It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia Fans Should Check Out Kaitlin Olson's Hit Crime Drama On Hulu

Anyone who's watched "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" knows that every single member of the main cast — which is made up of Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, Charlie Day, Danny DeVito, and Kaitlin Olson — is incredible. Still, I'll put forth the idea that, even though McElhenney, Howerton, Day, and DeVito are obviously excellent, Olson, who almost didn't even get her role on the show, is the glue that holds it together. (Also, full disclosure: McElhenney might agree with me, because he and Olson met on the show and have been married since 2008.) Olson is, to put it bluntly, one of the funniest performers working today, and as Dee Reynolds, often mockingly called "Sweet Dee" by the show's odious male characters, she's disgusting, hilarious, and unbelievably precise. (Truly, some of her line readings are absolute all-timers.) Still, even if you're a huge fan of "It's Always Sunny," you might not know that, since 2024, Olson has been starring in her own series on ABC.

"High Potential," which was adapted from the French-Belgian series "Haut potentiel intellectuel" by showrunner Drew Goddard ("Daredevil," "The Good Place," and "The Cabin in the Woods"), stars Olson as Morgan Guillory, a single mom who works as a cleaning lady at the Los Angeles Police Department. Morgan has a particular set of skills that turn out to be helpful at the precinct, though; her IQ is 160 and she has a photographic memory, and she ends up joining detectives Adam Karadec (Daniel Sunjata, a television staple for decades) and Selena Soto ("Scrubs" veteran Judy Reyes) as a consultant for the police force.

This by-the-book procedural uses a "crime of the week" format, but what sets it apart, without question, is Olson's charismatic and lived-in central performance. The show was renewed for a second season in January — which makes sense, considering it smashed viewership records for ABC and Hulu — but what did critics think of its debut outing?

The first season of "High Potential" earned an impressive 96% critical average on Rotten Tomatoes with a consensus that declares, "With the ineffable Kaitlin Olson on hand to inject some spiky personality into a familiar formula, 'High Potential' is a solid procedural with plenty of upside." Individual critics were generally impressed; as Lucy Mangan wrote for The Guardian, "Watch for Olson and to see what heights of absurdity the writers can reach each episode, how much esoteric knowledge they can cram into the plot and still make it work, like jazz musicians riffing to the point of chaos then bringing it safely back home."

Robert Lloyd also praised Olson's performance in his review for The Los Angeles Times, writing, "The show is legitimately funny and quite delightful, not the least because both Olson and Morgan seem to be having a good time." Daniel Fienberg agreed for The Hollywood Reporter — "Olson represents this series' high potential. Everything else needs to catch up with her" — and Variety's Aramide Tinubu basically said Olson is the reason for the series to exist: "With Olson leading the charge and skillful actors backing her up, the series is perfectly adequate formulaic television."

Frankly, the reviews of "High Potential" have a theme, which is that Olson is just so good that she makes the show not only watchable but genuinely fun. In her review for Slate, Nadira Goffe said, "This series is exactly what it appears to be, a murder-of-the-week episodic procedural with a familiar premise of 'outsider makes use of unique talents to enter the world of crime-solving for the first time.'" Still, elsewhere in that review, Goffe makes the excellent point that a standard procedural with a lead this talented is just ... a nice thing to see in this day and age. "Olson is funny, yes, no surprise there," she wrote. "But best of all, nothing about the show seems all that real, and, though there are stakes and a longer mystery that will presumably unfold over the course of the entire season, it doesn't really matter. It's all about familiar beats and episodic story structures."

Kaitlin Olson must, frankly, have more hours in the day than you or I, because in addition to "High Potential" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," she's also found the time to play a recurring supporting role on "Hacks," one of the very best and funniest comedies on HBO Max. The series focuses on Jean Smart's stand-up comedian Deborah Vance and her relationship with her co-writer Ava Daniels (a brilliant Hannah Einbinder), but Deborah's strained relationship with her daughter, Deborah Vance Jr. — who, understandably, goes by DJ — is a major highlight of the series.

I still laugh when I think about the fact that DJ's genuinely awful jewelry line is called "D'Jewelry," a plot point introduced in season 1, and throughout the show, Olson keeps gracing it with her presence just to show off her considerable comedic talents. (In season 3, DJ demands to participate in a roast of her mother and absolutely brings the house down with a repeated punchline I absolutely cannot repeat here or I'll get fired. Just go watch "Hacks!") Despite how unbelievably busy she must be, Olson has appeared in every season of "Hacks" so far as of this writing, and since she's literally the daughter of the lead character, it's safe to assume she'll stick around. Plus, despite the fact that she's so brilliant on "Always Sunny," "Hacks" is the show that earned Olson her first two Emmy nods (in 2022 and 2024 in the guest actress in a comedy series category).

"Hacks" is streaming on HBO Max, and "High Potential" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" are both streaming on Hulu. Please — I'm begging you — go experience Olson's unbelievable brilliance for yourself.