The definition of “hit TV” has changed, but Craig Sweeny, creator and executive producer of Limitless, may have stumbled upon the recipe with an established IP, a big-time guest star (Bradley Cooper) and a genre and tone-bending procedural premise.

At last month’s WonderCon, we chatted about his difficulties showrunning season one, what makes a hit and the visual flourishes of Limitless.

How is your day going?

My day is going fantastic, thank you very much. I just finished the season finale script. I couldn’t be happier.

So, vacation tomorrow?

No no, there’s still a lot left. But it’s a major milestone.

How has the journey been on this show? Has it been what you envisioned?

I’ve run seasons of TV before, so in a way I kind of knew what I was getting into. But I think because there are things that are ambitious about this show in terms of how many scenes we shoot per episode, every little flashback that Brian has…

There are a lot of tones, a lot of genres…

Yes, exactly. I wasn’t ready for how constant the process was of communicating to each new director coming in, to each key department head. I think people are accustomed to: that’s a serious show, that’s a funny show. So you have to say, no, he’s going to stab himself in the leg in this scene, and that’s going to be for comedy, and then it’s going to end on this very serious note where one lead is arresting the other one. It was something that existed in my head and I talked a lot about it for the pilot with director Marc Webb. I have been surprised at how constantly I have to keep reorienting everybody who’s coming in and going, yeah, it’s a little different here.

You’re here for a panel called “Hitmakers,” and I feel like the definition of a hit TV show has changed in this super-saturated landscape. How do you make a hit nowadays?

Hit adjacent makers, how about? How to set out to make a hit, I don’t know. I think at the early stages of something, there has to be something that you respond to internally, where you’re not thinking in those terms. Not that it’s crass to think in those terms, but there has to be that internal spark. For me that was finding the character of Brian.

I rely on other people to tell me what makes a hit. It’s an all-consuming enough of a job without worrying about that level of analysis. Of course I worry. I track how the show is doing, but analyzing who left at minute 10 and why, I find if you bury yourself too deeply in that, it interferes with what you’re setting out to do.

What stood out about Jake McDorman when casting Brian Finch?

Before Jake read for the part, we had to have a meeting just for coffee to talk about the script. There’s a whole elaborate dance that goes on with the wooing of actors during pilot season. I didn’t know his work that well and he didn’t know my work that well, so it was very much like a blind date.

When I sat down across from him I could sense, without even seeing him read the scenes, that he had that sincerity that differentiates the character of Brian Finch from the character of Eddie Morra [Bradley Cooper]. And that he had a really good sense of humor.

Then he came in a few days later and read a couple of scenes from the pilot. Again, it’s a very elaborate mating ritual. Only Webb and I were allowed to be in the room and my phone was buzzing in my pocket as he was reading. ‘How’s it going?’ As soon as he read the material, I was texting the other producers, ‘We’ve got our guy.’ It’s a character that’s close to me, because where he meet him, I went through a period like that in my life. I just instantly responded to what he was doing to the material.

How do you come up with the visual problem solving tactics in the show?

The first thing we did was set a goal that each week if you tune in to Limitless, you’ll see at least one thing you’ve never seen on TV before. That was one of our mission statements that we set out at the beginning of the year. That, for us, is finding
different approaches to the delivery of information and exposition. I’ll either sit by myself or sit with our crack writing team and say, ‘We need a list of the top 10 most wanted felons at the FBI right now.’ What’s the most creative way that Brian could deliver it? We’ll make a rotating carousel, we’ll put clay figurines on there, a camera, and we’ll move it around as he narrates it, like he made his own little movie. I drew it and I faxed it off to New York. That’s one example.

Have you found a limit of what you can get away with?

CBS has been very supportive of the experimental nature of the show. We do try to keep in mind that while we’re writing for the boundaries of the mainstream audience, it’s still for a mainstream audience.

What’s your favorite cookie?

Oatmeal raisin, by far.

You won’t have to go far for more Limitless. Part one of the two-part finale of Limitless airs tonight April 19 at 10 p.m. on CBS.

[All images courtesy of CBS via CBS.com]

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