‘Elsbeth’ showrunner Jonathan Tolins on this ‘descendant of Columbo and Monk’
“It’s like you have a buffet and you have to pick. You don’t want to eat too much, you just want to have just the right amount,” declares “Elsbeth” showrunner Jonathan Tolins about giving the audience the best of Elsbeth’s quirky traits without overdoing it or wearing out the audience. “Carrie is such an honest actress. She knows how to play everything real for Elsbeth, so it never feels like we’re just doing silly schtick.” For our recent webchat he adds, “A lot of the fun things we do with her is that she’s in the background, back of the frame, doing her thing,” he says, noting with a wry smile that “tone is the hardest thing to describe, but it’s like the old Supreme Court definition of pornography: you know it when you see it.” We talked with Tolins as part of Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&A event with 2024 awards contenders. Watch our exclusive video interview above.
SEE ‘Elsbeth’ reviews: ‘Gem’ of a spinoff centers on the ‘fabulous’ Carrie Preston
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“Elsbeth” stars Carrie Preston in her Emmy-winning role as offbeat and unconventional attorney Elsbeth Tascioni, who after a successful career decides to relocate from Chicago to New York to work for the New York Police Department as an observer, ensuring the force’s officers follow the letter of the law. Among the weekly round robin of guest stars, the detective dramedy introduces two series regulars: Wendell Pierce as the police captain and Carra Patterson as a de-facto partner (and handler) for Elsbeth. The CBS series was created by Emmy-nominated duo Robert King and Michelle King as a second spin-off of their Emmy-winning classic “The Good Wife” (2009–2016), from which Preston originated what is arguably the defining role of her career to date, and its first spin-off “The Good Fight” (2017–2022). “Elsbeth” is structured as a “howcatchem” TV mystery series (as opposed to the traditional “whodunit”), showing the audience from the start who the killer is, how and why they commit the crime and how they are caught.
So what sets this show apart from other detective series in the genre? “I think it’s the tone,” Tolins says. “Yes, there have been shows with quirky detectives in the past. This is certainly a descendant of Columbo and Monk and a contemporary of ‘Poker Face.’ But I think that the character of Elsbeth is unique. She brings a particular enthusiasm and kindness to every scene she’s in and setting, flopping that character down in the middle of what feels otherwise like a standard CBS procedural, just has something fun about it that we’re having a good time with.”
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