The Irrational

The Irrational
Genre	Police procedural Crime drama
Created by	Arika Mittman
Based on	Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
Starring	Jesse L. Martin Maahra Hill Travina Springer Molly Kunz Arash DeMaxi
Composer	Danny Lux
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	17
Production
Executive producers	Arika Mittman Mark Goffman Samuel Baum
Producer	Jesse L. Martin
Running time	42 minutes
Production companies	Simon-Binx Productions Samuel Baum Productions Off the Cliff Entertainment Universal Television
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 25, 2023 (2023-09-25) – present

The Irrational is an American crime drama television series created by Arika Mittman. It is loosely based on the life of Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist and professor at Duke University, and his 2008 non-fiction book Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions.^[1] The show features Jesse L. Martin in the role of Alec Mercer, a behavioral scientist who, like Ariely, lends his expertise to governments, law enforcement, and corporations to solve complex issues. Co-stars include Molly Kunz as Pheobe, Alec's grad student, and Maahra Hill as Special Agent Marisa Clark.

Season one of The Irrational premiered on September 25, 2023, on NBC, and season two began airing a year later, on October 8, 2024. With the series' premiere attracting over 3.8 million viewers, it received good reviews from critics and a 5.1/10 rating on Rotten Tomatoes.^[2]

Professor Alec Mercer is a professor of behavioral psychology, whose interests, human irrationality in particular, reflect Ariely’s own work in behavioral economics. Like his prototype, Mercer demonstrates how unconscious biases and emotional impulses influence decision-making, often in ways that defy logical reasoning. Throughout the show, Mercer applies his insights into human nature to helpcooperates with the police and the FBI solve high-stake criminal cases, including murders, plane crashes, and kidnappings. This echoes Ariely’s real-life role as a consultant to governments and corporations, where he leverages his expertise in behavioral science to address complex societal challenges such as policy-making, health decisions, and fraud detection Additionally, Mercer's personal backstory, including the life-changing injury that left him physically scarred, mirrors Ariely’s experience of suffering injuries after an explosion–an accident that aroused his interest in understanding the emotional and psychological dimensions of pain and human behavior.^[3]

• Jesse L. Martin as Professor Alec Mercer, an expert in behavioral science
• Maahra Hill as Special Agent Marisa Clark, an FBI agent and Alec's ex-wife
• Arash DeMaxi as Rizwan, Alec's newest grad student
• Molly Kunz as Phoebe, Alec's grad student assistant
• Travina Springer as Kylie, Alec's younger sister

• Brian King as Special Agent Jace Richards, an FBI agent and Marisa's new boyfriend
• Karen David as Rose Dinshaw, a crisis management professional, and Alec's new girlfriend
• Ben Cotton as Wes Banning, a criminal convicted of the bombing that injured Alec

In November 2021, NBC announced it had given a put pilot commitment to The Irrational, and Arika Mittman stepped in as the show's writer and executive producer.^[1] So did Mark Goffman, Samuel Baum, David Frankel, and Dan Ariely.^[1] In February 2022, The Irrational received a pilot order. In April 2022, it was announced Jesse L. Martin had been cast as the show's lead character, Alec Mercer, and would also serve as a producer for the pilot. It was also announced that the series would be written by Arika Mittman, with Dan Ariely serving as consultant.^[22] In September 2022, NBC commissioned a mini-room to produce a couple of backup scripts to go with the well-received pilot.^[23] In October 2022, NBC extended its options on the cast, which were due to expire in October, to that December.^[24] In December 2022, NBC picked up The Irrational pilot and gave it a series order. It was revealed at this time that David Frankel was the director and would also be serving as an executive producer along with Mittman, Mark Goffman and Samuel Baum.^[25] On November 17, 2023, NBC ordered an extra episode for the series, bringing the first-season order to a total of 11 episodes.^[26] On November 29, 2023, NBC renewed the series for a second season.^[27]

In May 2022, it was announced that Maahra Hill would join the cast in a lead role opposite Jesse L. Martin.^[28] In June 2022, Travina Springer, Molly Kunz, and Arash DeMaxi were added to the cast. In June 2023, Brian King joined the cast in a recurring role.^[29]

Season 2 featured the same actors, along with Ariely himself, who joined the cast as a psychiatric patient.

Filming of the pilot took place from late May to early June 2022 in Vancouver, British Columbia,^[28] standing in for Washington, D.C., and the adjoining Virginia area.^[30] After seven episodes were filmed, production stopped due to the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.^[31] Filming for the second season began on March 11, 2024 and is scheduled to conclude on November 2, 2024.^[32]

The Irrational premiered on September 25, 2023, on NBC. It is available to stream on Peacock.^[33] The pilot episode of The Irrational then premiered on September 27, 2023, on USA Network.^[34] The second season premiered on October 8, 2024 on NBC.^[35]

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 47% with an average rating of 5.1/10, based on 17 critic reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Irrational could've used a lot more originality to live up to its promise, although Jesse L. Martin's shrewd presence makes even the utterly conventional pretty watchable."^[36] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 55 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[37]

• Official website
• The Irrational at IMDb