The Good Wife is an American legal and political drama television series that aired on CBS from September 22 , 2009 , to May 8 , 2016 . With the current climate of how television shows are written and produced , The Good Wife is considered by several critics to be network television 's last great drama producing a full 22 episode season while other and future acclaimed shows are in favor of shorter 6 -- 12 episode seasons .
The Good Wife is on network television with 22 episode seasons.