The Good Wife films upcoming episode in the village
While the glitz and glamour of Hollywood can usually be found just a short train ride away for Long Island residents in Manhattan, a little touch of the spotlight hit Nassau County recently. Scenes for an upcoming episode of the CBS legal drama The Good Wife were shot in Floral Park’s Town Hall on June 28.
This isn’t the first time the hit series decided to make its way toward Nassau County. Although the drama is set in Chicago, production is done throughout New York and sound stages are even located in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
As recently as Aug. 30, 2011, Floral Park had hosted filming for The Good Wife at Marina’s Italian Deli on Covert Avenue. In 2009, the hour-long series filmed a few scenes in Munsey Park on Burnham Place in Manhasset.
“Last August, The Good Wife was here on Covert Avenue and we had to close Covert Avenue,” recalled Floral Park Village Clerk Susan Walsh. “The scene that aired was all of five seconds. Frankly CBS was a pleasure to work with and the village met all their needs then.”
Despite the pleasant history the television show experienced shooting in Floral Park, CBS Productions originally wanted to film the show in New Hyde Park’s village courtroom. At a New Hyde Park Village Board meeting, Mayor Dan Petruccio said he felt that having the film crew for such long hours would be too disruptive to normal village business and the request was denied. Floral Park wound up serving as the substitute site for shooting.
This time around, CBS used Floral Park’s village hall front lawn to serve as the entrance to Madison County’s courthouse. Most of the filming then took place inside the village hall courtroom. After shooting in front of and in town hall, the production moved its crew to a private residence around the corner on Carnation Avenue.
It should be no surprise that The Good Wife decided to come back after last year’s positive experience. In a letter sent to Walsh after last year’s shooting, members of the production illustrated their appreciation for what the Village of Floral Park did.
“On behalf of the cast and crew of The Good Wife, we would like to thank you for allowing us to film in the Village of Floral Park, ” wrote Location Manager Lynn Powers and Assistant Location Manager Rocco Nisivoccia, Jr. “We really can’t say thank you enough times for all the assistance throughout our pre/wrap and filming day. It’s always a pleasure working with a location that is so welcoming and cooperative.”
The comfort the production has in Nassau County and Floral Park isn’t the only reason why it made sense to shoot again in the neighborhood. The Village of Floral Park also provides flexibility for the show itself.
“I feel that the reason they came back to Floral Park is simply because we have all our own resources to tap into,” Walsh said. “For example, village police departments and full service public works departments just require one permit for all permissions requested that are under one jurisdiction.”
Although the actual filming of the show only took place on June 28, it was actually a three-day event. Set up for the filming took place all day on June 27 and cleanup from the filming was on June 29.
On March 14, CBS renewed The Good Wife for a fourth season. The scenes that took place in village hall will appear in the episode “I Fought the Law” tentatively set to air on Sunday, September 23.
