TV News: 'Designated Survivor' Canned, Jeff Bridges Heads to FX, Benioff and Weiss Leaving HBO

Hey! Here’s some TV news to keep you engaged until the next post comes along:

— Jeff Bridges is heading to TV. Specifically, he’s going to FX as the lead in The Old Man, based on the novel by Thomas Perry. He’ll play a former CIA agent who went off the grid ten years ago, but who is tracked down by an assassin and has to “reconcile his past.” I dig the premise, particularly The Dude in that role.

— I absolutely cannot wait for Damon Lindelof’s The Watchmen to debut. Having Robert Redford play the President doesn’t hurt. The only show I’m more excited about for the rest of the year is Succession season two.

— Game of Thrones’ showrunners Benioff and Weiss are leaving HBO (¯\_(ツ)_/¯) and seeking a $200 million deal with another network. Netflix, Amazon, and Disney+ are who are left in the running. This also means that Confederacy is officially dead, I presume.

— Speaking of Game of Thrones, the prequel pilot has officially finished shooting.

— The next season of Will & Grace will be its last. Again.

— The sixth and final season of Silicon Valley will debut on HBO in October.

— I couldn’t make it through the first season of Showtime’s Jim Carrey series, Kidding (it was “OK”), but the second season is adding Eric Roberts and Mae Whitman.

— Netflix canceled Tuca and Bertie, leaving a lot of upset fans. They didn’t even give it the requisite three seasons! They also canned Designated Survivor, which is something of a shock. Based on traffic referral numbers here, I thought it was fairly popular.

— Hulu is producing a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy TV series, which I might be more interested in if Carlton Cuse were not the showrunner.

— Finally, there’s actually going to be a season 3 of Mr. Mercedes on the Audience Network, which is only on DirectTV, which lost 1 million subscribers in the last quarter. It’s a fine show, but honestly not worth subscribing to DirecTV. Here’s the trailer for S3 for the six of you who saw season two.