Crimefighters Seek the Wisdom of the Crowd (CBS)

A crime series with an intriguing cyberspace premise. One year ago, college student Mia Tanner was brutally murdered. Though the lead suspect, Carlos Ochoa, was caught and convicted, Mia’s father, genius tech billionaire Jeffrey Tanner, has never believed that Ochoa was the real killer. So Tanner creates Sophie, a smartphone app which allows anyone anywhere to weigh in with anything they may know about his daughter, her murder, or any other crime – in short, crowd-sourcing crime-fighting, and making it an online community enterprise. But Detective Tommy Cavanaugh, who helped convict Ochoa, is deeply distrustful of the “wisdom of the crowd,” especially when it comes to violations of legal privacy, cyber-stalking of private citizens who aren’t even suspects, and vigilante justice carried out against individuals who are totally innocent. In the end, evidence is provided and some criminals are caught…but is it worth the price to society? Reminiscent of CBS’ former series Person of Interest (which also featured a tech genius, a government agent, and an all-knowing computer), Wisdom of the Crowd is an intriguing, and often thought-provoking, commentary on how the internet-connected world of today could be put to use making everyone’s lives better…or how it could, unintentionally, make them far, far worse. But the show is just as focused on providing an interesting mystery to solve each episode, as well as the ongoing arc about finding Mia’s true killer. The first episode was largely devoid of sex or violence, and profanity was relatively mild, making Wisdom of the Crowd an acceptable suspense series for families. Wisdom of the Crowd premieres Sunday, October 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET on CBS.