TV

Rosie O’Donnell joins the cast of a new Boston-based comedy

She'll star as a mother from Southie in Showtime's 'SMILF.'

HBO 2014 Rosie O'Donnell Heart Attack Project Levity Live 4210 Palisades Center Drive A-401 West Nyack, New York 10994 Photo credit: Paul Schiraldi/courtesy of HBO -- 13Crit Paul Schiraldi / Courtesy of HBO

On Tuesday, Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. On Wednesday, news broke that actress Rosie O’Donnell, Trump’s longtime nemesis, had joined the cast of Showtime’s new Boston-based comedy SMILF. The show is based on Frankie Shaw’s hit short from last year’s Sundance Film Festival. Shaw, who was born in Boston, will write, produce, direct, and star. Her character, Bridgette, is a 20-something with a young son, struggling to reconcile her desires and aspirations with the realities of single motherhood.O’Donnell has been cast as Tutu, Bridgette’s unconventional mother, and will be a series regular if the project gets picked up to series.Despite her troubled upbringing in the projects of Southie, she shows up for her daughter and grandson as best as she possibly can,” Showtime writes of O’Donnell’s role in the plot.This will mark O’Donnell’s regular return to TV following her exit from The View in early 2015. She most recently had a recurring role on Freeform’s The Fosters and will soon appear in ABC’s pro-LBGT mini-series When We Rise.Other members of the show’s cast so far include Tony Award nominee Alex Brightman, Quantico’s Graham Rogers, and Ray Donovan’s Ismael Cruz Cordova, who will play Rafi, Bridgette’s ex-boyfriend and the father of her child.

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