​Older Movie Stars Are Taking Over TV: The 8 Best TV Fall Hits With Top Stars Over 50

TV used to be where stars went after their movie careers sagged — like Buddy Ebsen, replaced by Jack Haley in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz after Ebsen’s Tin Man makeup poisoned him. That’s Ebsen’s voice you hear singing “We’re Off to See the Wizard,” lip-synched by Haley, but Ebsen fell off the A-list until age 54 in 1962’s The Beverly Hillbillies (with Irene Ryan playing Granny Clampett at 60!).

​Now that TV is often superior to cinema, viewers — especially those over 50 — are stampeding from theaters to home screens, and even No. 1 box office stars don’t look down on TV roles. Of the top 30 all-time top-grossing box office actors as of 2022, according to The Numbers Business Report, 23 were over 50, and 14 recently made the leap from movies to TV shows (while remaining film stars). When they make movies, TV streamers are often the studios that produce them, and the distinction between big- and small-screen careers is eroding. Vin Diesel’s Fast and Furious movies may spin off a TV series soon. Michael Keaton, star of the 2024 film Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and the 2021 miniseries Dopesick, told Collider, “I don’t think we’re ever going to go back to the days where ‘I’m only a movie guy.’”

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“The movie business is increasingly focused on superhero movies and other big franchises that don’t give actors as much of a chance to, well, act,” explains Alan Sepinwall, 50, Rolling Stone TV critic and author of seven books including the encyclopedic TV: The Book (coauthored by Matt Zoller Seitz). “The kinds of roles they went into the profession to play are found in much greater abundance on television. Plus, it used to be that movie actors didn’t want to do television because they didn’t want to get stuck making 22 episodes a year for five or more years. Now TV seasons tend to range from six to 10 episodes, and a lot of shows are miniseries or anthologies, so the commitment is minimal. You go in, play a richer character than you’re likely to get in most well-paying film roles, and then you can quickly move onto something else.”

You could probably improve your odds of watching a good TV episode by confining your viewing to shows with A-list actors over 50. Here’s what’s on this fall, which boasts a bumper crop of older actors in high-profile TV roles.

The Old Man, Season 2 (FX, Sept. 12)

An ex-CIA man (Oscar-winning Jeff Bridges, 74) and his long-ago colleague (double Oscar nominee John Lithgow, 78) race to rescue an FBI agent (Alia Shawkat) from an Afghan warlord who kidnapped her — and all three men claim she’s their daughter. “Think of it as Mamma Mia! but with a lot more murder,” wrote TheWrap’s Kayla Cobb. This season, at last Bridges and Lithgow get to play scenes together, instead of in parallel storylines. Lithgow told AARP that growing older has been great for his career: “I’ve had these just wonderful job opportunities — things have been better since I turned 70 than they ever were before.”

Don't miss this: The Dude Survives: Jeff Bridges Told Death, ‘Bring It On, Man’ (Video)

Tulsa King, Season 2 (Paramount+, Sept. 15)

Dwight “The General” Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone, 78) is out of the hoosegow and back in the gambling and pot business, but now he’s got rivals muscling into his turf: A-list tough guys Neal McDonough, 58 (who played an unforgettable psycho criminal in Justified), and Frank Grillo, 59 (Gangster Squad). In the new season by showrunner Terence Winter, 63 (The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire), Dwight faces an even tougher challenge: repairing his relationships with his daughter, sister and grandkids. Plus, rich horse ranch owner Margaret Devereaux (Dana Delany, 68, China Beach) just might want to lasso his heart.

Don't miss this: Dana Delany talks Tulsa King, horse therapy and China Beach

Note: Paramount+ pays AARP a royalty for use of its intellectual property and provides a discount to AARP members.