The recent Ashley Madison hacking scandal is ripe for a “ripped from the headlines” story on THE GOOD WIFE. The series has often been in-step with stories playing out in the real world. THE GOOD WIFE writers are amazing and don’t really need my help, but for fun, I have a few ideas.
The origin story of THE GOOD WIFE is that the wife of the Illinois State Attorney has to pick up the pieces of her life after her husband is caught in a sex and corruption scandal. Throughout the last six seasons the show has often referenced that scandal to reinforce Alicia’s (Julianna Margulies) continued mistrust of Peter (Chris Noth). Now that Peter is running for President, it’s a perfect time for an Ashley Madison-like website to get hacked, potentially derailing Peter’s campaign.
Alicia is, yet again, setting up her own law firm so she could take on a class action lawsuit again said website by a group of “clients” of a website designed to help married people cheat on their spouses who had an expectation of privacy when they signed up for its services. Maybe one of the men exposed in the scandal has committed suicide, as has been recently reported amid the real life scandal, and his family is suing on his behalf. As Alicia is going through the list of names she recognizes a name, possibly an alias she’s known Peter to use in the past when he needed to be incognito. Alicia immediately suspects Peter had an account with this site and she will once again face public humiliation. While Peter denies her suspicions, this new conflict reopens old wounds and makes Alicia question if she can continue to play the role of the supportive spouse. Alicia’s former law firm could represent. the website giving Alicia a chance to go up against Cary (Matt Czuchry) and Diane (Christine Baranski).
Of all the shows on television, I trust THE GOOD WIFE most with this story. The writers would intelligently explore all sides of the hacking issue as it pertains to a website set up for the express purpose of infidelity.
THE GOOD WIFE returns for its 7th season on Sunday, October 4th at 9pm EST. Check out an extended deleted scene between Alicia and Peter from season one of THE GOOD WIFE below:
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