Showrunners Michelle and Robert King have been on the Emmy talk for 13 years in a row: The past six for The good fightstarring Christine Baranski in a role she created in their OG legal drama, The good womanwhich was a prize contender for each of the seven seasons.
The creative and married partners first worked together in 2006 on a police proceeding In Justice for ABC, which lasted one season. In 2009, CBS picked up again Good wife, starring Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick, the wife of a state attorney (Chris Noth) who is forced to return to her law career after her husband becomes embroiled in a sex and political corruption scandal. It was rated an instant hit, with THR‘s review stating, “There couldn’t 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 being publicly destroyed.
The show would go on to garner 43 Emmy nominations and win five times, all in acting categories: twice for Margulies, once for supporting actress for Archie Panjabi, and once for guest stars Carrie Preston and Martha Plimpton. For Margulies, who played Carol Hathaway on NBC’s ER (for which she won a supporting actress, an Emmy), the role of Florrick demanded her full attention for seven years.
“I love the part I’m playing, and I work 10 months a year, so the 10 weeks I have — it’s just not worth doing another project for me,” she shared. THR in 2011, adding, “We are so lucky as TV actresses because we get into intimate relationships with 150 people – our crew members – pretty much every day. When you make a movie, you get introduced to so many people… and then it’s over in two months. … With us we actually have this family.
Baranski took over from Margulies and reprized her role as lawyer Diane Lockhart The good fight. Nominated six times for Woman and last year nominated for fightBaranski will definitely be part of this year’s Emmy conversation.
This story first appeared in a standalone May issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
