Limitless, the CBS drama based on the Bradley Cooper film of the same name, has been picked up for a full season order of 22 episodes. The network has also ordered six more scripts of medical drama Code Black, about an overworked Los Angeles emergency room.
Limitless stars Jake McDorman as Brian Finch, a struggling musician who stumbles across NZT-48, a drug that allows him to access 100% of his brain capacity. He teams with FBI agent Rebecca Harris, played by Jennifer Carpenter, while growing more obligated to Senator Eddie Morra, who provides him the counteracting drug.
Morra is played by Bradley Cooper, reprising his role from the 2011 movie. Cooper also serves as executive producer on the show alongside uber-producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, Heather Kadin, Todd Phillips, Ryan Kavanaugh, Craig Sweeny, Tom Forman, and Mark Webb.
Series creator Sweeny spoke to APN about Cooper’s dedication to the series, “Bradley is very passionate and sort of sentimental about Limitless. It’s the first movie he carried to success as the leading man, so he holds the property close to his heart.”
Cooper met McDorman on the set of American Sniper and pushed for him to get the role. “Bradley spoke up for Jake at the highest level, and he had a lot to do with Jake getting the part,” said Sweeny.
The freshman series has held on to its early ratings, averaging about 9 million broadcast viewers. Though Code Black is also performing well, averaging about 7.4 million viewers, it debuted later in the season, so CBS may be watching for a few more weeks before ordering it to full season.
Limitless was one of the most anticipated dramas this fall, along with Blindspot (NBC), Quantico (ABC), and Minority Report (Fox). Those first two have also picked up full season orders while Report just had its season cut from 13 to ten episodes.
The soft start for Minority Report has surprised fans of the 2002 Steven Spielberg movie it’s based on, which starred Tom Cruise as detective John Anderton, but Vulture had a good synopsis of its problems. Minority Report was John Anderton’s story first, his society’s second, and the precogs were supporting players and expository devices, despite Samantha Morton’s ferocious performance as Agatha, the seer who accompanied the hero on his journey.”
The show, set nine years after the film, has been trying to build a serialized story centered on the precogs, but its feeling more like a basic procedural cop drama.
The final episode of Minority is intended to be a season finale but is expected to serve as the show finale as well.