“The Good Fight” off to a good start

First test for new show heading to CBS’ premium service

When CBS’ new All-Access service was wheeled out in 2014, many thought the first original series to be rolled out and marketed as a flagship brand for the service would be the new Star Trek series – a well-known brand name to draw in viewers.

Unfortunately, the new Star Trek series (officially titled Star Trek: Discovery), has been plagued by production delays and the series, once scheduled to premiere last month is now scheduled to premiere in May.

Hence, comes The Good Fight.

The CBS spin-off of The Good Wife stepped up to the plate take Star Trek’s place as the first original series on CBS All-Access service.

Created by Robert and Michelle King, Good Fight centers around Christine Baranski’s character on Good Wife who is forced out of the law firm after a financial scam drains her savings and destroys the reputation of her goddaughter (Rose Lesile.) Baranski winds up joining a rival Chicago law firm as a result.

Debuting last night on the CBS mothership, Good Fight drew was amply sampled: according to preliminary numbers, Fight debuted with a 0.7 rating in adults 18-49 and drew a bit over seven million viewers.

Keep in mind this was a holiday weekend as many people had President’s Day off. Competition Sunday night included a NBC 90th Anniversary special, the NBA All-Star Game on TNT, and a new episode of The Walking Dead on AMC, which seems to be running out of gas creatively.

Good Fight also appears to be a hit with critics: On Metacritic, the series ranked with a 79 score while on Rotten Tomatoes, Good Fight earned a “Certified Fresh” honor with a perfect 100 percent score.

The real question now is…can CBS convert these numbers to All Access subscribers? Almost all of the programming CBS offers on its All Access service is programming from the CBS library, from NCIS to the original version of The Twilight Zone, from I Love Lucy to The Good Wife. Viewers can also stream their local affiliate and CBS News’ 24 hour OTT service, and the last five episodes of current fare on the network such as The Big Bang Theory and 2 Broke Girls.

The only original prior to Good Fight’s premiere is Big Brother: Over The Top.

This episode of Good Fight is the only one scheduled to air on CBS. Beginning next Sunday, Good Fight is airing exclusively on CBS All Access, dropping one episode per week. CBS plans a similar strategy with Star Trek: Discovery.

So you’re short on funds and can’t afford All Access. My suggestion? Wait until all of the episodes debut (two months from now) then subscribe (the first week is free through a seven-day trial), binge, and then cancel before the trial is up.

The bad news? Unless you’re willing to pay for it, you have to pick either The Good Fight or Star Trek: Discovery, which in this case would be a very tough choice.