'Good Wife' Creators Say They Wanted To End The Show 'While It Was Still Good'
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
"The Good Wife" is ending after seven years while it's still good. Julianna Margulies, as Alicia Florrick, is once more standing by her husband, Peter, played by Chris Noth, as he faces corruption charges, except he's now the governor of Illinois and she's a managing partner at her big-time Chicago law firm. The series has also had memorable supporting roles over the years from Alan Cumming, Archie Panjabi, Josh Charles and many more. The showrunners are Robert and Michelle King. They are also married, and that's the real show to run. They joined us now from New York. Spoiler alert - we might talk about some plot lines here. Robert and Michelle King, thanks so much for being with us.
ROBERT KING: Thank you for having us...
MICHELLE KING: Thank you.
R. KING: ...A great introduction for us.
SIMON: And why end the series now?
M. KING: You know, I think actually you nailed it. We wanted to go out while it was still good. We've known for quite a while that there was seven seasons' worth of story to tell in the education of Alicia Florrick. And we've come to the end of that story.
SIMON: What's your assessment as to how these characters have changed over the years?
R. KING: I would say Alicia's changed the most of almost all the characters. And that is - she's become more cynical, tougher, stronger, more powerful, funnier, my guess is. But I do think this is a woman who has found more and more independence and kind of liked more and more independence.
SIMON: And Peter?
M. KING: I think he's gained more self-awareness than anyone else on the show. Before the series started, he didn't think anything could splash back on him, and having gone to prison, sees that that's not the case and now considers his moves far more carefully and is just a more thoughtful person than he was.
SIMON: Let me get this once and for all from out of your mouths. Bill and Hillary Clinton, any kind of artistic inspiration for this series?
R. KING: Not as a genesis. I mean, it's kind of interesting to look at the phenomenon of political spouses, and especially political spouses that kind of find their own power center. And that, I think, is interesting. Nothing about Hillary is personality. In fact, we think she steals from us, so, you know, we've got to talk to them about that.
SIMON: (Laughter) You did put her in the plot line this year, though, right?
M. KING: Yes.
SIMON: I mean, she won the Iowa primary against Peter.
M. KING: Yes.
R. KING: There was no way around that.
M. KING: Peter was running and he's a Democrat, so yes.
SIMON: Very sensitive question now - there were reports over the years that Julianna Margulies and Archie Panjabi, two very talented actors, just didn't get along and you had to write the show so they wouldn't be in the same scenes. As you know, there were people who pored over the show like they were looking at satellite photographs of North Korean nuclear installations. Is that true?
M. KING: You know, there was a lot of gossip and we're just not going to address it.
R. KING: Yeah, we've taken a lead from Julianna on this. We just don't want to go there.
SIMON: The last episode obviously was finished some months ago, but as you look back on it now, were you writing that for yourselves or were you very aware of what fans wanted and expected?
R. KING: Oh, that's a good question. You know, in many ways, we were hoping that it wasn't just the last episode. It's these last four episodes. We really wanted to say goodbye to a big troupe of actors and characters that we kind of loved over the years. So there's been this kind of almost farewell - series of farewell episodes where you might have Michael J. Fox come in or these NSA guys or, you know, Stockard Channing and Dallas Roberts as Alicia's relatives. We just kind of wanted to return the things that we enjoyed over the years and really give them a chance to say goodbye.
SIMON: Robert and Michelle King, showrunners of "The Good Wife," thanks so much for being with us and good luck on your next venture.
R. KING: Thank you very much. I hope you watch it.
M. KING: Thank you so much.
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