The Defenders (1961 TV Series)

The Defenders (1961 TV series)

The Defenders is an American courtroom drama series that ran on CBS from 1961–1965. It starred E. G. Marshall and Robert Reed as father-and-son defense attorneys who specialized in legally complex cases, with defendants such as neo-Nazis, conscientious objectors, civil rights demonstrators, a schoolteacher fired for being an atheist, an author accused of pornography, and a physician charged in a mercy killing. It was created by television writer Reginald Rose.

The Museum of Broadcast Communications called it "perhaps the most socially conscious series the medium has ever seen", a show "singularly resonant with New Frontier liberalism."

In 2002, The Defenders was ranked #31 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.