The first delay came at the beginning of the dreaded pandemic and then halted again when Bridges was diagnosed with cancer. Fortunately, Bridges recovered, and the show was able to continue — when it finally premiered in June 2022, it became FX’s most-watched cable premiere since January 2021. The series also performed brilliantly on Hulu, setting records for an FX series debut on the streaming platform during its opening weekend.

That earned it a really quick renewal for a second season but, alas, the production woes were not to end there as filming for the second season faced another unplanned delay due to the WGA strike, creating a massive gap of over two years between seasons. When a show vanishes for two years, its viewers also tend to vanish, so when the second season premiered in September 2024, the second season’s ratings couldn’t live up to the success of its predecessor.

Was ‘The Old Man’ Worth Watching?

Well, despite the ratings decline, The Old Man remained a hit with critics. The series recently received three nominations from the Critics Choice Television Awards, including Best Drama Series, Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Jeff Bridges, and Best Supporting Actor for John Lithgow. Collider‘s Arezou Amin liked the show, giving it a 7/10 rating and praising the performances as well as the atmosphere:

“It’s not that things need to be happening at all times for The Old Man to remain interesting, but the story does sometimes operate at a stop-and-start pace that mixes long, silent, atmospheric moments with dense plot beats that happen so quickly that they’re barely over before you realize you absolutely need a rewatch to fully grasp it. Fortunately, The Old Man is engaging enough that a rewatch is no hardship, and with only five episodes provided for review, the series still has a chance to bring the season to a resounding, heart-pounding close — just like it did the first time around.”

The Old Man is available to stream now on Hulu and Prime Video.