Ben Affleck returning to Boston on television, at least

With Ben Affleck gearing up to be Gotham’s sighing guardian, a clock-watching protector, he’s been forced to temporarily abandon his post overlooking Boston, seemingly allowing it to be overrun by gangs of now-uncontested Wahlbergs. But Affleck has heard Boston’s distressed, braying call, so he’s returning to executive-produce the Fox drama The Middle Man, a drama set in the 1960s era of this, the age of Boston. The Middle Man will explore the relationship between an FBI agent and his informant—an Irish-American gangster who’s certainly not based on Whitey Bulger—as their efforts to bring down the Italian-American mob forces him to “bend the laws he pledged to enforce” and paves the way for the Irish to start running things (so great job, FBI guy). Affleck is also slated to direct the pilot in early 2014—which seems like an awfully long time for the city of Boston to just sit around, waiting in its trailers, but Boston can handle it. Hey, that’s why it’s Boston.