Citizen Baines

Citizen Baines is an American drama television series created by Emmy Award-winning producer Lydia Woodward, that stars James Cromwell. The series premiered on CBS September 29, 2001, and ended on November 3, 2001.

Synopsis

Cromwell starred as Elliot Baines, a former three-term U.S. Senator who loses a re-election for the Senate and goes back home to Seattle to re-establish his relationships with his three grown daughters Ellen, Reeva, and Dori.

Cast

Main

James Cromwell as Elliot Baines
Embeth Davidtz as Ellen Baines Croland
Jane Adams as Reeva Baines Eidenberg
Jacinda Barrett as Dori Baines
Arye Gross as Shel Eidenberg
Scotty Leavenworth as Otis Croland
Matt McCoy as Arthur Croland
Recurring
Tom Verica as Andy Carlson
McCaleb Burnett as Claude Waverley
Easton Gage as Sam Eidenberg
David Kriegel as David Goldman
Bryn Lauren Lemon as Ruthie Eidenberg
Emmett Shoemaker as Otis Croland
Paul McCrane as Sherman Bloom
Episodes

Reception

Critical

PopMatters wrote that, "Citizen Baines showed genuine signs of bucking the CBS feel-good Saturday night orthodoxy, by assuming the complex task of creating family-friendly entertainment without soaking in sentiment the raw textures of domestic life... But Citizen Baines symbolizes the lack of imagination driving so much of prime-time, whether drama or sitcom, cable or network..." USA Todays Robert Bianco gave the series a negative, one-and-a-half star review, and stated, "After all, the only interesting thing about Elliott Baines is his job as a U.S. senator — and he loses that at the end of Saturday's premiere. Don't worry: I'm not revealing anything that the "citizen" in the title didn't already tell you."

Ratings

Scheduled on Saturdays following Touched by an Angel, the series ranked #90, and averaged 8.2 million viewers. Due to the low ratings, CBS canceled the series in October 2001 after six of the nine episodes produced were aired.