‘Good Wife’ creators’ follow-up is ‘BrainDead’ on arrival

Photo: Photo: Michael Parmelee/CBS ©2016 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved Laurel Healy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and John Quilty as...

The line between courageously creative and downright foolhardy is a thin one, especially in television. We applaud taking chances even if the result falls short. But when it’s a near complete mess, all we can do is look away.

“BrainDead,” created by Michelle and Robert King and premiering Monday, June 13, on CBS, is described in a press summary as a “comic-thriller.” Well, there is one moment of humor when a man tapes plastic cups to his ears so his head won’t be invaded by space bugs. As for being a “thriller,” the only part that vaguely qualifies is that the story is set in real time during the 2016 presidential campaign and we don’t yet know if it will be President Clinton or President Trump.

Laurel Healy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is a young documentary filmmaker who is unable to get funding for her current project and is basically blackmailed by her rich father, Dean Healy (Zach Grenier), into taking a job with her brother, Luke Healy (Danny Pino), who is the Senate Democratic whip. If she sticks with the job for six months, Daddy will give her money to finish her film.

Her job is to solve constituent problems, which leads her into a mystery surrounding a recovered meteor that seems to have had some kind of effect on the husband of a constituent named Breanna Burke (Nilaja Sun). One day, Breanna is sure something got into her husband’s brain; the next day, she’s never been happier.

The difference is space bugs: an intergalactic breed of screwworms that literally get inside your head and change your personality. They don’t stop at Breanna Burke and her husband. Soon they’re romping around the crania of a couple of senators, a young chess player, a renowned scientist and a college friend of Laurel’s. At worst, they can cause a host’s head to explode like one of Gallagher’s watermelons.

Why?

“Not many people know about this, but bugs fart,” says Gustav Triplett (Johnny Ray Gill), who is obsessed with stopping the infestation.

What isn’t explained is whether space bugs get more flatulent from eating a Democratic brain or a Republican one.

All of this is set against the background of a government shutdown caused by a far-too-familiar political stalemate between Democrats and Republicans.

There are some humanizing, albeit predictable, subplots, such as the flirtatious alliance between Laurel and Gareth Ritter (Aaron Tveit), the boyish aide to Republican Sen. Red Wheatus (Tony Shalhoub), and her equally flirtatious relationship with FBI Agent Anthony Onofrio (Charlie Semine). And there are some gimmicky red herrings, such as a pair of FBI agents who turn up from time to time to share a candy bar, and the fact that the Cars’ song “You Might Think” seems to be on a perpetual loop everywhere in Washington.

The city’s famous cherry blossoms also play a role in the proceedings. Apparently, they serve as a kind of Motel 6 for space bugs before they resettle in a human brain. Never mind the fact that when the cherry blossoms do bloom, they are at their peak for only a few days.

The actors are appealing and the performances are weirdly credible, but only if you don’t bother to think about what’s being said.

The cast’s good work is fatally undermined by the show’s fuzzy concept. After space bugs set up housekeeping in the first politician’s brain, we get the joke. By the second or third occupation, it gets tiresome. We get the irony: Politicians are brainless and now their heads are exploding.

To the Kings’ credit, sort of, the space bugs are mostly nonpartisan: They are as attracted to the brains of Republicans as they are Democrats. At least in the three episodes made available to critics, we do not know if they are equally attracted to Libertarian and democratic socialist cerebra.

Granted, this year’s presidential campaign is exhausting and depressing, and we’re bombarded with political coverage on the media. But there is still room for smart and funny political satire. In fact, when it is smart and funny, it can help ease the agony of watching the “real” politicians. We see that every week with “Veep,” for example.

The Kings, of course, were the creators of “The Good Wife,” and Ridley Scott, who was that show’s executive producer, is on board in that capacity again. This would be only minimally useful information if there weren’t little reminders of the previous show scattered about “BrainDead,” such as the presence of Grenier, who played David Lee in Diane Lockhart’s law firm; actors such as Megan Hilty and Nikki M. James, who had recurring roles on “The Good Wife”; and background music very reminiscent of the earlier show.

The fact that “The Good Wife” has been off the air for only a few weeks, and that it was memorable, sets high expectations for the Kings’ follow-up. But every series has to be taken on its own merits, and even though the Kings created one of the best shows on broadcast TV in the last decade, you’d still scratch your head trying to find either a reason to keep watching “BrainDead,” or a space bug making a beeline for your ear canal.

After three episodes, I might vote for the latter.

David Wiegand is an assistant managing editor and the TV critic of The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: dwiegand@sfchronicle.com Twitter: WaitWhat_TV Follow on Facebook.

BrainDead: Comedy-drama. 10 p.m. Monday, June 13, on CBS.