TVSquad

Well now, if you were having trouble deciding between the competing biker shows in development, perhaps this news will tip your TV watching scales. FX has signed up Ron Perlman (Beauty And The Beast) to take over the role of Clay, president of the motorcycle club, and step-father to the main character Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam), in Kurt Sutter's Sons Of Anarchy.

The part was played by Scott Glenn in the pilot, but the powers that be chose to recast it after deciding to make the series more of a dark comedy. I'm not exactly sure what that means, because I could go for Glenn in a dark comedy, but adding Perlman does heighten my interest in the show, to be sure. If you just can't wait for the show to premiere to get your Perlman fix, he'll be showing up at your local multiplex with Hellboy II: The Golden Army in July.

Why have one outlaw biker show when you can have two? I always find it a little odd when you see two movies or television shows pop up at the same time that share strikingly similar premises. And that's what we have here. Sons Of Anarchy, from The Shield writer/executive producer Kurt Sutter, centers on an outlaw motorcycle club in Charming, CA. Clearly much different than HBO's 1%, which tells the story of an outlaw motorcycle club in Carefree, AZ. They're two completely different states after all.

Of course, I kid... a little bit. The shows do have different takes on the subject, and there is a rundown of the development time lines for both of them in the article at The Hollywood Reporter. Sons will focus on Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam) and the conflict that develops as his loyalty to the club clashes with his trepidation where their lawlessness is concerned. Sutter's wife, Katey Sagal, is along for the ride as Teller's mother. The role of Jax's step-father was played by Scott Glenn in the pilot but will be recast in the series. I'm not sure if there is room for two biker shows on the television schedule, but with Sutter in charge of Sons, and Donal Logue signed on for 1%, I'll have to take a look at both of them.