Losing The Good Fight

TVNZ announced at its upfront presentation this week that new courtroom drama Elsbeth would be one of its 2024 highlights.

The Paramount Global series was spun off The Good Fight, which The Good Wife begat.

The latter aired here on TV3 and has been a staple of Sky’s Vibe channel.

But The Good Fight has only been seen here briefly on Prime Video (when it was still Amazon Prime Video).

Just three of the six seasons streamed in NZ before being pulled from Prime Video and becoming a casualty of Paramount+ not setting up its own operation here.

Although TVNZ+ streams the lion’s share of P+ content, it has no plans to pick up The Good Fight, which seems daft when it could stream the show as a curtain-raiser to Elsbeth’s February premiere.

Season one of the 2017-22 series, which relocates The Good Wife’s Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski) to a new law firm after being defrauded, was excellent and the pilot one of the best in TV history.

Subsequent seasons declined as the creators suffered Trump Derangement Syndrome but the powerhouse cast, inventive storytelling and premium production values always kept it compelling.

It’s still possible The Good Fight could turn up on Vibe but TVNZ’s rejection seems like an opportunity squandered.