Happiness is a Warm TV

Happiness is a Warm TV

Fall TV: ‘Limitless’ may work for those unfamiliar with the film

By Brooke Cain

bcain@newsobserver.com

Brian Finch's (Jake McDorman) life takes an extraordinary turn when he uses a mysterious drug, NZT, that allows him to access his full brain capacity.
Brian Finch's (Jake McDorman) life takes an extraordinary turn when he uses a mysterious drug, NZT, that allows him to access his full brain capacity. JOJO WHILDEN CBS

New show: Limitless

When: 10 p.m. Tuesdays on CBS

Cast: Jake McDorman, Jennifer Carpenter, Ron Rifkin, Hill Harper, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio

Premise: A directionless, failed musician in his late 20s (McDorman, from last season’s quickly canceled sitcom “Manhattan Love Story”) is given a brain-boosting pill by an old friend, and with the intellectual jump-start, diagnoses his dying father’s rare disease. When the electrifying effects of the pill wear off, he needs another pill to figure out how to get his father the treatment he needs. He instantly becomes embroiled in a deadly conspiracy – a couple of them, actually – and must work with both the FBI (Carpenter, who played the sister in “Dexter,” is an agent) and a powerful conflicting source to ensure his own survival.

Those who haven’t seen the Bradley Cooper film this is based on may enjoy the novelty of it more than I did, but I mostly found it lacking compared to the movie version. (I’m also not McDorman’s biggest fan, but that could be left over from “Manhattan Love Story.”)

Cooper, who is an executive producer of the show, makes an appearance in the first episode and it looks like he could also have a recurring role.

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