Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking Penn State limited series, new ‘Saturday Night Live’ cast, ‘Midnight Club’

In this episode of the “Pittsburgh Pop” podcast, host Tim Benz and TV Talk columnist Rob Owen discuss Pittsburgh pop culture news of the moment, including a report in The Hollywood Reporter about a limited Hulu series “Death at Penn State,” based on the real-life story of the 2017 hazing death of Tim Piazza. The series is based on Caitlin Flanagan’s article in The Atlantic and the script for the limited series will be written by Joe Hortua (“Better Things”).

The pair discuss the latest cast additions to “Saturday Night Live” in a rebuilding year following the departures of “SNL” vets Chris Redd, Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseñor, Aristotle Athari, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney and Pete Davidson.

Owen offers his reviews of AMC’s “Interview with the Vampire,” “Monster High” and Netflix newcomer “The Midnight Club,” the latest series from prolific spooky season writer Mike Flanagan. “Midnight Club,” about teens in hospice who meet at midnight to tell one another scary stories (based on Christopher Pike novels), is lower-tier Flanagan compared to “The Haunting of Hill House,” “The Haunting of Bly Manor” and especially “Midnight Mass.” While the scares and spooky background shadows remain suspenseful, the overarching story of secret societies, rituals and a healed escapee from the hospice induce eye rolls more than most Flanagan series of the past (the healed escapee story is especially predictable and takes forever to get to where it is obviously going).

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