Today, we look at when (or if) you folks believe that The Good Wife “jumped the shark.”
This is “Just Can’t Jump It,” a feature where we examine shows that launched in 2006 or later and whether they “jumped the shark.” Jumped the shark means that the show had a specific point in time where, in retrospect, you realize that show was going downhill from there. Not every show DOES jump the shark. Some shows just remain good all the way through. And some shows are terrible all the way through. What we’re looking for are moments where a show that you otherwise enjoyed hit a point where it took a noticeable nose dive after that time and if so, what moment was that?
The great Jon Hein had a website devoted to this topic, but he sold it off in 2006 and after being maintained for a couple of years it was then merged into TV Guide in 2009, so I figured it’d be fun to look at shows that launched after the sale and see what we all think about whether they jumped the shark and, if so, when did it happen? Here is the archive of the show’s we have done far.
The Good Wife was about a middle-aged woman, Alicia, whose husband was an ambitious politician who was caught up in a scandal, forcing her to be the “good wife” while also having to go back to work to make up for her husband’s lost income (and pay for his legal defense). Since she had never actually gone to work as a lawyer, she had to take a low level legal position at a firm where her old law school friend, Will, was a partner. She slowly worked her way up the food chain at the law firm (working with the firm’s charming detective, who was slowly phased out of the show due to the real life co-stars not getting along), while her husband’s political advisor helped Alicia guide her husband’s comeback from his scandal.
So first…DID IT JUMP THE SHARK? I would vote tentatively no. It definitely fell off in quality, but was still a good show by the time it ended (and led to an impressive sequel, The Good Fight).
WHEN DID IT JUMP THE SHARK The argument would be when Will was killed, as the love triangle between Will and Alicia and her desire to continue to be in a “perfect” marriage was forever broken. The show gave her other love interests, but come on, the Will/Alicia bond was a pillar of the show.
Feel free to e-mail me at brian@popculturereferences.com for suggestions for shows for us to do in future installments!
Will’s death still is followed by a full season of top tier writing. I would argue the fall-off begins with Jason’s appearance. After all, that was when the creators and Margulies had a falling out and the writing was on the wall for the show.