Having a grandfather, a mother, and a cousin afflicted with schizoprenia and going through many psychology courses, I can safely say I'm very familar with the mental illness.
After watching the second episode, I'm a little bothered. Yes, this protryal of schizoprenia is a bit more 'light' than many of those who suffer from the illness. On one hand, Dr.Pierce suffers from halucinations and delusions (which are not too terrfying or disturbing) but on the other, he shows little or no signs of disorganized thought patterns (speech is clear). Then again, he is a man with Paranoid schizoprenia and these latter symptoms are less common.
Of course, not every person with schizoprenia suffers at the same level. Some are more severe than others.
I also find it a bit unerving that the big message of the show seems to be "People with schizoprenia should go without their medication because their schizoprenia is actually a super power!" So...his halucinations are helping him solve crimes...? Eh...what now?
But I do find it good that it shows some of the negatives of the actual illness, namely his isolation from other people.
I think another show, a bit more darker than this one, would do a better job of protraying the illness but I think this one is doing an okay job.
These are just the first two episodes and I think it deserves more time.
edited 19th Jul '12 9:17:02 PM by hybridelement
Rawrz?

Well, anyone else catch this awesome new show about a professor with schizophrenia solving crimes along side a hot action girl? I surely hope so. I don't want it to get cancelled. 5.6 million watched the first episode, pretty good according to these people
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Haven't seen the entire pilot episode yet but so far it looks like a fair portrayal of people with mental illness. I love it dearly for that alone. Dr. Pierce is "not" a person with Funny Schizophrenia, he suffers from his illness yet he isn't violent. He is paranoid and has conspiracy theories
but they aren't out there (no aliens) and from the amount of show I've seen, I can't really say if his paranoia doesn't stem from being a college professor ^.^.
Also Lewicki is awesome.
Here is the overview.