'Evil' Season 1: CBS's new show questions social media’s impact on non-binary nature of evil
It is not an easy task when it comes to striking a fine line separating science from all things supernatural. CBS, however, is now coming up with a new psychological mystery series, titled 'Evil', that aims to explore and examine the origins of evil and how non-binary the entire concept is when bordering on the fine line between science and religion.
Sprinkled on the topic will be the impact of modern-day social media on the concept of evil, and how every connotation associated with the term has changed over the years as social media's influences opened up channels, networks, and several subcategories and the fine line diving what is good and what is evil has never been more blurred.
"The series focuses on a skeptical female psychologist who joins a priest-in-training and a carpenter as they investigate the Church’s backlog of unexplained mysteries, including supposed miracles, demonic possessions, and hauntings. Their job is to assess if there is a logical explanation or if something truly supernatural is at work," says the official CBS synopsis of the show.
Katja Herberts stars as the skeptical clinical psychologist and Mike Colter plays the role of the priest-in-training. Michelle King, Robert King, and Liz Glotzer all executive producers for CBS Television Studios, with Robert King having helmed the pilot. Both Michelle and Robert have also served as writers for the show that was being written for "the last year and researching it for the last thirty," shared Michelle at this year's Television Critics Association.
But if Robert is to be trusted, it was the modern acts of violence and terrorism in recent times that has shaped the CBS show's core, as it opens the conversation on the possibility of these attacks of terrorism being a supernatural occurrence because of social media's ever-expanding grip on reality. “I think the show is trying to avoid the binary," Robert said at the 2019 TCA. "What we wanted to do is explore how social media has changed in terms of what is evil and how evil has moved from one person to another… We are making that a real focus, especially in this first season, how social media has basically changed the definitions” he added.
So, as mentioned explicitly by Robert himself, 'Evil' won't be your stereotypical paranormal busting show; there won't be exorcisms or people with advanced technology asking the signature question "Is someone here?" There will be more than such scary apparitions and creepy children's laughter, as CBS' 'Evil' will explore why the most random phenomenons go what is fashionably labeled 'viral.'
From "a school where all the girls start laughing, and it seems to be almost viral" to "the boss who throws things at his employees", Robert claims it is all these niches, but grey areas of all things slightly twisted that the CBS show will evaluate. The show will try to find out if these are purely manmade or some supernatural entity have something to do with making people act out of the ordinary.
'Evil' premieres This September 26, at 10/9c, only on CBS.