# The Guardian (2001)

> A hotshot Pittsburgh lawyer serving court-ordered community service becomes a part-time child advocate and finds his privileged world challenged by the kids he represents.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/1689

## Facts

- Seasons: 3
- Episodes: 67
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama
- Created by: David Hollander
- Network: CBS
- Cast: Simon Baker, Dabney Coleman, Alan Rosenberg, Wendy Moniz, Raphael Sbarge, Charles Malik Whitfield, AJ Michalka, Jeff Kober
- TMDB rating: 7.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0285370/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none
- Tone: earnest, sincere, wistful, hopeful, sardonic

## What critics say

Audiences rated the series positively overall, valuing its legal setting and its stories about vulnerable children, though later seasons were judged weaker.

## Synopsis

The Guardian (2001-2004) is an American network legal drama created by David Hollander for CBS. Simon Baker stars as Nick Fallin, a hotshot lawyer at his father's ultrasuccessful Pittsburgh firm who, after a drug arrest, is sentenced to 1,500 hours of community service. Reluctantly he becomes a part-time child advocate at Legal Aid Services, where each case brings another young client caught in difficult circumstances. Dabney Coleman plays his demanding father Burton Fallin, while Alan Rosenberg and Wendy Moniz play colleagues at the firm and the Legal Aid office, and Charles Malik Whitfield and Raphael Sbarge round out the principal cast. The engine of the series is the friction between Nick's cutthroat world of mergers, acquisitions and board meetings and the messy, often heartbreaking reality of the children he must defend. Across three seasons and sixty-seven episodes, the show works in a largely case-of-the-week format, with each hour built around a new family, a new courtroom or office problem, and a new moral test for Nick. Its tone is earnest and sincere, with moments of wry humor and an undercurrent of wistful melancholy. Set in contemporary Pittsburgh, the series sits in the tradition of socially conscious network legal drama. Fans of Family Law, Boston Public and Suits will find resonance here.

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