''Intelligence'' is an American cyber-themed

action-adventure The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a storyli ...

television series. The series aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

in the United States, and premiered on January 7, 2014. On May 10, 2014, CBS cancelled the series after one season. The series was created by

Michael Seitzman Michael Seitzman (born November 1, 1977) is an American writer, producer and film director best known for film '' North Country''. He started Maniac Productions in 2017. He most recently signed a TV deal with Blumhouse. Filmography Writer * '' ...

, who serves as an executive producer along with

Tripp Vinson Tripp Vinson is an American film and television producer, best known for his films ''Baywatch, San Andreas, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, The Guardian, The Number 23, Red Dawn, and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.'' ''The New York Times'' ...

and Barry Schindel, for

ABC Studios ABC Signature is an American television Filmmaking#Production, production studio that is a subsidiary of Disney Television Studios, a division of Walt Disney Television, which is part of the List of assets owned by The Walt Disney Company#Disne ...

and

CBS Television Studios CBS Studios, Inc. is an American television production company which is a subsidiary of CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. It was formed on January 17, 2006, by CBS Corporation as CBS Paramount Television, as a renaming of the o ...

Production

The series was originally scheduled to premiere on February 24, 2014.

Plot

Gabriel Vaughn is a high-tech intelligence operative enhanced with a super-computer microchip in his brain. With this implant, Gabriel is the first human ever to be connected directly into the globalized information grid. He can get into any of its data centers and access key intel files in the fight to protect the United States from its enemies. Lillian Strand, the director of the

United States Cyber Command United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense (DoD). It unifies the direction of cyberspace operations, strengthens DoD cyberspace capabilities, and integra ...

who supports Gabriel and oversees the unit's missions, assigns

Secret Service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...

agent Riley Neal to protect Gabriel from outside threats, as well as from his appetite for reckless, unpredictable behaviors and disregard for protocols. Meanwhile, Gabriel takes advantage of his chip to search for his wife who disappeared years ago after being sent by the C.I.A. to infiltrate and prevent the

Lashkar-e-Taiba Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT; ur, ; literally ''Army of the Good'', translated as ''Army of the Righteous'', or ''Army of the Pure'' and alternatively spelled as ''Lashkar-e-Tayyiba'', ''Lashkar-e-Toiba'', ''Lashkar-i-Taiba'', ''Lashkar-i-Tayyeba'') ...

from carrying out a terrorist attack in Mumbai, India.

Cast and characters

Main cast

Josh Holloway Josh Lee Holloway (born July 20, 1969) is an American actor best known for his roles as James "Sawyer" Ford on the television show ''Lost'' and as Will Bowman on the science fiction drama ''Colony''. Most recently he had a recurring role in sea ...

as Vaughn, an ex–

Delta Force The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta (1st SFOD-D), referred to variously as Delta Force, Combat Applications Group (CAG), Army Compartmented Elements (ACE), "The Unit", or within Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), Task Fo ...

operator implanted with a chip that allows him to access the

Global Information Grid The Global Information Grid (GIG) is a network of information transmission and processing maintained by the United States Department of Defense. More descriptively, it is a worldwide network of information transmission, of associated processes, a ...

. *

Marg Helgenberger Mary Marg Helgenberger (born November 16, 1958) is an American actress. She began her career in the early 1980s and first came to attention for playing the role of Siobhan Ryan on the daytime soap opera '' Ryan's Hope'' from 1982 to 1986. She is ...

as Strand, Director of the

U.S. Cyber Command United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense (DoD). It unifies the direction of cyberspace operations, strengthens DoD cyberspace capabilities, and integra ...

. *

Meghan Ory Meghan Ory (born August 20, 1982) is a Canadian television and film actress. She is best known for her role as Red Riding Hood /Ruby on the ABC fantasy series ''Once Upon a Time'' and also starred in the short-lived CBS drama ''Intelligence'' as R ...

as U.S. CyberCom Special Agent Neal, an ex–

agent assigned to protect Gabriel from external threats. *

Michael Rady Michael Rady (born August 20, 1981) is an American actor. Career Rady made his acting debut in the feature film '' The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants'', playing Kostas Dounas, a role he reprised in the sequel, ''The Sisterhood of the Traveli ...

as U.S. CyberCom Special Agent Chris *

John Billingsley John Billingsley (, born May 20, 1960) is an American actor best known for his role as Doctor Phlox on the television series ''Star Trek: Enterprise''. Early life and education Billingsley was born in Media, Pennsylvania, and subsequently live ...

as Cassidy, the neuroscientist responsible for creating the microchip that was implanted in Gabriel's brain. *

P. J. Byrne Paul Jeffrey Byrne (born December 15, 1974) is an American film and television actor. He is best known for his roles as Nicky "Rugrat" Koskoff in the Martin Scorsese film ''The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film), The Wolf of Wall Street'' (2013) a ...

as Cassidy, son of Shenendoah Cassidy and one of the scientists working on the Clockwork Project.

Recurring cast

Tomas Arana Tomas Clifford Arana (born April 3, 1955) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the films ''The Hunt for Red October'' (1990), '' The Bodyguard'' (1992), ''L.A. Confidential'' (1997), ''Gladiator'' (2000), ''The Bourne Supremac ...

as ,

Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior, cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Commu ...

. *

Lance Reddick Lance Reddick (born December 31, 1962) is an American actor and musician. He is best known for playing Cedric Daniels in ''The Wire'' (2002–2008), Phillip Broyles in ''Fringe'' (2008–2013), and Chief Irvin Irving in '' Bosch'' (2014–2020) ...

as ,

Director of Central Intelligence The director of central intelligence (DCI) was the head of the American Central Intelligence Agency from 1946 to 2005, acting as the principal intelligence advisor to the president of the United States and the United States National Security C ...

Peter Coyote Peter Coyote (born Robert Peter Cohon; October 10, 1941) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author and narrator of films, theatre, television, and audiobooks. He worked on films such as '' E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), '' Cr ...

as , father of Lillian Strand *

Zuleikha Robinson Zuleikha Robinson (born 29 June 1977) is a British actress. She first came to attention as Yves Adele Harlow, a mysterious thief on the 2001 series ''The Lone Gunmen''. She has appeared in the films ''Hidalgo'' (2004), ''The Merchant of Venice'' ...

as , Gabriel's wife and a former CIA field officer. * Faye Kingslee as , a Chinese national who is also implanted with a stolen chip similar to the one in Vaughn. However her chip is more advanced, allowing her to do things Gabriel cannot such as enter his mind.

Grace Huang Grace Huang () is a Taiwanese-Australian actress of Cantonese descent, best known for her role as the Gemini Female in the RZA directed martial arts film, ''The Man with the Iron Fists''. Career Huang starred as Mei Chen in the pilot for the ...

played Mei Chen in the pilot.

Episodes

Cultural references

*In episode 13, it was revealed that the name "Clockwork" was based on the 1879 short story " The Ablest Man in the World" by

Edward Page Mitchell Edward Page Mitchell (1852–1927) was an American editorial and short story writer for '' The Sun'', a daily newspaper in New York City. He became that newspaper's editor in 1897, succeeding Charles Anderson Dana. Mitchell was recognized as a ...

. The story is about a man who was mute and mentally handicapped and grew up in a mental asylum. His life was changed when a scientist replaced his brain with a clockwork device that intended to make the patient—who has become a Russian baron at the time of the story—become Russia's answer to

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

Inspiration

The plot is said to have been inspired by the novel ''Phoenix Island'' by John Dixon, but some critics have their reservations.

Reception

Critical response

David Hinckley of New York ''Daily News'' gave the show three out of five stars. Tim Goodman of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' said the show goes overboard on the merging of humans and computer technology. Darren Franich of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' said "those hoping the show will be '' Sawyer, P.I.'' will be disappointed, but there's potential." On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the series has an aggregate score of 38% based on 13 positive and 21 negative critic reviews. The website consensus reads: "''Intelligence'' fails to live up to its name, with corny dialogue and overblown violence that cannot be rescued by its capable leading actors."

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * {{Metacritic television 2013 American television series debuts 2013 American television series endings American action television series 2010s American drama television series 2010s American science fiction television series English-language television shows Espionage television series CBS original programming Television series by ABC Studios Television series by CBS Studios Television shows set in Virginia Television shows set in Los Angeles Television shows based on American novels Anti-Iranian sentiments Malware in fiction Works about computer hacking