I am – Hercules!!


A CBS drama from screenwriter Robert King (“Clean Slate,” “Speechless,” “Cutthroat Island,” “Red Corner,” “Vertical Limit,” “In Justice”) and Michelle King about the wife of a disgraced Illinois state’s attorney, “The Good Wife” uses scandal-haunted former New York governor Elliot Spitzer’s hot lawyer wife Silda as a jumping-off point.

Julianna Margulies, highly watchable as always, plays Alicia Florrick, who finds herself a fortysomething forced to revive her law career following a 13-year hiatus.

It may be fall’s best-reviewed new series.

USA Today says:

… if tonight's setup is more competent than thrilling, it does what a pilot needs to do. It establishes the main character — and reintroduces us to a totally winning TV star — while creating a multilayered world that gives that character room to maneuver and grow. …

The New York Times says:

… The opening scene, which times the pace and soundtrack to the pounding heartbeat of Alicia’s shock and her sense of surreal detachment, is as vivid a depiction of personal crisis as any on television. But after this cleverly written series deconstructs the exact moment when everything falls apart, it imaginatively explores how one scorned spouse struggles to get past a life-shattering scandal. …

The Los Angeles Times says:

… hands-down the best new drama of the season. …

The Chicago Tribune says:

… "ER" vet Margulies gives this classy drama presence, and her scenes with Chris Noth, who plays her husband, crackle. …

The Washington Post says:

… Everything feels exactly right in this drama, to an almost clinical degree, especially Julianna Margulies's tough-but-wounded portrayal … Assigned to pro bono defense work, Florrick is immediately thrown into CBS crimeworld, where shocking new evidence always saves the day.

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… there's nothing inherently wrong with "The Good Wife" other than it's a legal series with too many close-up shots of knowing glances and "attagirl Alicia" moments of empowerment that you saw coming 20 minutes prior. …

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:

… both a well-written legal drama and a terrific showcase for actress Julianna Margulies, who elevates the already-good material with her perceptive, open performance. …

The Newark Star Ledger says:

… confident and polished, and a much better showcase for Margulies than her last legal drama, Fox’s "Canterbury’s Law," which was mostly an excuse for viewers to ogle her legs. She can be equal parts tough and vulnerable, commanding the screen even in those moments when Alicia isn’t in command of much of anything. And the nature of her story means the show won’t just be a law procedural — though I’d be fine if that procedural featured David Paymer heckling Julianna Margulies every week. …

The Boston Herald says:

… In the lead role, Margulies has never seemed more luminous. …

The Boston Globe says:

… The problem I have with “The Good Wife’’ is something that mars too much TV: telegraphing. The obviousness that winds through tonight’s premiere is irritating and lazy. The script, by show creators Robert and Michelle King, practically screams its workplace issues at us, as Alicia encounters gender discrimination and ageism at her law firm. Whispering would be far more effective. Whenever Alicia deals with an arrogant younger male hotshot (Matt Czuchry), or when one of her female bosses (Christine Baranski) self-servingly urges “women helping women,’’ the writers’ points get all up in your face. That works in an op-ed cartoon, not on a TV drama. …

Variety says:

… Nothing about the trial is particularly distinguished (for all I know it's recycled from leftover "Shark" scripts), but watching Margulies -- stately, beautiful, but showing some signs of age and vulnerability since her "ER" days -- it holds together well enough. Moreover, her husband's imprisonment and his protestations of innocence provide a potential hook beyond the rather tired procedural milieu. … Granted, "The Good Wife" doesn't win many style points for originality, but nor does it seek to squeeze into unflattering hipster clothes. …

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… appealing -- even compelling -- in a variety of ways. There could not be a better choice for the title role of Alicia Florrick than Margulies. Through words spoken and unspoken, she paints a detailed, moving portrait of a woman whose largely private, well-ordered life is suddenly and publicly shattered. …

10 p.m. Tuesday. CBS.