The Good Fight is an American legal and political drama web television series produced for CBS's streaming service CBS All Access. It is CBS All Access's first original scripted series. The series--created by Robert King, Michelle King, and Phil Alden Robinson--is a spinoff and sequel to The Good Wife, which was created by the Kings. The first season contains 10 episodes, and premiered on February 19, 2017, with the first episode airing on CBS and the following nine episodes on CBS All Access. The series was initially planned to air in May 2017, but was moved up after production delays forced CBS to postpone the premiere of the new series Star Trek: Discovery.
The series follows Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart, as she is forced out of Lockhart, Deckler, Gussman, Lee, Lyman, Gilbert-Lurie, Kagan, Tannebaum, & Associates after an enormous financial scam destroys the reputation of her goddaughter Maia (Rose Leslie) and Diane's savings, leading them to join Lucca Quinn (Cush Jumbo) at one of Chicago's preeminent law firms. The series stars Baranski, Leslie, Jumbo, Erica Tazel, Sarah Steele, Justin Bartha, Delroy Lindo, Nyambi Nyambi, Michael Boatman, and Audra McDonald, and features Paul Guilfoyle and Bernadette Peters in recurring roles. It is executive produced by Robert King, Michelle King, Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker, Liz Glotzer, Brooke Kennedy and Alison Scott, with Phil Alden Robinson producing and co-writing the first episode.
A second 13-episode season premiered on March 4, 2018. On May 2, 2018, the series was renewed for a third season.
Video The Good Fight
Premise
A year after the finale of The Good Wife, an enormous financial scam destroys the reputation of young lawyer Maia and wipes out the savings of her mentor, Diane Lockhart. The two are forced out of Lockhart, Deckler, Gussman, Lee, Lyman, Gilbert-Lurie, Kagan, Tannebaum, & Associates and join Diane's former employee Lucca Quinn at Reddick, Boseman, & Kolstad, a prestigious African American-owned firm making waves by taking on Illinois police brutality cases. In season two, Diane becomes a name partner at the firm, which takes the name Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart.
The show primarily deals with the storylines of its three female leads - Diane, Lucca, and Maia - and contains considerable political and social commentary, exploring topical issues such as the alt-right, the Me Too movement, online harassment, and fake news. As well as starting again in a new firm with its own office politics to deal with, longtime Democrat Diane must navigate a world she hardly recognizes, becoming increasingly troubled by Trump-era politics and the actions of his administration. Lucca Quinn, a former employee of Diane's, has found firm footing at Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart and is a rising star on the partner track, balancing her dedication to her work and a romantic entanglement with US Attorney Colin Morello, a frequent opposing counsel. Meanwhile Maia, Diane's goddaughter, is trying to get her legal career off to a good start, while coming under pressure from the FBI over alleged involvement with her father's Ponzi scheme.
Like The Good Wife, the show makes use of an extensive cast of supporting characters, including a recurring stable of opposing counsel, clients, police officers, FBI agents, judges, and politicians. Many are played by well-known guest stars.
Maps The Good Fight
Cast and characters
Main
- Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart, who loses her savings after an enormous financial scam and joins Reddick, Boseman & Kolstad one of Chicago's pre-eminent law firms. In season two, Diane becomes a name partner in the renamed Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart.
- Rose Leslie as Maia Rindell, Diane's goddaughter, who joins Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart as an associate just after passing the bar exam. She is Amy's girlfriend.
- Erica Tazel as Barbara Kolstad (season 1; guest star season 2), a name partner at Reddick, Boseman & Kolstad who leaves the firm at the beginning of the second season.
- Cush Jumbo as Lucca Quinn, an associate who works with Diane and Maia at Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart.
- Delroy Lindo as Adrian Boseman, an attorney who offers Diane a job at his law firm following her financial troubles, and a name partner at Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart.
- Sarah Steele as Marissa Gold, Diane Lockhart's assistant, who finds she has a knack for investigating.
- Justin Bartha as Colin Morrello, a successful lawyer in the US Attorney's office and a rival and potential love interest of Lucca.
- Nyambi Nyambi as Jay DiPersia (season 2; recurring season 1), an investigator for Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart.
- Michael Boatman as Julius Cain (season 2; recurring season 1), a managing partner for Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart, and Diane's former partner at Lockhart/Gardner.
- Audra McDonald as Liz Lawrence (née Reddick) (season 2), a former U.S. Attorney and the ex-wife of name partner Adrian Boseman, who comes to the firm as name partner following her father's death.
Recurring
- Paul Guilfoyle as Henry Rindell, Maia's father, who is a wildly successful financial advisor, phenomenally wealthy and universally loved. He, Lenore, and Maia are the unofficial First Family of Chicago. He is arrested for running a giant Ponzi scheme with Diane as one of his victims.
- Bernadette Peters as Lenore Rindell, Maia's mother who comes from a tough working-class background and is a natively brilliant financial whiz. She, Henry, and Maia are the unofficial First Family of Chicago.
- Gary Cole as Kurt McVeigh, Diane Lockhart's estranged husband.
- Zach Grenier as David Lee, a name partner at Diane Lockhart's former law firm.
- Jerry Adler as Howard Lyman, a geriatric partner at Diane Lockhart's former firm, and now judge, who shows chauvinistic and stereotyping tendencies.
- Carrie Preston as Elsbeth Tascioni, a quirky yet smart lawyer.
- Heléne Yorke as Amy Breslin, an assistant state attorney and Maia's girlfriend.
- Chalia La Tour as Yesha Mancini, an attorney who represented Maia in her legal issues stemming from her father's arrest.
- Matthew Perry as Mike Kresteva, a lawyer who, after losing the 2012 Illinois gubernatorial election to Peter Florrick, now works for the US Department of Justice, in charge of an investigation encompassing Diane Lockhart and senior staff at Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart.
- Christine Lahti as Andrea Stevens, a high-powered lawyer from Los Angeles who often appears opposite Reddick, Boseman in cases involving film and television
- Andrea Martin as Francesca Lovatelli, Colin Morello's mother and a controlling influence in his bid to join Congress
- Margo Martindale as Ruth Eastman, consultant for the Democratic National Committee
- Tim Matheson as Tully, a left-wing protester who has a sexual relationship with Diane
- Alan Alda as Solomon Waltzer, a renowned lawyer at a national firm who uses dishonest tactics to achieve his aims
- Rob McClure as Judge Trig Mullaney, an unintelligent recent Trump appointee to the judiciary with very little understanding of the law
Guest
- Greta Lee as Amber Wood-Lutz, a young lawyer at a rival firm whose beaming smile obscures her sneaky tactics in court
- Denis O'Hare as Judge Abernathy, a judge whose strong liberal and socialist leanings leads him to overcompensate in favor of conservative litigants
- Bebe Neuwirth as Judge Claudia Friend, a no-nonsense judge with a pragmatic approach
- Jane Lynch as Madeline Starkey, a relentless FBI agent with a quirky personal style who believes Maia to be complicit in her father's scheming
- Dylan Baker as Colin Sweeney, a client of the firm and a likely serial killer who has gotten away with many of his crimes
- Becky Ann Baker as Alma Hoff, a principled lawyer at a rival firm
- Mamie Gummer as Nancy Crozier, a tough rival trial attorney who charms judges with her sweet-as-pie trial routine
- Christian Borle as Carter Schmidt, a challenging rival attorney
- Kurt Fuller as Judge Dunaway, a stern but fair judge who had little time for Diane's partners at her old firm
- Louis Gossett Jr. as Carl Reddick, a name partner at Reddick, Boseman who has semi-retired. He dies before season two.
- Jayne Houdyshell as Renee, a friend of Diane's at a rival firm who cuts ties with Diane after the Rindell scandal
- Megan Hilty as Holly Westfall, a ballistics expert and Kurt's former protégée with whom he had an affair while married to Diane
- Nikki M. James as Monica Timmons, a young African American lawyer who sued Diane's old firm for racial bias in hiring
- Jason Biggs as Dylan Stack, a wealthy tech entrepreneur involved in the creation of Bitcoin, wanted by US officials
- Kevin Pollak as Judge Kyle Gallo
- Rob Reiner as Judge Josh Brickner
- F. Murray Abraham as Burl Preston, a condescending LA lawyer who mainly represents film studios and the rich and famous
- Mike Colter as Lemond Bishop, Chicago's top drug lord and a kingpin of crime, who retains Diane as his lawyer after he is released from prison
- Wallace Shawn as Charles Lester, Lemond Bishop's terrifying personal lawyer and fixer who is known for making witnesses disappear
- Judith Light as Deidre Quinn, Lucca's mother
- Matt Walsh as Judge Oliver Walenstadt
Episodes
Season 1 (2017)
Season 2 (2018)
Production
Development
In February 2016, Michelle and Robert King, when asked about a spin-off, stated that there was a possibility for a spin-off series. In May 2016, CBS was in final negotiations to set up a spin-off featuring Christine Baranski reprising her role as Diane Lockhart, but which would air on CBS All Access instead of the network. The spin-off was officially ordered to series on May 18, with Cush Jumbo returning as well. In September 2016, it was confirmed that the 10 episode spin-off would premiere in February 2017, with the story picking up a year after the final episode of the original series and seeing Diane pushed out of her firm after a financial scam involving her mentee wipes out her savings, resulting in her move to Lucca Quinn's firm. The series was initially planned to air in May 2017, but was moved to February 2017 after production delays forced CBS to postpone the premiere of the new series, Star Trek: Discovery. After months of speculation, CBS revealed the title for the spin-off series, which was revealed to be The Good Fight, on October 31, 2016. It was announced that The Good Fight would premiere on February 19, 2017. CBS released the first trailer for the spinoff on December 18, 2016, featuring footage from the premiere and later episodes.
Casting
In May 2016, CBS was in final negotiations with Christine Baranski to reprise her role as Diane Lockhart and Cush Jumbo to reprise her role as well. After the series was picked up, it was announced that Jumbo would reprise her role as Lucca Quinn. Deadline announced on September 17, 2016 that Sarah Steele had been added to the cast, returning as Marissa Gold and appearing as Diane Lockhart's secretary-turned-investigator. On October 12, 2016, it was announced that former Game of Thrones star Rose Leslie had been cast to play a lead in the show, the role of Diane's goddaughter Maia who joins Diane's firm just after passing the bar.
The day after, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Delroy Lindo had been cast as "Robert" Boseman, an attorney who starts poaching Diane's associates and clients. The first name of Lindo's character was changed to "Adrian". Deadline reported on October 27, 2016 that the show had added Paul Guilfoyle and Bernadette Peters for recurring roles as Maia's parents. Guilfoyle would play Maia's father Henry, a wildly successful financial advisor who is phenomenally wealthy and universally loved. Peters' character Lenore was described as a woman who came from a tough working-class background and is a natively brilliant financial whiz. It was announced on October 31, 2016 that Justified alum Erica Tazel had joined the cast as a series regular.
On November 7, 2016, it was announced that Gary Cole would be reprising his role as Diane's husband Kurt McVeigh. It was confirmed on November 11, 2016, that Zach Grenier, Jerry Adler, and Carrie Preston would be returning as guest stars, reprising their roles of David Lee, Howard Lyman, and Elsbeth Tascioni respectively. On November 18, 2016, it was announced that Justin Bartha had been added as a series regular as Colin, a rising star in the US Attorney's office and love interest to Lucca. On August 1, 2017, it was announced that Audra McDonald had been added to the main cast for season 2 as Liz Lawrence, reprising her role from The Good Wife season 4, and that Michael Boatman and Nyambi Nyambi had been promoted to main cast.
International broadcast
On February 8, 2017, the series was picked up in Canada by Corus Entertainment to air on their cable channel, W Network; the U.S. broadcast premiere of the series would be simulcast by Corus' broadcast system Global.
On March 2, 2017, Channel 4 confirmed it had acquired the UK broadcast rights for the series for its More4 channel following the success of progenitor series The Good Wife on that same channel. The series debuted on More4 on March 30, 2017.
HBO Europe and HBO Nordic began streaming all 10 episodes of the first season on June 1, 2017, in Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, while India's Zee Entertainment Enterprises took exclusive pay-TV rights to The Good Fight for its English-language general entertainment channel Zee Café, which was also the Indian home of The Good Wife.
In Australia, SBS picked up the series which premiered on August 2, 2017.
In Southeast Asia, the series broadcasts on Star World but later moved to Fox Life starting from the second season.
In Greece the series first aired on Cosmote TV beginning in December 2017.
Critical reception
The Good Fight has received positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes awarded the series with a rating of 98% based on reviews from 50 critics and an average rating of 8.2 out of 10. The site's critical consensus reads: "An auspicious beginning for CBS All Access, The Good Fight solidly follows its predecessor while allowing for new storytelling styles, a wider narrative scope, and a chance for its lead to explore new territory with a relatable human struggle." On Metacritic, the series received a score of 80 based on reviews from 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
The LA Times suggested that Good Fight creators Robert and Michelle King "still had the Good Wife magic" and though Good Wife "had already [run] its course" after seasons 6 and 7 had received mediocre reviews, "they just needed a clean slate" to allow them to continue to mine more stories from that fictional universe. In addition, unlike Good Wife which was centered around "romantic tension" and got bogged down in Alicia Florrick's (Julianne Margulies) love life, Good Fight was considered "refreshing for steering the story the other way" as relationships are "not the plot points that drive the story". Good Fight is regarded as a rare successful example of a TV series spin-off, as other contemporary TV series are either reboots or remakes.
Writing for Vox.com, Todd VanDerWerff praised the show's deft use of political themes, commenting that while The Good Wife was a commentary on "liberal hypocrisy" and the nature of moral compromise, The Good Fight stands out as a much more earnest "defence of liberal values", giving the show a compelling "reason to exist".
References
External links
- Official website
- The Good Fight on IMDb
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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