NBC drama Council of Dads premiered Tuesday, March 10, at 10/9c and airs in that time slot for three weeks until it heads to Tuesdays at 9/8c on March 31, one week after the This Is Us finale.
The series stars Clive Standen of Vikings fame, Michele Weaver, and has executive producers Tony Phelan and his wife Joan Rater, Sarah Wayne Callies, J. August Richards, and Michael O’Neill.
Of note, showrunners Rater and Phelan worked together on Grey’s Anatomy for ten years previously.
What is Council of Dads about?
The series is about a father who finds a group of men he can trust to raise his children. Cancer patient Scott Perry (Tom Everett Scott) is concerned for his five children growing up without a father or fatherly advice.
He and his wife Robin (Sarah Wayne Callies) ask three close male friends to act as a “council of dads” for their children.
Scott dies from cancer, and his choices and his wife and children form a new, expanded family.
Standen is cast as Anthony Lavelle, one of the chosen “council” dads.
No flashbacks are used as the show progresses. The show is set very much in the present, with this family moving forward from a devastating event.
At the Television Critics’ Association’s winter tour panel for the series, of which Monsters & Critics participated, creator and EP Joan Rater said:
“We’ll get to know Scott through the dads, through Michele, through the kids. Well get to see Tom Everett Scott again this season in the most amazing episode of all time, but it won’t be a flashback episode.”
Describing the series, star Clive Standen said: “We’re reflecting the modern family, the contrary family, where it’s not about blood. It’s about love and the people that show up every day and the people that are probably closer to you than some of your immediate family.”
He added: “I have some of my family that I don’t see all year…I’ve got my Uncle Steve who’s not my uncle. He’s my stepdad’s best friend, you know.
“And my stepdad I was raised by a man who took me on eight years into my life because someone didn’t want to stick around.”
Council of Dads setting: Where does show take place?
The series is shot in Savannah. The producers wanted the lush look of the east coast in their story.
At the TCA, Joan Rater shared that their house chosen for the shoot was “astounding.”
And Tony Phelan said: “Well, the show is set in Savannah because [his wife and fellow EP] Joan and I were watching [the film] The Big Chill when we were writing it.
The Big Chill was shot in Beaufort, South Carolina.
He added: “But we thought how great to tell the story of this family in the South as opposed to New York or L.A. or Chicago. And the house itself … which is on Isle of Hope outside of Savannah, and then … the Crab Shack. So I was, like, ‘Well, we’re done. We basically have the locations for the show.'”
Council of Dads airs Tuesday at 10/9c on NBC.