在“法律和秩序”九个赛季之后玩Green and eight seasons on “The Flash” as Joe West, Jesse L. Martin is practically royalty in the annals of TV detectives. As such, his return to the weekly grind as a crime stopper should be cause for celebration.

Unfortunately for the actor and his fans, “The Irrational,” which premieres Monday, Sept. 25 on NBC, is a weak procedural that’s undeserving of the efforts by its leading man to elevate the material. Beset by unexciting mysteries and uninteresting supporting characters, it can’t quite escape the shadows of all the superior shows from which it’s clearly taken inspiration.

Martin plays Professor Alec Mercer, a behavioral psychologist (very loosely based on Duke University’s Dan Ariely, author of the 2008 book “Predictably Irrational”) who moonlights as an adviser to the FBI to help navigate particularly difficult cases.

This makes Mercer the latest in a long line of “quirky special advisers” in TV series such as ABC’s “Castle,” CBS’ “The Mentalist,” “Eleventh Hour” and “Elementary,” USA’s “Psych,” Fox’s “Lie to Me” — the list is multitudinous.

It’s a proven formula audiences respond to, generally working as a 40-minute time-filler: Set up the central conundrum in the cold open, then have the lead solve it before the credits roll. In each of these instances, the central character isn’t specifically a law enforcement official, but the “special adviser” part affords many of the same privileges. Meanwhile, the “quirky” part lets various supporting characters ooh and ahh as some heretofore unobserved bit of evidence is broken down in exacting detail. There’s definitely a lot of that in “The Irrational.”

Created by Arika Mittman, the show’s title refers to the peculiarities of human thinking that have us act irrationally even in the face of opposing evidence, such as being more scared of flying than driving when statistically car accidents are far more common. This intrinsic knowledge of human behavior allows Mercer to pick up on cues other investigators miss or simply fail to look for, and he often dragoons his student assistants (Molly Kunz and Arash DeMaxi) as well as his sister (Travina Springer) into various social experiments to prove a theory. These moments are where the show excels, allowing Martin to monologue us through some truisms we may never have noticed while illuminating a bit of data relevant to the specific episode.

As far as continuing plotlines, Mercer retains feelings for his ex-wife Marisa (Maahra Hill), who just so happens to be the FBI agent he works with. There’s also his quest to find the man responsible for a bombing he experienced as a youth, leaving him with facial scars and a hole in his memory.

Both of these threads — unresolved romance and “who is the bomber?” — are interwoven throughout the three episodes made available for review, often in a haphazard manner that feels more like checking boxes than narrative necessity. The problem is less about the subplots being predictable and dull than it is about the episodes’ main plots being predictable and dull. We’ve just seen this show too many times for it to feel truly new.

Beyond that, the cases Mercer is tasked with solving aren’t exactly locked-room whodunits. The perpetrator is easy to spot, and we’re just waiting for the show to catch up. For a mystery series, that’s a problem.

To be clear, Martin — ever charismatic and always watchable — makes a gallant try at keeping this enterprise afloat. He’s working hard, and he deserves a vehicle worthy of those efforts. The fact that he’s trapped in this one is simply irrational.

Correction:An earlier version of this story misidentified the actors playing student assistants. They are Molly Kunz and Arash DeMaxi.

Zaki Hasan is a freelance writer.