CBS All Access’ The Good Wife spinoff The Good Fight will launch with two episodes on Feb. 19, an extra enticement, CBS believes, to sign up for the SVOD service, Broadcasting & Cable reports.

The series debuts simultaneously on CBS and CBS All Access — a 42-minute version, with cleaned-up language, on CBS, and a 49-minute uncensored version online that will not be restricted by broadcast standards.

A clip of the program shows Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski) character using the F-word after finding out her retirement savings have vanished in a Ponzi scheme.

Besides Baranski, the cast includes Cush Jumbo, Delroy Lindo and Justin Bartha. Michelle and Robert King are the executive producers. Robert King said the All Access version offers a distinct “frankness.” “Standards and practices are reduced to nil,” he said to the publication.

King also noted how SVOD provides a different aspect ratio, which makes for a “classier look.”

But like the original series, The Good Fight will also tackle politics, particularly in light of Donald Trump winning the presidential election and defeating Hillary Clinton.

“We were all in freefall. The interesting thing is you have a lead character who is in a… freefall in a similar way to what the country is feeling right now,” Baranski said about Diane’s struggle going forward to the Hollywood Reporter. “How do you take the next step up when there is no foundation?”

“I think this election gave us a spine,” King said at the Television Critics Association winter press tour on Monday TheWrap reports. “‘The Good Wife’ was really about the Obama years … This kind of gives shape to a new show.”

Although the Kings began writing the pilot before Trump was elected, they quickly embraced the election’s surprising outcome.

“The show has always tried to be fairly even-handed. The Good Wife was a satire of the sort of liberal mindset because Chicago is such a liberal town,” Robert said. “I think one of the things we’re looking at the in The Good Fight is how the environment has changed.”

Some of the scenes in the pilot which were shot before the election will have different resonance in 2017, the show’s cast and creators said. Particularly, one scene featuring a prop photo of Christine Baranski’s character and Hillary Clinton.

“When Diane has to leave her office forever because she’s out of a job, and she takes that photo of Hillary Clinton, that scene was shot the night before the election,” Baranski said. “I imagine it’s going to have a very different resonance now.”

Also, contractual deals for other popular CBS shows are in the works, most notably for the cast of The Big Bang Theory —TV’s No. 1 scripted comedy which is coming toward the end of its current season without a renewal.

Five months after CBS Entertainment president Glenn Geller said he was “confident” in new deals for the cast, the executive told The Hollywood Reporter that a new deal has still not been secured.

“[Contract talks] are continuing; it is tough but kind of normal negotiations,” he said. “We are guardedly optimistic about it. It’s normal negotiations.”

According to the paper, sources say the cast are all seeking pay raises from their historic contracts reached two years ago when the show was picked up for a three-season renewal.

The last round of negotiations briefly delayed production on the series as the cast refused to return to work without new pacts. Season 10 resumed original episodes last week. Showrunner Steven Molaro has noted on multiple occasions that the producers have thought about an end-game but are focused on the current season and have repeatedly stressed that they are not approaching season 10 as its final bow.

Tags:


  Save as PDF