High Potential Boss Unpacks the Show’s Central Mystery, Teases ‘Slow Burn’ Romance and More — Grade It!
In the grand TV tradition of quirky, unqualified free spirits teaming up with police to solve crimes, ABC on Tuesday introduced viewers to High Potential, starring Kaitlin Olson (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) as Morgan Gillory, an eagle-eyed cleaning lady who inadvertently gets hired as a consultant for the LAPD.
Despite her brazen demeanor and flashy wardrobe, Morgan’s obsessive attention to detail and higher-than-average IQ makes her a valuable asset to the team, much to the chagrin of Detective Karadec (Graceland‘s Daniel Sunjata), who prefers a more by-the-books approach to investigating crimes. Still, after Morgan helps the LAPD crack a murder case they’d been working on to no avail, it’s hard to refute her potential — or should we say her high potential? Yes, we think we will.
Naturally, we had one question to ask showrunner Todd Harthan after spending our first hour with a character as nuanced and complex as Morgan: How many furry jackets can one woman own?
“If you’re Morgan, I think the answer is unlimited,” he tells TVLine. “She does love a good furry jacket, and I think she rocks them. She’s unapologetically who she is, and it doesn’t matter if she’s walking into a fancy restaurant in Beverly Hills or a law firm — she doesn’t think about whether she’s going to be judged. She doesn’t care. I think that’s what people are going to love and appreciate about her.”
High Potential is an American adaptation of the French series HIP (High Intellectual Potential), and while most of the original crime dramedy’s elements remain untouched, Harthan says that ABC’s version of Morgan is “a little more grounded” than her French counterpart. Morgane “has a sort of flippant quality to her, bordering on being slightly too much for my taste,” Harthan says, while Morgan is more respectful.
“We still have the quirk and personality of the character, because she is big and bold and brash, but we don’t ever want to skew so broad that we’re not being mindful of the cases we’re tackling and the people that have lost a loved one,” he explains.
Another burning question involves Morgan’s missing ex Roman, the father of her teen daughter Ava, who left to pick up diapers 15 years ago and never came home. Allegedly. As part of Morgan agreeing to work with the LAPD, she asks the lieutenant (Claws‘ Judy Reyes) to help her track him down, and she agrees.
“Morgan is about to find out some things she didn’t know about the person she was sharing her life with, the person she had a child with,” Harthan says. “Morgan is somebody who notices everything, all the details, but we all have blind spots, right? As the season goes on, we’ll start to unpack some things about who this man was and what he might have been doing that she wasn’t aware of.”
Looking into Roman’s disappearance is “less about Morgan still being in love with a guy that may be gone forever, and more about her daughter,” Harthan explains. “She can see that Ava has this dark cloud over her head about not knowing. This 15-year-old girl has created a pretty sour picture of her birth father, and that’s what’s driving Morgan. It’s getting the answers that will hopefully provide closure, not just for herself, but more importantly for her daughter.”
There’s also the matter of Morgan and Karadec, specifically whether we should expect their odd-couple chemistry to foster a potential romantic future. (The pilot doesn’t allude to any such feelings, but a well-placed line in the Season 1 trailer heavily implies a will they/won’t they situation.)
“I am notorious for playing these things slowly,” Harthan — who recently executive-produced Fox’s The Resident — acknowledges, adding that we’ll start to see a “growing respect and friendship between them, and that’s what you’ll fall in love with [as a viewer] before the characters ever fall in love with each other. Of course we’re going to have those moments, those looks, and fan those flames. But to me, it’s got to be a slow burn. We’ve got to do it right and earn it.”
Do you see potential in ABC’s newest crime dramedy? Cast your vote in our polls below, then drop a comment with your full review of the series premiere.
Surprisingly this was a pleasant pilot. Kaitlin leading this cast is perfect.
Did I miss a scene where the bad guys brian and sophia got arrested because I don’t remember them being caught???
Off screen I suppose. The focus was on rescuing the mom in the end
This was predictable, but most shows are. More importantly it was promising for a pilot and better than most. The cast is fun and it was well written. I’m definitely going to give it at least until mid-season to see how it develops.
I liked it and will continue to watch. I procedural with a not so unique twist but good just the same. I have a feeling it would do better on CBS. Knowing ABC if it’s not Grey’s even ifts good it may not last very long but here’s hoping enough viewers will watch so we get at least a 2nd dear I say 3rd season. There’s a lot of potential there with a good cast 🤞🏽
It has a good enough lead-in now with DWTS and will likely air with Will Trent/The Rookie come midseason, which have proven to be successful without being associated with Grey’s Anatomy.
Show will be finished come mideason it’s only got 10 Ep first season like most shows likely will only ever span around 13 Ep seasons or lesss due to space on the schedule with it being a Tuesday show as come January 18 th slate is full for Tuesdays till end of may for will Trent and the rookie
French HPI is only 8 episodes from first season so I hope there are some extra stories from US HPI.
ABC is the best network for this. They have basically no hit shows so new shows get a chance to survive, while on CBS the competition is harsh and even shows with good ratings get slashed if others outperform them (last year it was CSI Vegas, NCIS Hawaii and So Help me Todd, all with solid ratings). On ABC the wacky sidekick is a trope: from Castle to Will Trent to other shows that didn’t last. She’s at home there.
CBS already has this show. It’s called “Elsbeth.”
This is not like Elsbeth, it’s a real procedural. Elsbeth is a fake procedural where you know which stupid rich person committed the crime and then Elsbeth annoys them and figures out how to get them to incriminate themselves, instead of doing real police work.
The only problem I have is I love the show and it gets cancelled just being honest ✔️
It was a bit hard to get into it because it was basically the same as the French version to point that is felt like a repeated episode. Hopefully they’ll stray away a bit creatively like Ghosts.
This is exactly what I wanted to say. If it stays exactly the same, it’s easier to watch the original show, because this one has three seasons already.
But it’s in French and with no English dub so not really yeh sure people can watch stuff like that but personally some don’t it’s only like the other great abc shows have come from Europe at some point
The French version is on Hulu with an English dub.
Kaitlin Olson is the stand out. She really makes the character appealing and someone you want to root on. So despite a lackluster case, she makes things interesting and fun. I think High Potential will be compatible with Will Trent. This new drama has potential.
Grade B – I enjoyed it very much. This trope is right up my alley. Highly intelligent/observant person helping police solve crimes. Mentalist, Elementary, Miss Marple/Poirot, Psych, Monk, Murder She Wrote, Listener, Perception and Instinct are some of my favorites.
I’ll be watching.
As someone who’ve seen the original, I thought this one lacked the rythm and some of the emotions that the French version has. It’s watcheable but I think I would have liked it better if I didn’t see the original.
I don’t understand why her being grounded is better, unless it’s because American audiences wouldn’t like the original Morgane, who is super wacky.
I don’t like the name Morgan though. It doesn’t are me think of Mogan La Fey which I think was the intention in the original.
What an unappealing main character, and Kaitlin Olsen plays her as so obnoxious and unlikeable. Being smart doesn’t mean being mean to people or acting like you are so much better than they are. Hopefully, they’ll settle down in a few episodes, but I’m out.
I see a lot of potential for High Potential. Kaitlin Olson is a perfect fit for the lead.
First show to be canceled. You heard it here first.
Loved it! Hope she doesn’t end up with detective Karadec, though.
why does the male and female lead always have to end up together romantically?
You have to follow the original French version. US bought the right for US version.
This was trule enjoyable. I enjoyed the new and different character of Morgan. I’m looking forward to watching this on a regular basis!
I actually found this show unpleasant — starting with the forced wackiness of Olsen’s character, who seemed annoying and exhausting. (If this weren’t a TV show, the detective who was forced to work with her would more likely be applying for a transfer than considering romance.) The twisty crime plot resembled every other police procedural, except that everyone seemed way too willing to talk to the weirdly dressed former cleaning lady. It sounds as if some people enjoyed the show (especially those who liked the original version), but I really wouldn’t expect it to last past one season.
I sorta liked it… An appealing lead… I wonder how it will do but it’s lucky up against the least watched FBI and has a good lead in with Dancing… Fans of that show might stick to ABC… DVR will be busy again this season on multiple nights…
I wonder what happened to the crew from Major Crimes??? They all retire??? Or John Nolan??? ha ha.. Ah the amazing fictional LA and NYC police and governments…
Love it! Will be sticking around for more episodes.
The teaser commercials did nothing for me, but I am so glad I tuned in regardless – really enjoyed the show and plan to keep watching!
It’s basically the CW’s Wild Cards with lots less chemistry between the main two characters.
I enjoyed the pilot…it does have potential. I love quirky eccentric characters, so this role is definitely perfect for what Kaitlin Olson can brin. I’ll continue to watch.
By comparing two versions of Morgan from epsiode 1, Olson is more likable but Fleurot is more truth to the character with nonsense and unbearable to the audiences. It is only me I guess.
I really wanted to like this but blech.
Daniel Sunjata was terrible, like he didn’t want to be in the show. The other two cops (woman with the lollipops and the guy who spoke to Morgan like she was a human being) had way more personality than he did.
And the killer couldn’t have done it because he has an alibi – he was in a town that’s maybe a 40 minute drive away? An hour tops with really bad traffic. So lame.
The original French show is a comedy but the American version they toned it down too much, which is sad because I really liked Kaitlin Olsen’s comedic work.