The Philanthropist (2009)

Action · Adventure · Drama

The title character, Teddy Rist (portrayed by James Purefoy), is a billionaire playboy haunted by the death of his only child. His life changes when he rescues a young boy during a hurricane in Nigeria. As a result, Rist begins using his fortune to personally change the lives of others.[4] The Philanthropist is based loosely on the life of Bobby Sager.[5] The Philanthropist is an American action drama series that premiered on NBC on Wednesday, June 24, 2009. The program was a limited summer series, principally filmed in South Africa. It opened to strong ratings, but saw a drop in viewers in subsequent weeks. The Philanthropist is a Carnival Films production in association with The Levinson/Fontana Company and Original Media. Tom Fontana, Barry Levinson, Peter Horton, Charlie Corwin, Gareth Neame, and Teri Weinberg served as executive producers.

IMDb rating: 7.3 (1,596 votes)
Episode average: 7.6 ↑ +0.3 vs IMDb
Seasons: 1
Language: EN
Type: TV series

Rating trend: this show's seasons do not settle into one shape. 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.

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Ratings refreshed Oct 3, 2026 · 1 season indexed

Cast

Seasons

Season 1 (2009)

7.60 avg 8 episodes 7.7 → 7.8 44 min avg

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Pilot	7.7	101
2	Myanmar	7.8	72
3	Paris	8.0	62
4	Nigeria Part II	7.5	54
5	Kosovo	7.3	56
6	San Diego	7.5	56
7	Kashmir	7.2	60
8	Haiti	7.8	52