Should ‘The Good Wife’ season 8 have happened?

Tonight, we’re having to say farewell to “The Good Wife” after so many weeks on the air, and there is a part of it that remains very difficult to process. Even though this is a show that has been around now for several seasons, it’s still hard to really imagine CBS without it. This is a show that has kept network TV in the Emmy conversations for a heck of a lot longer than the medium probably would’ve been otherwise. Also, it is a great legal drama in a land that doesn’t have many of them.

So what would a season 8 have looked like had the network decided to renew it? Well, the first thing that would have been clearly different from the jump is that it would’ve been without its creators. Robert and Michelle King were planning to exit to work on “BrainDead,” so ending it when they did allowed the Kings to craft the end of the story.

One other thing that would have likely happened would’ve been the exit of Jeffrey Dean Morgan as a regular. While he still could have appeared, his gig on “The Walking Dead” as Negan is going to be his priority for the next year or so, if not longer. He’s clearly got quite a bit on his schedule as is, and has really done three big shows when you remember that he was also on the second season of “Extant” this past summer.

Would we have gotten some more great cases and guest stars? Probably, and we feel like there probably would have still been a great ending. Yet, it would not have been the same “Good Wife” without the creative vision, and the ratings may have sunk lower. It may be sad, but we’re glad the show is ending when it is.