Short-run 'Philanthropist' Is Odd, But Good-Intentioned

June 24, 2009, USA Today — If only we had more billionaires to solve our problems, how happy we all would be.

If you're buying that, has NBC got a show for you: The Philanthropist, an odd action/adventure about a super-rich, globe-trotting philanthropy vigilante. If not, then what you have is a well-acted, well-intentioned, incredibly preposterous show that would struggle even if it were in step with the times, rather than marching to its own prosperous drummer. But that's NBC: If it didn't have a tin ear, it would have no ear at all.