Brilliant, but Quirky.

NBC's "Brilliant Minds" depends too much on quirks.

Quirky Quinto, aka Oliver Wolf.

Designer Coco Chanel reportedly said that just before a fully-dressed woman walks out her door, she should look into a mirror and remove one accessory. The idea being that people have a habit of overdoing a good thing.

I was reminded of that when watching a new NBC series last night. Brilliant Minds stars Zachary Quinto as a genius-level but haunted neurologist who leads his team of interns into battle against unusual medical mysteries each week. In other words, it’s an updated version of the series House, MD. House (the doctor) had some sort of chronic leg injury that gave actor Hugh Laurie plenty of chances to horse around with a cane he supposedly needed.

Modern TV series stars need quirks, we’re all aware of that. Long gone are the days where a handsome young doctor named Kildare or Ben Casey could get by on being smart and handsome alone. But, like the overdressed woman in the Coco Chanel tale, Zachary Quinto’s character Oliver Wolf could stand to lose one of those quirks. Or two. Maybe three, tops. Among his distinguishing characteristics:

1. He has a condition called prosopagnosia that in the drama is referred to as “face blindness.” That means he can’t even recognize people he knows fairly well.

2. He rides a perfectly-restored vintage BMW motorcycle.

3. He lives in a large vintage house in a near-rural part of the Bronx called City Island.

4. He raises ferns. Yes, ferns.

5. He listens to J.S. Bach’s music exclusively.

6. He goes for nighttime swims in New York’s East River.

7. He is haunted by the memory of his father, who had an unnamed  psychological illness that required his long-term commitment to a mental hospital.

8. His mother was a doctor, revealed in the final scene of the pilot to be the boss of the hospital where he ends up working.

In accordance with the current wokeness of Hollywood, about half the doctors he deals with are black. Interesting, since one in eight Americans is black, which means they are amazingly good at the MCAT exam. Of course, all unsympathetic doctors are white males.

Of his four interns, one is described as a Notre Dame grad who played NCAA football until he suffered an injury and decided on medicine as a backup career. You know, the usual pre-med track. Of the remaining interns, one is a female pill-popper who shares drugs with Dr. Wolf (Quinto), both ignoring the reality that prescription drug abuse is a major problem with healthcare workers and it could get interns and attending physicians fired.

Quinto’s character should know something about being fired. The first sequence in the pilot shows him taking an elderly Alzheimer’s patient for a motorcycle ride to his granddaughter’s wedding, where the old guy plays piano and bursts into song, amazing young and old alike. Only problem—the stunt gets Quinto terminated. How a near-catatonic Alzheimer’s patient managed to stay on Quinto’s motorcycle certainly mystified me, as did Quinto’s ability to find the old guy a perfectly-fitting tuxedo and get him into it.

Zachary Quinto is listed as one of the show’s producers, and that may be part of the problem. I see him in the writers’ room saying “Hey, why don’t we make the hero _______?” All the writers nod. Then he says, “You know, we could also make him a _______.” More nodding. And on and on until the main character is burdened by more quirks than a convention of British eccentrics.

In summation, I don’t think the series will last more than half a season. Too quirky, too preachy. Considering my track record, that probably means it’ll go for fifteen years and have three successful spinoffs.