When we last saw Christine Baranski on “The Good Wife,” she was slapping Julianna Margulies across the face.
As smacks go, it was pretty fabulous, leaving a furious red mark on Alicia Florrick’s stony face in the final scene of the CBS series, on which Baranski co-starred as Diane Lockhart — the effortlessly elegant attorney who was letting Alicia have it for helping to expose the adultery of Diane’s husband, Kurt (Gary Cole), at her own husband’s defense trial.
Baranski didn’t fake the slap, even though CBS provided a stunt coordinator to soften the blows. “I got a few good whacks in and we got a few hugs in and we shot the rest of the show and all those dramatic scenes,” says Baranski, 64. “The slap was a way of saying: ‘Wake up to the consequences of your actions.’”
The end of a long-running series often leaves its cast members with mixed emotions and one big predicament: where to find the next job? Fortunately for Baranski, she had one offer from another network for a 22-episode series. CBS didn’t want her to take it; turns out “Good Wife” creators Robert and Michelle King had an idea up their sleeves. “I was hoping there might be a spinoff,” says Baranski. “Then the Kings gave me the idea [for one]. I didn’t have a script. I loved the character. I loved that the show filmed in New York. I decided I’d rather do 10 shows of what I know and love.”
That would be “The Good Fight,” which debuts Sunday at 8 p.m. on CBS All Access, the network’s new subscription channel. (Sunday’s premiere will also air on CBS. Immediately thereafter, Episode 2 will be available on CBS All Access. From then on the series will only be available as an app.) “The Good Fight” finds Diane in the midst of the kind of chaos that engulfed Alicia when “The Good Wife” premiered in 2009. Her plans for retirement and a house in Provence go belly-up and she’s got to rebuild. Where to start? At an African-American law firm run by Adrian Boseman (Delroy Lindo). And not as a partner. “My office is tiny,” Baranski says. “I’m working my way back up. The Kings put women back to work.”
I got a few good whacks in and we got a few hugs in.
While “The Good Fight” will feature familiar faces such as Cush Jumbo — who joined the “Good Wife” in its final season as attorney Lucca Quinn — there are also some new faces. There’s Lindo and Rose Leslie, the ill-fated Ygritte on “Game of Thrones.” She plays Maia Rindell, a novice lawyer whose family is at the center of a Madoff-like scandal that wipes out Diane’s life savings. Baranski describes Leslie as “The daughter Diane never had. She’s marvelous.”
The Buffalo-born Baranski was happy to call the New York theater her home until she went out to LA to audition for Chuck Lorre. He changed her life, giving her a scene-stealing role as Cybill Shepherd’s best friend on “Cybill,” the hit sitcom that earned Baranski an Emmy in 1995. “What was clear from the start was Christine didn’t just know how to deliver the jokes, she knew how to create a three-dimensional character with her body language, her intonation, and her whole attitude,” Lorre says. “I was blown away. She can do everything. Physical comedy, character comedy, heavy drama, light drama, dance, sing. She’s probably an accomplished juggler.”
Baranski is modest and describes “The Good Fight” as an ensemble piece, even though she’s number one on the call sheet. Know what that means? “You get up earlier, you work longer hours, you suffer more,” she says, sounding extremely cheerful about the prospect. “That’s what you have to do if you’re the lead.”
“The Good Fight” Series premiere 8 p.m. Sunday on CBS and CBS All Access