“The biggest hit on French television in the last 20 years is coming to us on Tuesday.” This is how the newspaper The San Francisco Examiner announces the launch of “High Potential”, the American version of “HPI”, which has been a hit for several seasons on TF 1 with Audrey Fleurot in the lead role. “Will she be the next Castle or Mentalist ? » also asks the daily USA Today.
Same verve, same slightly crazy look, three children, stingy, an American Karadec as bearded as in the French version, played by the actor Daniel Sunjata who takes over the role of Mehdi Nebbou, the adaptation of “HPI” landed with a bang in the United States on the ABC channel this Tuesday, September 17.
Morgan Gilliroy
The scenes from the first American episode are almost all based on the French introduction broadcast on the One channel three and a half years ago and seen by more than 11.5 million viewers, a record since 2006!
The shots, the dialogues, we have the feeling of living the experience a second time, in English this time and with a different cast: Morgane Alvaro (Audrey Fleurot) becomes Morgan Gilliroy, played by Kaitlin Olson (seen in the series “Philadelphia”, where she played Sweet Dee) and we go from Lille to Los Angeles! The pretty blonde – and no longer redhead – with an IQ of 160 is filmed by the cameras putting together the pieces of the puzzle of an investigation in the middle of the night when she is supposed to be cleaning and is requisitioned the next day.
Also a mother of three — “I love working with them, it’s pure joy for me,” confides Kaitlin Olson —, as in the original, she accumulates the outfits and the eccentric remarks while criticizing her new colleagues in uniform. There are still some nuances in the American version, including the scene of the flashing light in which Morgan, stuck in the car with Karadec and his children, this time triggers a mini-alert when arriving in front of the kids’ school.
A kind of “Dr House”
Todd Harthan, the showrunner who previously produced the series “Hawk” and “Rosewood,” admits that the originality of the tone and concept immediately appealed to him. “I’ve never had this kind of investigator on screen. It’s kind of like I’ve never seen a doctor like Dr House on TV. It’s in the same vein.”
But be careful if the first episodes are almost copy-paste, the further we advance in the broadcast, the more Americans will move away from it. “It will initially be a mixture of the two. We had to measure from the beginning the stress of this heroine torn between her role as mother and the resolutions of the investigations. Then, as we advance, we will allow ourselves more originality to find our own identity and detach ourselves from the French version”, he assures. But for the moment it is also on the same little music played in “HPI” that we see Kaitlin Olson appropriate the personality of Morgan and solve murders!
Sold in 107 countries
A role that suits the actress perfectly. “She has flaws, she is direct, she is very centered and loves her children, I can recognize myself in all that, so I had no trouble putting myself in her shoes, confides the person concerned. And if I don’t have an IQ of 160 like her, I sometimes have difficulty putting my brain on hold!”
As for the title of the series, it initially left her doubtful: ” High potential was presented to me as a typically French expression, I was a little surprised! In any case, I obviously watched the original episodes. » Daniel Sunjata, for his part, limited himself to watching only one single part “so as not to be influenced”.
The series is streaming on the Hulu platform from September 18. Success or not in the USA? The French version, already followed in 107 countries around the world, has largely proven itself. The Americans should follow.