''Mind Games'' is an American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

television series created by

Kyle Killen Kyle Killen is an American television writer and producer. He is best known as the creator and showrunner of the critically acclaimed but short-lived television series '' Lone Star'' (2010), ''Awake'' (2012) and ''Mind Games'' (2014). He also wr ...

that aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

. The show is about two brothers who run a problem solving firm called Edwards and Associates that employs solutions based on

psychological manipulation Manipulation in psychology is a behavior designed to exploit, control, or otherwise influence others to one’s advantage. Definitions for the term vary in which behavior is specifically included, influenced by both culture and whether referring t ...

. It premiered on February 25, 2014, and was canceled on March 27, 2014.

Cast and characters

Steve Zahn Steven James Zahn (; born November 13, 1967) is an American actor and comedian. His film roles include ''Reality Bites'' (1994), ''That Thing You Do!'' (1996), ''Stuart Little'' (1999), '' Shattered Glass'' (2003), ''Sahara'' (2005), '' Chicken Li ...

as Clark Edwards, an ex-psychology professor who suffers from

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

. Clark is also an expert in human behavior from a psychological perspective. *

Christian Slater Christian Michael Leonard Slater (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor and producer. He made his film debut with a leading role in ''The Legend of Billie Jean'' (1985) and gained wider recognition for his breakthrough role as Jason "J.D." D ...

as Ross Edwards, a

con man A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...

with a criminal record, who is Clark's brother. *

Megalyn Echikunwoke Ebubennem Megalyn Ann Echikunwoke ( ; born May 28, 1983), also known as Megalyn E.K., is an American actress, known primarily for her roles in television and film. Born in Spokane, Washington, she was discovered while performing in a theatri ...

as Megan Shane, an actress. *

Wynn Everett Wynn Everett is an American actress. Life and career Everett was born in Atlanta, Georgia. She grew up in Dunwoody and Cumming, Georgia. She attended Forsyth Central High School. Her junior year, she was the lead role in a One Act Competition pr ...

as Claire Edwards, ex-wife of Ross Edwards. *Gregory Marcel as Miles Hood, who had been a top graduate student in Clark's department. *Cedric Sanders as Latrell Griffin, whose specialty is business development. *

Jaime Ray Newman Jaime Ray Newman (born April 2, 1978) is an American actress, producer and singer. She is known for starring as Kristina Cassadine in the soap opera '' General Hospital'', Mindy O'Dell in the drama series ''Veronica Mars'', Kat Gardener in the fa ...

as Samantha "Sam" Gordon, an ex-con. *Katherine Cunningham as Beth Scott, Clark's girlfriend.

Production and development

About the show, Kyle Killen says "It’s a weird workplace drama that’s set around this idea that we’ve conducted 60 years worth of research into the science of human behavior and manipulation. So this is a one-of-a-kind company that is trying to turn all that research into a weekly “Wag the Dog” kind of problem-solving company." He also said "I was just genuinely excited by the science and way these observations about human nature and the ways we're influenced without knowing it were coming out of the lab and being used to shape real world outcomes. It's an incredible amount of fun" He reiterated his enthusiasm during the Television Critics Association press tour saying "In terms of the likability of the characters, these are brothers who would like to connect and help people... ..It certainly started with the idea of a moral grey area, but this has mainstream ppeal" The show was originally titled ''Influence''. Although there is a human behavior consulting firm in Chicago,

TGG Group TGG Group is the holding company for three units: TGG, its core consulting and advisory division; The Greatest Good, a consulting business serving non-profit organizations; and, TGG Ventures, an innovation and co-venturing arm. TGG is a consulting ...

, the show is not based on this firm. The show's initial episode order was filmed in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

at a record-setting time when Chicago had six television shows (''Mind Games'', ''

Betrayal Betrayal is the breaking or violation of a presumptive contract, trust, or confidence that produces moral and psychological conflict within a relationship amongst individuals, between organizations or between individuals and organizations. Ofte ...

'', ''

Crisis A crisis ( : crises; : critical) is either any event or period that will (or might) lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affair ...

'', '' Chicago PD'', the returning '' Chicago Fire'', and ''

Sirens Siren or sirens may refer to: Common meanings * Siren (alarm), a loud acoustic alarm used to alert people to emergencies * Siren (mythology), an enchanting but dangerous monster in Greek mythology Places * Siren (town), Wisconsin * Siren, Wisco ...

'') as well as three major motion pictures ('' Transformers: Age of Extinction'', ''

Jupiter Ascending ''Jupiter Ascending'' is a 2015 space opera film written, directed and co-produced by the Wachowskis. Starring Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis with Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne and Douglas Booth in supporting roles, the film is centered on Jupiter J ...

'', and '' Divergent'') that were all filming simultaneously. Killen is joined by Keith Redman as an executive producer. The show was a

20th Century Fox Television 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Compa ...

production. In May 2013, the show was announced as part of the 2013–14 schedule with

and

as the stars.

, Cedric Sanders, Gregory Marcel and

were announced as part of the supporting cast at that time. In August,

was added to the cast. On March 27, 2014, after five episodes were aired, the show was canceled due to low ratings. According to

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

, the remaining episodes aired in Japan, starting on July 15, 2014. The remaining episodes also aired in the UK. For US residents, the remaining episodes can be purchased through Amazon streaming.

Episodes

Reception

TV Equals' P. T. Jackson viewed the show as appealing because it was a program "with characters that think outside the box but have hearts of gold and help people". He likened the show to ''

Franklin & Bash ''Franklin & Bash'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Kevin Falls and Bill Chais. The series starred Breckin Meyer and Mark-Paul Gosselaar as unconventional lawyers and longtime friends. A Turner Broadcasting executive refe ...

'' for its outrageous quirkiness. Zap2it's Laurel Brown said that the characters' life histories "help them get inside the human mind better than anyone else". The show was also described as having similarities to ''

Leverage Leverage or leveraged may refer to: *Leverage (mechanics), mechanical advantage achieved by using a lever * ''Leverage'' (album), a 2012 album by Lyriel *Leverage (dance), a type of dance connection *Leverage (finance), using given resources to ...

''. TV.com's Tim Surette called it the second most anticipated new show for midseason 2014, saying, "This could be the fun, underdog drama that ABC has been searching for. After the pilot's airing he said, "When compared to Killen's past work, ''Mind Games'' doesn't hold up in terms of ambition and risk. But there's enough piquant possibility here to make it a daring experiment in the procedural genre."

References

External links

* * *
Mind Games
at

The Futon Critic ''The Futon Critic'' is a website that provides articles and information regarding prime time programming on broadcast and cable networks in the United States. The site publishes reviews of prime time programming and interviews of people in the ...

* * {{Metacritic television, title=Mind Games 2010s American comedy-drama television series 2014 American television series debuts 2014 American television series endings American Broadcasting Company original programming English-language television shows Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Television shows set in Chicago Fiction about mind control Bipolar disorder in fiction