TV Talk: Former Pittsburgher gets ‘Naked;’ ‘Destination Fear’ visits Waynesburg

It’s a ridiculously busy week for Pittsburgh on TV and TV shows with local ties.

Not only is Netflix releasing filmed-in-Pittsburgh “Sweet Girl” and “The Chair” on Friday, but two reality shows — “Destination Fear” and “Naked and Afraid of Love” — also have ties to Western Pennsylvania.

‘Destination Fear’

The latest in Discovery Networks’ ever-burgeoning roster of ghost-hunting series, “Destination Fear” (9 p.m. Saturday, Travel Channel and discovery+) visits the Greene County Almshouse in Waynesburg this week.

The show never mentions that the Almshouse is also the home of the Greene County Historical Society. Previous names for the complex include the Greene County Poor Farm and the County Home.

Matt Cumberledge, executive director of the Greene County Historical Society, said “Destination Fear” spent two days filming at the site early this year.

“Honestly, it was a lot of fun,” Cumberledge said. “I didn’t know what to expect because we’d never worked with a TV crew like that before, but they were great people to work with. They treated me and the staff very well. They treated the building respectfully and they cleaned up really well when they left.”

The format of “Destination Fear” will be familiar to anyone who’s watched “Ghost Hunters” or “Ghost Adventures”: A group of young, attractive “paranormal explorers” — Dakota Laden, Chelsea Laden, Tanner Wiseman and Alex Schroeder — stake out a spooky location brimming with a haunted history. Every now and then they hear a sound, leading them to jump and scream.

The “Destination Fear” foursome do ham it up, which gives the show a lighter tone. Unlike other series, “Destination Fear” is less interested in “finding ghosts” than it is in its lead characters experiencing fear. This show is also more serialized than most in the genre and features significantly more scenes of the stars ribbing one another and trying to scare each other.

Chelsea Laden chose the destination in the episode and forced brother Dakota Laden to spend the night in the Almshouse basement.

“I was locked down in one of the scariest dungeons I have ever seen,” Dakota Laden said by phone Tuesday. “It would be so worth it to go back one day. I personally feel like I need to go back to see it all. For 90% of the night, Chelsea had me locked downstairs and I didn’t get to experience the rest of the building.”

Although the Almshouse episode of “Destination Fear” suggests it’s the first program to film at the site – technically, it is the first linear TV show – Cumberledge said YouTube series “Paranormal Quest” got there first for an episode that debuted in November 2020.

“It was one of those guys who recommended us to the producers of ‘Destination Fear,’” Cumberledge said, noting the Historical Society started offering its home for paranormal investigations in late 2019.

Cumberledge said, ever since the Greene County Historical Society moved into the building in 1968 and opened the museum in 1971, staff and visitors have heard footsteps and voices and claimed to see apparitions.

When he started working there in January 2019, Cumberledge said, he did not believe in “paranormal stuff.”

“My first week here, I heard loud footsteps and I initially thought someone broke into the building and camped out upstairs,” Cumberledge recalled.

The building’s maintenance supervisor told him, “You’ll get used to that sort of thing.”

“He was right,” Cumberledge said. “You do eventually get used to it.”

The Greene County Historical Society is open to the public 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday from late April to late October.

‘Naked and Afraid of Love’

While each episode of the original “Naked and Afraid” series follows one man and one woman trying to survive 21 days naked in the wilderness, “Naked and Afraid of Love” tracks 16 naked strangers over a season as they search for a relationship. “Naked and Afraid of Love” premieres Sunday on streaming service discovery+ and, following the two-hour premiere, new episodes drop weekly on Sundays through Oct. 31.

Discovery+ identifies Rachel Strohl as a 29-year-old social marketer and dive instructor from Oahu, Hawaii, but in the first episode she says she’s originally from Pittsburgh. Her first encounter on the island is with surfer dude David Girton, the first house guest evicted on the 15th season of CBS’s “Big Brother.”

Strohl grew up in a military family so she moved around a lot, but she has family in Canonsburg and Green Tree, including her grandparents, and considers Western Pennsylvania home. She said she spent most of her childhood in Pittsburgh and Saint Albans, W.Va.

She moved to Hawaii four years ago after a breakup and has been single since.

“I thought that the type of guy who was crazy enough to sign up for a survival show was exactly the kind of guy that would fit into my adventurous, nomadic lifestyle,” said Strohl, who splits her time between Hawaii and Utila, Honduras. “I was also really excited at seeing my potential partner in a high-stress situation without the cozy comforts of home. It is easy to keep your best foot forward when dating in the ‘real world’ but the ‘real you’ comes out when you are hungry and uncomfortable.”

A friend suggested Strohl to a casting agent. She said she was “a little worried about how my family and friends would react [to the nudity], but they have all been so supportive of my journey.”

To be clear, though the contestants are naked, even on discovery+ their private parts are pixelated and obscured.

“I used to be afraid of love, but I know that real love is beautiful and nothing to be afraid of,” Strohl said. “There is always a chance that you will get hurt when it comes to love, but it’s always worth the risk.”

Kept/canceled/spun off

HBO renewed “Painting with John” for a second season.

FX renewed “American Horror Stories” for season two on FX on Hulu and “What We Do in the Shadows” for season four in advance of its Sept. 2 third season debut on FX.

Freeform’s delightful “Everything’s Gonna Be Okay” won’t return for a third season.

FX and Ryan Murphy will spin off two more “American Story” series with “American Sports Story” (on the late NFL star Aaron Hernandez) and “American Love Story” (John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette) and is in development on “Studio 54: American Crime Story” to follow “Impeachment: American Crime Story” (10 p.m. Sept. 7), about President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Peacock ordered a series take on the movie “Field of Dreams” from writer Mike Schur (“The Good Place”).

HBO Max ordered an “Adventure Time” spin-off series, “Adventure Time: Fionna Cake.”

Lifetime ordered a four-part miniseries, “Flowers in the Attic: The Origin.”