Franklin Entertainment’s DeVon Franklin (Breakthrough) is producing a family drama based on former MLB star Andre Dawson’s life for CBS, via Deadline. Entitled Closure, the series will focus on a retired pro baseball player inheriting the family business – a funeral home. This is the first TV project from Franklin, a part of the overall deal he signed with CBS earlier this year.
Franklin will executive produce along with Samantha Corbin-Miller (Absentia, Swagger) and co-producer Jenna Nicholson (Limitless, Madam Secretary), VP of Television at Franklin Entertainment, via Deadline. Corbin-Miller will write the drama series. Dawson will consult on the one-hour show.
According to Deadline, the series will follow a man who takes over his uncle’s funeral home. In addition to aiding families in their time of bereavement, the father of four will have to come to grips with a personal family tragedy when his adult son goes missing. With the help of his three daughters – a detective, coroner, and trauma nurse – the family’s business will soon merge with the family business.
Before entering the funeral home business, Dawson had a 21-year baseball career spending the majority of his tenure with the Montreal Expos and Chicago Cubs. According to Deadline, the center and right fielder retired in 1996 after short stints with the Boston Red Sox, and finally the Florida Marlins. The Hall of Famer remained in Florida, and in 2003, assisted his brother with the funeral home before becoming owner and operator of Paradise Memorial in Miami five years later.
According to Deadline, Dawson discussed the challenges the coronavirus has brought families who seek his services. “It’s very sad. Because people mourn and grieve differently, and they’re not getting through that process as they would under normal circumstances. You see lot of hurt and pain,” he said in an Associated Press interview, via Deadline.