If you saw the movie (or read the book) The Circle, the concept here is similar in some ways. Jeremy Pivens stars as Jeffrey Tanner, a high-tech millionaire who made his money (and his fame) with a hugely popular social media platform. Now, he has left his old company to start a new one with a new kind of social media software that crowd-sources crime solving. With him in this new start-up, no-frills company is Sara (played by Natalia Tena), his partner both in business and romance (though they keep their relationship a secret), and Josh (played by Blake Lee), a brilliant programmer, along with some support staff.
Tanner's motivation in this new venture is the death of his daughter, Mia. The police arrested a man named Carlos (played by Ramses Jimenez) who is awaiting trial in prison, but Tanner is certain he didn't do it (and Carlos continues to profess his innocence). The police and even Tanner's ex-wife, Alex (played by Monica Potter from Parenthood) are convinced the killer has been caught, but Tanner wants to put the power of crowd-sourcing behind the case. Information from the case and new clues are posted online (his new program is called Sophe), users comment or use their phone's cameras to add additional data, and Sophe sifts through it all. For instance, when a user posts a not-seen-before video clip of the front of Mia's apartment, showing a mysterious man leaving the night of her murder, users add their own videos and photos from that night and help look for and identify the "person of interest."
Detective Cavanaugh, played by Richard T. Jones, headed up the murder case. Although he's not convinced, he shares some of Tanner's misgivings that they might have arrested the wrong man, and he wants to be absolutely certain, so he accepts Tanner's invitation to help on the sidelines...though officially in the department, the case is closed. Once Sophe catches on and helps to solve a fresh case, the police department starts to pay some attention to it, and Cavanaugh is officially assigned as liaison so the police can use Sophe as a crime-solving tool.
We are four episodes in so far (episode 5 aired on Sunday, but my husband is out of town!) and totally hooked on this suspenseful and unique show. Pivens has a lot of charisma and intensity as Tanner, and I'm also enjoying Jones in his role as the detective. It is suspenseful, as you'd expect, with a new case each episode while they continue to make progress in Mia's older case. I am expecting - as happened in The Circle - for the crowd to go too far at some point in their zeal to help catch a criminal, and there were hints of that in the first episode. We are both immersed in Mia's murder and enjoying the new cases that come along each episode. There is even a sense of humor and a touch of romance in the show. We can't wait to see what happens next!
Wisdom of the Crowd is currently airing on CBS on Sunday evenings. We've been watching it On Demand to catch up. As of today, all five of the first episodes are still posted On Demand (it says that the first one will come off on 11/4) and for free on the CBS website. Once the free episodes are pulled off, they will be available on CBS All Access (CBS's streaming service). It is also available on Amazon for $1.99 an episode or $17.99 for the first season.
Have you seen Wisdom of the Crowd yet? What new shows are you enjoying this fall?
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