‘So Help Me Todd’: He Said/She Said With Skylar Astin & Marcia Gay Harden

Marcia Gay Harden (The Morning Show) and Skylar Astin (Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist) are a top-notch comedy duo in So Help Me Todd, a drama about a distinguished law partner, Margaret Wright, who hires her black sheep son, disgraced private detective Todd, to be an in-house investigator at her Oregon firm.

“They’re going to learn how to work together,” Harden says of the odd couple, who are arguing over his choice of profession when the series begins. (Then, her husband goes missing.) The actors spill more.

(Credit: Michael Courtney/CBS)

What’s the first thing you loved about your character?

Skylar Astin: His messiness. Even though he’s starting at the bottom, he has fun with it. He’s constantly pulling stuff out of his jacket like a Mary Poppins. I want to eventually make it like he’s Inspector Gadget.

Marcia Gay Harden: Her humor. She thinks she’s right about almost everything. I think it’s very funny when someone of that hubris falls a bit off of the pedestal that they’ve built for themselves.

Describe the mother-son dynamic.

Astin: Both people think that they are in the right, but they also want respect out of the other person. Often, Todd’s zany antics are onto something.

Harden: Oil and vinegar. Margaret sees what her other two kids [an ER doctor and a governor’s chief of staff] have achieved. What is Todd’s gift? What does she brag about? She learns.

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And the secret to your chemistry is…

Astin: We did a stakeout scene in the pilot. We were arguing in character before the director called “Action!” I’ll always match her.

Harden: Skylar likes to improv, as do I. He adds this physical energy and excitement. That wonderful goofiness is so endearing.

So Help me Todd, Series Premiere, Thursday, September 29, 9/8c, CBS

This is an excerpt from TV Guide Magazine’s 2022 Fall Preview issue. For more first looks at fall’s new shows, pick up the issue, on newsstands now.