‘So Help Me Todd’ Throws Skylar Astin and Marcia Gay Harden Into an Aggressively Perky Dramedy: TV Review

In 2012, Fieri opened his first New York restaurant, Guy’s American Kitchen and Bar, in Times Square, prompting a review from New York Times food critic Pete Wells that was quickly exalted by both writers and Fieri detractors as a masterpiece. “Is the entire restaurant a very expensive piece of conceptual art?” Wells wrote.

Caroline Framke Chief TV Critic If you’re someone of a certain (gay) persuasion, all I have to say about “High School” to pique your interest is that it’s a) a new coming-of-age drama about twin musicians Tegan and Sara Quin that’s b) based on Tegan and Sara’s own memoir, c) co-stars Cobie Smulders as their mother and d) was created in large part by no other than Clea DuVall, whose performance in “But I’m a Cheerleader” among many other credits has long made her the subject of many a queer awakening. Whether these points immediately intrigue you or not, though, you should also know that the show is also great. You don’t have to know who Tegan and Sara are to appreciate their story, which explores loneliness, connection and longing with such palpable empathy.

Brendan Fraser was one of the biggest action stars of the ’90s and early ’00s, but he later receded from the public eye — leaving fans eagerly awaiting his comeback.

A starry group of global talent has been set to join Paolo Sorrentino on the main jury for the 19th edition of the Marrakech International Film Festival which runs from November 11-19 in the Moroccan city. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The Marrakech International Film Festival will make a big comeback this year with a star-studded jury, including Oscar Isaac (“Scenes from a Marriage”), Vanessa Kirby (“The Son”), French actor Tahar Rahim (“The Serpent”), Australian director Justin Kurzel (“Nitram”) and Danish director Susanne Bier (“The Undoing”). Lebanese director and actor Nadine Labaki (“Caparnum”), German actor Diane Kruger (“Inglorious Basterds”) and Moroccan director Laïla Marrakchi (“Marock”) complete the high-profile jury. As previously announced, Paolo Sorrentino, the Oscar-winning director of “The Great Beauty” and “The Hand of God,” will preside over the jury, which spans 10 countries from four continents.

Skylar Astin has got you covered on Thursdays. The actor stars in CBS' freshman drama, as the titular character — an aimless but brilliant investigator who's brought in to his mother's firm to help solve cases — and he sat down with Nischelle Turner on the ET stages to talk about his new series.«I play Todd Wright, who is a former private investigator stripped of his license, and I have to go work for my high-powered attorney mother, Margaret Wright, played by Marcia Gay Harden,» Astin tells ET.

Caroline Framke Chief TV Critic It was only a matter of time before broadcast TV — where police procedurals reign supreme — took a harder pivot into exploring the lives of firefighters. With audiences either craving more cop content or deeply skeptical of its lionization, it makes sense that networks might be more into the idea of spotlighting firefighters, who tend to point hoses at the danger they face rather than guns. Now joining the likes of ABC’s “Station 19” and NBC’s “Chicago Fire” is CBS’ “Fire Country.” Executive produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and with the explosive stunts and set pieces to match, the new drama takes place in Northern California’s increasingly endangered woodlands, where a single spark can become a catastrophic nightmare within minutes. Promotion for the show has made sure to highlight the fact that it came from a pitch by star Max Thieriot (“SEAL Team”), as based on “his experiences growing up in Northern California.” But “Fire Country” isn’t just about firefighters battling brushfires. It’s also about incarcerated people trading months of their sentence for dirt cheap, backbreaking labor — an experience that, as far as I can tell, is not one Thierot or his firefighter friends have ever had.

Mark Consuelos has a risqué birthday shout-out for his wife, Kelly Ripa! On Sunday, the star celebrated the host on Instagram. “Happy Birthday Sexy!!! What a year of accomplishments. So proud of you.❤️❤️❤️,” Consuelos wrote next to a series of pictures of the birthday girl.  The photo carousel led with a picture of Ripa leaning on a piano, followed by photos of Ripa and Consuelos at dinner, taking in the views during a picnic and of course, showing a little PDA. A post shared by Mark Consuelos (@instasuelos)Ripa’s other leading man, Ryan Seacrest, took to his social media to also share birthday wishes.

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.

Caroline Framke Chief TV Critic As every network jockeys to own the shiniest piece of IP possible to attract distracted viewers, the best thing to say about any adaptation is that it honors the source material while also evolving it, believably and purposefully, to fit a new medium. AMC aims to do exactly that with “Interview With the Vampire,” the first installment of what it’s calling “The Immortal Universe,” having bought the rights to many of Anne Rice’s most iconic works. With both the books and evocative 1994 film to contend with, creator Rolin Jones (“Perry Mason”) took on an admittedly enormous challenge. How do you stay faithful to what makes Rice’s novels so popular while bringing something to the screen that the likes of Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and a tiny Kirsten Dunst didn’t?  

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.

Denise Austin still has fond memories of her pal Richard Simmons. After decades in the spotlight, the fitness guru suddenly stopped teaching at his workout studio in 2014 and has now retreated from public life altogether. In August, FOX aired "TMZ Investigates: What Really Happened to Richard Simmons," a special that explored his rise to stardom and surprising departure.

Meryl Streep is honoring her longtime friend Robert De Niro.

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.

Caroline Framke Chief TV Critic It takes six episodes for “Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” (yes, that is indeed the show’s full name) to meaningfully expand beyond the scope of either the serial killer or Evan Peters’ portrayal of him. In that episode, “Silenced,” directed by Paris Barclay and written by Janet Mock and David McMillan, the story of Dahmer victim Tony Anthony Hughes comes to the forefront. Tony (played with warm charm by “Deaf U” alum Rodney Burford) was a gregarious aspiring model with a big heart. He was Deaf, Black, gay, a great dancer. His friends and mother (a moving Karen Malina White) loved him very much. With every moment Burford gets to give Tony new life, the inevitable end of “Silenced” becomes all the more harrowing, and the cops’ inaction to find the truth all the more infuriating. But as the show’s nonsensical maze of a title suggests, this episode is an exception rather than the rule. Otherwise, Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s new Netflix series is a grim, sepia-toned slog that rarely justifies its own existence.

Caroline Framke Chief TV Critic “Andor” is, both by design and circumstance, immediately different from its “Star Wars” television predecessors. Where “The Mandalorian,” “Boba Fett,” and “Obi-Wan Kenobi” wove their biggest reveals into the larger fabric of the Lucasfilm universe, “Andor” doesn’t rush toward those moments that might make fans gasp out of pure recognition. Instead, it does something more surprising still: it tells the story of people who have nothing to do with Solos, Skywalkers or Palpatines, but whose lives matter nonetheless. Of course, at least part of the reason the series can take its time this way is because haunted hustler Cassian Andor (Diego Luna, also an executive producer) isn’t a brand-new character at all. As the reluctant hero of 2016’s “Rogue One,” which portrayed the rebel pilot mission to steal the Death Star plans which drive “A New Hope,” Cassian’s “Star Wars” legacy is already written. We already know Cassian’s life will eventually intersect with someone like rebel leader Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly, returning for more in-depth work in “Andor”). We already know his fate — dramatic and hopeful and unforgettable in those final minutes of “Rogue One” — and that it’s well and truly sealed.  

Caroline Framke Chief TV Critic It stands to reason that “Reboot” is immediately an entertainment biz turducken of industry lingo and in-jokes. From “Modern Family” creator Steven Levitan, the new Hulu series depicts the reboot — also airing on Hulu — of a family sitcom and all the behind-the-scenes drama that inevitably follows. Levitan, whose credits include “Just Shoot Me” and “Wings,” obviously knows his way around a multi-cam, and his pilot co-writer John Enbom made a meal in “Party Down” of exploiting the seediest corners of Hollywood ambition. The combination of the two sensibilities makes for a (mostly) realistic peek into life on a studio lot, but that’s probably a given. That it ends up (mostly) toothless comes as a genuine surprise.

Guy Lodge Film Critic In the little-remembered 1950 noir “The Damned Don’t Cry,” Joan Crawford plays a Texan housewife whose grief for her late son spurs her to make a new life for herself in the urban underworld. Fyzal Boulifa’s exquisite new film of the same title is named expressly for that Crawford vehicle, but is neither a remake nor a direct homage. Rather, it remixes the narrative components of that film and others of its ilk into the kind of new-school-old-school heart-tugger — one might say tearjerker if its characters weren’t, true to its title, stoically dry-eyed throughout — that might have been designed for the shoulder-padded diva were she alive in 2022 and, perhaps more crucially, of Moroccan heritage.