Public Defender (1954)

Name: Public Defender
Genre: Crime, Drama
Rating: 7.3
Cast: Reed Hadley

Crime · Drama

The Public Defender is a half-hour 69-episode television dramatic series starring Reed Hadley as Bart Matthews, an attorney for the indigent. The series aired on CBS from March 11, 1954 to June 23, 1955, a season and a half.

IMDb rating: 7.3 (133 votes)
Episode average: 7.0 -0.3 vs IMDb
Seasons: 2
Language: EN
Type: TV series

Rising trajectory: each season at least as good as the last. Rising Shows ranks whole shows by the shape of their rating trend rather than one average score, which is how you find a show that got better rather than a show that started well. See every Rising show in the explorer →

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Ratings refreshed Oct 3, 2026 · 2 seasons indexed

Cast

Reed Hadley Bart Matthews

Seasons

Season 1 (1954)

6.94 avg 25 episodes 7.5 → 7.0 30 min avg

Rollercoaster

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Case of the Parolee	7.5	19
2	The Unfit Mother	6.8	19
3	Lost Cause	7.4	17
4	The Forger	7.0	20
5	The Prize Fighter Story	7.0	20
6	The Clown	6.9	19
7	Behind Bars	6.9	26
8	Two Brothers	6.6	16
9	Badge of Honor	7.6	29
10	Let Justice Be Done	7.0	29
11	Pauper's Gold	7.1	11
12	Step Child	6.8	19
14	Confession of Guilt	7.4	14
15	The Hobo Story	6.7	16
16	Youth Crime Ring	6.8	17
17	Third Floor Rear	6.5	17
18	Out of the Past	7.1	21
19	A Call in the Night	6.2	20
20	Escape	6.1	16
21	High Stakes	7.4	12
22	Lisa	6.9	15
23	Baby for Sale	6.5	17
24	Think No Evil	6.7	18
25	The Ring	7.7	20
26	The Last Appeal	7.0	24

Season 2 (1954)

7.02 avg 43 episodes 7.5 → 7.0 30 min avg

Rollercoaster

Season 2 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Return of the Dead	7.5	18
2	Road to Nowhere	7.1	18
3	The Big Race	6.3	19
4	The Arsonist	6.7	15
5	Loyalty	7.3	15
6	The Do-Gooder	7.2	15
7	When Credit Is Due	6.6	19
8	Crashout	6.7	15
9	Destiny	7.7	14
10	Hot Rod	7.2	16
11	Until Proven Guilty	7.1	14
12	The Hijacked Truck	7.5	16
13	Circumstantial Evidence	7.2	16
14	The Murder Photo	6.8	20
15	Open Season	6.8	13
16	Socrates	6.7	16
17	Moonshine	7.5	13
18	The Man Who Couldn't Remember	6.5	16
19	Another World	7.0	18
20	Deep Ditch	6.6	15
21	Gunpoint	7.1	14
22	Your Witness	6.3	14
23	The Director	6.7	18
24	Mama's Boy	6.9	20
25	The Big Steel	7.2	13
26	Jackpot	7.4	12
27	A Knowledge of Astronomy	7.3	17
28	The Hitchhiker	7.6	20
29	Brutality	7.3	16
30	Cornered	7.5	23
31	Time to Kill	7.7	14
32	The Sapphire Mink	6.6	19
33	The Stepfather	6.7	16
34	A Pair of Gloves	7.3	17
35	End of the Line	7.3	16
36	Clifford Pike	7.0	17
37	Eight Out of a Hundred	6.6	22
38	Condemned	7.6	13
39	Operation Cleat	7.0	17
40	In Memory of Murder	6.4	20
41	The Bad Ones	6.6	14
42	The Jockey and the Nun	6.7	14
43	Failure	7.0	13

Public Defender (1954)

Cast

Seasons

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