‘The Good Wife’ films at closed Long Beach Medical Center

First it was NBC’s “The Blacklist,” when showrunners filmed an ambitious scene on the Long Beach Bridge last March that included a shootout, actors rappelling down the side of the span and an explosion for the show’s pilot, starring James Spader, that was set in Washington, D.C. 

Now, CBS has come to Long Beach to film episodes of “The Good Wife,” starring Julianna Margulies. The CBS drama used the Long Beach Medical Center’s emergency room — which still remains closed after Hurricane Sandy — to film scenes for episodes of the series, scheduled to air March 23 and 30.

A film crew was on site Jan. 27 and 28, said LBMC spokeswoman Sharon Player, who added that Long Beach is doubling for Chicago, where the drama takes place. A sign on the hospital’s emergency department entrance, where ambulances would normally drop off patients, read “Chicago General Hospital.”

LBMC closed after 10 feet of water flooded its basement during Hurricane Sandy. The hospital spent months making repairs, and last June, officials said it had all major work done to allow two wings to reopen, including the emergency department. The state Health Department, however, citing poor financial management, refused to allow the facility to reopen, and called for it to merge with South Nassau Communities Hospital.

With the hospital closed, Player said that the LBMC’s emergency unit caught the attention of the show’s producers. The show, which airs Sundays at 9 p.m., is usually filmed at a sound stage in Brooklyn, though outdoor locations that can pass for Chicago are often used. Player said the set was closed to the press. 

“They also filmed at a house around the corner on State Street,” Player said. “Julianna Margulies, Christine Baranski and other stars were here. They used everything that was within our footprint — essentially all of the campers were on the LBMC site, and the parking lot was full of the campers. They were very easy to work with.”