The Good Wife (TV series)

[Tyco]

Has anybody else been watching this? I've only seen 3 episodes so far but it's been excellent.

The show is part court-room drama and part family drama. The main character, Alicia, is a lawyer, mother of two and wife of a politician who was disgraced over a sex-scandal and then jailed for related issues (though apparently he's innocent). The law cases are typically resolved after a stroke of ingenuity from Alicia.

What I find refreshing about this show is that most of the characters are portrayed in heroic or at least noble/principled manner. Of course there are crimes and criminals involved, but The Good Wife does not dwell on those like so many other crime dramas. Some of the characters have a hint of manipulation about them but this is balanced by otherwise good qualities like mutual respect, admiration, team work and skill. Good professionals. There are a few vultures/villains but they are minor characters and the heroes usually defeat them without losing integrity. The complexity and credibility of the characters is probably the show's strongest point, although most other aspects of the production are high quality.

Basically there is a healthy sense of value, a non-malevolent world, and rational self-interest displayed in a positive light. There's themes like forgiveness, reconciliation, integrity, hard work all handled intelligently. I'm not saying it's totally non-altruistic (I've only seen the first few eps) but so far so good. There's always a good 'hook' for each episode when the mysteries of a case are solved.