The Guardian: The First Season

Before he became The Mentalist, Simon Baker starred in The Guardian as Nick Fallin, a superstar corporate attorney at his father's Pittsburgh law firm, with an ego to match his talent and an arrogance that is put in check when he's arrested for drug abuse and sentenced to serve 1,500 hours of community service at Children's Legal Services (CLS). In this classic redemption drama, Nick's advocacy work has him rediscovering the conscience that has been long missing from his corporate practice. At the same time, he seeks the approval of the elder Fallin (Dabney Coleman), a respected jurist and (by the end of the season) judicial nominee. Alan Rosenberg plays Nick's passionate boss at CLS, with whom he constantly butts heads, and Raphael Sbarge is a junior partner at Fallin & Associates who balances Nick's ruthlessness with a savvy understanding of the client (and is the closest thing Nick has to a friend). Offering a familiar mix of legal dramatics, personal-life melodrama, and social conscience, The Guardian is a decent show with a good cast, but ultimately no more distinctive than similar fare from the beginning of the decade. Compiling all 22 episodes from the 2001-02 debut season, this is a strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)