A lot of the CBS Fall promotion this year has centered around Supergirl, the adaptation of the DC Comics character from producers Greg Berlanti and Ali Adler. What CBS hasn’t been as upfront with in their promotions is the amount of comic book tropes and fun that are present in their new drama, Limitless, which premieres at 10PM tonight.
Sequelizing the Bradley Cooper movie that came out in 2011 and directed by Marc Webb (The Amazing Spider-Man), Limitless focuses on a down on his luck, directionless man whose life changes when he takes a pill called NZT that opens his mind and gives him new abilities. While not superhuman, the lead character Brian Finch (Jake McDorman) can use his brain to explore possibilities and probabilities to do superhuman-like things. Like Peter Parker before him, he has a sickly relative who he might be able to help with these new abilities — provided no one kills him first. Basically, it’s a superhero show that’s not calling itself one, though it’s got a lot of the same beats.
Ideally, Limitless can keep up the look of the series premiere, which, under director Webb, has a very cinematic quality. This pilot is also where the rest of the cast, including Jennifer Carpenter, Hill Harper, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio have their characters established, and casting actors like Ron Rifkin and Blair Brown as Finch’s parents is a lot of fun. Sadly, Rifkin does not share a scene with his former Alias cast mate Bradley Cooper, who is an Executive Producer on this project and makes an appearance in the pilot as his character from the movie.
If there is anything at all that I did not care for with Limitless as a pilot, it is that the lead character is, in his own way, a drug addict. I’m sure this story element will be downplayed, but the entire aspect made me a bit uncomfortable. Ultimately, though, what I liked best is you got a character who has the capacity for fun. Running, jumping, leaping down a fire escape… there’s a dynamism to what Brian Finch does and how he moves that I like a lot.
CBS has sometimes had luck with the whole “genre show masquerading as a procedural” thing in the past. Yes, there are shows like Intelligence that never took off; however, something like Person of Interest has gone on for years and in some ways that one is more of a Batman show than Gotham is. While I do think the show would have been better paired on Mondays with Supergirl and Scorpion, it is still a worthy addition to the CBS Tuesday schedule, and at the very least, this time slot keeps them away from Blindspot which opened to huge numbers last night. I’ve only seen the first episode here, but if future installments are as exciting as the first one, this is going to be a great series.
KSiteTV Editor-In-Chief Craig Byrne has been writing about TV on the internet since 1995. He is also the author of several published books, including Smallville: The Visual Guide and the show's Official Companions for Seasons 4-7.
