Diksha Sundriyal
‘The Good Fight’ stars Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart, whose reputation suffers a blow due to a financial scam. She loses her job and seeks employment in another law firm, starting everything from scratch. Usually, the show follows the case of the week format, and every time, Diane finds herself against a challenge that pushes her boundaries. Apart from its impeccable cast, another thing that has brought much praise to the show is its keen political sense. It manages to bind the stories of the characters with the issues of real-life people. This makes one question whether it is based on a true story. Find out here.
Is ‘The Good Fight’ Based on a True Story?
No, ‘The Good Fight’ is not based on a true story. It is a legal drama created by Michelle King, Robert King, and Phil Alden Robinson and a spin-off of ‘The Good Wife’, an acclaimed political drama created by the Kings. Even though the characters are not particularly based on a real person, the series keeps itself in sync with current issues.
Every episode, and even the season arcs, focus on a particular political and cultural challenge plaguing the society. Starting from season 3, the show also features animated music videos that satirize the subject matter that was focused upon in the episode. One of the videos about censorship in China was considered so critical that CBS censored it! Ironically, the audience thought it was a part of the play.
‘The Good Fight’ has remained one of the most politically intelligent shows of recent times. It has covered topics like the impeachment process, Russian trolls, the “pee tape” controversy, and the effects of social media, among other things. The series also focuses on race relations in America, by also calling upon the lead character’s progression in a complicated understanding. In one of its episodes, it centered on a woman who wanted a divorce from her husband. The show played with the idea of the woman being Melania Trump.
Despite how it has turned out, the Kings did not intend it to be this way in the beginning. Michelle King clarified, “It wasn’t intended to be as political as it became. But then once Trump was elected, first of all, that was all anyone was talking about, and these characters are very real to us. So, we knew what Diane’s politics were. She’s an avowed liberal. There was no way she was going to be talking about anything else. It just felt very natural to write it into the show.”
The pilot was filmed in the heat of the Presidential elections and believing that Hillary Clinton was going to win it, they had shot it with that perspective. However, the winds changed, and they realized that it was going to be Trump’s America, so they had to redo it.
Several sections of the show offer a take on real people or real events. For example, one of the sub-plots has Colin Morello running for office against a Republican candidate who has Nazi leanings. In 2018, Dan Lipinski, a Democrat, was pitted against Arthur Jones, a Republican who had made clear his hatred for all things non-Nazi and still managed to accrue a good number of votes.
In a similar vein, we meet Roland Blum, a character played by Michael Sheen. His backstory includes him being mentored by Roy Cohn, who is known to have mentored people like Donald Trump. The series starts with Diane Lockhart witnessing a massive shift in her life after falling victim to a scam. This scenario feels similar to the scam caused by Bernard Madoff, who is serving time for pulling off the biggest financial fraud in the history of America.
Read More: 10 TV Shows You Must Watch if You Love The Good Fight
