"The Guardian": Underdog with Potential

From:primetimetv.about.com
Date:Nov 14, 2003
By Jana Johnson

Crime drama with a twist.

The Guardian, on CBS Tuesdays, has been called the dark horse of the primetime line up. Over the past few months it's steadily gained in ratings, becoming a serious contender with high profile Fraiser. Without the crucial 18-49 age bracket buzz, the show has been largely ignored by the entertainment media.

Let me tell you - they are missing out! This show breaks almost every rule of television production and that's what makes it a hit.

The show centers around Nick Fallin (Simon Baker), an machiavellian lawyer. He may have a heart somewhere, but it's been buried pretty deep. Nick is sentenced to volunteer his legal skills as a child advocate after an arrest for drug use. He has to juggle that with employment a law firm owned by his disproving father (Dabney Coleman).

While CBS is known for it's diabetic coma inducing sweetness, this show tries to leave that behind. Although the story lines feature the downtrodden and ill, the characters are real. No one is too good to be true and no one is truly evil. They deal with money and power as realities in life, not the bastions of corruption.

Nick Fallin is arrogant, emotionally withdrawn and bends the rules like they're taffy. It can seem like all he really cares about is winning, If he did care about the injustices of life, he'd only step up when he absolutely had to. Perhaps there is something that he could learn from all of this - including who he really is. And watching that struggle is what makes it so interesting.