From a media release:
Working The Engels Reunites SCTV Alumni Martin Short And Eugene Levy With Andrea Martin
- Jason Priestley Directs And Scott Thompson Makes Guest Appearance
Halfire-CORE Entertainment, Shaw Media, and NBC announced today that Emmy® winners and SCTV alumni Martin Short and Eugene Levy are set to guest star with Andrea Martin in Working The Engels, a new half-hour original comedy series. Emmy Award®-winner Scott Thompson (The Kids In The Hall) also guest stars while Golden Globe® and Gemini Award-nominee Jason Priestley (Call Me Fitz, Beverly Hills, 90210) directs four episodes. Short, Levy, Levy’s daughter Sarah Levy (Larry Crowne), and Thompson join series regulars Andrea Martin, Kacey Rohl, Azura Skye, and Benjamin Arthur. Produced by Halfire-CORE Entertainment in partnership with Shaw Media and NBC, the 12-episode series is currently shooting in Toronto.
The series, created and written by Katie Ford (Miss Congeniality, Desperate Housewives) and Jane Ford (Listen Missy, Material World), centres on a family who must band together to keep their heads above water when their father and breadwinner passes away, leaving them a mountain of debt. The Engels must all go to work running Dad’s storefront law firm, with one minor problem — daughter Jenna (Rohl) is the only one who is qualified to practice law.
Martin Short (SCTV, Saturday Night Live, Damages, Arrested Development), Eugene Levy (SCTV, American Pie, Best In Show), and Andrea Martin worked together in the legendary Toronto production of Godspell before later joining SCTV (taped in Global TV’s studios) as performers and writers, winning multiple Tony and Emmy Awards, and cementing their legacies within the canon of television and film comedy.
Chuck Pastry, played by Martin Short, is the head of Big Pastry, a huge corporation that makes everybody’s favourite baked goods. But Ceil knows him better as her former lover and the baker from their hippie commune in the ’70s. Now Chuck Pastry is embroiled in a lawsuit with Jenna’s client over ownership of the delectable Double Muffin Tops recipe.
Eugene Levy plays Arthur Horowitz, a family-oriented, well-connected and much-loved lawyer who is also a neighbour of the Engels. He values family, honesty, hard work – and the forbidden beauty of Ceil Engel – above all else. He is about to retire and hopes to pass on some of his lucrative clients to the very green but keen Jenna Engel.
Irene Horowitz, played by Sarah Levy, is the only child of prominent lawyer Arthur Horowitz. She may seem like a good Jewish girl, but underneath is a wild, bad girl in training – seeking experience, danger, and the arms of her hot neighbour, Jimmy Engel.
Scott Thompson plays Harry Le Maire, a clothing line owner and Jenna’s posh new client. Harry turns out to be a total jerk, but Jenna must try to impress him in order to keep his much needed business.
Working the Engels is produced by Halfire-CORE Entertainment with Katie Ford, Jane Ford, Howard Busgang, Tom Nursall, and Noreen Halpern serving as Executive Producers.
