# Watching the first great scripted series about technology (The Good Wife)



## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

A few years ago we began to understnd that when a show we like is moved from another week day to Friday, it's as if a beloved friend or relative has been moved to a hospice.

Only recently did we begin to realize that when a show we like is moved from a non-Friday week day to Sunday, it's as if somebody sent our puppy out to play in heavy traffic. It is one of these shows that a _New Yorker Magazine_ review calls "the first great series about technology."

Here's what the reviewer specifically noted:


> What has received less notice than the show's complexity and its bold female characters is its unprecedented emphasis on technology. This season alone, Lockhart Gardner took a case involving the online currency bitcoin; used Twitter to upend British libel laws; handled a military case involving drone warfare; litigated crimes featuring violent video games and a "date rape" app; and dealt with various leaked-image disasters (a corporation fighting a viral video, an Anthony Weiner-like dirty photograph). In one dizzyingly self-reflective story line, a Zuckerbergian entrepreneur sued a Sorkinesque screenwriter; the episode had a confident structural wit, subjecting a writer who defended distorted portrayals to his own distorted portrayal. Over time, such plots have become a dense, provocative dialectic, one that weighs technology's freedoms against its dangers, with a global sweep and an insider's nuance. In this quality, "The Good Wife" stands in contrast not merely to other legal shows, with their "The Internet killed him!" plots, but also to the reductive punditry of the mainstream media, so obsessed with whether Twitter is making us stupid. Put bluntly, "The Good Wife" is to the digital debate as "The Wire" is to the drug war.


Of the four Sundays of the Nielson February 2012 Sweeps period, only one new episode of "The Good Wife" was aired in an attempt to keep it from getting killed in the heavy traffic of "The Super Bowl", "The Grammy's" and "The Academy Awards." And for the first half of the 2011-12 season, it was up against "Sunday Night Football" (one week also against "The World Series").

Like every series, not every episode is great. But many potential fans didn't watch the show from the beginning. As noted in the review:


> ...If you'd never watched, you might think it was an escapist soap opera like "L.A. Law." But to fans it quickly became clear that "The Good Wife" 's conventions concealed strange depths. Early on, some critics playfully called the series "The Wire Lite," an outrageous-sounding comparison that rang true. The narrative was crosshatched with mini-narratives, requiring a network audience to pay close attention-something generally demanded only of cable viewers. Unlike "Law & Order," which glamorized prosecutors, "The Good Wife" took a jaundiced view of all institutions, from Alicia's firm, Lockhart Gardner, to marriage itself. Alicia's choices-would she have an affair? get promoted?-were contingent, shadowed by power plays. She might be our heroine, yet her liberation and her corruption work in lockstep. In the first season, she traded on her husband's connections to beat out a colleague for a promotion. This season, the show's third, she helped conceal a forged document and slept with her boss. As the series' title implies, Alicia tries to be good. But switch perspectives and she seems as shady as anyone in her favor-trading city.


This fall CBS moved the show from Tuesday at 10:00, where it had been for two years, to Sunday at 9:00 where basically it is struggling for a demo audience though it has about 40% of the 50+ audience when it isn't being run over by a truck. I think that change prevented the show from gaining some ratings and lost CBS ratings on Tuesday at 10:00.


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

I watched the pilot episode, thought it sucked and cancelled the SL.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

I am enjoying the show. It is very well written and like all new shows usually takes a few episodes to get its feet wet.

- Merg


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## SeaBeagle (May 7, 2006)

All this writing about this show but, no one wrote the name of the show .


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## gilviv (Sep 18, 2007)

I've been a fan of "The Good Wife" since the series began, great acting, excellent writing! Hope it will survive the Sunday time slot.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

SeaBeagle said:


> All this writing about this show but, no one wrote the name of the show .


It is mentioned in the first quote that Phrelin posted and Phrelin mentions it as well below that quote.

- Merg


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

gilviv said:


> I've been a fan of "The Good Wife" since the series began, great acting, excellent writing! Hope it will survive the Sunday time slot.


+1. Wife and I both enjoy it.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

+1 Great show! Cast, writing, storyline all top drawer. Even gets a solid 8.1 on *IMDB*.

*Julianna Margulies* and *Archie Panjabi* are *HOT! HOT! HOT!* J

*Josh Charles* (Sports Night) delivers the goods again. My weekly anticipation level approaches that of "*24*".

Big fan!


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

BTW, I found author Emily Nussbaum's _New Yorker_ article to be convoluted and not illustrative of the tv series at all. As far as the "technology" aspect of the program, not so much IMO. Yes, it's quite often the subject of the court cases, but you seldom see a button, flashing LED or digital display. It's about people, _intrigue_ and sex, not so much the tech stuff.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

The Merg said:


> It is mentioned in the first quote that Phrelin posted and Phrelin mentions it as well below that quote.
> 
> - Merg


Except everyone has been writing about it as if it's a new show. :scratchin

Did I simply imagine it was on the last 2-3 years?


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## David Ortiz (Aug 21, 2006)

I love when Alicia clashes with Peter's mother!


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Doug Brott said:


> Except everyone has been writing about it as if it's a new show. :scratchin
> 
> Did I simply imagine it was on the last 2-3 years?


Sept. *2009..* was when the first ep aired.


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## trainman (Jan 9, 2008)

> What has received less notice than the show's complexity and its bold female characters is its *unprecedented emphasis on technology.*


I assume the reviewer meant that it's unprecedented for a show that's not considered "sci-fi," since I'm sure there are a number of sci-fi examples -- even only considering prime-time dramas that aired on broadcast networks, "Max Headroom" is what first comes to mind, and that was over 25 years ago.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

trainman said:


> I assume the reviewer meant that it's unprecedented for a show that's not considered "sci-fi," since I'm sure there are a number of sci-fi examples -- even only considering prime-time dramas that aired on broadcast networks, "Max Headroom" is what first comes to mind, and that was over 25 years ago.


Yep. The reviewer is saying that technology issues are emphasized in what basically would be considered a legal soap. And that not only has included complex courtroom arguments but also placing "computer" technology within the daily lives of the attorneys and staff and Alicia's kids in a way that really hasn't been done - it's there, integrated without "comment", people use it, Alicia's teen son cleans up his mom's computer glitches, the daughter is involved in the online world, etc., all not considered anything special, except maybe by grandma.

It really has made the show more interesting for my wife and I who were pretty much immersed in making personal computers a useful part of the real world beginning in the 1980, and who now watch our grandkids take computers, tablets and smart phones for granted as a routine part of their lives.

In other words, it isn't science fiction, just part of life, like a car or microwave oven. It isn't like the "CSI" kind of stuff, where they show all this cool equipment, most of which virtually no police agency in California has access to even though it probably exists. In "The Good Wife" it has become just a part of the courtroom activity, people arguing over some pretty interesting technology issues which are seemingly current.

And for the record the show is in its third season, but struggling for ratings because of CBS moving it to Sunday at 9:00.


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## SeaBeagle (May 7, 2006)

"The Merg" said:


> It is mentioned in the first quote that Phrelin posted and Phrelin mentions it as well below that quote.
> 
> - Merg


The only name that I pick up on is a show called The Good Wife.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

SeaBeagle said:



> The only name that I pick up on is a show called The Good Wife.


And that is the subject: *The Good Wife*


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## armophob (Nov 13, 2006)

Must be an acquired taste. My Aunt and Uncle enjoy it. I tried a few episodes with them, but found myself drifting off. Could be a generation thing as well.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

SeaBeagle said:


> The only name that I pick up on is a show called The Good Wife.





Laxguy said:


> And that is the subject: *The Good Wife*


SeaBeagle.... I am in the same boat as you.

I read the OP 4 times, looking for the title...

Because frankly, from all the commercials that I have seen for the The Good Wife, I would NEVER have connected it to technology, which was in my head from the title of the subject.

As for the show, from when we watched the first 3 or 4 episodes... we nuked it as we just couldn't get into it and just didn't like any of the characters... and how the show was sold... it should have been a great match for our viewing likes.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

The title of the show had me thinking of The Starter Wife ...
I don't watch enough on CBS (other than Craig Furguson) to see promos for their shows.


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## SeaBeagle (May 7, 2006)

"Earl Bonovich" said:


> SeaBeagle.... I am in the same boat as you.
> 
> I read the OP 4 times, looking for the title...
> 
> ...


The good wife to me seems like one of those regular TV shows. Nothing in the title about technology.

What is happening here is either one or more of the actors are plugging their show here or one or more of the directors knowing this is a technology forum is doing the same,


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

SeaBeagle said:


> The good wife to me seems like one of those regular TV shows. Nothing in the title about technology.
> 
> What is happening here is either one or more of the actors are plugging their show here or one or more of the directors knowing this is a technology forum is doing the same,


Evidence? Something more than the handful of posts in this thread??


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

SeaBeagle said:


> The good wife to me seems like one of those regular TV shows. Nothing in the title about technology.
> 
> What is happening here is either one or more of the actors are plugging their show here or one or more of the directors knowing this is a technology forum is doing the same,


I wish that were true! 

The reviewer states "The Good Wife" has presented a series of stories providing "a dense, provocative dialectic, one that weighs technology's freedoms against its dangers, with a global sweep and an insider's nuance." And yet, none of the regular characters are caricatured "nerds" or "geeks" in the traditional sense.

By bringing this up here, I'm just pointing out that what is probably the first series on broadcast TV to deal seriously with...

the economic and legal implications of online currency,
Twitter and British libel laws,
Internet technology and the Arab Spring,
drone warfare and the military law context implications for drone operators of instant decision-making regarding life and death,
violent video games and criminal law,
the economic, personal and social impacts of leaked video images,
a story of an extremely successful social web site "founder" (think Facebook) who sues over a screenwriter's less than flattering portrayal,
...may not be among the top ten shows watched by the technology crowd.

But I have to admire the reviewer's statement that should be noted with great significance:


> Put bluntly, "The Good Wife" is to the digital debate as "The Wire" is to the drug war.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Law and Order seems to be good at the "ripped from the headlines" type of crimes ... and they have not done technology issues? Or do the reviewers not consider them a "serious" show?


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## SeaBeagle (May 7, 2006)

"James Long" said:


> Law and Order seems to be good at the "ripped from the headlines" type of crimes ... and they have not done technology issues? Or do the reviewers not consider them a "serious" show?


I agree. The way that I connected this as being a technology show is about a show that felt with news about computer/iPhone/iPad/iTunes/iPod and so on. I guess that is why in the adverts for the show did not seem all that interesting.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Last night's episode was totally routine legal soap in its various continuing story arcs and in the case of the week which was a lawsuit against a filmmaker whose documentary may have caused the suicide of a young woman. I'm really not pushing this show, but perhaps suggesting that there are some episodes that are worth streaming or watching reruns just because they were interesting.


SeaBeagle said:


> I agree. The way that I connected this as being a technology show is about a show that felt with news about computer/iPhone/iPad/iTunes/iPod and so on. I guess that is why in the adverts for the show did not seem all that interesting.


My bringing this up here was simply to note that the show offered some really good episodes in terms of offering thoughtful debate on the social, political and economic implications of the somewhat unexpected worldwide use of 21st Century technology (something like the smart phone with video and Twitter). We shouldn't simply consider cool technology in the abstract, whether the iPad 3 is going to have a sharper picture.


James Long said:


> Law and Order seems to be good at the "ripped from the headlines" type of crimes ... and they have not done technology issues? Or do the reviewers not consider them a "serious" show?


This is one reviewer. And the crime procedurals haven't dealt with something quite as far removed from routine American life as internet technology, the Arab Spring, and the different life and death results facing the peers of the American 18-49 demo.

To me it is disappointing that the show's reach isn't wider. Last night was pretty typical since it moved to Sunday. It was #4 in the demo but #1 by a wide margin in its 9:00 time slot with the 50+ crowd.


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