| Genre: | Drama |
| Creator: | Lydia Woodward |
| Composer: | Marty Davich |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 9 (3 unaired) |
| Cinematography: | Ernest Holzman |
| Runtime: | 60 minutes |
| Network: | CBS |
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.
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 (Embeth Davidtz), Reeva (Jane Adams), and Dori (Jacinda Barrett).
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."[1]
Scheduled on Saturdays following Touched by an Angel,[2] the series ranked #90 (the lowest rank for a regularly scheduled series on one of the Big Four networks), and averaged 8.2 million viewers.[3] [4] Due to the low ratings, CBS canceled the series in October 2001 after six of the nine episodes produced were aired.[5]