Public Defender

Back in the early 50s, Hal Roach Studios brought the show "Racket Busters" to television. It starred Reed Hadley and the cases were all about him apprehending various thieves and bunco artists. After three seasons, the show left the air and a new, almost identical, show from Roach came to the airwaves...and again with Reed Hadley in the lead. The format was just about the same--with the same sort of prologue for each episode. This time, however, Hadley works the other side of the law...at least much of the time.

The shows were odd in that although they claimed they were all true, Hadley's character (or a few guest stars) spent tons of time actually investigating the cases. In reality, most public defenders barely even say hello to their clients....and very few behaved like private detectives and social workers rolled up into one. Still, despite this, the shows were generally enjoyable and well made. However, the shows were much more variable in quality than "Racket Squad"...with quite a few stinkers along with the excellent ones.

If you want to see either series, they are available for free download from archive.org--a site frequently linked to IMDb pages.