TV Q&A: What happened to Steinberg in those Steidl & Steinberg commercials?

Q: Question about long-standing Pittsburgh commercials for Steidl & Steinberg. Ken Steidl has been on his law firm’s TV ads right along, but his pony-tailed partner, Kenny Steinberg, has been a no-show in recent viewings. Please enlighten me as to Mr. Steinberg’s status.

— Jim, via email

Rob: A check of the company website reveals a notation on their “commercials” page: “Kenny Steinberg has retired and no longer practices law at Steidl & Steinberg.”

But I wondered if there was more to the story, so I rang up Steinberg, 71, who explained he wrote the firm’s partnership agreement that said partners have to retire at 71.

“I didn’t turn 71 until December, but they asked me to leave early,” said Steinberg, who retired in mid-May of 2022.

Might he hang up his own legal shingle now?

“Nah, I’m not really gonna practice law. I did a good job — I didn’t do fabulous — but I was a decent attorney, and I ended on a high note winning a case in the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals,” Steinberg said. “The best part is I won because I didn’t have to make an argument. They took the case without argument. If I would have argued, I would have lost.”

Steinberg said what he liked most about his job wasn’t the lawyering.

“I got the most enjoyment out of writing the commercials,” he said. “When people say, ‘Who’s responsible for those stupid commercials?’ That really was me. And I directed them also. That’s why they were so homey and stupid and amateurish.”

But those ads also made an impression on viewers.

Steinberg said one time his wife gave him the wrong boarding pass for a flight out of Pittsburgh International Airport and he didn’t realize it until he handed it to a security officer. Steinberg said a TSA agent recognized him from TV and waved him through.

Three years ago, he was at a railway station in Prague and was recognized by a person from Greensburg.

“Those are really nice memories,” Steinberg said. “People have been so, so nice over the years.”

Though his lawyering days are done — and, yes, I asked if he’s ever seen “Better Call Saul” because, how could I not? (he hasn’t watched it all the way through but intends to) — Steinberg said he would be game to help someone else “establish a brand, which I was good at” through TV spots.

“But things have really changed, too,” he noted. “Fifteen years ago, people were watching a lot more commercials. Now everyone streams or DVRs stuff. But people do stop me still in the street and say, ‘You’re not in the commercials anymore!’ ”

Since the commercials began airing around 2000, Steinberg said he often got recognized. He didn’t love it initially.

“I didn’t think we were worthy of that,” he said. “I can’t believe people are excited about commercials. They should be excited about philosophers and teachers and doctors and politicians who do their jobs really well. Those are the people we should idolize, not people who happen to be on TV.”

But over the years, he made peace with the impact of being on television.

“I started to gradually accept that … if I was just making people smile a little bit, then maybe the world is a little bit better because they smiled,” he said, “and maybe they took that smile somewhere else.”

Q: Any idea what’s going on with “Say Yes to the Dress” and when it’s coming back on? The new season premiere was supposed to be Feb. 4, but it wasn’t on.

— Kitty, Charleroi

Rob: The “SYTTD” premiere date moved to 8 p.m. March 4. No reason for the schedule change was given.

Q: Why did MeTV take “Gomer Pyle USMC” off at 9 p.m. daily and replace it with “The Beverly Hillbillies,” which already airs in another time slot daily? Will “Gomer Pyle” ever return?

— Jim, Tarentum

Rob: My understanding is MeTV rests reruns of some TV series from time to time. Currently, “Gomer Pyle” is not on the schedule, but it will return in the future. “The Beverly Hillbillies” has become one of the highest-rated weeknight series since joining the MeTV weeknight schedule in January.