Scott Prendergast: Last News

It was a bittersweet night for the cast and creators of So Help Me Todd. Despite the laments of fans and critics, tonight’s finale was a last glimpse of a show that many felt was gone before is time.

EXCLUSIVE: So Help Me Todd fans, who are still mourning the cancellation of the CBS series after two seasons, have something to cheer about. Series creator Scott Prendergast is back with Pennies, another light broadcast procedural that has two immediate family members at the center. In a competitive situation, Fox has landed Pennies with a script commitment plus penalty. The project hails from Kapital Entertainment which will serve as the co-studio with Fox Entertainment.

So Help Me Todd creator Scott Prendergast has reacted to news of the cancellation of the CBS comedy after two seasons.

Katcy Stephan Doug Fronk has joined the television literary department at Gersh as an agent and senior vice president. Fronk spent the last three years at A3 Artists Agency as a partner and head of television literary. Before that, he spent 19 years at Paradigm, where he worked his way up to become co-head of the television literary department.

So Help Me Todd will be back for a second season. Amid strong ratings, CBS announced today it has renewed the hit drama series starring Marcia Gay Harden and Skylar Astin for premiere in the 2023-24 broadcast season.

It was a good night for the premiere of CBS’ Thursday night lineup. Young Sheldon was not only broadcast primetime’s most-watched show last night with 6.61 million viewers, the sophomore-season premiere of Ghosts won its half hour (6.15 million) and jumped 11% over last year’s premiere on October. 7, 2021 (5.5 million), according to Nielsen Live+Same Day ratings.

Marcia Gay Harden and Skylar Astin star in CBS' new drama, which follows razor-sharp attorney Margaret Wright, who hires her talented but aimless son, Todd, as her law firm's in-house investigator. ET was first on the Vancouver set in August, where Harden and Astin previewed their series, which premieres Thursday.«Dynamic duo, that’s us,» Astin told ET's Lauren Zima on the set in August while they were filming episode 3. «I love working with Marcia. I love sparring with Marcia in the scenes.

Caroline Framke Chief TV Critic On its surface, “So Help Me Todd” is fairly straightforward. Based on creator Scott Prendergast’s own experiences, the new dramedy tells the story of high-powered lawyer Joan (Marcia Gay Harden) and her private investigator son (Skylar Astin) forging an unlikely partnership. Each episode follows a different case before the odd couple team inevitably catch the culprit and teach each other a valuable lesson. So far, so fitting for a CBS procedural. And yet there’s something deeply uncanny about “So Help Me Todd,” which pairs an aggressive perkiness with moments of drama that feel more forced than moving. Todd and Joan spend the first few episodes sniping at each other in between finding clues. Once Todd proves that he’s a good enough private investigator to overcome his spotty past, he joins Joan’s office, where he locks horns with an uptight coworker Lyle (Tristen J. Winger) and ex-girlfriend Susan (Inga Schlingmann), neither of whom get much to do outside giving Todd other people to talk to besides his mother. At home, Todd’s sister Allison (Madeline Wise) occasionally gives the show a much needed dose of dry skepticism, though she also is only here to support her brother and mother’s leading stories.

Marcia Gay Harden said her Tony-winning role as Veronica in “God of Carnage” helped shape the character she plays in the new CBS dramedy “So Help Me Todd.”“‘So Help Me Todd’ is blending the drama with the comedy, and that’s right up my alley,” Harden, 63, told The Post. “It’s truly what I prefer to do.

EXCLUSIVE: Elizabeth Klaviter, who served as executive producer/showrunner on CBS’ drama series Clarice, has been tapped to serve in the same capacity on the network’s newly picked up hourlong series So Help Me Todd, starring Marcia Gay Harden and Skylar Astin. She succeeds Liz Kruger and Craig Shapiro, who had signed on as EP/showrunners for the pilot of the CBS TV Studios-produced light drama.

Geena Davis is dropping out.

EXCLUSIVE: Madeline Wise (Curb Your Enthusiasm) and newcomer Inga Schlingmann are set as series regulars opposite Geena Davis and Skylar Astin in CBS’ mother-and-son legal drama pilot from writer/executive producer Scott Prendergast and executive producer Phil McGraw. Additionally, Liz Kruger and Craig Shapiro (Charmed) have joined as showrunners and executive producers.

Skylar Astin, coming off his starring role on Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, has been tapped as the male lead opposite Geena Davis in CBS’ mother-and-son legal drama pilot from writer/executive producer Scott Prendergast and executive producer Phil McGraw.

Geena Davis is taking on a new role!

Oscar-winner Geena Davis has been tapped as the co-lead for a CBS’ untitled mother-son legal drama pilot from Scott Prendergast, who wrote the script and executive produces, Deadline has confirmed.

Selome Hailu CBS has given a pilot order to “East New York,” a drama series written by William Finkelstein and Mike Flynn.The series follows Regina Haywood, the newly promoted police captain of East New York, an impoverished, working class neighborhood at the eastern edge of Brooklyn. She leads a diverse group of officers and detectives, some of whom are reluctant to deploy her creative methods of serving and protecting during the midst of social upheaval and the early seeds of gentrification.Finkelstein is best known for his writing and producing work on a number of police and legal dramas.

EXCLUSIVE: CBS has given a pilot green light to Cal Fire, a drama from SEAL Team star Max Thieriot, Grey’s Anatomy alums Tony Phelan and Joan Rater, Jerry Bruckheimer Television and CBS Studios where the company is based. This is CBS’ second in-cycle drama pilot this season, joining a mother-and-son legal drama from Scott Prendergast and Dr. Phil McGraw.

CBS has made its first order of the 2022 pilot season. The network has handed a pilot pickup to a mother and son legal drama from Scott Prendergast, who wrote on FX’s Wilfred and starred in HBO’s Silicon Valley, and Dr. Phil McGraw.

Selome Hailu CBS announced a pilot order for a currently untitled drama series from Scott Prendergast for the 2021-22 development season. Prendergast will serve as writer and executive producer.In the series, a talented but directionless private investigator who is the black sheep of his family begrudgingly agrees to work as the in-house investigator for his overbearing mother, a successful attorney reeling from the recent dissolution of her marriage.Prendergast is known for writing, directing and starring in the 2007 comedy film “Kabluey,” which follows a woman (Lisa Kudrow) struggling to keep her life together while her husband is away in Iraq, until her brother-in-law (Prendergast) shows up to help.