal. To support her family and restore her dignity, Alicia returns to her career as a defense attorney after a 13-year absence. But she finds it won’t be easy since she has to compete with an attorney half her age for the firm’s only position. And she learns that the mentoring offer from the firm’s top litigator, Diane (Christine Baranski), comes with the condition that Alicia do things Diane’s way.

Plus, Alicia quickly runs afoul of her husband’s replacement when it appears that Peter may be giving her inside information about her first case.

Alicia does find some allies, though, in her former law school classmate and firm partner, Will (Josh Charles), and in the firm’s investigator, Kalinda (Archie Panjabi).

The pilot is strong from start to finish with not only good personal drama, but also a solid courtroom case. This is Marguiles’ second go-around at playing an attorney and it’s no wonder because she is great at it. And as much as I hate Noth playing a sleazeball, he’s pretty good at it himself. And it’s great to see the always adorable Charles back on TV in a good show. Plus, you throw in the great Christine Baranksi and how can you possibly go wrong?

CBS has struggled to find a show that will stick in this timeslot for years, but with such a great combination of good story and great cast, I think they’ve found a winner…

“The Good Wife” premieres Tuesday, September 22nd at 10 p.m. on CBS…

Photo Credit: Eike Schroter/CBS