Guest Star Goodness: The Good Wife S4 Premiere “I Fought the Law” 

[Warning: This is as much recap as it is Guest Star Goodness. So, if you haven’t seen the episode, watch out for spoilers]

The fourth season of CBS’ The Good Wife has begun. Kalinda’s past coming back to haunt her was a pretty brutal (and badass) situation; Alicia having to defend her son against manipulated charges was a fun storyline to follow — Zach stepped up and really showed he may have what it takes to follow in Alicia and Peter’s footsteps; financial troubles hit Lockhart & Associates hard; and Will’s six-month suspension has finally come to an end. There were also a ton of guest stars making appearances so let’s get to the Guest Star Goodness, shall we?

Kristin Chenoweth

The Good Wife Role: Peggy Byrne, a political reporter who interviewed both Peter and Alicia Florrick. She didn’t softball the questions — she went for the jugular during both Q&As. Thankfully, the estranged couple, whose party line seemed to be they’re “mending fences,” were able to bob and weave around some of the tougher questions.
The Actress: The Tony winner is known for her esteemed Broadway career, having made a name for herself in musicals like You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Wicked. The former Glinda (the Good Witch) has also had quite the career on TV. She’s an Emmy winner for her role on the brilliant but canceled series Pushing Daisies; she’s appeared in multiple episodes of Glee and The West Wing; she was part of the (too) short-lived series GCB; and has guest starred in an episode of TV Land’s Hot in Cleveland.

Nathan Lane

The Good Wife Role: Lane is recurring on the CBS series as Clarke Hayden, an accountant assigned to the firm to help them get out of debt and become more financially stable. His presence will be a benefit and a detriment to Lockhart & Associates — while his tough stance helped reverse David Lee’s decision to leave the firm, he also told Diane and Will they were going to have to get rid of 30% of the staff. Ouch. Hope that reduction doesn’t involve Cary. It was kind of awesome seeing Alicia turn to him for help in “I Fought the Law.”
The Actor: Lane’s known for his movie career, having starred in films like The Birdcage, The Lion King (he was the voice of Timon), He Said, She Said and Stuart Little. On the stage, he won Tony Awards for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and The Producers; and on TV he’s guest starred on Frasier, 30 Rock and Modern Family. He also had the lead in two series that were quickly canceled: Charlie Lawrence and Encore! Encore!

Matthew Del Negro

The Good Wife Role: Officer Robb — the cop who pulled Zach over and proceeded to shake him down and doled out some bogus charges. Zach fought back and, in the end, Officer Robb had to call him, apologize and drop the obstruction charges.
The Actor: Fans of TNT’s Rizzoli & Isles will recognize Del Negro as Giovanni, the clueless mechanic who doesn’t have a lot going on in the brains department. He had a bit of a thing for Maura, but fortunately, that didn’t go anywhere. Every once in awhile, he pops in for humorous effect. On the CW’s now canceled series called Ringer, he played cocky FBI Agent Grady Torrance, who crossed paths with Nestor Carbonell’s Agent Machado. He also appeared on HBO’s The Sopranos and Showtime’s The United States of Tara as well as a couple episodes of NBC’s Parenthood.

Tawny Cypress

The Good Wife Role: Melinda, Kalinda’s “friend” and the dog trainer who was called on to help Alicia with her son’s case. She helped Alicia realize how easy it was for Officer Robb to manufacture a false positive as the handler of his K9 companion. Melinda and Kalinda clearly shared a past. Wonder if we’ll ever see her again?
The Actress: Cypress is best known for playing Simone Deveaux on Heroes. First, she was Isaac’s girlfriend but after they broke up, she then entered into a relationship with Peter before she was killed off. Isaac accidentally shot her thinking he was shooting at an invisible Peter. To this day, I hate that Simone died during the show’s first season. Anyway, Tawny has also had roles on Rescue Me and the not so brilliant but canceled Fox cop series K-Ville. She’s also guest starred on Law & Order: SVU, Army Wives and Warehouse 13. It was so great to see her on The Good Wife.

Marc Warren

The Good Wife Role: Nick, Kalinda’s no good husband, who finally tracked her down in the season 4 premiere. He infiltrated Lockhart & Associates, trying to get at Kalinda through her job. The two had a knockdown drag out fight in the firm’s elevator that continued in the garage. However, they also let sexual tension get to them and took things out in bed. Kalinda told him she wanted him gone an out of her life. That’s definitely not what he wanted. He told her he wants her back. Don’t think he’s going away anytime soon.
The Actor: He was Danny Blue on the recently ended British grifter series Hustle; Dominic Foy on the acclaimed British miniseries State of Play; and he was Elton Pope in the Doctor Who episode “Love & Monsters.” Elton was a guy who became obsessed with David Tennant’s Doctor and ended up joining a group of like-minded individuals. He did find love but, of course, that love story got a little (okay, a lot) twisted.

Adam LeFevre

The Good Wife Role: Judge Kakissis — he was the judge in Zach’s case.
The Actor: This veteran actor goes way back. In the 80s, he played Booker in I’ll Take Manhattan, a miniseries based on the popular Judith Krantz novel. It was the highest-rated miniseries of 1986 – 1987 season and starred Barry Bostwick, Valerie Bertinelli, Perry King and Tim Daly. I loved this miniseries lots. And according to IMDB, he’s been on Law & Order and its two spin-offs (SVU and Criminal Intent) a total of 12 times over the last 16 years. Last season, he guest starred in an episode of Person of Interest called “The Fix.”

Kenneth Tigar

The Good Wife Role: Judge Chase — the judge facing Diane and Will, who appointed a trustee (Nathan Lane) to help Lockhart & Associates with its crushing 60 million dollar debt.
The Actor: Tigar’s another actor that goes way back. And while he’s appeared in movies like this year’s The Avengers, he’s mostly known for being a go to character actor on TV. He played Maggie’s news director boss, Sid Sidlevich, on the late great sitcom Growing Pains. He played Captain Jensen for two seasons of a cop show called L.A. Heat. And he’s guest starred on everything from Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place to NYPD Blue and Fringe (he was Warden Johan Lennox in two episodes).

Jeremy Davidson

The Good Wife Role: Phil, the Madison County State’s Attorney who has a rivalry (in his own mind) with the Cook County State’s Attorney, Peter Florrick. He tried to go after Peter’s son Zach to the fullest extent of the law, but eventually had to back down because he didn’t have a leg to stand on. Power talks and Peter’s got the power in the great state of Illinois.
The Actor: Davidson has played a love interest to Kitty on Brothers & Sisters and Isabel on Roswell (he was Grant Sorensen). He was a bad guy in the Person of Interest episode called “Many Happy Returns.” He was U.S. Marshall Brad Jennings, an abusive S.O.B., who was trying to track down his runaway wife. John Reese took care of this vicious individual but good. “Many Happy Returns” is arguably the best POI of its incredible first season (in my humble opinion). Davidson was also Richard Parks in the one-season period drama Pan Am; and starred in several seasons of Lifetime’s Army Wives as SFC Chase Moran.

Just fyi…Go On and Friends star Matthew Perry also made a brief appearance in “I Fought the Law.” The Good Wife airs Sundays on CBS at 9/8c.