TV Talk: Heinz featured in ‘Soup of the Century;’ ‘Mighty Ducks’ premieres

Cable’s The History Channel series “The Food that Built America” revisits Pittsburgh’s H.J. Heinz Co. in “Soup of the Century” (9 p.m. Sunday), a look at the rivalry between Heinz and New Jersey-based Campbell’s Soup in the late 1800s.

Senator John Heinz History Center president and CEO Andy Masich features prominently in the show, which traces the rise of Heinz rival Campbell’s Soup alongside Heinz’s packaging innovations.

“Packaging the food in a way the consumer would appreciate, it was revolutionary,” Masich says in “Soup Wars.”

The informative hour-long program explores the food science pioneered by Campbell’s in making condensed soups and how the Campbell’s Soup label got its prominent gold emblem.

“The American people were much more interested in the condensed soup, which was actually a little bit cheaper than the big, bulky cans Heinz offered,” Masich says. “Heinz was playing catch-up in the soup business.”

I see what he did there: catch-up, ketchup.

‘The Mighty Ducks’

I don’t remember a lot about Disney’s 1992 movie “The Mighty Ducks” — I think I wrote about it for my college newspaper – but I remember it as a warm, winning update on the 1970’s underdog flick “The Bad News Bears.”

New Disney+ series “The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers,” streaming Friday, offers a similar family-friendly vibe with star Lauren Graham (“The Gilmore Girls”) and a handful of scene-stealing kid newcomers delivering character-driven comedic moments.

Graham is very much in her element playing Alex, a practical mom to 12-year-old Mighty Ducks hockey player Evan (Brady Noon), who gets cut from the now-cutthroat team.

After calling out the coach and other players’ parents for the ridiculousness of 6 a.m. practices, $1,000 hockey clinics and “the God-like worship of protein,” Alex and Evan set about creating their own team which is how they meet former Mighty Ducks coach Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez, returning from the film franchise), now a cynical ice rink owner.

It takes a few episodes before viewers learn what happened to Bombay and why he now hates hockey but that’s OK because the kids are the real stars of this show, particularly Nick (Maxwell Simkins), a kid who loves hockey but doesn’t play in the ultra-competitive leagues.

“I would not be an asset physically,” Nick says when Alex seeks to recruit him for the new team. “I have more of a podcaster’s body.”

Because it’s a series, “Game Changers” has more layers than a film. While Alex initially insists they just play for fun, by the end of episode two Evan says losing every game isn’t fun, ensuring this series will have some smarts to accompany its big heart.

‘United States of Al’

CBS continues to use its sitcoms as platforms to entertain and maybe even inform viewers’ understanding of the world, whether it’s sobriety in “Mom,” Nigerian customs in “Bob (Hearts) Abishola,” race relations in “The Neighborhood” and now an Afghan-American friendship in the winning “United States of Al” (8:30 p.m. April 1, KDKA-TV; “B Positive” moves to 9:30 p.m.).

Another series executive produced by the prolific Chuck Lorre and created by “The Big Bang Theory” writers Maria Ferrari and Dave Goetsch, “United States of Al” follows Riley (the always likeable Parker Young, “Enlisted”), a U.S. Marine combat veteran attempting to readjust to civilian life in Ohio. Riley’s found a way to bring the Afghan interpreter from his unit, Al (Adhir Kalyan, “Aliens in America”), to America.

There’s a refreshing sweetness to both the guys and their friendship that’s more pronounced than in some other Lorre sitcoms on CBS. Whether there’s enough story to draw from culture clashes and Al’s wide-eyed innocence (a little too wide-eyed at times) remains to be seen but the likability of the characters is never in question.

‘Francesco’

“Francesco,” a new documentary on Pope Francis, debuts Sunday on streamer Discovery+.

Director/producer Evgeny Afineevksy said his goal with the film is to tell the story of the state of the world and the Pope’s attempts to navigate that world.

“From the beginning, the idea was to have us, humanity, as the key element of the story – what we created, what disasters we created, what poverty we created, what injustice we created,” Afineevksy said during a press conference as part of the virtual Television Critics Association winter 2021 press tour. “And to tell his story as somebody who is trying by himself to navigate us through it, to show us by example, to show us how we can step by step change these things.”

Kept/canceled

NBC renewed “Mr. Mayor” for season two and FX will bring back “Snowfall” for season five.

Disney Channel’s “Zombies” movie franchise will grow to a third film that begins production this spring.

A new season of Mike Rowe’s “Dirty Jobs,” which previously aired from 2005-2013, will air later this year on Discovery Channel.

Netflix is back in business with a home makeover star in “Sparking Joy with Marie Kondo,” coming this summer.

OWN’s “Iyanla: Fix My Life” will end with its eighth season, premiering at 9 p.m. April 10.

The upcoming fourth season of The CW’s “Burden of Truth” will be the show’s last season.

Hallmark Channel’s “Home & Family” will end it run Aug. 4. The show returns with new episodes at 10 a.m. April 5 but will now only air Monday through Wednesday and only for one hour.

Channel surfing

Fox Chapel’s Sloane Simon did not make it past Hollywood Week and was cut Monday night from ABC’s “American Idol.” … Homewood native Antoine Fuqua has signed on to direct Jamie Foxx as Mike Tyson in a limited series currently being shopped to cable networks and streamers. … NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” is back this weekend with Maya Rudolph as host and Jack Harlow as musical guest. Daniel Kaluuya hosts April 3 with St. Vincent and Carey Mulligan hosts April 10 with Kid Cudi. … A new NFL rights deal means the end of “Thursday Night Football” on Fox (it moves to Amazon Prime and broadcast channels in local markets). … Netflix buzz magnet reality show “The Circle” returns April 14 for season two.