The cast is stellar: Julianna Margulies as the titular good wife, whose life is destroyed by her spouse; Chris Noth as the bastard politician husband who had an affinity for prostitutes; Christine Baranski as the no-nonsense litigator; Matt Czuchry (of Gilmore Girls) as the entitled competitive co-worker; Josh Charles as one of the partners of the law firm. I like all those people. The show is shot with a lot of the "walk-and-talk" that I love so much in Sorkin shows. It's a legal show, which is also something I gravitate towards, and it's on at 10 PM, so ever since Leno took over all the NBC spots, I've got room in my DVR to record it.

The show starts off with the press conference where Noth's politician stands in front of the media claiming that he used his own funds for prostitutes and didn't steal from the taxpayers. After the conference, she gives him a much-deserved slap across the face. Six months in the future, Alicia is starting a job at law firm, where her old college pal Will (Charles) is a partner. He assigns her to a pro bono case, and Diane (Christine Baranski) is her mentor. Cary (Czuchry) is a very competitive fellow junior associate, who is vying for the same job as Alicia. Alicia's first task is to get her client (a murder suspect who is awaiting retrial) free on bail. She succeeds, and then goes to see her husband in jail, and he's hoping to get his own case re-tried. He tips her off that some evidence was conveniently "lost" in that case, so she starts digging with the help of Kalinda (Archie Panjabi). He's still hopeful that he can regain his old life, but she's not entirely convinced.

She's also got to cope with her mother-in-law (played by Mary Beth Piel, aka Grams!!! Awesome, she hasn't done much since Dawson's Creek ended), and her two teenagers, who are exposed to the explicit details of their father's sex scandal on a daily basis. She cleverly finds evidence that was overlooked, though it arouses the suspicion of state's attorney (Titus Welliver), who is concerned that she's being tipped off by her husband. They basically toss around some verbal barbs for a while, but eventually the murder case is overturned, as Alicia, who has been out of practice for many years, is able to establish reasonable doubt.

There's a lot of potential here (I especially enjoyed Panjabi), but it failed to win me over completely. I watched it twice, even, but I'm still not entirely sold. It just falls flat and feels sluggish and predictable. I worry that despite its interesting concept, it could turn into an ordinary trial-of-the-week procedural show, and that's a shame because this stellar cast could probably do better than that. Still, I won't be entirely surprised if it turns out to be a hit, with a loyal fan base; I just doubt that I'll be among them.