Paramount+ The Good Fight - Season 5 (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

Season 1 thread
Season 2 thread
Seasons 3 & 4 thread

ViacomCBS Press Release:
03.05.2021

EMMY AWARD WINNER MANDY PATINKIN JOINS SEASON FIVE OF “THE GOOD FIGHT”
ON PARAMOUNT+

Photo Credit: Tonje Thilesen​

NEW YORK, N.Y. – March 5, 2021 – Paramount+, the new streaming service from ViacomCBS, today announced Emmy award winner Mandy Patinkin (“Homeland”) will join the fifth season of the critically acclaimed Paramount+ Original Series THE GOOD FIGHT.

Patinkin will play Hal Wackner, a layman with no legal training who spontaneously decides to open a court in the back of a copy shop. Against all odds, the court catches on, and the team at Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart find themselves contending with judgements that mean nothing legally, but are honored by much of the entertained public.

“We are the biggest fans of Mandy’s stage, screen, and now YouTube work, so we couldn’t be more excited for him to play Wackner,” said Robert and Michelle King, series co-creators, showrunners and executive producers. “We only worry that he’ll have less time to do his fantastic work on YouTube.”

Award-winning actor Mandy Patinkin is currently voicing a character in the upcoming animated film “The Magician’s Elephant” for Netflix. Recently, Patinkin completed an eight-season run on the award-winning Showtime Original Series “Homeland,” for which he was nominated for four Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award for his performance as Saul Berenson. He also won an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe for his performance in the long running CBS series “Chicago Hope.” His many films include “Wonder,” “Life Itself,” “Wish I Was Here,” “Yentl,” “Daniel,” “Ragtime,” “Dick Tracy” and “The Princess Bride.” Patinkin is also a celebrated theatre star, who won a Tony award for his role as Che in “Evita” and received an additional nomination for his performance as George Seurat in Stephen Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park with George.”

Season four of THE GOOD FIGHT found Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart navigating a very different landscape. After they lost their biggest client, Chumhum, and their founding partner’s name was tarnished, Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart was forced to accept an offer by a huge multi-national law firm, STR Laurie, to become a small subsidiary. Suddenly, all of their decisions can be second-guessed by the giant firm that is literally on top of them. While STR Laurie initially seem like benevolent overlords, we find Diane Lockhart and her colleagues chafing at their loss of independence while simultaneously investigating the emergence of a mysterious “Memo 618.”

Robert and Michelle King serve as showrunners and executive producers of the series, which they co-created with Phil Alden Robinson. Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker, Brooke Kennedy, Liz Glotzer, William Finkelstein, Jonathan Tolins and Jacquelyn Reingold also serve as executive producers. The series is produced by CBS Studios in association with Scott Free Productions and King Size Productions. The series is distributed worldwide by ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group.

About Paramount+:

Paramount+, a direct-to-consumer digital subscription video on-demand and live streaming service from ViacomCBS, combines live sports, breaking news, and a mountain of entertainment. The premium streaming service features an expansive library of original series, hit shows and popular movies across every genre from world-renowned brands and production studios, including BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and the Smithsonian Channel. The service is also the streaming home to unmatched sports programming, including every CBS Sports event, from golf to football to basketball and more, plus exclusive streaming rights for major sports properties, including some of the world’s biggest and most popular soccer leagues. Paramount+ also enables subscribers to stream local CBS stations live across the U.S. in addition to the ability to stream ViacomCBS Streaming’s other live channels: CBSN for 24/7 news, CBS Sports HQ for sports news and analysis, and ET Live for entertainment coverage.

For more information about Paramount+, please visit www.paramountplus.com and follow @ParamountPlus on social platforms.

About CBS Studios:

CBS Studios is one of the industry’s leading suppliers of programming with more than 70 series currently in production across broadcast and cable networks, streaming services and other emerging platforms. The Studio’s expansive portfolio spans a diverse slate of commercially successful and critically acclaimed scripted programming, genre-defining franchises including the ever-growing “Star Trek” universe, award-winning late night and daytime talk shows, and an extensive library of iconic intellectual property.

@TheGoodFight
@ParamountPlus
#TheGoodFight
* * *​

Paramount+ Press Contact:

Nikki Kozel

646-472-3948

[email protected]

CBS Studios Press Contact:

Elizabeth Rolnik

201-563-2280

[email protected]

 

[Guardyan]

I LOVE this show. I have yet to watch seasons 3 and 4, but it's one of those shows that makes me feel lucky for having the chance to watch it. The Good Wife was also exquisite. So happy that CBS allowed it to run for as long as it did even tough it was never a ratings champ.

 

[Matt Hough]

Because they had to end early, season four seemed incomplete and with cast members leaving, I'm eager to see if those departing hang around for the season five premiere before exiting or if they will just be gone with explanations forthcoming from others.

Other shows last season had to end early as well due to the pandemic, but I think among the CBS/Paramount shows on the network and All Access, this one suffered greatly from losing its final two season episodes.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Because they had to end early, season four seemed incomplete and with cast members leaving, I'm eager to see if those departing hang around for the season five premiere before exiting or if they will just be gone with explanations forthcoming from others.

The Kings confirmed to TVLine that Cush Jumbo and Delroy Lindo will return for at least the season premiere to wrap up their stories.

 

[Matt Hough]

I read that this morning, and I was so happy that it's happening. And I hope the other plot points covered in the three unfilmed episodes of season four will find their ways into the new season.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Season 5 Teaser:


The new season will premiere June 24th exclusively on Paramount+ in the United States.

05.17.2021

CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED PARAMOUNT+ ORIGINAL SERIES “THE GOOD FIGHT”
RETURNS ON JUNE 24

Watch the New Teaser for the Upcoming Fifth Season​

May 17, 2021 — Paramount+, the streaming service from ViacomCBS, today announced that season five of its critically acclaimed, original series, THE GOOD FIGHT, will premiere on Thursday, June 24. Following the premiere, new episodes of the 10-episode fifth season will be available to stream weekly on Thursdays, exclusively for Paramount+ subscribers. A new teaser for the upcoming season was also released today.

In the fifth season, Diane (Christine Baranski) is forced to question whether it’s appropriate for her to help run an African American law firm with Liz (Audra McDonald) when the firm loses two top lawyers. Meanwhile, Marissa (Sarah Steele) and the firm become entangled with Hal Wackner (Mandy Patinkin), a regular Chicagoan who decides to open his own courtroom in the back of a copy shop.

The cast of THE GOOD FIGHT includes Christine Baranski, Audra McDonald, Sarah Steele, Michael Boatman, Nyambi Nyambi, Zach Grenier, Charmaine Bingwa and Mandy Patinkin.

Robert and Michelle King serve as showrunners and executive producers of the series, which they co-created with Phil Alden Robinson. Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker, Brooke Kennedy, Liz Glotzer, William Finkelstein, Jonathan Tolins and Jacquelyn Reingold also serve as executive producers. The series is produced by CBS Studios in association with Scott Free Productions and King Size Productions. The series is distributed worldwide by ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group.

About Paramount+

Paramount+, a direct-to-consumer digital subscription video on-demand and live streaming service from ViacomCBS, combines live sports, breaking news, and a mountain of entertainment. The premium streaming service features an expansive library of original series, hit shows and popular movies across every genre from world-renowned brands and production studios, including BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and the Smithsonian Channel. The service is also the streaming home to unmatched sports programming, including every CBS Sports event, from golf to football to basketball and more, plus exclusive streaming rights for major sports properties, including some of the world’s biggest and most popular soccer leagues. Paramount+ also enables subscribers to stream local CBS stations live across the U.S. in addition to the ability to stream ViacomCBS Streaming’s other live channels: CBSN for 24/7 news, CBS Sports HQ for sports news and analysis, and ET Live for entertainment coverage.

For more information about Paramount+, please visit www.paramountplus.com and follow @ParamountPlus on social platforms.

About CBS Studios

CBS Studios is one of the industry’s leading suppliers of programming with more than 70 series currently in production across broadcast and cable networks, streaming services and other emerging platforms. The Studio’s expansive portfolio spans a diverse slate of commercially successful and critically acclaimed scripted programming, genre-defining franchises including the ever-growing “Star Trek” universe, award-winning late night and daytime talk shows, and an extensive library of iconic intellectual property.

Social Media:
@TheGoodFight
@ParamountPlus
#TheGoodFight

* * *​

Paramount+ Press Contacts:
Morgan Seal [email protected]
Nikki Kozel [email protected]
CBS Studios Press Contact:
Elizabeth Rolnik [email protected]

 

[DaveF]

We binged the four seasons this past year. I was surprised I’ve heard nothing about Good Fight, given how strong it was! If this was on Netflix or HBO, people would be raving about The Good Fight.

This last season had a weird ending, but I’m looking forward to more.

 

[Matt Hough]

We binged the four seasons this past year. I was surprised I’ve heard nothing about Good Fight, given how strong it was! If this was on Netflix or HBO, people would be raving about The Good Fight.

This last season had a weird ending, but I’m looking forward to more.

The last season got interrupted by COVID-19, so the final three episodes of the season weren't filmed. That's why the ending seemed so abrupt.

 

[DaveF]

The last season got interrupted by COVID-19, so the final three episodes of the season weren't filmed. That's why the ending seemed so abrupt.

So ending with Jeffrey Epstein’s penis wasn’t the planned finale? That’s good!

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Full Trailer:


Things certainly don't seem any less insane in the post-Trump era of this show. The pan across the panelists at the Black Lawyers Association with Diane as the token white person with a deer in headlights expression was hilarious.

 

[Matt Hough]

Can't wait.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

5x01 - "Previously On...":
Obviously no show likes to suddenly shut down production due to a global pandemic, but the Kings really turned lemons into lemonade here. Delroy Lindo and Cush Jumbo were going to depart the series at the end of the fourth season, and with only three episodes left when everything ground to a halt, there was no way that wasn't going to feel abrupt. When filming resumed, they both agreed to come back for the fifth season premiere to wrap up their characters. By condensing the worst of the pandemic into one episode, their sudden departures don't feel so sudden; both characters spent a year longer at the firm than they would have without COVID. With Adrian making a drastic change in response to George Floyd's murder and Lucca deepening her professional relationship with Bianca during the pandemic, the departures feel rooted in character rather than production realities.

Cush Jumbo is an English actress, and apparently she had gone back home during the pandemic. Since international travel is very tricky still, they had Lucca go to London on Bianca's behalf, and set up a mini British production to shoot Lucca's scenes. The down side is that we don't get to see Lucca interact in person with the other characters. The upside is we get a lot of decent genuine location shooting instead of shoddy green screen work.

Jay being one of the first people in Chicago to catch COVID and catch it bad allowed the show to engage with the pandemic in meaningful (but still bonkers) way while the condensed nature of the storytelling meant that his months of recovery only ate up one episode. Here is the Afro Sheen commercial that inspired Jay's hallucination of Frederick Douglass:


Likewise with Marissa going to law school: Because 2020 was taken care of in one episode, her entire first year of law school was also taken care of in one episode. Whether she ends up becoming an attorney or not, that condensed year can drive a lot of story.

An interesting worldbuilding note: They used actual footage of J.B. Pritzker as the Governor of Illinois. Usually, they use real political figures outside of Illinois, and fictional characters inside Illinois. The fact that they used the real governor probably hints that we won't be seeing any storylines involving statewide politics this season.

And Julian getting pardoned by Trump for the bribery that he didn't actually commit was just a perfect final punchline: Corruption got him into the mess, and corruption got him out of it. Given that the show had previously insinuated that Memo 618 existed in one form or another going back to at least FDR, if not earlier, it'll be interesting to see if there's a new permutation of it in the Biden era.

It will also be interesting to see how the drive to reclaim the firm's black identity plays out given that the series's main character is the firm's white name partner. If Diane gets forced out, does the show follow her to whatever her next step is?

 

[Matt Hough]

It will also be interesting to see how the drive to reclaim the firm's black identity plays out given that the series's main character is the firm's white name partner. If Diane gets forced out, does the show follow her to whatever her next step is?

I don't know, but I'll follow wherever Christine Baranski goes. It is criminal that this brilliant actress has never won an Emmy for this character through the two series she's played as her.

 

[Mike Frezon]

It will also be interesting to see how the drive to reclaim the firm's black identity plays out given that the series's main character is the firm's white name partner. If Diane gets forced out, does the show follow her to whatever her next step is?

Think about how many different law firms were created/merged/folded during The Good Wife (and The Good Fight, too). The show thrives on the backstabbing and machinations of the lawyers joining forces or backstabbing each other or just plain jumping ship to better their own interests.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I found S5 E1 to be a bit forced in order to wrap up all those loose ends that Covid created for the show. But I guess it would have been difficult to do things any other way.

I think having Marisa pursue her own law degree is an interesting move. It will allow her to become even further front and center in whatever the Kings have planned for future seasons.

 

[DaveF]

Christine Baranski reflects on her 'most fraught season' as Diane on 'The Good Fight'

Hailing 'The Good Fight' season 5 as the best yet, Christine Baranski talks exploring Diane's 'biases and weaknesses' and the finale's status quo shift.

ew.com

 

[Capt D McMars]

I was a fan of the Good Wife, but really came late to the party, seeing it after it's original broadcast and caching it on CBS All Access. After binging it a few times is when I saw the Good Fight coming on to CBSAA, and although I would have loved to have seen some of the old characters from the Good Wife, I really appreciate how the writers have picked the storyline up and took it forward. The addition od Mandy Patinkin was a strock of genius!! I can't wait for season 5.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Something to look forward to when I reactivate my subscription for ST: Discovery S4...

_Man_

 

[Capt D McMars]

Something to look forward to when I reactivate my subscription for ST: Discovery S4...

_Man_

I feel you, I almost did that after NCIS and Blue Bloods ended, LOL!!!

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

New Good Wife Spinoff Centered on Carrie Preston's Elsbeth Tascioni Scores CBS Pilot Order​