Medical dramas are a popular genre, but NBC’s Brilliant Minds is different from other shows because it’s based on the life and work of the real-life Dr. Oliver Sacks and his long-time friend Dr. Carol Burnett.
The series focuses on Dr. Oliver Wolfe (Zachary Quinto), a legendary neurologist who is not afraid to break the rules to help his patients live their lives.
While many stories center on him, the series wouldn’t be successful without his oldest friend, Dr. Carol Pierce, who recruits him to the Bronx hospital. Together they run their dream neuropsychology team, helping many patients who others have given up on.
TV Fanatic talks to Tamberla Perry about playing Dr. Carol Pierce, working with Zachary Quinto, and why “Brilliant Mind” is different from other medical dramas.
She was fascinating to talk to, and after speaking with her, I was even more excited to see where this series would go.
Check out the interview below.
So, what was it about the script for Brilliant Minds that attracted you to it?
The first thing that attracted me was the character of Dr. Carol Pierce, or “Fierce,” as I like to call her, because she’s fierce. I loved her from the moment she was introduced on page six of the script. I love what she stands for and what she says.
I loved the way she immediately called her friend out and met him. The beauty of Oliver and Carol’s relationship is that she can see him when others can’t. But the show is different. This is unlike any show I’ve seen in the past, we focus on exploring the mind. Not many shows do this.
I like her too. Were there any women who inspired you when creating your characters?
Oh yes. Most importantly, Dr. Carol Pierce was inspired by the real-life Carol E. Burnett, a long-time friend and confidant of Dr. Oliver Sachs, upon whom the entire series was inspired. .
So I pulled information from existing sources about her being the first black woman to graduate from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1960.
She is a trailblazer for diversity in medical education and a leader in eliminating health disparities. I learned some amazing things from what little information I could find about her.
I also injected a lot of women in my life into the character, like my mom, my sisters, and two big stars that I look up to in the industry, Diahann Carroll and Regina King of women.
She is an amalgamation of all these different women in my life. These women bring grace, intelligence, humor, ferocity and audacity to the role.
marvelous. What can you tell me about the friendship of Dr. Carol Pierce and Dr. Oliver Wolfe? It seems that their history is quite long.
Well, like the real Carol Burnett and Dr. Oliver Sacks. Well, Carol Pierce and Dr. Oliver Wolfe were good friends.
We’re not tied to a time period, which is one of the lovely things about the stories we tell. So while real-life people inspired these stories and characters, we weren’t tied to them.
But our relationship is that we went to school together. We are each other’s day. We have been friends for a long time. She knows him. He knows her.
She was the director of psychology and recruited him to work at her hospital, forming this neuropsychology dream team to help patients who people thought were hopeless, crazy, or abandoned.
As such, she knew others might view him as challenging or difficult to work with when recruiting him. She knew he was a genius who put himself in the shoes of all his patients and understood their conditions.
What was it like working with Zachary Quinto?
Everyone likes to ask this question. marvelous. I can’t describe how close we’ve come. I first met him the last time I auditioned for the show. That’s the end of Zoom.
But it was an extraordinary experience. He’s a great leader and a wonderful friend both on and off the screen, and I hope our off-screen friendship translates to the screen.
You said this show is different, so how will you two combine psychology and neurology to approach some of these cases differently than a lot of other medical shows?
There are some amazing medical dramas out there. What sets us apart is that we won’t fix you.
When you leave our hospital, you’re going to have the same issues, but we’re going to give you and both our departments some tools to adapt. The show is about real-world adaptability.
Just like you wouldn’t expect to go into treatment and be cured within an hour, it doesn’t happen within an hour of our treatment. You’ll occasionally see the same characters every week.
We are a dream team in psychology and neurology, and our talented interns are giving people the tools to function in the new normal.
Well, that’s interesting. What can you tease about some of these cases? For example, what kind of cases will we see?
Each of our cases is unique, but they are all real. Many of them are taken from Oliver Sacks himself and real-life cases. We have a doctor who is also a writer and can come up with ideas.
There will be many seemingly absurd cases. Yeah, but it’s all true. I think one of the things we want to convey to the audience is that these things are real.
We’re not making anything up here. So you have to stay tuned and know what’s happening each week. But I think you’ll get a real treat.
You said some guest stars will appear more than once.
Oh, absolutely. Because that’s the nature of mental health, it’s not something that can be cured. There is no way to cure it. If you take medications, they eventually won’t work as well.
But the beauty of our show is we tell you how to cope. We provide you with the tools. So, yes, you’re going to see some cases that last for many episodes.
This is very interesting. Why do you think Get Smart appeals to fans of medical dramas?
Because it’s different. Because mental health is a hot topic right now. Now more than ever, people are being transparent about their journeys and mental health, to the point where they can admit that something is going on.
I think people will see themselves. If people come to the show and see themselves, the doctors, the patients, or any of the guest stars, the characters that we created, then we’ve done our job because that’s what we want.
We want people to come to the show. We want them to feel seen.
Brilliant Minds will premiere on Monday, September 23rd at 10/9c on NBC and will air on Peacock the following day.
Check back after the episode for our weekly reviews.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
