1 Best TV Shows Similar to A French Village

The Spool Staff

HPI : Haut Potentiel Intellectuel

NetworkABC, Hulu

Back in the aughts and early teens, television discovered a kind of alchemy. Take a murder. First, assign some good but overly serious cops to it. Then, team them up with an unusual consultant. Voila! TV magic. In no time, the subgenre spread like wildfire over network and basic cable. Anyone could be a quirky consultant, including a former cop overwhelmed by mental illness (Monk), a mystery writer (Castle), a fake psychic (The Mentalist, Psych), mathematicians (Numb3rs), and time-traveling revolutionary war soldiers (Sleepy Hollow). Sure, they weren’t high art, but they frequently provided a great time in front of your big screen. High Potential, the American remake of a French series, delightfully transports audiences back to that breezy era. Developed by Drew Goddard, the series revolves around Morgan (Kaitlin Olson). A single mom of three, she struggles with interpersonal and professional relationships. The cause, in part, is her off-the-charts IQ, which gives her insomnia, an intolerance for authority, and difficulty dealing with anything that isn’t “right.” Those same features lead her to rework an evidence board at the Los Angeles police precinct where she’s working her latest gig as a cleaning lady. When head detective Selena (Judy Reyes) traces the changes back to Morgan, she offers her a job, much to the frustration of Detective Karadec (Daniel Sunjata), Major Crime’s go-to investigator. Judy Reyes and Daniel Sunjata enjoy that classic morning pairing. Coffee and crime scene photos. (Disney/David Bukach) Javicia Leslie and Deniz Akdeniz, and Garret Dillahunt round the police side of the cast as two younger and more welcoming members of Major Crimes and a gambling-addicted head of Robbery/Homicide, respectively. At home, Taran Killam plays Ludo, Morgan’s most recent ex and father to her two youngest children including Matthew Lamb as Elliot, inheritor of Morgan’s IQ and love of random facts, but not yet her attitude. Her oldest daughter, Ava (Amirah J), seems more like her father, who disappeared when Ava was still in diapers. She believes he abandoned the family, while Morgan insists he’d never. Continue Reading →