''So Help Me Todd'' is an American legal drama television series, created by Scott Prendergast, that premiered on September 29, 2022, on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

. The series follows a talented but directionless private investigator, who begrudgingly agrees to work at his overbearing mother's law firm. It stars

Marcia Gay Harden Marcia Gay Harden (born August 14, 1959) is an American actress. She is the recipient of accolades including an Academy Award and a Tony Award, in addition to nominations for a Critics' Choice Movie Award and three Primetime Emmy Awards. Born ...

Skylar Astin Skylar Astin Lipstein (born September 23, 1987) is an American actor and singer. He became known for portraying Jesse Swanson in the musical films ''Pitch Perfect'' (2012) and ''Pitch Perfect 2'' (2015). He originated the role of Georg in the Broa ...

, Madeline Wise, Tristen J. Winger, Inga Schlingmann, and Rosa Arrendondo.

Premise

''So Help Me Todd'' follows Todd, whose instincts as a private investigator are good, but he lacks direction and is the

black sheep In the English language, black sheep is an idiom that describes a member of a group who is different from the rest, especially a family member who does not fit in. The term stems from sheep whose fleece is colored black rather than the more comm ...

of his family. At the insistence of his strong-willed mother, Margaret, Todd reluctantly agrees to work at her

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, law firm as an in-house investigator. Margaret believes in strictly adhering to the law, which is at complete odds with Todd's tendency to bend the law to navigate sticky situations.

Cast

as Margaret, a defense attorney who completed her

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

degree after the death of her first husband, who was the father of her children *

as Todd, Margaret's youngest child, a former private detective hired by Margaret's firm * Madeline Wise as Allison, Todd's married sister, an ER doctor * Tristen J. Winger as Lyle, a fastidious in-house investigator at Margaret's firm * Inga Schlingmann as Susan, Todd's engaged ex-girlfriend, a lawyer at Margaret's firm * Rosa Evangelina Arredondo as Francey, Margaret's executive assistant

Episodes

Production

Development

On February 3, 2022, it was announced that CBS had given a pilot order to an untitled mother and son legal drama from Scott Prendergast. The series is produced by Prendergast, Dr. Phil McGraw,

Jay McGraw Jay Phillip McGraw (born September 12, 1979) is an American writer and television producer. He has written several books aimed at young people and is president and CEO of Stage 29 Productions. He is the son of celebrity therapist Phil McGraw and ...

, and Julia Eisenmann. The pilot episode was also written by Prendergast. On March 15, 2022, Liz Kruger and Craig Shapiro joined the series as

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...

s and executive producers. On May 12, 2022, it was announced that CBS had given the production, titled ''So Help Me Todd'', a series order. It was also announced that Elizabeth Klaviter had replaced Kruger and Shapiro as the series' showrunner. On October 19, 2022, the series received a full season order.

Casting

In March 2022, it was announced that

Geena Davis Virginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis (born January 21, 1956) is an American actor

had signed on to star in the series. Shortly after,

was announced to star opposite her, as her son. Madeline Wise and Inga Schlingmann also joined the cast in lead roles. After having filmed the pilot, it was announced that Davis had exited the series. On March 23, 2022, it was announced that

had replaced Davis. A few days later, it was announced that Rosa Arredondo and Tristen J. Winger had also joined the cast in series regular roles.

Filming

Production on the pilot began in March 2022 in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. Filming for the rest of the season began on July 27, 2022, and is scheduled to conclude on April 10, 2023. A

TD Bank Toronto-Dominion Bank (french: links=no, Banque Toronto-Dominion), doing business as TD Bank Group (french: links=no, Groupe Banque TD), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. ...

office in downtown Vancouver serves as Margaret's law firm.

Broadcast

On May 18, 2022, CBS announced its fall broadcast schedule for the 2022-23 television season, with ''So Help Me Todd'' airing on Thursdays at 9:00PM ET. On June 23, 2022, the series was given a September 29, 2022, premiere date. ''So Help Me Todd'' began airing on September 29, 2022, on

in the United States, and on Global TV in Canada.

Reception

Critical response

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a 50% approval rating based on 8 critic reviews.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 51 out of 100 based on 6 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Ratings

References

External links

* * {{CBSNetwork Shows (current and upcoming) 2020s American workplace drama television series 2020s American legal television series 2022 American television series debuts American legal drama television series CBS original programming English-language television shows Television series about families Television series by CBS Studios Television shows set in Portland, Oregon