Jeremiah “Jay” Voithofer of Farmington, Fayette County, remembers going to a Holiday Inn in Uniontown at age 8 to meet Terry Drury, a host of TV shows about hunting.

“I made a turkey sound call and he gave me – and signed – his box call,” Voithofer said. “It’s just little things like that along the way where I’d think, ‘I’d love to be like that guy someday.’”

And now he is.

Voithofer produces and stars in “MTN Top Outdoors,” which debuts its second season at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 29 on Sportsman Channel, carried locally on Comcast (Channel 917), Consolidated Communications (43), DirecTV (605), DISH Network (395, 9483) and on OTT services DirecTV Stream, Frndly TV, fuboTV, Hulu Live TV and Sling TV. Episodes are also available on the show’s YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/c/MTNTOPOutdoors.

The series follows Voithofer on hunting expeditions across the U.S. and in Western Pennsylvania. Each episode includes a cooking segment starring Voithofer’s neighbor, Jeremy “Hunt Chef” Critchfield.

A life-long hunter, Voithofer remembers using the family video camera at age 14 to record himself calling and catching a turkey so he could show his grandfather. In 2018, he created an MTN TOP Outdoors YouTube page and social media channels, posting videos from when he would guide hunts in the Midwest, getting to know a few people in the industry.

In September 2019, he was offered the opportunity to buy a time slot on Sportsman Channel, which led to the creation of the “MTN TOP Outdoors” TV show. (Unlike most television programs where a studio produces a program that a network essentially leases the rights to air, the Sportsman Channel and its larger sister network, Outdoor Channel, use a different business model where show creators buy time for their programs. Show creators then drum up their own sponsors to cover the cost of air time and series production.)

The first 13-episode season of “MTN TOP Outdoors” aired in early 2021 as Voithofer hit the road to record episodes for season two.

“We’re the working man’s TV show,” Voithofer said, noting that other programs on Sportsman Channel often feature full-time hunters. “We work regular jobs. It’s about families and getting that opportunity to enjoy your time in the field and telling those stories. If I surround myself with good people and good stories, then people will back that and watch it and tune in. That’s my hope.”

Tamara Tunie narrates

Actress Tamara Tunie (“Cowboy Bebop”), a 1981 Carnegie Mellon University drama program grad who was born in McKeesport and raised in Homestead, narrates PBS’s “Preserving Democracy: Pursuing a More Perfect Union” (9 p.m. Jan. 6, WQED-TV), a two-hour documentary about political divisiveness, regression and progress in the aftermath of this year’s attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

‘Blue Eye’ seeks amputee

Netflix movie “The Pale Blue Eye,” now filming in Western Pennsylvania, seeks a male amputee (leg, above or below the knee, or arm, above or below the elbow), age 55 and older for a featured extra role.

Requirements include availability for filming Jan. 20, 21 and 24 in Beaver County; comfort not wearing a prosthetic in the scene; a willingness to let hair, facial hair and sideburns grow between now and filming; and a vehicle to get to fitting, testing and filming. The film is set in the 1800s, so a lean physique is necessary (waist size 30-34).

Pay is $500 per day plus hotel and gas for 12-hour or less workdays. Proof of covid-19 vaccination required.

Send submissions, including one waist-up and one full-body photo, to MosserExtras@gmail.com and include name, phone number, age, location, height and weight.

Kept/canceled

Ahead of its third-season premiere on Jan. 21, Apple TV+ renewed “Servant” for a fourth and final season.

CBS will bring back “CSI: Vegas” for a second season; Showtime will do the same for “Yellowjackets.”

Paramount+ renewed anthology drama “Why Women Kill” for a third season.

TBS renewed “American Dad” for its 18th and 19th seasons ahead of its 10 p.m. Jan. 24 17th season premiere.

Netflix canceled musical comedy “Julie and the Phantoms” after a single season; HBO Max did the same with its little-publicized “Head of the Class” reboot.

Premiere dates

Pittsburgh native Jeff Goldblum is back with the second and final batch of season-two episodes of “The World According to Jeff Goldblum,” exploring motorcycles, backyards, puzzles, birthdays and tiny things, Jan. 19 on Disney+.

Walt Disney Studios’ “Encanto” debuts on Disney+ Dec. 24.

“Marvel’s Eternals” will be available on Disney+ on Jan. 12 with “Free Guy,” which begins with a scene of a character falling into Pittsburgh’s golden triangle, arriving on the streaming service Feb. 23.

Peacock’s reimagined-as-a-drama “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” remake, “Bel Air,” debuts on the streaming service Feb. 13.

Ovation TV’s “Murdoch Mysteries” is back for its 15th season at 7 p.m. Feb. 26.

The final season of BBC America’s “Killing Eve” premieres at 8 p.m. Feb. 27.

FX comedy “Better Things” returns for its fifth and final season at 10 p.m. Feb. 28.

Channel surfing

WQED-TV’s Rick Sebak will join WQED-FM’s Jim Cunningham for three hours of holiday music and storytelling, 5-8 p.m. Saturday on WQED-FM, 89.3. … Premium Nordic streaming service Viaplay ($5 per month) is available on Comcast’s Xfinity X1 and Flex platforms. … Short-lived “Golden Girls” spin-off series “The Golden Palace” comes to Hulu Jan. 10. … When “Law & Order” returns for its 17th season (8 p.m. Feb. 24), actor Sam Waterston will reprise his role as district attorney Jack McCoy. … Late Tuesday, Fox scrapped its planned “New Year’s Eve Toast Roast 2022,” which was to be hosted by Ken Jeong and Joel McHale from Times Square, due to the surge in covid-19 Omicron cases.

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