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| TV Reviews | |
doing good, done well NBC drama smartly dodges all the cliches you'd expect Jun 24, 2009
“The Philanthropist” confounds those expectations with a smart script that mostly keeps you guessing and an appealing leading man who mostly keeps you caring. The series, which premieres tonight at 10 p.m. on NBC, stars James Purefoy (Mark Antony in HBO’s “Rome”) as Teddy Rist, a devil-may-care billionaire—“the 99th richest person in the world,” in fact—who suddenly develops a conscience after he rescues a drowning Nigerian boy while on a business trip. “I saved the kid,” Teddy says, “but in an odd way, he saved me.” In the premiere episode, Teddy decides to step up his company’s charitable spending; when he learns that a shipment to a flooded Nigerian village is blocked, he returns to the country to deliver it himself. Teddy is willing to throw his money around and cut ethical corners to finish his mission. For example, when he can’t get the vaccine through customs, he enlists the help of a local drug kingpin, who turns out to be a fan of both Teddy and “The Godfather.” Skillfully underplayed by Purefoy, Teddy is generally likable, even when he’s berating an African waiter to bring him a decent Scotch. (It’s unclear whether we’re supposed to find it roguishly charming when Teddy implies that he partook of the services of a group of local prostitutes.) Whenever he seems to be congratulating himself on his courage or selflessness, a character says something to cut him down to size. For example, after Teddy tries to force his assistance on an American-educated village doctor, she tells him, “This isn’t about helping me or anyone else. This is about you playing the role of the charming rich businessman who travels the world getting his hands just dirty enough to go home and tell his American friends how meaningful his life is compared to theirs.” The premiere, written by one of the series’ executive producers, Tom Fontana (“Oz,” “Homicide: Life on the Street”), is narrated in voice-over by Teddy, who’s telling the story of his Nigerian excursion to a skeptical bartender. When the story seems to be heading down a well-worn dramatic trail, Fontana usually comes up with a twist. Teddy manages to talk himself out of a jam by offering a DEA agent the chance to pilot his Gulfstream. The script may have given Teddy too much backstory: He and his wife (Krista Allen) divorced after the death of their young son. He had a brief but significant relationship with the head of his company’s charitable foundation (Neve Campbell of “Party of Five”), who is now married to his partner and best friend (Jesse L. Martin of “Law & Order”). For such talented actors, Campbell, Martin and Michael Kenneth Williams (Omar from “The Wire”), who plays Teddy’s bodyguard, have relatively little to do in the premiere. A title card at the end of the episode says, “‘The Philanthropist’ is inspired by the philanthropy of Bobby Sager.” Sager is an actual rich entrepreneur who now dedicates his life to development and relief projects around the world. While “inspired by the philanthropy of” is sufficiently vague to excuse any number of embellishments, the kernel of truth adds a little weightiness to the generally escapist fun.
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