Black Box (TV series)


Black Box is an American psychological medical drama television series which ran for one season, from April 24 to July 24, 2014, and starred Kelly Reilly and Vanessa Redgrave, on ABC. The program had a straight-to-series order with a 13-episode commitment. The series was created by Amy Holden Jones and is co-produced by Ilene Chaiken, Bryan Singer, Oliver Obst, and Anne Thomopoulos.
After one season, ABC canceled Black Box on August 7, 2014.

Plot

Catherine Black is a famous neurologist who secretly has bipolar disorder; the only person who knows is her psychiatrist, Dr. Helen Hartramph, who has been with Catherine since her first break and has been a maternal figure for Catherine since her mother, who also suffered from bipolar disorder, committed suicide.

Cast and characters

Main cast

Production

Writer Michael Madden was the winner of the 1st Annual Happy Writers Working Writers Contest from filmmaker networking website Stage 32. This led to him being hired as a writer on the series, for which he also served as a medical consultant.
On December 3, 2013, outdoor scenes were filmed on the Columbia University campus. On March 31, 2014, scenes were filmed at Wave Hill in Riverdale, New York.

Critical Reception

Brian Lowry of Variety criticized the show's overly familiar premise, drawing comparison with producer Bryan Singer's earlier series House, but commended Reilly's performance and the music. Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter slated the series as overly silly, criticizing the acting, writing and visual presentation. Jessica Johnson of Time Out felt the combination of psychological drama and medical procedural did not work, calling it a "a dull, preachy and redundant PSA on bipolar disorder."
Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times dubbed the series, "a well-intended mess of a show with preposterous medical emergencies and a few flickers of ingenuity."