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SO HELP ME TODD With Marcia Gay Harden & Skylar Astin Premieres Tonight. Filmed in Vancouver.

SO HELP ME TODD With Marcia Gay Harden & Skylar Astin Premieres Tonight. Filmed in Vancouver.

CBS’s new Thursday night series So Help Me Todd, with Marcia Gay Harden as successful lawyer Margaret and Skylar Astin as her scruffy, aimless private investigator son Todd, premieres tonight.

The dramedy has been filming in Vancouver for the past two months.

OK. I need for you to put together a plan to live an adult, financially solvent life – Mom to Todd.

What are you doing, get off the wheel?! I am driving this car. – Todd.

Todd & Mom.

Marcia Gay Harden & Skylar Astin in Downtown Vancouver.

Filming dates: July 27 2022 – December 16 2022

Creator: Scott Prendergast.

New showrunner: Elizabeth Klaviter.

Pilot writer/producers:: Liz Kruger, Craig Shapiro.

Cast: Marcia Gay Harden, Skylar Astin, Madeline Wise, Inga Schlingmann, Rosa Arrendondo, Tristan J. Winger. 

The pilot shot here in the Spring.

So Help Me Todd follows razor-sharp, meticulous attorney Margaret Wright (Marcia Gay Harden) and her talented but scruffy, aimless son Todd (Skylar Astin) whom she hires as her law firm’s in-house investigator. As the black sheep of the well-heeled Wright family, Todd is a laid-back, quick-thinking, excellent former private detective who fell on hard times after his flexible interpretation of the law got his license revoked.

Margaret’s penchant for excellence and strict adherence to the law is at complete odds with Todd’s scrappy methods of finding his way through sticky situations: by the seat of his wrinkled pants. When Todd inadvertently teams with his mother on a case, she’s surprised to find herself duly impressed by – and proud of – his crafty ability to sleuth out information with his charm and his wide-ranging tech savvy. 

At last, Margaret sees a way to put her son on a “suitable” path to living an adult, financially solvent life she approves of, and she asks him to join her firm. Todd agrees, since it means getting his license back and once again doing the job he excels at and loves. Mother and son working together is a big first step toward mending their fragile, dysfunctional relationship, and they may even come away with a better understanding of each other at this pivotal point in their lives. But whether Todd and Margaret will be able to accept each other for who they are is another case entirely.

The pilot shot in the TD Bank tower on weekends as the law firm Crest, Folding & Song.

Madeline Wise is Todd’s sister Allison, an ER trauma surgeon.

Inga Schlingmann is Todd’s former girlfriend Susan, who now works with his mother Margaret at her law firm.

Rosa Arrendondo is Margaret’s “Girl Friday” Francey at the law firm.

Tristan J. Winger is licensed investigator Lyle at Margaret’s law firm. 

Director: Amy York Rubin.

Producers: Stage 29 Productions, Scott Prendergast.

The pilot shot here in the Spring.

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Wrap photo

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