High Potential

The original French version, Haut Potential Intellectuel, was much smarter. The first episode was virtually the same as this first episode except they left off the first part where it is established that she lacks patience with people she talks to. This was at an employment she had besides working as a cleaning person at the police department. She gets fired from that job for disrespecting the customer. After that missing scene the rest of the first episode was basically the same. The biggest difference is the main character, Morgan, who is far more quirky than the one depicted in the American version. After watching the original version it is extremely difficult not to compare. This could be as entertaining because I do like Kaitlin Olsen. I'm hoping the character she had in The Mick who was irreverent and funny shows up in future episodes.

I loved, loved, loved the original. I'm not expecting this to be the same (the original was French for goodness sakes, with an amazing cast, and that certainly added to the flavor and frantic pace of the show). Still, the high potential concept and stories are solid (assuming they tell some of the same stories), so I'm giving the US version a chance, certainly more than one episode, and I'm allowing this cast to make it their own. At the end of the season I hope it turns out to be as good as the original or is close, even if it's slightly different and Kaitlin isn't the incredible Audrey Fleurot (but who is?). This version certainly has high potential of its own.

At first I thought this was going to be a comedy along the lines of Psych! Or an absurd comedy like Always Sunny. I mean, the only characters I've ever seen Kaitlin Olson play are trashy women with a very caustic sense of humor. If that's what you like about her, don't worry, she definitely brings both of those qualities to this role. But she somehow does it in a mature way.

Although the first episode is all I've seen so far, it does appear to be a series similar to the aforementioned Psych! And it's fraternal twin, The Mentalist. It features Olson playing a character with an extremely high IQ who also suffers from a type of OCD, where she obsesses about things that are out of place. She also has a very fine sense of observation, and she uses these quirks to assist the local police in solving crimes.

This isn't a drama detective show, but it's not a comedy played for laughs either. It's a light action crime show like ABC's The Rookie and even gives me vibes of FX's brilliant Rescue Me series from the early 2000s.

The first episode was enjoyable and I hope the show continues along the same lines, with just enough dark humor to make it enjoyable, but without turning into a joke.

Why does Hollywood use the same old formula whenever they start a series where a genius has insights with evidence that others miss? They can't be normal with high intelligence. They need to have some odd condition that makes them quirky in some manner. Unless it's an updated Sherlock Holmes then he's just plain a jerk to most people he comes into contact with. The genius here is pretty so naturally she being a genius with three children is going to fashion herself so she looks like a street walker. Her mind is like an encyclopedia, but apparently her real expertise is in all things related to what a domestic cleaning lady knows. None of that is necessary. She has a famil to create enough actual back story without making her an oddball. Start letting her dress nice without looking like a lot lizard down at the truck stop. Watching her solve things is the real attraction after all..

And I'd have gotten away with it if it wasn't for that pesky cleaning lady !! Nothing we haven't saw before , gifted amateur advising police using her special powers of deduction !! Complete hokum -but Kaitlin Olson is utterly charming as Morgan, police cleaning lady when we 1st meet her but soon invaluable crime solver for the LAPD. Throw in a cute family and lovable ex partner plus a back story of her daughter's missing father which adds a slightly harder tone and a storyline which hopefully builds week by week !! Morgan's hooker dress sense and rebellious streak pits her against a hard working police team headed by Judy Reyes of Scrubs fame who soon succumb to her genius ..... Scooby Doo meets Sherlock Holmes in fun quirky viewing !!