Learning to Be a Good Citizen

James Cromwell has been studying Shakespeare’s classic tragedy “King Lear” in hopes of doing a production of the play in the future. In the meantime, he’s playing a variation of “King Lear” in his new CBS drama series, “Citizen Baines.”

Lear is a monarch with three grown daughters who hangs up his crown. Cromwell’s Elliott Baines is a well-respected liberal senator with three daughters who, in a surprising upset, loses his bid for reelection for a fourth term. “I was intrigued, having studied ‘King Lear,’ that there was so much of a parallel between the two,” said Cromwell (“Babe” and “L.A. Confidential”).

Creator Lydia Woodward, who is executive producer of the hourlong series with John Wells (“ER,” “The West Wing”) and Christopher Chulack (“ER”), didn’t have “King Lear” in mind when she created the series. “In my first working out of the series, I had four daughters and then cut back to three. I am not even Shakespeare-literate enough to steal all that well from Shakespeare.”

Woodward said “Citizen Baines” came out of the machinations of last year’s elections. “Obviously, politics and the presidential race were big topics,” Woodward said. “[People were saying], ‘What is Bill Clinton going to do when he gets out of the White House? His entire life has been devoted to public service, and he hasn’t had another job.’ As it turned out, it has sort of oddly and sadly, in a way, turned out to be the Al Gore storyNsomeone whose entire life was devoted to one thing and the rug has been ripped out from underneath you.”

Starring as Baines’ three daughters are Embeth Davidtz, who plays the oldest, a taciturn attorney who has her eyes set on public office; Jane Adams as the middle daughter, a mother of two who wants to leave her philandering husband and never seems to please her father; and Jacinda Barrett as Baines’ youngest daughter, a free spirit who is still trying to find herself.

The pilot episode chronicles election day as Baines and his daughter vote, participate in last-minute campaigning and then put up a brave front for the public when he loses the election. “One friend said to me, ‘Lydia you didn’t write a pilot, you wrote the anti-pilot,’ ” Woodward said. “You start out with this rather extraordinary day in the life of this family, and really what is going to follow now are the more ordinary days.” Woodward didn’t write Elliott Baines with any particular actor in mind, but, she adds, “Jamie was very, very early our top choice.”

Cromwell also recently worked with Wells in a four-episode stint on “ER” as a dying priest, for which he has received an Emmy nomination. “He was really great in that, and John just knew what kind of a great guy he was to work with. So there was no way to go wrong.” What intrigued Cromwell was that, for the first time in his career, he could play himself. “I’m a 61-year-old man. I have had a certain amount of success in my life. I have my history and my issues. I am politically active. I have two daughters and two sons. I am a father and a husband.”

In “Citizen Baines,” Woodward will explore how this individual reconstructs his life. “And how do his adult children deal with that? I think it’s one thing that hasn’t been dealt with that much on television. Most family dramas deal with younger kids. All of these baby boomers who are ... dealing as an adult with your adult parents is interesting to explore and [also], obviously, how their lives connect and don’t connect and how he attempts to ingratiate himself back into a family that in some respects he doesn’t really know.”

“Citizen Baines” will be seen Saturdays--not exactly the biggest viewing nightNairing after the long-running “Touched by an Angel” and the crime drama “The District,” which became a solid hit last year in its first season.

Woodward and Cromwell maintain that the time slot will help nurture “Citizen Baines.”

“This is not an ‘ER’ or a ‘West Wing,’ ” Cromwell said. “It can’t come in and just dominate. It’s going to have to develop an audience.... People will have to be drawn into the story--they are going to have to like the people and get to know them.”

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“Citizen Baines” can be seen Saturdays at 9 p.m. on CBS. It premieres this Saturday.