Kaitlin Olson has spent years stealing scenes on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," but her new ABC drama "High Potential" is doing something sneaky brilliant: letting her play the smartest person in every room while still being a total disaster at home.
The show, a remake of the French hit "HIP," has quietly become one of the fall season's buzzy word-of-mouth winners, and Olson's Janine — a cleaning lady at an LAPD precinct who happens to have a genius-level IQ — is the reason why.
Janine stumbles into solving a case during her night shift, gets recruited as a consultant, and spends the rest of the season juggling three kids, an ex who's a deadbeat, and a partner played by Daniel Sunjata who can't decide if he's annoyed or charmed.
It's a case-of-the-week procedural dressed in a colorful cardigan, and honestly, we've been starving for one.
Costume designers have turned Janine's mismatched prints, chunky glasses, and sneakers-into-the-precinct aesthetic into a genuine TikTok mood board.
Fans are already hunting down her shirts, and Olson has joked in interviews that her character dresses like a woman who grabs whatever's clean off the laundry pile — a relatable flex that's somehow become aspirational.
There's also real chemistry crackling between Olson and Sunjata, the kind of slow-burn banter that makes you lean in.
No spoilers, but the show isn't rushing the will-they-won't-they, and that restraint is a smart move.
Too many procedurals blow their romantic load by episode four.
The ratings story is the plot twist nobody saw coming. "High Potential" premiered to solid numbers and has held up week to week, which in 2024 network TV is basically a miracle.
ABC already handed it a full-season order, and the streaming numbers on Hulu have been strong enough to keep it in the weekly conversation — no easy feat when every platform is dumping new prestige content every Friday.
Some critics have called the mysteries a little too tidy, and fair enough — this isn't "True Detective." But the show knows exactly what it is: a warm, funny, slightly chaotic procedural with a lead you actually want to root for.
That's a harder needle to thread than it sounds, and "High Potential" is threading it.
Procedurals live or die on whether viewers keep showing up after the novelty fades, and Olson's star power — plus that "Always Sunny" fanbase crossing over — gives it a real shot.
If the writers keep Janine's personal life as tangled as her casework, this could be ABC's next long-haul hit.
Our take: "High Potential" isn't trying to reinvent television, and that's precisely why it works.
It's a reminder that a great lead performance and a little charm can carry a show further than any glossy gimmick.
Final Thoughts
Give Olson the Emmy conversation she's owed — and give this one a season pass.