NOW ENTERTAINMENT Sept. 15 Month 00 --21, 00,2024 2023
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Kaitlin Olson (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) stars in ABC’s seriocomic series “High Potential,” premiering Tuesday, Sept. 17.
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Kaitlin Olson in “High Potential”
Cover Story On new territory: Kaitlin Olson has ‘High Potential’ in ABC series By Jay Bobbin Kaitlin Olson is ready to be sunny, as well as sleuthy, somewhere else. The longtime co-star of the FXX sitcom “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” has done extra duty before in her own series — Fox’s “The Mick” — and she’s now doing it again. ABC’s seriocomic “High Potential” premieres Tuesday, Sept. 17, casting Olson as crimescene cleaner Morgan, a single mother who solves cases in her own unconventional manner. To her surprise, police officials believe they can benefit from her skills and partner her with Karadec, a veteran detective played by “Rescue Me” alum Daniel Sunjata. Adapted from the French series “HPI — Haut Potentiel Intellectuel,” the show also features Judy Reyes (“Scrubs”) as the duo’s boss, Selena, and Taran Killam (“Saturday Night Live”) as Morgan’s ex, Ludo.
Also a producer of “High Potential,” the lively and friendly Olson says, “I don’t know that there was much of a process” in her making Morgan a separate character from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s” Dee. “This woman has some similarities, very flawed, very mouthy … but this woman is very grounded. She is a very loving mother. I’m a very loving mother. That wasn’t so hard to jump into. It’s just acting, so it’s different, but it wasn’t challenging. I didn’t need to do any reprogramming.” Executive producer Drew Goddard, known for shows like “Lost” and “Alias,” developed “High Potential” from its French forerunner, and he maintains that “part of the joy” of the series, “and this is in the French show as well, [is that] you feel the stress of Morgan’s dilemma of, ‘How
do I get my kids to school and solve a murder at the same time?’ To me, it’s the soul of the show. I’m not that interested in plot, in a traditional sense. I’m interested in character and soul, so I always start from a place of character.” Olson maintains that “High Potential’s” Morgan has a logical place in the line of roles she has played. “I love an underdog,” she explains. “I love a character who is so deeply insecure that she acts out. Back when I was in first grade, I was a very insecure kid, and I’ve known from consciousness that I wanted to act. I don’t know why. Then I discovered theater, but I was so shy that I never even attempted it. I didn’t audition for a play at school until high school. “So there was this inner weird balance between, ‘I know I have this thing that I
can do’ and ‘I’m way too shy and insecure to be vulnerable enough to open that up for other people to shoot me down.’ That’s always kind of been in there, so maybe that’s why I’m drawn to characters like this. I just also find a more layered character so much more interesting, with complete opposites smashed into one person. I just like that.” Fans of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” (created by fellow star Rob McElhenney, who is Olson’s husband) can rest assured of Olson’s continuing presence in that show. It films near the “High Potential” set, and she has reserved several days to work exclusively on it when it resumes production for its 17th season. Asked if she’ll ever separate fully from “Sunny,” she leaves no doubt of her feeling: “No, no, no, no, no, I’ll never do that.”
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