William N. Law Blog: TV Bits: ‘The Exorcist,’ ‘Preacher,’ ‘Sharknado 4,’ ’24: Legacy,’

Friday, March 11, 2016

TV Bits: ‘The Exorcist,’ ‘Preacher,’ ‘Sharknado 4,’ ’24: Legacy,’

In this edition of TV Bits:

The Exorcist pilot has cast Geena Davis.
Breaking Bad‘s composer will work his magic on Preacher.
Gary Busey has joined the cast of Sharknado 4, because of course he has.
24: Legacy adds another new cast member.
HBO is planning a whole bunch of new shows.
Leighton Meester joins the cast of Making History.
Houdini & Doyle reveals a new poster.

A television adaptation of The Exorcist is one of those batty ideas that sounds just crazy enough to work and now it has something else working in its favor: Variety reports that Oscar winner Geena Davis has joined the cast. Here’s how they describe her character:

Davis will play Angela Rance, who is described as regal and proud, but weighed down by stress. She does everything she can to stay positive and keep her faith even though her family is currently struggling. She can’t help but think if perhaps her nightmares about a demon are a sign of what’s wrong.

It certainly sounds like Davis will be playing the matriarch of a family under assault by a demonic force, a role that was played by Ellen Burstyn in the original film. Otherwise, the series will follow “two very different men tackling one family’s case of horrifying demonic possession and confronting the face of true evil.”

AMC’s Preacher has found its composer. The Hollywood Reporter reports that Dave Porter, who composed music for all 62 episodes of Breaking Bad, has officially signed on to create music for the adaptation of the wildly popular (and totally insane) Vertigo comic book series. This certainly makes sense, as Breaking Bad veteran Sam Catlin is serving as showrunner on the series. The pilot episode, which was written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, is set to premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in a few days.

In news that should come as no surprise at all, Gary Busey has joined the cast of Sharknado 4. Heck, why did it take this long to star in a Sharknado movie? It’s not like he would have said no to appearing in any of these things, as Mr. Busey doesn’t exactly have high standards. Anyway, he’ll be playing the father of Tara Reid‘s character, which is a combination of people that reeks of sadness. This particular bit of news arrived via TV Line, who also report that Tommy Davidson (In Living Color), Cody Linley (Hannah Montana), Imani Hakim (Everybody Hates Chris) and Masiela Lusha will join the cast. Our sincere condolences to everyone.