The Philanthropist

A tragically short-lived (eight episodes) 2009 NBC series about a billionaire playboy, Teddy Rist, who, after the death of his young son and a life-changing experience in Nigeria, decides to start using his wealth for good and jets around the globe doing good deeds, much to the admiring exasperation of his business partners and friends. Every episode focuses on a different specific area of the world, and is told by Teddy in a flashback. Based on the life of Bobby Sager and filmed primarily in South Africa.


 * Amicably Divorced: Teddy and Julia seem to be this; they divorced out of grief over the death of their son and seem to have other issues, but they're seen being very affectionate in "Kosovo"
 * Beleaguered Assistant: A.J., and more so, Dax, because he's usually the one who has to bail Teddy out of his misadventures
 * Black Best Friend
 * Blackmail: Teddy isn't afraid to use this to help people, usually against corrupts governments. Happens to him a few times too
 * But Not Too Foreign: Teddy is half-American, half-British, which comes up in several episodes
 * Children Are Innocent
 * Crimefighting with Cash: Somewhat, but also subverted in that Teddy likes to jet off to foreign countries and get his hands dirty
 * Death By Origin Story: Teddy's son, Bobby
 * Every Man Has His Price
 * Fake Guest Star: Jesse L. Martin is credited as a guest star in every episode, even though he almost always has a more prominent role than Neve Campbell, who is billed second
 * Girl Friday: A.J.
 * Global Ignorance: Solidly avoided.
 * Handsome Lech: Teddy, although he gets better as the show progresses
 * Ho Yay: Between Teddy and Philip, mostly, but Dax is often endearing overprotective, causing Teddy to tease him once that he sounded like his ex-wife
 * Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Everyone shoots at Teddy (he lampshades this in the final episode), but no one ever seems to hit him
 * Left Hanging: Several things, because it was canceled suddenly, most notably the story behind
 * Man of Wealth and Taste
 * Non-Idle Rich
 * Really Gets Around: Teddy.
 * Screw the Rules, I Have Money: Kind of the point, except now he's doing it to help people and the rules are usually negative ones
 * Screwed by the Network: Canceled after eight episodes, despite a solid attempt by fans to revive it
 * Shown Their Work: Most of the political problems and current/historical events discussed are pretty close to accurate, incluing the terminology
 * Tall, Dark and Handsome: Teddy, Philip
 * Uncle Pennybags
 * We Help the Helpless

Episodes of this series provide examples of:

 * Badass Bookworm: Teddy just might be this, given the way he quotes The Double in "San Diego" and the philosophy of Nund Rishi in "Kashmir"
 * Call Back: In the final episode, "Haiti," Teddy mentions that he's been shot at a lot lately, and it quickly flashes back to several incidents in previous episodes
 * Church Militant:, in "Kashmir," as well as the would-be suicide bomber
 * Driven to Suicide: in "Kosovo,"
 * A Death in the Limelight: in "Kashmir," and  in "Paris," although to a lesser extent (that was more of a Red Herring)
 * Easy Impersonation: When Pvt. Dean Fitzsimmons steal Teddy's credit card and runs around pretending to be him, no one seems to notice, even though they don't look much alike and Teddy's quite famous. However, as he's spending lots of money and also doing lots of charity, no one really bothers to check
 * Go Look At the Distraction: In "Paris," Teddy says he'll cause "a diversion" while Dax escapes with a young kidnapped girl--
 * Grey and Gray Morality: argues this to Teddy after he shoots  instead of arresting him, and Teddy more or less agrees
 * I Did What I Had to Do: Said a few times, notably by in "Haiti" after he
 * Money to Throw Away: Dean Fitzsimmons has this in "San Diego"--mostly because he --but he ends up using it to do lots of charity
 * Necessarily Evil: Bankole in "Nigeria (Part II)"--he can be "severe," but it's all in the name of protecting and repairing his country
 * No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Happens to Teddy a few times, and to in "Nigeria (Part II)", and to Philip in the same episode when he tries to help his friend James
 * One-Woman Wail: In "Kosovo," when
 * Patriotic Fervor: the Jerkass DJ in "Kashmir" has this, demanding why Teddy helps other countries and not America
 * Scenery Porn: In a few episodes, especially "Paris," of course
 * Semper Fi: Dax is a former Marine, and in "San Diego," when Teddy wonders if he should save a Marine from having to go to Afghanistan, Dax angrily tells him that he can't deny the guy the honor of serving his country
 * Suicide Attack: Fails in "Kashmir"
 * War for Fun and Profit: Kind of whole plan in "Kosovo"
 * Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: Occasionally, especially in the final episode, "Haiti," when it's revealed that Philip