Jason Mittell argues that contemporary television narrative is marked by degrees of both structural and consumptive complexity. One way he addresses this complexity is through the concept of drillability, which he describes as “a mode of forensic fandom that invites viewers to dig deeper, probing beneath the surface to understand the complexity of a story and its telling.” This essay analyzes a particular episode of CBS’s The Good Wife (2009–2016) to extend Mittell’s concept of drillability and to explore its theoretical links to Mikhail Bakhtin’s “dialogic imagination.” In doing so, the essay argues that “producer-fans” model modes of critical media consumption required by an informed and engaged citizenry.
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