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CBS’ Elsbeth, is a spin-off of The Good Wife starring Carrie Preston as whacky-but-brilliant lawyer Elsbeth Tascioni. It’s a Columbo-style procedural, with a murder-of-the-week format. Preston is so charming, and she and her co-stars really make up for the repetitive format. This brings me to an interesting bit of casting news for my fellow Elsbeth fans. Stephen Colbert will be joining the cast next season in a guest starring role. He’ll be playing a talk show host named Scotty Bristol. Stephen’s been an outspoken fan of Elsbeth for a little while now. He openly campaigned for a role when Wendell Pierce appeared on The Late Show earlier this year, saying that he’d even be happy playing a corpse!
Stephen Colbert has reportedly already secured his next gig following the recent cancellation of “The Late Show.”
The comedian, 61, is staying put in the world of late-night after signing on as a guest star in the CBS series “Elsbeth,” Vulture reports. Colbert will portray a late-night talk show host in the comedy series, which made its debut last summer. He will play the host of the fictional show “Way Late with Scotty Bristol” in the network’s spin-off of the hit series “The Good Wife.”
Colbert’s new TV gig comes months after “Elsbeth” star Wendell Pierce appeared on “The Late Show” in February, during which Colbert mentioned that he wanted to appear on the series.
In response, Pierce said he could potentially “make that happen.”
Narrator: “Pierce did, in fact, make that happen.”
Good for Stephen that he doesn’t have to play a corpse! They’re filming his episode now, and there is speculation that it’s going to be the season three premiere. This news isn’t that random to me because Elsbeth’s whole schtick is to have a well-known celebrity appear in every episode. I bet it was nice for the casting director to have someone reach out to them for a change.
My older son and I love watching Elsbeth together. He asked to watch it with me after seeing advertisements air during Survivor, so we binged the first two seasons this past spring. The series is pretty predictable in format. Usually the big name guest star ends up being the murderer. I wonder if this will be the same for Stephen or if he’s going to be in a recurring guest spot as a foil to Elsbeth and the NYPD. My money is on him being the killer, which will be fun to watch. Also, if any casting director from Elsbeth happens to come across this – if you still need someone to play a corpse on the show, I volunteer as tribute.
Loved Carrie since she appeared in True Blood.