TV Talk at TCA: Amanda Peet talks Pittsburgh-filmed ‘The Chair,’ new ‘Fatal Attraction’ series

PASADENA, Calif. – Although Netflix’s filmed-in-Pittsburgh “The Chair” was billed as a “limited series,” that term is flexible enough to be somewhat meaningless. HBO’s “The White Lotus” was a limited series until it wasn’t.

When “The Chair” premiered on Netflix in August 2021, it received generally positive reviews and appeared to do well, landing on “The Netflix” Top 10 list. “The Chair” starred Sandra Oh as Ji-Yoon Kim, the first woman and first person of color to chair Pembroke University’s English department.

At the time Oh and actress-turned-writer/co-creator Amanda Peet suggested they had more stories to tell in a potential second season of “The Chair,” but Netflix never announced a renewal and stubbornly refused to admit the show was canceled.

After a press conference during the Television Critics Association winter 2023 press tour for her new Paramount+ series “Fatal Attraction” (April 30), Peet confirmed “The Chair” was indeed canceled and will not be back for a second season.

“We weren’t picked up,” Peet confirmed. “Sandra and I wish we had been.”

Regardless, Peet expressed her love for Pittsburgh.

“It’s so beautiful and now I want my daughter to go to Pitt if she can keep getting good grades,” Peet said. “When I first went out to scout (for locations to film), it was Pitt that made me feel, ‘OK, this is right.’”

In her first acting role since writing/co-creating “The Chair,” Peet stars in “Fatal Attraction” in what’s essentially the Anne Archer role from the 1987 film, playing the wife of the main character, Michael Douglas in the movie and Joshua Jackson (“Dawson’s Creek”) in the series. Lizzy Caplan (“Fleishman is in Trouble”) stars in the Glenn Close role as the other woman, Alex.

Peet said it was a call from “Fatal Attraction” showrunner Alexandra Cunningham that made her say yes. The pair previously worked together on the 2020 anthology series “Dear John.”

“I knew she was going to have a more psychological take on all the characters,” Peet said. “She’s a connoisseur of true crime. But she’s also really interested in psychology. She’s really good at (writing) a thriller. She’s really good at twists of plot.”

Cunningham said the “Fatal Attraction” story was ripe for reinvention.

“It is trying to represent all of the characters’ point of view, as opposed to just Dan, and everyone’s angle on what happens,” Cunningham said. “We’re spending a lot more time with Alex and in her point of view and exploring her thought process and perhaps what she wants to get out of all of this.”

Odenkirk is ‘Lucky Hank’

“The Chair” may be over, but there’s a new series coming from AMC that’s set in a similar milieu.

Bob Odenkirk (“Better Call Saul”) stars in “Lucky Hank” (March 19, AMC, AMC+), based on the Richard Russo novel “Straight Man,” as an English professor confronting a mid-life crisis at the fictional Pennsylvania rust belt-set Railton College.

Aaron Zelman (“Silicon Valley”) and Paul Lieberstein (he played Toby on “The Office”) adapted the series and you can see elements of “The Office” among Odenkirk’s interactions with his English department colleagues.

During a TCA press conference for “Lucky Hank,” Odenkirk joked that after starring in AMC’s “Saul” he had many options at the network.

“I coulda been a zombie,” he said, getting laughs. “They said I could be any kind of zombie.”

Then he managed to legitimately connect AMC’s love of zombie shows to “Lucky Hank.”

“Hank zombiefied himself,” Odenkirk said. “He cast a spell on himself and shut himself down years ago, but he’s coming back to life. That’s what the show is about.”

Odenkirk said whereas Saul was alone, Hank at least has the love of his wife (Mireille Enos, “The Killing”) and daughter.

“I just liked the positive sides of it,” he said. “Saul wasn’t aware of how funny he was. He wasn’t part of the joke, whereas Hank gets to be the wisecracker and gets to laugh at his situation as he suffers it too.”

‘Walking Dead’ news

“Fear the Walking Dead” will end with its upcoming eighth season, premiering at 9 p.m. May 14.

“The Walking Dead: Dead City” following Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) debuts in June with the Norman Reedus-starring “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon” coming later this year.

Another “Dead” spin-off focused on Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) will premiere in 2024.

Channel surfing

AMC is developing a potential series based on author John Maxim’s Bannerman spy books with McCandless native Greg Nicotero among the executive producers. … Cable’s NewsNation will add “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” (6 p.m. weekdays), featuring one-on-one interviews with newsmakers of the day, beginning April 3.