TV Talk: Is filmed-in-Western Pa. ‘American Rust’ worth watching?

Showtime’s Western Pennsylvania-set series “American Rust” (10 p.m. Sunday) gets off to an exceedingly slow start as it introduces its characters and their situations.

In Sunday’s premiere, Del Harris (Jeff Daniels), the police chief of Buell, Fayette County, covers up a possible crime for the benefit of the woman he loves, Grace Poe (Maura Tierney). Grace’s son Billy (Alex Neustaedter, “Colony”) is coming off probation and stands to look guilty of murder if not for Del’s intervention.

By the time it’s clear who the murder victim is — and which characters might be responsible for the killing — “American Rust” becomes only slightly more energized.

The next two episodes bring the characters and their relationships into better focus but the show requires a lot of patience given its sluggish pace. Daniels, as is often the case, improves every scene he’s in.

While too many first episodes go overboard on exposition, “Rust” is often needlessly opaque. Del has a drug problem but it’s not entirely clear the pills he’s crushing up are opioids; another character appears to be gay but the idea is introduced so subtly — look away for a few seconds and it’s easy to miss. It’s one thing to be naturalistic but another to be confounding.

“American Rust” focuses on impoverished people in small towns rather than the gleaming Pittsburgh skyline as seen in Netflix’s recent “Sweet Girl.” Nothing wrong with that, but the show paints most of its generic characters with the same drab, broad brush. They all seem miserable. “American Rust” is as mired in small-town stereotypes as a soap about the wealthy might contain standard-issue opulence.

“We’re a lot closer to West Virginia than we are to Pittsburgh in more ways than geographic,” Harris tells a city slicker in the “Rust” premiere.

Through three episodes made available for review, “American Rust” sets a somber, dour tone that may prove a barrier to entry for some viewers. Don’t hold your breath for this one to get a second season.

A ‘Rust’ alternative

Due to the success of HBO’s “Mare of Easttown,” set at the east end of the state, “American Rust” is sure to draw comparisons (e.g. “Chief of Westtown”) even though “Mare” shares more in common (and a director) with the 2018 filmed-in-Pittsburgh murder mystery drama “One Dollar.”

In a just world, there would have been more comparisons of “Mare” to “One Dollar” but since no one, not even many critics, watched and wrote about “One Dollar,” that didn’t happen. “One Dollar” could only muster six reviews on Metacritic.com/tv (many series get dozens of reviews). Even at that, the few critics who reviewed “One Dollar” gave it better marks than “American Rust” had gotten as of Thursday.

“One Dollar” and “Mare” director Craig Zobel seems more enamored with granular regional specificity while “Rust” showrunner Dan Futterman prefers to focus on macro regional themes, like Rust Belt decay and its impact on the citizenry.

“Rust” delivers some sense of place but it’s less specific than “Mare.” “Rust” also lacks the use of regional accents that helped ground “Mare” and “One Dollar.”

The 10-episode “One Dollar” is still available on Paramount+. For viewers interested in hearing a Pittsburgh accent or seeing characters from multiple, recognizable Western Pennsylvania social classes, “One Dollar” proves a more entertaining, better bet than “American Rust.”

‘Y: The Last Man’

Mid-pandemic is not ideal timing for the arrival of this long-gestating, post-apocalyptic mystery-thriller based on an acclaimed graphic novel of the same name.

Once the show moves past its been-there, watched-that dystopian, scene-setting premiere episode with too many similarities to FX’s “The Strain,” “Y: The Last Man” (Monday on FX on Hulu) becomes a compulsively watchable series.

Episode three, in particular, stands out as it begins efforts to explain why aspiring artist Yorick Brown (Ben Schnetzer), the son of politician Jennifer Brown (Diane Lane), survived when all other humans with a Y chromosome suddenly died en masse in the premiere. Episode three also allows for more humor than the first two episodes, largely in how it puts together two key characters.

Any scenes featuring Yorick, a manchild with a pet monkey, provide some humor to this otherwise heavy premise, particularly when he’s paired with mysterious badass Agent 355 (Ashley Romans).

As the U.S. president-by-default, Jennifer’s storylines also provide political intrigue as she tussles with the late president’s conservative daughter (Amber Tamblyn channeling Meghan McCain) and fights back against conspiracy theories. Other threads following assorted characters are less effective in the first three episodes.

‘The Premise’

B.J. Novak (“The Office”) created this five-episode anthology series (Sept. 16, FX on Hulu) that features a new story and cast in each episode.

Although the “Premise” episodes vary in tone, they’re generally comedic, often darkly amusing, like the episode where a successful entrepreneur (Daniel Dae Kim) encourages his childhood bully to risk it all by spending a year developing a sex toy. Or the premiere, “Social Justice Sex Tape,” where a woke twentysomething (Ben Platt) discovers a sex tape he recorded features a disputed, racially-charged police incident in the background through an open window.

While anthologies have become more popular in recent years, they’re generally not funny. PBS tried a scripted, comedy anthology, the underappreciated “Trying Times,” in the late 1980s and “The Premise” is a welcome new attempt in this relatively rare genre.

“Moment of Silence” features a heartbreaking performance by Jon Bernthal (“The Walking Dead”) as a grieving man who takes a job in PR at an NRA-type organization, possibly with an ulterior motive, after his daughter dies in a school shooting.

One thing all five episodes have in common: They’re smart, thought-provoking and worth watching.

Kept/canceled/revived

HBO Max renewed “Gossip Girl” for a second season ahead of the back half of season one, releasing in November.

Paramount+ renewed “Star Trek: Picard” for a third season ahead of its February 2022 second season that will include time travel and a voyage home to 21st century Earth.

BET renewed “The Ms. Pat Show” for a second season and “First Wives Club” for a third.

FX on Hulu renewed “Reservation Dogs” for a second season; Disney+ did the same for John Stamos’ “Big Shot.”

Freeform will bring back “Good Trouble” for a fourth season.

“Dickinson,” featuring recurring guest star and former Pittsburgher Wiz Khalifa as Death, will end with its third season, debuting Nov. 5.

The CW canceled “The Republic of Sarah.”

Fox canceled reality show “Labor of Love.”

After NBC canceled “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,” streamer The Roku Channel has picked up a “Zoey” holiday TV movie filming this month for a premiere this holiday season.

CBS will revive “Big Brother: Celebrity Edition” for a third season to air in winter 2022.

Channel surfing

2000 Carnegie Mellon University grad Matt Bomer will star in Showtime’s adaptation of “Fellow Travelers,” a political thriller and epic love story, with Western Pennsylvania native Ron Nyswanner as the writer/showrunner. … Munhall native Gabby Barrett and Dan + Shay (featuring McCandless native Dan Smyers) will be among the county music performers ringing in the new year on “New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville Big Bang” (8-11 p.m. Dec. 31, CBS). … A new season of “The Great British Baking Show” debuts on Netflix Sept. 24. … A new daily courtroom show hosted by Judy Sheindlin (“Judge Judy”), “Justice Judy,” debuts Nov. 1 on free, ad-supported streaming service IMDb TV with new episodes premiering each weekday. … New animated series “Star Trek: Prodigy” debuts on Paramount+ Oct. 28 with “Star Trek: Discovery” returning for its fourth season on the streaming service Nov. 18.