This week in TV news, AMC greenlights a motorcycle-themed reality show with Norman Reedus, while Netflix gives a full-series order to YA project 13 Reasons Why with Selena Gomez. Plus, check out the happiest, fluffiest TV binge happening this weekend, and be on the lookout for HBO original series coming this winter — and figure out what that means for the next season of Game of Thrones! When is winter coming already?!
AMC announced Thursday its plans for a new non-scripted series, Ride With Norman Reedus, which stars The Walking Dead fan favorite (Daryl!) on the open road. In Ride, the actor and biker enthusiast will “explore local motorcycle culture and history and celebrate some of the best and brightest collectors, mechanics, and motorcycle craftsmen around the country.” Each episode will start in a different city and feature Reedus with a new riding companion — such as a fellow actor, musician, or bike fanatic — as they explore America’s motorcycle shops and collectors’ warehouses, as well as a few detours along the way (think tattoo parlors and roadside smokehouses). Ride With Norman Reedus, which will hit AMC in 2016 with six one-hour episodes, plans to showcase different motorcycles each week, adding to AMC’s existing unscripted programming: Comic Book Men and Talking Dead.
HBO set dates for three of its original series this week: Vinyl, Girls, and Togetherness. First up, Martin Scorsese‘s rock drama, Vinyl, starring Bobby Cannavale and written by Terence Winter of Boardwalk Empire fame, will premiere with a special two-hour episode on Valentine’s Day at 9 p.m. The following Sunday, Feb. 21, Vinyl will be the opening act for the season-five premiere of Girls, starring Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, and Adam Driver, and the season-two premiere of Togetherness with Mark Duplass and Amanda Peet. Over at Vulture, writer E. Alex Jung has calculated that these February dates mean a later start than usual for the next season of Game of Thrones. “As HBO only programs two hours of shows on Sunday nights,” Jung wrote, “it means that the sixth season of Game of Thrones likely wouldn’t return until May 1 at the earliest.”
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Pop idol Selena Gomez will executive-produce a 13-episode adaptation of the young adult novel 13 Reasons Why for Netflix, according to Variety. In the 2007 book of the same name from Jay Asher, a boy named Clay receives a shoebox from his late crush, Hannah Baker, after she commits suicide. The contents of the box are cassettes that Clay is to distribute to 12 of his classmates — each of whom Hannah blames for taking her own life. Gomez reportedly took the project to Anonymous Content after reading the book, along with her mother Mandy Teefey, who will also executive-produce the project. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Brian Yorkey, who penned the pilot, is attached to write the full series.
