Emmy and Peabody winning directors Gédéon and Jules Naudet (9/11, November 13: Attack on Paris, The Presidents Gatekeepers) examine January 6th from the unique perspective of the heroes, first responders, and survivors of the attack. It’s an apolitical story of resilience and bravery featuring DC Police Chief Robert J. Contee III, Congresswoman Liz Cheney, and over 50 Senators, Representatives, staffers from both sides of the aisle, and police officers as they reveal their first-hand experience of the attack. It is the only documentary for which the Capitol and Metropolitan Police Departments granted full access to their officers.

The film also contains first-hand testimony from prominent political figures including; Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who’s historic tenure leading the House Democratic Caucus came to an end following the 2022 midterms, and Rep. Susan Wild, coming off of a surprise re-election victory in Pennsylvania’s 7th district.

January 6 premieres January 5th, 2023 on Discovery+.

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Also, subscribe to my free, daily Too Much TV newsletter at toomuchtv.substack.com

While CBS didn't premiere a lot of new primetime shows this fall, one standout for me was the comedic drama So Help Me Todd. 

In the series, Marcia Gay Harden plays Margaret Wright, a meticulous, by-the-boo lawyer who hires her shiftless but glib son Todd (Skylar Astin) as her law firm's in-house investigator. His presence is disruptive to many of the firm's other lawyers, no one more so than Lyle (Tristen J. Winger), who sees Todd's employment as a personal insult to everything he has worked hard to accomplish.

In this week's episode, Lyle gets his chance to take center stage in the show when his niece and college student Angie (Djouliet Amara) is arrested as a suspect for blowing up a chemical manufacturing lab on campus. Viewers get to see a few new sides of Lyle's life and it's a nice opportunity to see more of Winger's work.

I spoke with Tristen J. Winger earlier this week and we discussed the show, the upcoming episode, and his desire to someday play a secret agent.

The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Q: Lyle is a very different role than the ones you played in Insecure or Bigger. Was that a conscious decision on your part or just a function of "this was a role that was available?"

Tristen J. Winger: I'll be very transparent about this. I had a conversation with my reps over lunch, maybe, back in February. I had a conversation with them telling them about, this is my past, I used to work for this company, I have a lot of knowledge in tech. So I would love something that kind of reflects that a little bit. And then I want to say, maybe two days later, I came to audition For So Help Me Todd and I read for Lyle. And I just thought "see, this is exactly what I was talking about. See what happens when you put into the universe what you want, it comes right at you." 

I sent in my tape and I was told a couple of days later there was going to be another audition. And I was told I didn't need to audition again, they just watched the tape again. That happened a few more times and then I found out maybe a week after I submitted my tape that I had booked the role. 

So it's very important to be intentional about what it is that you want. Because I believe we all know what we deserve. And I felt I deserved something like Lyle. And I got exactly that.

Q: So when you booked the role, and they talked to you about it, what sort of guidance did they give you about what they were looking for?

Tristen J. Winger: So I had a meeting with Scott Prendergast who was the creator of the show, and we sat over lunch for about two hours up here in Vancouver once I got here for the pilot. And I told him my ideas. I actually wrote out in my notes, I wrote myself a little journal for Lyle. And I've never done that before. I just wrote things that I felt were similar between him and I. As well as other ideas. I just thought that he feels like someone who is perpetually unimpressed. He's by the book. He's meticulous, he's used to playing it safe. He's never broken a bone. He's a rule follower, he has a system for everything. He is anti-promiscuous. He's no-nonsense. But also maybe he's a little lonely because of these boundaries that he set for himself and his work. And now he's alienated himself. And Scott's reaction was "Yeah, that's exactly it. And so it felt really good to be aligned with the person who created Lyle on this character so that I know exactly how to play him. Then I'm going in the right direction with my choices.

Q: I mentioned on social media that I was going to talk to you. And I heard from someone who said, "Look, I'm a black man in corporate America. And I recognize that persona of "I have to be together all the time. I have to be very, very insular. And I can't afford to joke around a lot of times, I can't afford to do goofball things other people do. Because I always have to be perfect." And I wonder if that was sort of the same approach you took with Lyle?

Tristen J. Winger: Absolutely. 100%. Correct. That is a subtext for everything that Lyle is presenting. Because just beyond the character choices, he's also a black man that has to work 10 times as hard to get the same money recognition as everybody else. He has worked 10 times as hard. And so because of that, when Todd comes into the office, this is a man who lost his investigator's license. But despite that, he now gets to work because his mom is a partner at this law firm, but he didn't earn this. Oh, that sets him off. That sets him off because Lyle was the person who has to work so hard. So hard for where he is. He's so poised and here comes this train wreck of a man -  this man child coming into the office here all tussled clothes and wrinkles. You know, it sets Lyle off because Todd does not have his stuff together. Lyle has everything together. Everything is organized. Everything has its place every T is crossed. Every i is dotted and he triple-checks just to make sure.



Q: Based on all of that, I wonder if this episode was a nice change. Because while I can't say Lyle exactly cuts loose, the audience does get to see some glimpses of his character that hadn't come out so far in the show.

Tristen J. Winger: Yeah, doing this episode was a ton of fun. I was very excited to learn that we were going to do an episode kind of centered around Lyle. And just playing that over the eight days of production was excellent. Playing with Marcia is a ton of fun. Playing with our guest stars in town is a ton of fun -  shout out to Juliet, who guest stars on this episode as well. So I enjoyed that and the writers and the directors as well. They all enjoyed it. We had a good time. It exceeded my expectations and I look forward to doing it again.

Q: And you got to punch somebody....

Tristen J. Winger: I got to punch somebody, Rick. I got to punch somebody.

Q: And at that point in the story, he pretty much deserved it. So you don't have to worry about anyone saying "I don't know, that might be an overreaction."

Tristen J. Winger: No, not at all. Not at all. It's clear as day he deserved that and  I hope his nose is broken.



Q: Since the episode went well, do you think this provides an opportunity for the writers and the show to build out Lyle a bit over the rest of the season? Or hopefully, seasons?

Tristen J. Winger: Absolutely. Absolutely. Because we get to, you know, we're learning little by little about life, we don't want to learn too much. Because he is someone who is private, so why dump all of this information out all at one time? When we can just deliver nuggets to the audience to garner interest in him. Because he's a mysterious man. He doesn't let people in. And to project that onto the audience, the show is not going to let too much information be available about Lyle. You'll hear a little note. There's a little bit of exposition about Lyle's life that you will learn in this next episode.

Q: I'm curious, you said that you had written out stuff about Lyle, which you've never done before. And I'm wondering how much of that mental image that you had of the character early on is matching where you experiencing with Lyle halfway through the season?

Tristen J. Winger: It's, you know, it's pretty spot on, I shared a copy of my journal that I created with our show creator, just so he can also have it and see what I was saying. And we're pretty spot on. There's some things in here that have not come out yet. But I know he is going to incorporate them into the character, because Scott also wanted this character to feel like a real person, and not just a caricature. So he wanted to incorporate some of my personal life into the character. And we're gonna get an opportunity to see that on-screen as well, at some point.

Q: Just generally speaking. As an actor, is it a different experience, being on a CBS show, as opposed to an HBO show? Maybe just from the the audience recognition of you?

Tristen J. Winger: I would say so. One of the interesting things that I realized is that the amount of people who watch network television is just massively different from the amount of people who watch cable television. I want to say it's maybe ten times as much, versus some of the shows I've been on. So having that many people watching your work at one time is incredible. It is a blessing and I am fortunate to be in this position. And that recognition is amazing.

I look different in all of my characters, so that's fun. Because people will look at me and they will stare. And I forget that I'm on TV. And they're staring and I don't know what's going on. And they'll say, "Oh, you look familiar." And I realize, "oh yeah, it's because I'm on TV." 

That's why the recognition is great. And then when people figure out that I played these other characters that they loved and didn't realize it was me is also a fun treat.





Q: I suspect as an actor, that's sort of a dream situation in that you're not seen as that x guy. You have these different roles that people don't necessarily connect.

Tristen J. Winger: Yeah, that feels amazing. To have multiple roles that people recognize. "Oh yeah, I remember when you were Vince from Bigger, or Thug Yoda in Insecure." That is very fortunate. I'm very fortunate that I'm not typecast, and there's nothing there's anything wrong with being typecast, because to be typecast means that you have a job all the time. But I'm very fortunate that I'm getting to display some range in my roles. I have so much fun playing all these different characters, and then getting an opportunity to incorporate those past characters into my current characters, when appropriate. That's a lot of fun to be able to do as well.

Q: Is there a particular kind of character that you'd like to tackle at some point? A role where you think "man, if I could get this kind of character I could just tear it up?"

Tristen J. Winger: Absolutely. The the first thing that comes to mind is a secret agent. I would love to play a 007 type. You know, I'm thinking right now, do I know any black secret agents? I can't think of any black secret agents in film or television. And I would love for that to happen.

Q: That would be great. The only one I can think of is Bill Cosby. I don't know if that counts.

Tristen J. Winger: It was a long time ago. I think it's about time, Rick. I think it's about time.


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