Judy Reyes: 'High Potential' highlights memory challenges

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Judy Reyes said her new show, High Potential , premiering Tuesday at 10 p.m. on ABC, honed in on her struggles with memorizing lines as she ages.

Reyes plays Selena, a police lieutenant who hires Morgan (Kaitlin Olson) as a consultant when she discovers Morgan's unique abilities to solve crimes. Based on the French series High Intellectual Potential , that term is a recognized form of giftedness that enhances cognitive skills.

When Morgan analyzes crime scenes, Olson memorizes long passages of specific dialogue. Selena's dialogue is not quite so demanding, but Reyes, 56, said memorizing any dialogue is more challenging for her than when she began acting in the '90s.

"I'm older and I don't remember [expletive] the way that I used to, "Reyes told UPI in a recent interview in Pasadena, Calif. "When I was on Scrubs , I could learn my stuff in the morning or on the way to work."

To manage the effects of aging on memory, Reyes said she builds in extra time to learn her lines.

"Now, I have to learn it as soon as I get the script, the night before," Reyes said. "Give myself more time. That's all you can do."

Memory isn't the only thing that has changed since Reyes was on the medical comedy Scrubs .

Reyes said High Potential is her first show since 2009 that filmed in Los Angeles.

" Devious [Maids] was in Atlanta," Reyes said. " Claws was in New Orleans."

Georgia and Louisiana are among many states that offer tax credits that entice productions.

Reyes said all productions have condensed since the COVID-19 pandemic and still practice some protocols.

"Everything is more compact, so it's fewer episodes, fewer writers, more intimate crew," Reyes said. "The spectacle of it is just smaller and more intimate."

Reyes said part of the appeal of playing Selena was portraying a lieutenant. It was Selena's idea to hire Morgan as a consultant, against the advice of her detective, Karadec (Daniel Sunjata).

Morgan and Karadec become reluctant partners under Selena's orders.

"Where Selena actually may break the rules by bringing on this crazy consultant, she counts on Karadec to go by the rules and by the book," Reyes said. "Whatever risks she takes, she counts on him to be the guy who's really strict."

When Morgan solves the crime, she makes Selena look good. Given the hour-long mystery format, Morgan can solve a crime every week, but High Potential involves a longer mystery in which Morgan is searching for her missing husband.

Reyes said she expects Morgan will make mistakes along the way. With her husband missing, Morgan is also a single mother, which also makes Selena recognize some similarities in her own parenting style.

"It'll definitely create the conflict and make her question the risk that she's taking, depending on this person who's almost too smart to be normal and has three kids," she said.

Reyes did not ride along with police officers to research her role as Selena, but said consulting officers advised her and her co-stars on the set of High Potential.

"If they notice something, they'll come to me," Reyes said, adding that she can also go to the consultants "if I have a question, particularly with weapons and badges and files and things. Would I hold this? Would I do this?"

High Potential airs Tuesdays on ABC and streams on Hulu.