Julianna Margulies stars in “The Good Wife”

With an abundance of television shows and networks producing all kinds of programs year-round, it's a challenge more often than not to follow new serial and procedural dramas. Television programs are generally split into two categories -- the procedural crime and serial plot line. CBS's "The Good Wife" offers not only a fresh, hybrid style of the two genres, but also spins non-fictional issues in a logical, informative and thought-provoking way. Catch a new episode of "The Good Wife" when it airs Sunday, Jan. 18, on CBS.

For those unaware, "The Good Wife" is the story of the trials, tribulations and evolution of one Alicia Florrick, played by Julianna Margulies ("ER," "Snakes on a Plane," 2006). Life hits hard and fast for Alicia, as the series begins following a political corruption and sex scandal revolving around her husband, Peter Florrick, who is played by Chris Noth ("Sex and the City"). Forced to return to her workplace in the courtroom as a junior litigator after 13 years of being a stay-at-home mother, the show's premise seems generic enough in its own right.

But alas, "The Good Wife" is everything but generic. Rotten Tomatoes, arguably the most revered entertainment review website online, has given the show a 100 per cent rating, putting it in the same category with the likes of AMC's "Breaking Bad." The success of the show can easily be attributed to creator Michelle King, alongside her writer husband Robert King's ability to observe real-life issues and translate them to paper without radicalization. A major strength of theirs is their view on the state of technology and how it affects society as a whole.

Studios have several options when attempting to spin real-life issues. HBO's "The Newsroom" has successfully done this for three seasons, providing viewers with a neutral, fact-driven and journalistic approach from a multitude of events ranging from the BP oil spill in April 2010 to the Boston Marathon bombings in April 2013. While "The Newsroom" and its journalists treated the influx of information about a potential bombing in Boston as unaccredited comments from Internet users, "The Good Wife" provided perspective from the opposite side, showcasing online crusaders and their attempts to solve a crime.

Furthermore, the show tackles a wide range of topics in the realm of technology. Season 4 played host to an episode that revolved around a startup company that specializes in voice-recognition software suing a company almost identical to Google, as it felt the web giant skewed its chances of business due to tweaking how websites were ranked. Season 3 touched upon the online currency Bitcoin, in which Alicia defends a lawyer after he failed to reveal the identity of Bitcoin's creator. The show is unparalleled to its level of detail, with many claiming the plot is "ripped from the headlines."

Chris Noth as seen in “The Good Wife”

Where the show differs from others is the approach that any issue is fair game, grim or not. Season 4 featured an episode that expanded upon the online social activist group Anonymous, which breaks the law in order to provide citizens around the world with fair justice. The episode's plot was heavily based on the Steubenville rape case and how social media and technology ultimately influenced the outcome of the trial.

The attention to detail and association of real-life issues has generated a cult following of fans, hailing and interacting in an abundance from the user-content-generated website "Reddit." In the aforementioned episode about the Boston bombings, multiple screenshots are shown of a "Reddit"-like clone, called "scabbit." Whether this is a tip of the cap by "The Good Wife" producers to its loyal fan base online or simply another spin of their views on society, the show remains current to cultural trends.

As with all entertainment that has loyal followers, speculation and fan theories are ubiquitous and ever-lasting. A popular theory online is that "The Good Wife" will end after seven seasons. The logic behind this is that each episode title in season 1 has only one word, season 2 has two, season 3 has three and season 4 has four words. Following a pattern, season 5 has three and season 6 has two, leaving the possibility that season 7's episode titles will only have one word, ending in a similar fashion to where it began.

Breaking social barriers, wild fan theories and chronicling the evolution of technology aside, the show has been an awards-show juggernaut, annually racking up nomination after nomination (136 in total) for everything from Golden Globes to Critics Choice Television Awards to People's Choice Awards to Primetime Emmy Awards (taking home five of those).

Without a doubt, fans of "The Good Wife" are enamored with the serial drama for different reasons. It has its fingers in a plethora of issues -- a once stay-at-home mother re-entering the workplace, the repercussions of abusing technology, love affairs and political scandal. Be sure to catch an all-new episode of "The Good Wife" when it airs Sunday, Jan. 18, on CBS.