Eric McCormack had great success on NBC’s Will & Grace but his TNT series called Trust Me only lasted one season. McCormack’s coming back to cable with a new series called Perception. In this one, McCormack will play a neuroscientist who’s still part of the legal process.
Perception won’t debut until next summer and production has just gotten under way. Here’s the press release from TNT:
TNT Begins Production on Perception, New Drama Series Starring Emmy® Winner Eric McCormack
TNT began production this week on its intriguing new original series Perception, starring Emmy® and Screen Actors Guild Award® winner Eric McCormack (Will & Grace, Who Is Clark Rockefeller?). The series about an eccentric neuroscientist who helps solve complex criminal cases also stars Rachael Leigh Cook (She’s All That), Arjay Smith (The Day After Tomorrow) and Kelly Rowan (The O.C.). TNT has ordered 10 episodes of Perception, which will join the network’s lineup in summer 2012.
In Perception, McCormack plays Dr. Daniel Pierce, a neuroscientist and professor recruited to help the federal government crack difficult cases. His intimate knowledge of human behavior and masterful understanding of the mind give him an extraordinary ability to read people, but his eccentric view of the world and less-than-stellar social skills can often interfere with his work.
Cook co-stars as FBI agent Kate Moretti, Pierce’s former student and the person responsible for recruiting him to work for the government. Smith plays Max Lewicki, the teaching assistant whose primary job is to keep Pierce in line and on task. Rowan is Natalie Vincent, Pierce’s best friend and every bit his intellectual equal. In addition, award-winning actor LeVar Burton (Roots, Star Trek: The Next Generation) will play a recurring role as Paul Haley, a dean at the university.
Perception, which comes to TNT from ABC Studios, was created by executive producer Kenneth Biller (Star Trek: Voyager, Smallville) and co-executive producer Mike Sussman (Star Trek: Enterprise), with McCormack serving as producer. Alan Poul (Six Feet Under) directed and served as executive producer for the pilot. David Eagleman, a professor at Baylor School of Medicine and author of the New York Times Top 10 bestseller Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, serves as a technical consultant on the series.
About ABC Studios
ABC Studios, part of ABC Entertainment Group, develops and produces compelling programming for both broadcast network and cable television as well as digital platforms. ABC Studios has delivered some of the most successful, talked-about and evolutionary series on television such as Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost, Criminal Minds, Army Wives and Brothers & Sisters.About TNT
TNT, one of cable’s top-rated networks, is television’s destination for drama. Seen in 100.5 million households, the network is home to such original series as The Closer, starring Emmy® winner Kyra Sedgwick; Rizzoli & Isles, starring Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander; Falling Skies, starring Noah Wyle; Franklin & Bash, with Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Breckin Meyer; Leverage, starring Timothy Hutton; Hawthorne, with Jada Pinkett Smith; Memphis Beat, with Jason Lee; and Southland, from Emmy-winning producer John Wells (ER). TNT also presents such powerful dramas as The Mentalist, Bones, Supernatural, Las Vegas, Law & Order, CSI: NY, Cold Case and, starting next year, Castle; broadcast premiere movies; compelling primetime specials, such as the Screen Actors Guild Awards®; and championship sports coverage, including NASCAR, the NBA and the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. TNT is available in high-definition.Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news; entertainment; animation and young adult; and sports media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.
What do you think? Are you looking forward to Perception? Do you think it’ll be a success or be cancelled after only one season?
Image courtesy TNT.
Please don’t let next week be the Season Finale. We love this show! Definitely one of the best on TV!
Who thought up the idea of romance between Eric’s character and the FBI chick?
Disgusting! Unnecessary! Diminishes both of them!
I like the show, I like the characters his mind comes up with that help him think things out, wish I could do that when I’m thinking something through! Hope the show stays around, something a little offbeat (spare me another reality series!!!) is always a nice change.
I really like this show I hope it will continue
I really like this show, I hope they keep it on the air.
Love the show! He is a good actor. This replaces Numbers for me.
Hope it runs a long long time.
It was pretty good till they got political and declared Bush a liar about weapons of mass destruction. Even the Swedish guy from the UN said he was surprised they were not found. They should stay away from politics and trying to re-elect Obama so close to the election in November. Maybe I will watch again if they do the same scene with Obama lying about the tax thing with the healthcare, which the mandate was determined by the Supreme Court to be a tax, both by liberals and conservatives on the court. Or even today(7/9/2012) Obama stating he had… Read more »
I like this type of show, I hope this will be one that’s around for a while. I will watch it to see how it does and if it is worthy of watching. Seems to have an outstanding cast and a good plot. Wish it the best, good luck.
I’m hoping this will fill the loss I feel after the end of Monk.
Sounds more like a cross between ‘House’ and ‘The Mentalist’ -that’s how it would have been pitched (Simon Baker’s character doesn’t lack social skills-quite the reverse).
No, Kevin. That’s a show on the air called Psych, on USA. Which was stolen by CBS to make the mediocre The Mentalist.
G.E should have been suing people back then.
I was thinking of Fox’s Lie To Me
Never thought he was that much of an actor.
Those types of shows never interested me.
A show that is based on how someone super smart can do near anything??? Pass!
One of the reasons I dislike L&O CI.
In fact, Rizzoli and Isles is the closest I can can get to a genius know it all in a TV series.
umm.. sound more like a show that’s already on the air called the menatlist..with simon baker..except replace fake psychic with neroscientist and bam..it’s the mentalist. “His intimate knowledge of human behavior and masterful understanding of the mind give him an extraordinary ability to read people, but his eccentric view of the world and less-than-stellar social skills can often interfere with his work.” … like I said it’s the Mentalist ..just with a crappy actor. Why does TNT keep giving him work ??. CBS is gonna sue somebody..
This sounds like a variation on the rather dull “Eleventh Hour” from 2008, which was itself a remake (and sometimes a word-for-word copy) from the UK series of the same name. Doesn’t sound promising.