One of the cardinal rules of network television is that the central character in a weekly series has to be likeable. It's a rule that the new CBS series "The Guardian" doesn't exactly break, but it does bend quite a bit.
Nick Fallin (Simon Baker) is a hotshot, thirtysomething attorney whose major goal in life seems to be to make more money and impress his father (Dabney Coleman), who's also the head of his firm. But when he's arrested on drug charges, Nick chooses community service over prison — he's ordered to work for a child-advocacy office with a boss (Alan Rosenberg) who doesn't have much patience with him, and he's not real happy about it.
"The Guardian" is sort of a male "Judging Amy," only the central character works for children because he has to, not because he wants to. Which doesn't exactly make him the most sympathetic of characters.
And that's just fine with Baker, an Australian who effects an American accent for this show, which is set in Pittsburgh. The actor said he pleaded with the producers, "Please don't make this guy into a simple, one-dimensional, likeable guy.
"The thing that really drew me to the whole show is the fact that this guy . . . was a product of his environment and was trying to want to do good. And he was conflicted. So he's very human. And he's someone that is emotionally detached that is reattaching himself to his emotions again and feeling and understanding things."
In the pilot episode (which has been postponed a week to Tuesday, Sept. 25, at 8 p.m. on CBS/Ch. 2), Nick gets caught up in a case that breaks through his hard shell — he becomes the child advocate for a young boy whose father murdered his mother. Much to the credit of the writers and producers, the episode doesn't come up with easy answers and doesn't end up exactly where it appears to be heading.
And executive producer David Hollander said Nick will soften a bit — but that it will be a gradual process.
"I hope you guys grow to like him," Hollander said. "I want him to be honest and I want him to be straightforward, and sometimes that's painful. And sometimes his honesty and directness may be a little off-putting. . . . I'm certainly not going to be pushing him toward likability for the sake of likability."
But it is a touchy thing, creating a character who's supposed to help children but doesn't necessarily want to be doing so.
"In the first episode, he's in a world that he simply doesn't want to be in, doing something he doesn't feel he has the time to do," Hollander said. "I think the more he gets into it, the more engaged he'll become and the better he'll become at doing it."
E-MAIL: pierce@desnews.com