Mind Games (2014)

Watch this one just for Zahn’s performance.

Mind Games is less complicated than Killen's other shows--which raises its chances until you factor in the dreadful time slot it will inhabit. Yet even though Zahn is a lot to take while having his bi-polar rants and motor-mouthed moments of anxiety, plus Slater's dubious end-of-the-pilot twist, there are elements in play with Mind Games that make it intriguing.

The disconnect between what Mind Games wants to be and the show bubbling just under the surface makes it a bit of a puzzling viewing experience.

[Slater's] new show also needs to find its voice. Still, if there is something in its premise that recalls the straining-for-effect, too-clever-to-start setups of series like USA's "Psych" and "Suits," the first of those managed to run eight seasons in the end, and the latter has already been renewed for a fourth.

The show proceeds at gale force, demolishing logic, plot, meaning and (most of all) pleasure in its path.

Mind Games just doesn’t work on any level.

NBC's "Ironside" was probably the worst new show of the 2013-14 season but this is a very close second. And it's particularly loathsome because one has to watch talented actors like Steve Zahn and Christian Slater suffer through this manipulative nonsense.