Fall TV Preview Party: CBS

The second night of the 10th Annual Paley Preview Parties at The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills took place this past Sunday afternoon with several new dramas on tap for CBS.

The evening started off with a screening of the new series Scorpion followed by a panel of the cast members – Elyes Gabel, Robert Patrick, Katharine McPhee, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Jaydn Wong and Ari Stidham – and executive producers – Scooter Braun, Heather Kadin, Alex Kurtzman, Nick Santora and Nicholas Wootton – as well as the real Walter O’Brien on whom the show is based.

Scorpion – in a nut shell – tells the story about eccentric genius Walter O’Brien (Gabel) and his team of brilliant misfits who comprise the last line of defense against complex, high-tech threats of the modern age. As Homeland Security’s new think tank, O’Brien’s “Scorpion” team includes Toby Curtis (Thomas), an expert behaviorist who can read anyone; Happy Quinn (Wong), a mechanical prodigy; and Sylvester Dodd (Stidham), a statistics guru. They go to work for federal agent Cabe Gallo (Patrick), who shares a harrowing history with O’Brien. However, while this socially awkward group is comfortable with each other’s humor and quirks, life outside their circle confounds them, so they rely on Paige Dineen (McPhee), who has a young, gifted son, to translate the world for them.

The real Walter O’Brien is one of four smartest people on the planet (with an IQ higher than legendary genius Albert Einstein) and has assisted the U.S. government on classified cases that are far beyond any of our comprehension; and he created his group of geniuses to help “the greater good”.

When asked why he would want his life made into a TV series, Walter shared that he grew up watching The A-Team and MacGyver so having an action-filled show centered on his life is actually quite exciting. Once the executive producers learned about his extraordinary life, it was a “no-brainer” to make it into a TV series. Of course, it was imperative they find the right actor to play Walter on the small screen and when Elyes came into the audition, they knew they had find the right guy.

Of course a lot of the dialogue the cast has to speak is not easy to learn let alone understand and bringing each episode’s storyline together is not a simple task for the writers-producers so they say “Ask Walter”. The actors can go to him for guidance on the lingo and the writers can ask him for help on the logistics; and he will “give them an answer in a minute”.

Series creator Nick Santora was very excited to get the T-1000 (Patrick) to star in the show and for Robert it was getting the opportunity to work on a “new heightened level” than the roles he has played in the past. As for Katharine, when asked about this role being a big departure from her role in Smash, she shared that she “likes variety in her life” and the EP’s shared that Kat did an amazing job, as she had “36 hours to prepare” before filming the pilot.

It should be noted that the other characters in the show, according to Walter, have real-life counterparts, people who work in his company, on which their characters are based. In fact, the character of Sylvester is based on Walter’s best friend since university and an actual computer.

In terms of what viewers can expect from the show, there could potentially be a little bit of romance between Walter on the show and Paige (Katharine), flashbacks into Walter’s past and his relationship with Gallo, backstories on Toby, Happy and Sylvester as well as an important visitor from Paige’s past.

And, when asked if what happened in the pilot (as well as what will happen in the show throughout the first season) is real, Walter shared that “70 percent is real as truth is stranger than fiction”.

Scorpion will debut on CBS on Monday, September 22 at 9/8c.

Photo Credit: Kevin Parry for The Paley Center for Media

Later that evening, the first episodes of the new dramas Madam Secretary and Stalker were also screened as well as an airing of NCIS that featured part two of the introduction of NCIS: New Orleans. Here are the trailers for those three new dramas:

Madam Secretary (Debuts Sunday, September 21 on CBS at 9/8c):

Stalker (Debuts Wednesday, October 1 at 10/9c):

[Fair warning: This drama is not for everyone – viewer discretion is advised]

NCIS: New Orleans (Debuts Monday, September 29 at 10/9c):