NBC’s ‘Irrational’: Jesse L. Martin-led pilot ordered to series
NBC’s ‘Irrational’: He’s played a police detective in both “Law & Order” and “The Flash,” and you can expect actor Jesse L. Martin to be mixing with more law enforcement types in his next TV project.
After eight seasons in “The Flash,” Martin stepped down as a series regular last spring to take on a starring role in an NBC pilot titled “The Irrational.” The new drama, which hails from writer-producer Arika Lisanne Mittman (“La Brea”) and is inspired by author Dan Ariely’s novel “Predictably Irrational,” centers on the character of Alec Baker (played by Martin). Baker is a world-renowned professor of behavioral science who lends his expertise — along with his unexpected approach to understanding human behavior, as is often the case (pardon the pun) with psychology-meets-law enforcement stories — to highstakes criminal cases involving governments, law enforcement and corporations. It seems he will meet his match in a female domestic terror suspect who turns his whole world upside down.
The pilot episode was shot in Vancouver, Canada, where “The Flash” also filmed, and according to Deadline, it was well received by network executives. Still, NBC and producing studio Universal Television held off on formally ordering it to series last fall; instead, they extended the options on the cast, which also includes Maahra Hill (“Delilah”) and Travina Springer (“Ms. Marvel”), and commissioned additional scripts.
NBC and Universal must be happy now with what came out of that decision, because the network has now formally ordered “The Irrational” to series.
It remains to be seen when “The Irrational” will pop up in NBC’s prime-time lineup. As for its series lead and producer, Martin is set to appear in “multiple episodes” (per Deadline) of “The Flash” in its upcoming season. He also replaced singer Lenny Kravitz as late Motown icon Marvin Gaye in the forthcoming (but still in production) biopic “Sexual Healing.”
Buffy-less ‘Vampire Slayer’: Versatile actress Sarah Michelle Gellar has gone back to battling supernatural forces on TV and on Paramount+ in the new series “Wolf Pack,” which debuted last week (Jan. 26).
Still, to many — especially fans of The WB’s 1997-2003 series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” — she’ll forever be Buffy Summers, the vampire-slaying high schooler. With so many other ‘80s and ‘90s TV series getting the revival treatment right now, the question of whether Gellar might reprise her iconic role came up while the actress was promoting her new project. And the answer is ... no.
“I am very proud of the show that we created and it [a revival] doesn’t need to be done,” Gellar said in an interview with SFX Magazine (via MovieWeb). “We wrapped that up. I am all for them continuing the story, because there’s the story of female empowerment. I love the way the show was left: ‘Every girl who has the power can have the power.’ It’s set up perfectly for someone else to have the power. But like I said, the metaphors of ‘Buffy’ were the horrors of adolescence. I think I look young, but I am not an adolescent.” (For the record, Gellar is 45.)
So, there you have it. Gellar isn’t opposed to the idea of a “Buffy” reboot or revival — which would most likely be spearheaded by Disney, who owns the rights to the series and who, according to The Hollywood Reporter, toyed with the idea of bringing it back with “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” star Monica Owusu-Breen as the lead.
But if it does happen, count Gellar out — though she did say that Zendaya (“Euphoria”) would be her pick as the next Buffy.
Exit and entering: Following his abrupt exit from ABC’s “The Goldbergs,” comedian Jeff Garlin (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”) has joined the cast of Netflix’s “Never Have I Ever.”
Created by “The Mindy Project” producing/writing duo Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher, “Never Have I Ever” is the coming-of-age story of an Indian-American teen (played by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, “Turning Red,” 2022) who struggles to make social gains after a traumatic year and the sudden death of her father. It is said to be (very) loosely based on Kaling’s childhood experiences growing up in the Boston area, though the show itself is set in the San Fernando Valley.
Garlin, who left “The Goldbergs” after allegations of misconduct on set, has been tapped to play a man who catches the interest of Devi’s (Ramakrishnan) grandmother, Nirmala (Ranjita Chakravarty, “The Room With a View,” 2020). Len (Garlin) is described as “a sweet man who fixes a mean sandwich and who makes Nirmala reconsider if she really is done with relationships forever” (per Deadline, which first broke the news).
Arriving on Netflix sometime in 2023, the fourth season will be the show’s last, as confirmed by Kaling when she announced the show’s renewal on Twitter last March. Season 4 will reportedly focus on Devi’s senior year in high school, which should be complicated by the arrival of the school’s newest heartthrob, Ethan, played by “Love, Victor” star Michael Cimino. The season will also include a wedding, though it’s not clear who the bride will be, given that several other characters will also have new love interests.