PASADENA, Calif. — There have been so many political sex scandals in recent years, they've almost established a pattern.
"Usually, there was a resignation and then a period of time when they reflected. And then they tried to get back right in the spotlight," said Robert King, creator and executive producer of "The Good Wife" on CBS. "So what interested us more was the politician's wife's trajectory, because it seemed much less certain, much more interesting.
"Because how do you really remake your life when everybody seems to have an opinion about how you should remake your life?"
That's the launching point of the series, which premieres Tuesday at 9 p.m. on Ch. 2. Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) is "The Good Wife" — she's shell-shocked when her husband, Peter (Chris Noth), an Illinois state's attorney, is caught having sex with prostitutes and, in the ensuing scandal, is sent to prison.
Alicia, who has a law degree but gave up her career to be a political wife, is not only thrust back into the workplace to support her children, but she's thrust into a workplace where everyone knows who she is and all about her public humiliation.
"I love how complicated she is," Margulies said. "This is a woman who thought her life was going one way for many, many years … And then everything crumbles."
And while there are obvious parallels to real-life political wives — from Hillary Clinton to Silda Spitzer to Jenny Sanford — "The Good Wife" is not about a woman who just stands by her man. Alicia does just that when her husband has his news conference; then she slaps him — hard — when they're away from the cameras.
"I was so quick to judge all those women that I saw standing up and standing by their man," Margulies said. "I kept thinking, 'Well, why are you standing there?' "
And the show's title doesn't mean that Alicia remains the silent, supportive political wife as Peter fights to have his conviction overturned.
(Will he get out of prison early? "Maybe," King said.)
"We always meant 'good' ironically," King said. "It was thought to be the good wife to stand by your man when, in fact, as you see in the pilot, Alicia's character says basically she never thought she'd do that, except that she was unprepared when this happened. So I think we're hoping to explore why some of these women do stay with their husbands after such a major scandal and embarrassment."
That is "exactly the question of the show," said creator and executive producer Michelle King. "How good is she? And that will play out in her decisions. Does she stay? Does she go? How does she move her life forward?"
Alicia definitely moves forward in the premiere, going to work as a very junior associate at a very big law firm. (The cast includes Christine Baranski, Josh Charles, Archie Panjabi and Matt Czuchry as allies and enemies at the law firm.) The legal-drama aspects of the show are a lot like other legal dramas. But the overlay of Alicia's personal story makes "The Good Wife" distinctive.
"One of my main concerns when I met with Michelle and Robert — I kept saying, 'I don't want to do a legal show,' " Margulies said. "That's not going to interest me or the audience, I don't think.
"What interests me is finding out who these characters are. So it's a great backdrop for her development."
EASTWICK (Wednesday, 9 p.m., ABC/Ch. 4): The executive producer of this new series insists it's not just "Desperate Housewives" with magic.
"Not at all," said Maggie Friedman. "Obviously, we want to appeal to a similar audience, and it's a show about women. It's a show about empowerment. It's a show about friendship. But we feel like it's very different from 'Desperate Housewives.' "
Well, we'll see. We do know that the premiere is, in many ways, a remake of the 1987 movie "The Witches of Eastwick." And both are loosely based on John Updike's novel.
Three women (Rebecca Romijn, Jaime Ray Newman, and Lindsay Price) who live in a small New England town discover they have magic powers. That comes to light when a Mysterious Stranger (Paul Gross) comes to town.
The first hour isn't bad, although the stars aren't exactly Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer. And Gross is miscast as the male lead — Jack Nicholson, he's not.
But it seems like pleasant enough fluff.
The challenge will be turning this into a series that distinguishes itself from the movie, the book — and from "Desperate Housewives."
STRANGE BUT TRUE: This is the third attempt to turn "Witches of Eastwick" into a series. NBC tried back in 1992, shooting a failed pilot that counted Carlton Cuse ("Lost") among its executive producers.
And Fox tried in 2002, shooting a pilot with a cast that included Marcia Cross, who went on to become one of the "Desperate Housewives."
e-mail: pierce@desnews.com