Despite the fact that it has become seemingly against the laws of the internet to speak poorly of anything GOOD WIFE related there is a little something we’ve been meaning to discuss with regards to last Tuesday’s otherwise excellent episode: The perils when it comes to casting big names.
As you may recall, when we last left THE GOOD WIFE, the highly contentious race for State’s Attorney culminated with a victory for one Peter Florrick (Chris Noth). Unfortunately, Mr. Florrick couldn’t be reached for comment.
Now don’t get us wrong, we understand full well that the show is called THE GOOD WIFE, not THE MORALLY DUBIOUS HUSBAND. And yes, leaving your viewers in suspense as to what exactly an emotionally charged Alicia — who just discovered that her supposed best friend Kalinda has been keeping her sordid history with her husband a secret for the better part of two seasons — will say to Peter when she confronts him upon the show’s May 3rd return isn’t the worst way to end an episode heading into a three week hiatus.
Unfortunately, the far more cynical part of our TV watching brain can’t help but wonder as to how much better the culmination of Peter’s hotly-contested race for State’s Attorney might have played out had it not been marred by us wondering just how much money the production saved by not having Chris Noth in the episode. Oh, and as it turns out, we weren’t the only ones. At least as evidence by regular commentator to thetvaddict.com grumpiestoldman who recently posted, “It was ridiculous last week having him win the election, and the actor wasn’t even on the show.”
Which naturally raises the slightly awkward albeit painfully obvious question when it comes to casting pivotal roles on shows that have “reoccurring guest star” written all over them: Should shows such as THE GOOD WIFE (And while we’re on the subject, FRINGE for that matter) continue to rely on such big names? Do the splashy headlines and viewers the likes of a Chris Noth generate outweigh the fact that for various reasons (be it scheduling and/or financial to name a few) is only able to appear on the show sporadically? We would argue, no, they do not. How about you? 
