The Good Wife
Pants on Fire
TV Flash files “Pants on Fire” as hour 66 of 156 in the TV Flash guide — The Good Wife (2009–2016) on CBS, season 3, episode 20, aired 2012-04-15, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E20: listed hour 66 of 156 in the The Good Wife guide, hour 20 of 22 in season 3. It aired 2012-04-15 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Blue Ribbon Panel” (S03E19). Next is “The Penalty Box” (S03E21).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
As Alicia counsels a client whether to accept a strict plea deal, she's distracted by Peter's newest political rival, whose actions force her back into the public spotlight.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Pants on Fire sit in the The Good Wife guide?
S03E20 is listed hour 66 of 156 — hour 20 of 22 in season 3, season 3 episode 20.
When did The Good Wife S03E20 air?
Pants on Fire aired 2012-04-15 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Is The Good Wife case-of-the-week only?
Cases are the weekly hook. Serialized power — Alicia, Diane, Kalinda, Eli, the scandal's long weather — is the contact sport.
In the series
Why this series still plays
After a public sex scandal, Alicia Florrick goes back to law and rebuilds power in good tailoring. The Good Wife proved broadcast could still do adult serialized drama: cases as the weekly hook, Diane, Kalinda, and Eli as the real contact sport.
The first useful cut of The Good Wife is not the scandal. It is Alicia Florrick walking back into a profession that already wrote her as a spouse in the hallway. After her husband's public sex scandal, she returns to law in good tailoring, and Robert and Michelle King spend seven CBS seasons (2009–2016) proving broadcast could still do sophisticated serialized legal drama if the cases stayed the weekly hook. Julianna Margulies rebuilds power on her own terms. Christine Baranski's Diane, Josh Charles's Will, Matt…
Filed against
- Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick
Julianna Margulies’s Nurse Carol Hathaway is ER’s trauma-bay human voltage — fifteen seasons of County General, a star factory that actually cost something, medical drama learning how to move. Not the attending poster; the nurse as the…
- Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart
Christine Baranski’s Diane Lockhart made The Good Wife a pantsuit contact sport — 2000s catalog broadcast serialization, Alicia’s rebuild in good tailoring, then The Gilded Age stretching the diction into old-money hats. TV Flash files…
- Josh Charles as Will Gardner
Josh Charles’s Dan Rydell made Sports Night a sports-highlight studio with a crush in the tempo — 1990s catalog Sorkin walk-and-talk, then The Good Wife stretching the charm into a law-firm contact sport. TV Flash files him as the anchor…
- Matt Czuchry as Cary Agos
Matt Czuchry litigated the mirror as Cary Agos on The Good Wife — Alicia Florrick back to law after a public sex scandal, broadcast still doing adult serialized drama, cases as the weekly hook, Diane and Kalinda and Eli as the real…
- Archie Panjabi as Kalinda Sharma
Archie Panjabi’s Kalinda Sharma made The Good Wife a contact sport — Alicia Florrick back to law after a public sex scandal, cases as the weekly hook, Diane and Eli as the rest of the knife fight. Broadcast proving it could still do adult…
- Alan Cumming as Eli Gold
Alan Cumming’s Eli Gold turned The Good Wife’s back-room politics into a contact sport — Alicia Florrick rebuilding power in good tailoring after a public sex scandal, cases as the weekly hook, Diane and Kalinda as the other blades.…