Adam Lenhardt
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The Good Fight - Season 1 ("Good Wife" Spinoff - CBS All Access) (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Adam Lenhardt
- Start date
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- all access cbs the good wife
Dammit!
1.) It sure does give away quite a lot.
2.) It sure does make me want to get All Access (but I won't)
1.) It sure does give away quite a lot.
2.) It sure does make me want to get All Access (but I won't)
Adam Lenhardt
Senior HTF Member
I feel the same way, Mike. While I am still planning to stick to my principles, I am really really hoping that someone I know gets All Access and lets me watch it.
The most exciting news is that this initial season is only 10 episodes. "BrainDead" was only 13 episodes, and it had much better quality control than the last season or two of "The Good Wife", which got pretty muddled.
The most exciting news is that this initial season is only 10 episodes. "BrainDead" was only 13 episodes, and it had much better quality control than the last season or two of "The Good Wife", which got pretty muddled.
Adam Lenhardt
Senior HTF Member
Just a reminder that this premieres tonight with a special broadcast version of the pilot edited for time and content on regular old CBS at 8/7c.
The unedited version of the pilot and the second hour also go live on CBS All Access at the same time.
The unedited version of the pilot and the second hour also go live on CBS All Access at the same time.
Of course I'll be watching CBS tonight. I have to hope that after the ten episodes air on CBS All Access, it'll make its way to Amazon Instant Video or Netflix because otherwise the only way I'll see it is if the episodes are released on home video discs (likely DVDs).
TJPC
Senior HTF Member
If your Canadian, you might be interested to know that this program is available on regular cable on the W network.
Adam Lenhardt
Senior HTF Member
I'll admit, part of me was going into this hoping it'd be lackluster so that I could rest easy skipping the rest of it.
Alas, that was not to be: A lot of what it kept reminded me of why I loved "The Good Wife" so much in the first place. At the same time, worries that it would be "The Good Wife" Season 8 were unfounded. The show had a completely different look and feel, and the pilot did a neat job of jettisoning the baggage that bogged down the last couple seasons of the original show.
With rare exceptions, mainly Kalinda's subplots in the earlier seasons and Eli's subplots in the later seasons, "The Good Wife" was told through the solitary perspective of Alicia Florrick, and we saw the other characters -- including Diane and Lucca -- though her eyes. The pilot immediately expands this to a dueling narrative, as we jump back and forth from Diane's perspective as her life crumbles around her and new associate Maia Rindell (who finds herself in the eye of the storm much as Alicia did in "The Good Wife" pilot).
I didn't know whether there was enough left unexplored with Diane to justify a spinoff built around her, but the inciting incident of a ponzi scheme wiping out her life's savings provides the character with a clean slate to experience her in an entirely different light. The moment that sold me on the show's promise was at the very end. In the pilot of "The Good Wife", Diane made a show of presenting herself as a mentor to Alicia, only for that to quickly prove quite hollow. Here, she has every reason to abandon Maia, but she sticks her neck out and does what a true mentor would do for a promising newcomer that they've invested an interest in. That moment of selfless decency in the face of strong headwinds was the moment that convinced me that we weren't in for a "Good Wife" retread: this the story of a decent honest person being corrupted and brought down into the muck by the people around her. This is a story about trying to be better than the world insists you can be.
On the other end of the mentor/mentee relationship, Maia provides a fresh new perspective into this world. Even though this is the character that is the closest analog to Alicia on the show, there are important differences. One of the biggest is that we're coming into "The Good Fight" with seven seasons of "The Good Wife" under our belt. We became exposed to this world with Alicia, the things that were surprising and dispiriting and revelatory to Alicia were surprising and dispiriting and revelatory to the audience as well. But we're way ahead of Maia. It's a different relationship between the audience and the protagonist. And while Alicia was naive and a neophyte in many ways, she was still a middle aged woman with a whole adult life behind her and decades of experience navigating politics. Maia is a true neophyte, fresh out of law school. She's closer to Cary in background, but without his drive or ambition because her wealthy and connected parents ensured she never had to worry about failing. Entering the workforce is already a major change, without having your entire world implode around you. Her girlfriend seems sensible and loyal, but there are very few relationships -- especially without a marriage certificate -- that could survive the kind of stresses this sort of event would bring on.
Rose Leslie is good casting for this role: As "Game of Thrones" demonstrated, she is talented at portraying both fierce and vulnerable, sometimes at the same time. She comes from a wealthy and prominent background, and wears Maia's class privileged like a glove. Her American accent needs some work, slipping in particular when she gets emotional -- and demonstrating in the process just how rock solid Cush Jumbo's American accent is -- but it doesn't undermine the reality of the character. By the end of the pilot, I cared what happened next to Maia, so mission accomplished.
The series is billed with Baranski, Leslie and Jumbo having equal status as the series leads, but in the pilot we still only see Lucca though the perspectives of other characters. She's the biggest question mark with this new series, because I never felt like her character was well served by "The Good Wife". She was brought in more or less explicitly as Alicia's replacement best friend for the final scene as Julianna Margulies's issues with Archie Panjabi prevented Alicia and Kalinda from sharing scenes together. Her role was a) to be a sounding board for Alicia, like the best friend characters in sitcoms, and b) to be a black face that the writers could employ when dealing with racially charged storylines. She never really got to be her own character on her own terms. I will say that I've never liked her more than when she told off the Ponzi scheme victim and then marched into that restroom and gave Maia a pep talk from the other side of the toilet stall door. Again, a moment of kindness when it would have made more sense to do nothing.
If they wanted to tackle more stories about race, having Diane and Maia jump ship to a predominantly black law firm was a smart way to go. It provides a more organic setting for those kind of stories, and it avoids the tokenism that could plague "The Good Wife" at times. It also gets us away from the poisonous, increasingly tiresome machinations of the perennially backstabbing Lockhart, Lee, etc. etc. etc. & Associates. Bringing on actors of the caliber of Delroy Lindo and Erica Tazel doesn't hurt either. With Tazel in particular, I'm interested to see what she brings to the table. I always felt she was criminally underutilized on "Justified".
Some things were definitely signature traits of a show from the Kings: the twenty-minute cold open, the very particular musical score, certain twists and turns in the writing. But it definitely made a case for itself as its own beast. And interesting that, much like most of the Netflix originals, it utilizes a slightly wider aspect ratio than 16x9 or even 1.85:1.
I'm definitely going to have to find some way to watch this. Hopefully I can find a CBS All Access subscriber who will let me use his or her second stream. Falling that, I'll have to wait until six days before the finale and then try and binge the whole first season during the one-week free trial.
Alas, that was not to be: A lot of what it kept reminded me of why I loved "The Good Wife" so much in the first place. At the same time, worries that it would be "The Good Wife" Season 8 were unfounded. The show had a completely different look and feel, and the pilot did a neat job of jettisoning the baggage that bogged down the last couple seasons of the original show.
With rare exceptions, mainly Kalinda's subplots in the earlier seasons and Eli's subplots in the later seasons, "The Good Wife" was told through the solitary perspective of Alicia Florrick, and we saw the other characters -- including Diane and Lucca -- though her eyes. The pilot immediately expands this to a dueling narrative, as we jump back and forth from Diane's perspective as her life crumbles around her and new associate Maia Rindell (who finds herself in the eye of the storm much as Alicia did in "The Good Wife" pilot).
I didn't know whether there was enough left unexplored with Diane to justify a spinoff built around her, but the inciting incident of a ponzi scheme wiping out her life's savings provides the character with a clean slate to experience her in an entirely different light. The moment that sold me on the show's promise was at the very end. In the pilot of "The Good Wife", Diane made a show of presenting herself as a mentor to Alicia, only for that to quickly prove quite hollow. Here, she has every reason to abandon Maia, but she sticks her neck out and does what a true mentor would do for a promising newcomer that they've invested an interest in. That moment of selfless decency in the face of strong headwinds was the moment that convinced me that we weren't in for a "Good Wife" retread: this the story of a decent honest person being corrupted and brought down into the muck by the people around her. This is a story about trying to be better than the world insists you can be.
On the other end of the mentor/mentee relationship, Maia provides a fresh new perspective into this world. Even though this is the character that is the closest analog to Alicia on the show, there are important differences. One of the biggest is that we're coming into "The Good Fight" with seven seasons of "The Good Wife" under our belt. We became exposed to this world with Alicia, the things that were surprising and dispiriting and revelatory to Alicia were surprising and dispiriting and revelatory to the audience as well. But we're way ahead of Maia. It's a different relationship between the audience and the protagonist. And while Alicia was naive and a neophyte in many ways, she was still a middle aged woman with a whole adult life behind her and decades of experience navigating politics. Maia is a true neophyte, fresh out of law school. She's closer to Cary in background, but without his drive or ambition because her wealthy and connected parents ensured she never had to worry about failing. Entering the workforce is already a major change, without having your entire world implode around you. Her girlfriend seems sensible and loyal, but there are very few relationships -- especially without a marriage certificate -- that could survive the kind of stresses this sort of event would bring on.
Rose Leslie is good casting for this role: As "Game of Thrones" demonstrated, she is talented at portraying both fierce and vulnerable, sometimes at the same time. She comes from a wealthy and prominent background, and wears Maia's class privileged like a glove. Her American accent needs some work, slipping in particular when she gets emotional -- and demonstrating in the process just how rock solid Cush Jumbo's American accent is -- but it doesn't undermine the reality of the character. By the end of the pilot, I cared what happened next to Maia, so mission accomplished.
The series is billed with Baranski, Leslie and Jumbo having equal status as the series leads, but in the pilot we still only see Lucca though the perspectives of other characters. She's the biggest question mark with this new series, because I never felt like her character was well served by "The Good Wife". She was brought in more or less explicitly as Alicia's replacement best friend for the final scene as Julianna Margulies's issues with Archie Panjabi prevented Alicia and Kalinda from sharing scenes together. Her role was a) to be a sounding board for Alicia, like the best friend characters in sitcoms, and b) to be a black face that the writers could employ when dealing with racially charged storylines. She never really got to be her own character on her own terms. I will say that I've never liked her more than when she told off the Ponzi scheme victim and then marched into that restroom and gave Maia a pep talk from the other side of the toilet stall door. Again, a moment of kindness when it would have made more sense to do nothing.
If they wanted to tackle more stories about race, having Diane and Maia jump ship to a predominantly black law firm was a smart way to go. It provides a more organic setting for those kind of stories, and it avoids the tokenism that could plague "The Good Wife" at times. It also gets us away from the poisonous, increasingly tiresome machinations of the perennially backstabbing Lockhart, Lee, etc. etc. etc. & Associates. Bringing on actors of the caliber of Delroy Lindo and Erica Tazel doesn't hurt either. With Tazel in particular, I'm interested to see what she brings to the table. I always felt she was criminally underutilized on "Justified".
Some things were definitely signature traits of a show from the Kings: the twenty-minute cold open, the very particular musical score, certain twists and turns in the writing. But it definitely made a case for itself as its own beast. And interesting that, much like most of the Netflix originals, it utilizes a slightly wider aspect ratio than 16x9 or even 1.85:1.
I'm definitely going to have to find some way to watch this. Hopefully I can find a CBS All Access subscriber who will let me use his or her second stream. Falling that, I'll have to wait until six days before the finale and then try and binge the whole first season during the one-week free trial.
Definitely worthwhile to share, Terry, but salt in the wound for us Americans!
SUperb start to the series. Establishes the new characters involved in the orbit of Dianne Lockhart but in familiar enough surroundings where it feels like we're just checking back in with old friends after some time apart.
I'm still not subscribing, but I'll look forward to catching up with the remaining nine episodes at some point or other.
I'm still not subscribing, but I'll look forward to catching up with the remaining nine episodes at some point or other.
TJPC
Senior HTF Member
Definitely worthwhile to share, Terry, but salt in the wound for us Americans![/QUOTE]
Almost every streaming service mentioned on this website is not available here. Things like the "two screen experience" from "The Walking Dead" is not available here. If you are ever in Canada with your "Net Flicks" enabled IPhone look at Net Flicks Canada --- PATHETIC! Many people here acquire pirate programs that allow you to go on line and disguise that you are using a computer from Canada. Do I sound whinny yet? My point is that you should not be envious. ( -- unless of course you are interested in the new Star Trek which is also supposed to be on our regular
cable!)
[/QUOTE]Almost every streaming service mentioned on this website is not available here. Things like the "two screen experience" from "The Walking Dead" is not available here. If you are ever in Canada with your "Net Flicks" enabled IPhone look at Net Flicks Canada --- PATHETIC! Many people here acquire pirate programs that allow you to go on line and disguise that you are using a computer from Canada. Do I sound whinny yet? My point is that you should not be envious. ( -- unless of course you are interested in the new Star Trek which is also supposed to be on our regular
cable!)
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Stan
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- May 18, 1999
- Messages
- 5,177
I accidentally missed it, oops. But doesn't bother me at all. Edited for time and content really ticks me off. The only one worse is "Formatted to fit this screen".
I thought CBS was showing the entire episode, but apparently we have to pay for All Access to get the full show. I'll pass.
Will Krupp
Senior HTF Member
I'm all set! Got my All Access subscription and am having a viewing party of (I hope) the first three episodes this Sunday. It's going to be hard to wait to start watching it until then but I promised friends I would. I started back on Season 1 of GOOD WIFE to hold me over as I thought it would be fun to revisit it, and it is. I had forgotten (or more likely never realized) that the first scene of the pilot and the last scene of the finale take place in the exact same hallway. While that doesn't make me hate the end of the series any less, it's a nice touch.
Only irritating thing to me is the access of All-Access itself. I have a smart TV and a blu-ray player and, while I can use either to stream Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Vudu etc neither the Samsung TV nor the Sony Blu have yet added a CBS All Access option. I previously bought Roku sticks for my ex and for my mom so they can both access my Netflix etc (neither has smart TV's) I never imagined I'd need one for myself. I found one on Amazon for $35 (and the new Fire Sticks are coming out March 3rd at $39 or so) but I'm kind of irritated that I now have THREE separate ways to stream Netflix to the same goddamned TV, lol.
I can't help it, though, I couldn't pass it up. If I only keep the service for the length of the series It'll only cost me $30 and my mom can watch it back home in PA as well. If I wind up liking the service as a whole I may keep it, who knows? They have some fun stuff on there but, unforgivably, the selected episodes of TAXI do NOT include Reverend Jim's driving test in the mix!
Only irritating thing to me is the access of All-Access itself. I have a smart TV and a blu-ray player and, while I can use either to stream Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Vudu etc neither the Samsung TV nor the Sony Blu have yet added a CBS All Access option. I previously bought Roku sticks for my ex and for my mom so they can both access my Netflix etc (neither has smart TV's) I never imagined I'd need one for myself. I found one on Amazon for $35 (and the new Fire Sticks are coming out March 3rd at $39 or so) but I'm kind of irritated that I now have THREE separate ways to stream Netflix to the same goddamned TV, lol.
I can't help it, though, I couldn't pass it up. If I only keep the service for the length of the series It'll only cost me $30 and my mom can watch it back home in PA as well. If I wind up liking the service as a whole I may keep it, who knows? They have some fun stuff on there but, unforgivably, the selected episodes of TAXI do NOT include Reverend Jim's driving test in the mix!
NeilO
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2002
- Messages
- 4,464
[QUOTE="Will Krupp, post: 4462055, member: 307228"
Only irritating thing to me is the access of All-Access itself. I have a smart TV and a blu-ray player and, while I can use either to stream Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Vudu etc neither the Samsung TV nor the Sony Blu have yet added a CBS All Access option.[/QUOTE]Another sign of bad planning by the folks behind CBS All Access. They should have these access questions settled before starting up their first new series. Maybe by the time Star Trek starts ...
Only irritating thing to me is the access of All-Access itself. I have a smart TV and a blu-ray player and, while I can use either to stream Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Vudu etc neither the Samsung TV nor the Sony Blu have yet added a CBS All Access option.[/QUOTE]Another sign of bad planning by the folks behind CBS All Access. They should have these access questions settled before starting up their first new series. Maybe by the time Star Trek starts ...
Will Krupp
Senior HTF Member
From what I understand, the streaming series is rated "R" equivalent so I don't know that they COULD have shown it unedited on broadcast TV even if they wanted to.
They couldn't. It was edited for language to meet FCC broadcast standards for the networks.
Will Krupp
Senior HTF Member
I just realized this Sunday is the OSCARS so the Good Fight party has, naturally, been postponed. This means I'm not under any obligation to wait now! Yay!
Looking forward to your thoughts on the series.
I really enjoyed the premiere.
I mean...REALLY enjoyed it!
I would be SO all in. But I'm gonna wait.
So once the talk here turns to episode 2 and beyond, I'll be out until I figure out how I'm going to get to see this thing.
I mean...REALLY enjoyed it!
I would be SO all in. But I'm gonna wait.
So once the talk here turns to episode 2 and beyond, I'll be out until I figure out how I'm going to get to see this thing.
Will Krupp
Senior HTF Member
So far I'm loving it, though I must admit that episode 4 was SLIGHTLY less enthralling than the three that preceded it. Not every one can knock it out of the park. They've managed to keep the feel of the GOOD WIFE and the stories are really tightly packed. A very very good sequel and it is much like visiting old friends, though around now I'm starting to miss the characters that HAVEN'T come back!
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I'm so glad that you're enjoying it and coming back here to report on it. Whets my appetite to seek it out on some other platform at a later date.
Adam Lenhardt
Senior HTF Member
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