‘The Good Fight’: CBS All Access Brings Trump, Sex, And Cursing To ‘The Good Wife’ Saga

CBS is one of the biggest networks in America, but it’s also angling to be a power player in streaming. This year, the network is expanding its programming to CBS All Access: The Good Fight and Star Trek: Discovery are slotted for spring debuts and we got our first real look at The Good Fight during this morning’s Winter TCA presentation.

The Good Fight is the sequel series to The Good Wife. Christine Baranski‘s Diane Lockhart is forced out of Lockhart & Law after her goddaughter Maia (Rose Leslie) falls for a devastating financial scam that ruins both of them. The two find themselves working with Lucca Quinn (Cush Jumbo) at another big Chicago law firm — only this one is overwhelmingly African American.

CBS kicked off their TCA Presentation with an advertisement for CBS All Access and an introduction from Marc DeBovoise. He said that the service has shown major growth in the last year. There are now over one million subscribers and they skew younger than the network viewers. The average age of a subscriber is under 40 and they continue to see growth in millenials.

The Good Fight will have a broadcast debut on CBS on the same day it lands on CBS All Access. The second episode will be exclusively available on CBS All Access after the premiere. After that, each new episode will roll out weekly on the streaming service. The broadcast and streaming versions will be different. The broadcast version will be about seven minutes shorter than the CBS All Access cut and will not include swear words.

Yup, The Good Fight will have f-bombs. In the teaser shown at TCA we see Diane Lockhart say “F*CK!” when she discovers that she’s lost her retirement funds in a Ponzi scheme. The cursing is going to be a part of what the producers are calling the show’s “premium sensibility.” While it’s not going to be non-stop profanity, Executive Producer Michelle King said, “You’re going to hear people talk the way they speak in life.” Robert King also added that there will be a “frankness in sexuality.” Rose Leslie’s character Maia is a lesbian and towards the end of the panel it was revealed that Justin Bartha will be playing Cush Jumbo’s love interest. “But that’s not his bum in the trailer!” Jumbo teased.

Is it too hot for broadcast? “That would be a great headline,” said Robert King. Then the entire panel sarcastically joked that it was all too true. “Steaming hot,” Michelle King joked.

Executive Producer Robert King explained that as much as The Good Wife was about life for liberals during the Obama years, the new Trump era gives The Good Fight much of “its bite.” Baranski said that one particular scene took on new meaning after Hillary Clinton lost the election. The night before the election they shot a scene where Diane, in emotional and financial freefall, packs up her office. The last thing she puts in the box? A photo from The Good Wife with Diane and Hillary Clinton side-by-side. Baranski said, “It’s going to have a very different resonance, but the show is called The Good Fight and it’s about the passing of power from one generation to another in terms of female power.”

“I would say that more than the show being political, we have characters who are political,” said Michelle King later.

Since The Good Fight takes place in the same universe as The Good Wife, we will see “a revolving door” of actors returning to the world. However, don’t expect to see Alicia Florrick pop up. According to Executive Producer Robert King, Julianna Margulies didn’t think it would make sense to continue her journey.

Originally the Kings weren’t set to be the showrunners, but Michelle King said they “just couldn’t resist.” Robert King quipped that “Brain Dead was on life support,” but he also reiterated that they were attracted to the opportunities. He mentioned how they would be unconstrained by standards, they could use a new aspect ratio, and they could take the tropes of The Good Wife and turn them on their head.

The Good Fight debuts on CBS All Access (and CBS) on Sunday, February 19, 2017.