CBS Taking Another Stab at Einstein, Orders Pilot Based on German Genius/Cop Drama

Who was it that said that “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”…?

It actually wasn’t Albert Einstein, but that was too delicious a lede to pass up when informing you that CBS is making broadcast TV’s third run at adapting the three-season German procedural Einstein. On Tuesday, the network handed the potential series a pilot order.

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The original German series starred Tom Beck as Felix, the youngest professor to have ever taught theoretical physics at his university — and also the great-grandson of the Albert Einstein. Diagnosed with Huntington’s disease and facing prison when accused of stealing drugs to manage his condition, Felix is saved from jail when the police recognize that his brilliant mind could help them solve their most complex cases, as a consultant paired with quick-witted detective Elena (Annika Ernst).

The new adaptation in development at CBS, per Deadline — from Monk creator Andy Breckman and EP Randy Zisk — finds Al’s “brilliant but directionless” great-grandson spending his days as a tenured professor until his bad boy ways land him in trouble with the law. He is in turn tasked with helping a police detective solve cases.

When last we tuned into CBS’ bid to bring Einstein to the States, way back in October 2020, Insatiable creator Lauren Gussis had pitched a gender-flipped series about an out-of-the-box thinking physics professor who happens to be Albert Einstein’s secret, illegitimate great-granddaughter — and in addition to teaming with a Boston police detective to solve murders, her keen insight would be used to “address the problems ever-present inside the institution of policing itself.”

Prior to that, in 2018 or so, NBC attempted a direct take on Germany’s Einstein, via writer Michael Reisz (Shadowhunters).

Does this latest take on Germany’s Einstein series interest you?

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