HBO hosts free coffee truck for AGH employees ahead of ‘The Pitt’ season 2
Fans of “The Pitt” are excitedly awaiting the season two premiere of HBO Max series, which will return at 9 p.m. on Thursday after an Emmy Award-winning first season. But no group is looking forward to the next installment more than the people who work at Allegheny General Hospital. The...
TV Q&A: Why such a crowded desk during morning newscasts?
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Saturday Tribune-Review. Q: Can you explain why WTAE has three anchors during weekday broadcasts and can get away with one (like all other local channels) on weekends? Seems...
TV Talk: ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ to end with 5th season; new noon anchor
Paramount+’s “Mayor of Kingstown” will return to film its eight-episode fifth season in Pittsburgh this year, but it will also be the show’s final season. Paramount+ announced the renewal/ending on Monday, with plans for stars Jeremy Renner and Edie Falco to return. (Falco’s warden character survived the show’s fourth season,...
‘The Pitt’ team preps season 2, local references aboundVideo
“The Pitt” only films scenes in Pittsburgh a few days each season, but in season two, the Emmy-winning HBO Max ER drama continues to represent the region in large and small ways, from name-checking neighborhoods to Nurse Dana’s yinzer accent. “It’s very focused, what we use Pittsburgh for, because we...
Hollywood starts 2026 with ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ No. 1, as James Cameron’s sci-fi epic crosses $1B
NEW YORK — Hollywood kicked off 2026 with “Avatar: Fire and Ash” atop the box office for the third straight week and with hopes for a blockbuster-filled year after a disappointing 2025. In three weeks of release, “Fire and Ash” has cleared $1 billion worldwide. The third chapter in James...
TV Talk: Wiz Khalifa traces his ancestry on ‘Finding Your Roots’Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. For the 12th season of PBS’s “Finding Your Roots” (8 p.m. Tuesday, WQED-TV), Pittsburgh-raised music star Wiz Khalifa is among the celebrities who learn about their ancestry. The series returns this week with an examination...
About that ‘Stranger Things’ finale: Ending a series is hard
NOTE: Spoilers ahead for the entirety of the “Stranger Things” franchise through Wednesday’s series finale. It’s hard to end a series. Really hard. So hard, in fact, that not many of them manage to nail it. It’s tough to blame them: Writers, directors, crew, actors all put years and years...
Here are 5 things to do in Pittsburgh this weekend: Jan. 2-4
Welcome to 2026! Time for new beginning, new goals and new experiences all over Pittsburgh. Here are a few ideas for new things to do this weekend to get your year started right. Laser shows at Buhl Planetarium For fans of blockbuster Netflix show “Stranger Things” or pop superstar Taylor...
TV Talk: Annie Potts stars in Fox’s remake of British series ‘Doc Martin’Video
When pitching her plan to remake British import and American public TV staple “Doc Martin,” showrunner Liz Tuccillo (“Alaska Daily”) opted for a straightforward approach. “Basically, I didn’t reinvent the wheel,” Tuccillo said in a Zoom interview last month for Fox’s “Best Medicine” (8 p.m. Jan. 4, then re-airs in...
Lions-Vikings Christmas game on Netflix sets NFL streaming record, averaging 27.5M viewers
LOS ANGELES — Two of the NFL’s three Christmas Day games set viewership records. The Detroit Lions-Minnesota Vikings late afternoon game on Netflix became the most-streamed NFL game in U.S. history and the Denver Broncos-Kansas City Chiefs night game set a record for Amazon Prime Video. The Vikings’ 23-10 victory...
English actors Tom Hiddleston and Zawe Ashton welcome their 2nd child
NEW YORK — English actors Tom Hiddleston and Zawe Ashton have welcomed their second child. Hiddleston confirmed the news to GQ in a feature published Monday. He described birth as the “most beautiful, profound, earth-shattering, life-altering” experience. He did not share his child’s birthday, but according to the feature, the...
Isiah Whitlock Jr., actor from ‘The Wire,’ ‘Veep’ and Spike Lee films, dies at 71
Isiah Whitlock Jr., an actor who made frequent memorable appearances on the HBO series “The Wire” and “Veep” and in five films with director Spike Lee, died Tuesday. He was 71. Whitlock’s manager Brian Liebman told The Associated Press in an email that the actor died in New York after...
TV Q&A: Why was a WPXI forecaster pulling double duty?
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Saturday Tribune-Review. Q: I was getting set to watch the Dec. 21 morning news on WPXI at 5:30 a.m., but they had another prerecorded show on. Their news...
Got Fios? Here’s how to watch the Steelers game on Sunday
As of Dec. 15, customers of Verizon Fios TV do not have access to local NBC affiliate WPXI — which also means no access to the Steelers’ final regular season game against the Baltimore Ravens this Sunday night. The current blackout is due to a dispute about retransmission fees between...
Tyler Perry’s accuser sent messages of gratitude and friendship years after alleged assault
LOS ANGELES — Text messages show that Tyler Perry and “Boo! A Madea Halloween” actor Mario Rodriguez, who recently filed a lawsuit accusing the filmmaker of sexual assault, remained in contact years after Rodriguez alleges their interactions ended. Rodriguez alleged in the lawsuit filed last week in California that Perry...
TV Talk: ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ wraps its 4th season
Paramount+’s “Mayor of Kingstown” wrapped its fourth season Sunday and for the first time, there are few storylines hanging in a major way. (Spoilers follow.) But we still have questions: • It seemed like Edie Falco’s prison warden character was primed for a one-and-done season-long arc, but she managed to...
Brigitte Bardot, 1960s sex symbol turned militant animal rights activist, dies at 91
PARIS — Brigitte Bardot, the French 1960s sex symbol who became one of the greatest screen sirens of the 20th century and later a militant animal rights activist and far-right supporter, has died. She was 91. Bardot died Sunday at her home in southern France, according to Bruno Jacquelin, of...
Looking back on pop culture that had Western Pennsylvania buzzing in 2025
The past year has been a lively time in Western Pennsylvania for music, movies, TV, art and social media. From new art spaces to blockbuster series to sold-out TikTok-driven events, 2025 was a great time for
water cooler conversations and fun stories around town. Here are just a few. ‘The...
Tyler Perry sued for sexual assault by ‘Boo! A Madea Halloween’ actor seeking $77 million
LOS ANGELES — Tyler Perry was sued for sexual assault by an actor who appeared in “Boo! A Madea Halloween,” marking the second lawsuit in recent months accusing the filmmaker and studio mogul of leveraging his power in Hollywood to make sexual advances. Mario Rodriguez filed the lawsuit Thursday in...
Here are 5 things to do in Pittsburgh this weekend: Dec. 26-28
Christmas is over! Both the craziness and the stress have ended and we have almost a week until the new year. This is the perfect time to eat too much chocolate and too many leftovers, make plans with friends and see what’s going on in the city. Harlem Globetrotters: 100...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh market rank drops (again); November sweeps ratings
Talk about a lump of coal in the local TV Christmas stocking: Pittsburgh’s market rank will drop another position as Nielsen downgrades the region from No. 27 to No. 28 nationally for 2026. Salt Lake City leapfrogged Pittsburgh, jumping one spot from No. 28 to No. 27. The practical impact...
Movie Review: In ‘Testament of Ann Lee,’ a blazing Amanda Seyfried can make you believe anything
Filmmakers Mona Fastvold and Brady Corbet are clearly fascinated by ambition. They’re fascinated, too, by dreamers — difficult dreamers, brilliant but demanding people who have plans they must fulfill no matter the personal cost. They’re also interested in dreamers who cross the ocean to America with these difficult, lofty plans....
College Football Playoff ratings drop 7% as NFL competition impacts viewership
Last weekend’s first round of the College Football Playoff averaged 9.9 million viewers on ABC, ESPN, TNT, TBS and truTV, according to ESPN and Nielson. That is a 7% drop from last year. A big reason for the drop was that the final game, James Madison versus Oregon, was on...
TV Q&A: Is there a way to improve over the air reception of local stations?
Q: I recently cut cable and WTAE is not available over-the-air where I live. I have been told that it was never reliably available in the South Hills! Is that true and is there a way to get WTAE broadcasts south of the city? — Jason, Scott Township Rob: Pittsburgh’s...
Controversial ’60 Minutes’ segment on Trump immigration policy leaks online
A controversial news segment that was abruptly pulled from the television show “60 Minutes,” appears to have been leaked online this week after the last minute decision to pull the story exploded into public debate about journalistic independence. The segment featured interviews with migrants who were sent to the notorious...
