The Guardian (2001)

Crime · Drama

Nick Fallin is a hotshot lawyer working at his father's ultrasuccessful Pittsburgh law firm. Unfortunately, the high life has gotten the best of Nick. Arrested for drug use, he's sentenced to do 1,500 hours of community service, somehow to be squeezed into his 24/7 cutthroat world of mergers, acquisitions and board meetings. Reluctantly, he's now The Guardian - a part-time child advocate at Legal Aid Services, where one case after another is an eye-opening instance of kids caught up in difficult circumstances.

IMDb rating: 7.5 (6,634 votes)
Episode average: 7.9 ↑ +0.4 vs IMDb
Seasons: 3
Streaming (US): Paramount+
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 · 3 seasons indexed

Cast

Seasons

Season 1 (2001)

7.82 avg 22 episodes 7.7 → 8.1 43 min avg

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Pilot	7.7	276
2	Reunion	7.8	206
3	Paternity	7.6	179
4	Lolita?	7.6	179
5	The Men from the Boys	7.6	186
6	Indian Summer	7.8	160
7	Feeding Frenzy	7.8	162
8	Heart	8.8	246
9	The Funnies	7.4	172
10	Loyalties	7.9	162
11	Home	7.9	153
12	Causality	7.7	150
13	Privilege	7.8	149
14	Family	8.0	146
15	In Loco Parentis	8.1	149
16	Solidarity	7.8	136
17	The Divide	7.8	142
18	Mothers of the Disappeared	8.2	143
19	Lawyers, Guns and Money	7.8	133
20	Shelter	7.6	129
21	The Chinese Wall	7.2	122
22	The Beginning	8.1	135

Season 2 (2002)

7.88 avg 23 episodes 7.9 → 7.9 44 min avg

Season 2 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Testimony	7.9	146
2	Monster	7.5	128
3	The Dead	7.6	125
4	The Next Life	7.4	137
5	Assuming the Position	7.6	120
6	The Living	7.7	134
7	The Innocent	7.8	126
8	The Neighborhood	8.1	115
9	The Dark	8.1	118
10	Sacrifice	8.0	114
11	No Good Deed	7.9	116
12	You Belong to Me	7.6	118
13	Ambition	8.1	113
14	Understand Your Man	7.5	118
15	Where You Are	8.1	96
16	The Weight	8.3	106
17	The Intersection	8.3	113
18	My Aim Is True	7.9	123
19	Back in the Ring	7.7	103
20	What It Means to You	7.9	120
21	Burton & Ernie	8.3	105
22	Sensitive Jackals	8.0	97
23	All the Rage	7.9	132

Season 3 (2003)

7.96 avg 22 episodes 7.7 → 7.7 43 min avg

Season 3 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Carnival	7.7	121
2	Big Coal	8.3	108
3	The Line	7.9	101
4	The Father-Daughter Dance	7.9	119
5	Shame	7.9	103
6	Let's Spend the Night Together	7.6	101
7	Hazel Park	7.8	109
8	Believe	7.9	100
9	Let God Sort 'Em Out	7.9	87
10	Swimming	8.1	99
11	Legacy	8.0	91
12	Beautiful Blue Mystic	8.4	131
13	Amends	8.2	103
14	All Is Mended	8.3	99
15	Without Consent	7.8	126
16	Sparkle	8.0	102
17	The Watchers	8.0	113
18	The Bachelor Party	8.0	102
19	Remember	8.2	109
20	The Vote	7.7	89
21	Blood In, Blood Out	7.9	109
22	Antarctica	7.7	136

The Guardian (2001)

Cast

Seasons

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