What is up with goofy premises that TV creators take too
seriously? Even “LOST” realized its ridiculousness with characters like Charlie
and Locke designed to comment on its extremities. And yet shows this year like “Blindspot”
and tonight’s premiere of “Limitless” on CBS don’t realize that they should be,
first and foremost, escapism. This is not “The Good Wife.” Have some fun with
it, people. And that’s the problem with “Limitless,” the adaptation of the
Bradley Cooper film that I liked more than most people and less than a lot—it’s
just not fun.
Part of the problem is the casting of Jake McDorman in the lead role of Brian Finch. He’s unconvincing as the latest recipient of the
mysterious drug NZT, the magic pill that pulled a “Flowers For Algernon” on
the man who would be an “American Sniper” in the movie of the same name,
amplifying his intelligence and physical powers to superhero levels. In
essence, that’s what “Limitless” is: another superhero show. You can almost
picture the executives sitting around trying to find superheroes who had not
yet been adapted to television and one of them stumbling upon “Limitless” late
at night on cable TV. Sadly, what was a story of the endless possibility of
human ability has now become a police procedural. Yes, like FOX’s “Minority
Report,” the very premise of “Limitless” has essentially been gutted to
make a show that feels like it will have more in common with “Bones” than the
Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Back to McDorman. The lackluster star plays Brian, a man who
has struggled to find his place in life, and who becomes one of the special people
when he’s given NZT. Just as he’s about to need more, his dealer is killed, and
our new super-genius becomes part of a grand conspiracy. At the same time, he crosses
paths with Agent Rebecca Harris (Jennifer Carpenter of “Dexter”) and her boss SAC
Naz Pouran (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), who will all use this variation on the 2014 film “Lucy,”
about a character who can access 100% of her brainpower, to solve crimes. Once Harris
figures out that McDorman can serve a purpose in the fight against crime, the
two will solve complex cases. Cooper will guest star every now and then, clearly fulfilling some fine print obligation in his film contract.
“Limitless” is a hard show to judge in that it’s difficult
to convey a nonplussed shrug in review form. The show is not horrible. Its production
values are tight, and I’ve always liked Carpenter and Mastrantonio. It’s just
not fun enough to be memorable. Honestly, I almost forgot it was on the
schedule. And that’s a major problem in today’s era of “Peak TV” in which
people are struggling to clear their DVRs of shows they actually want to stay
caught up on. Could “Limitless” end up a weekly diversion for the right
audience? Never rule anything out on CBS, a network that seems capable of
turning nearly anything into a modest hit. And it fits with their audience
expectations of escapist mysteries with a twist like “Person of Interest” and “Elementary.” Still, the ceiling—both creatively and commercially—for a show with a pilot
as mediocre as this one seems, sorry to say, limited.
