As a mystery writer, I’ve always gravitated towards procedurals. Some of my favorites include Criminal Minds and Bones (and the genre includes all-time classics of television like Hill Street Blues and The Wire). However in recent years, the genre has grown stale. It has been dominated by spin-offs of franchises that have long since burned through it’s shelf like.
While I loved the original seasons of NCIS, that show ran its course years ago. No amount of spin-offs and tie-ins is going to save it.
When I was looking over the Fall lineups on the major broadcast networks, I noticed a procedural called High Potential on ABCs Tuesday night lineup. After seeing the trailer, I knew I had to check this out.
High Potential features Morgan Gillory, a neurodivergent single mother. When we first meet her, she has a job cleaning the local police precinct at night. However, things change when she helps break a case.
Week to week, Morgan and the Los Angeles Major Crimes unit solve cases, mostly murder.
While broadly part of the police procedural genre, High Potential reminded me of another mystery series: Psych. Morgan and Psych‘s Shawn Spencer approach cases in similar ways. While a TV show formatted around a police consultant is hardly new, one that feels as fresh as this stands out.
But what makes it stand out?
The series offers a great mix of police procedure alongside Morgan’s contributions. Whereas other consultant based shows tend to focus on the consultant, this series splits the focus. Where other consultants have their own agencies and act fairly independent of the police, Morgan works alongside them.
From the trailer, I had the feeling that this show reminded me of USA Network’s Psych, despite the fact it is based off a French crime show, HPI Haut Potentiel Intellectuel. Digging into the IMDb page, I was able to find out why.
There are two direct ties between the show. The first is the showrunner, Todd Harthan. He was a consulting/executive producer for over 50 episodes of Psych. The second is the director of the mid-season finale. The star of Psych, James Roday Rodriguez directed the episode. Rodriguez also directed numerous episodes of Psych.
With an intriguing cast, solid writing, and a promise of more to come, ABC’s High Potential has…well, a lot of potential. This is a show that I can see having legs and carrying on for several years. And I hope it does. I hope that the success of a show like this helps bring some originality back to television mysteries.
High Potential has already gone on its mid-season hiatus and will return on January 7, 2025. However, you can find the first seven episodes on Hulu.
Have you had a chance to watch? What did you think? Are you excited for the second half of the season?
Featured Image: IMDb
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