TV Talk: KDKA-TV adds to weather staff; Pokemon ads filmed in Pittsburgh

The stakes are raised in Pittsburgh’s local TV battle for meteorological marketing supremacy: KDKA-TV hired Falicia Woody, most recently of WKBN-TV in Youngstown, Ohio, to join Channel 2’s weather team.

Assuming none of the four current KDKA weather staffers – Kristine Emery, Mary Ours, Ray Petelin and Ron Smiley – departs (my sense is this is a fresh hire with no one leaving), Woody will become the fifth meteorologist at the CBS affiliate, equaling WTAE-TV’s number and denying Channel 4 bragging rights of having the most meteorologists of any station in town.

Research shows weather is one of the top reasons viewers tune into local newscasts so station executives often put weather news – especially severe weather — front-and-center in their newscasts and in station promotions.

WPXI-TV has three meteorologists following the departure of Danielle Dozier last summer, though the station is thought to be looking to hire Dozier’s replacement to get back up to four.

Woody posted to Twitter about her new job Thursday, writing, “Dreams do come true when you put in the hard work! I’m so excited to join such an amazing legendary team.”

????NEW JOB ALERT????

I am going to be the newest meteorologist at @KDKA Channel 2 in Pittsburgh, PA!!!

This city has really become home to us. Dreams do come true when you put in the hard work! I’m so excited to join such an amazing & legendary team. Here’s to more memories???????? pic.twitter.com/2uGIeqRzqW

— Falicia Woody (@WxFalicia) February 24, 2022

KDKA-TV news director Kathy Hostetter did not respond to e-mail and voicemail inquiries about Woody’s hiring.

In December, KDKA began advertising for a full-time meteorologist/weather producer whose job would be to produce forecasts, report from the field on big weather events and fill in on the air. Presumably, this is the position Woody will fill.

Woody declined to answer questions about her role at KDKA, but on Sunday she posted a farewell tweet to Youngstown, writing that she’ll start at KDKA in a week but her first on-air appearance is to be determined.

Peace out Y-town…✌????Thank you Valley folks for everything! I start at KDKA in a week, but my on-air debut is tbd. So stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/Wt7eL6ZZXA

— Falicia Woody (@WxFalicia) February 27, 2022

Woody grew up in Atlanta and graduated from Lyndon State College (now Northern Vermont University-Lyndon) in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in atmospheric sciences and an associate’s degree in electronic journalism arts. Woody joined WKBN in September 2020 following stints at KXXV-TV in Waco, Texas, and WTRF-TV in Wheeling, W.Va.

Pokemon visit Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh-based commercial director Andy Keleman was thrilled when the Pittsburgh Easter egg he hid in one of several ads he shot locally in mid-December for the new game “Pokemon Legends: Arceus” was spotted and got mentioned in a Reddit thread.

WQED-TV producer/host Rick Sebak has a non-speaking role in one of the spots, an “Antiques Roadshow” parody that gets interrupted by a crazed, fish-like Basculegion Pokemon puppet. WQED filmmaker Frank Caloiero can also be glimpsed briefly in the background being chased by the Pokemon.

“It was just a cool, fun little way of sprinkling in a dose of Pittsburgh,” said Keleman, who once worked at WQED, of the global ad campaign.

While executives at Pokemon had the idea to incorporate Pokemon characters into reality show settings – two ads bring to mind “MasterChef,” another has a “Bachelor” vibe – Keleman put his “director’s twist” on it by hearkening back to mid-1990s, weird videogame TV commercials, particularly an ad for Pokemon on Game Boy where a driver puts his bus filled with Pokemon in a trash compactor and squeezes them into a video game.

“Really the root of these spots and why it hit with a lot of people is that it taps into that ‘90s absurdity,” Keleman said.

The spots were translated into foreign languages for use as pre-roll ads on YouTube videos in Germany, France, Spain and Italy. Then Pokemon released the spots on its social media channels in the U.S., including YouTube.

Keleman filmed the ads in about a week using locations all over town. The “Antiques Roadshow” parody was filmed in The Terrace Room at the Omni William Penn Hotel in Downtown Pittsburgh. The “MasterChef” spot shot in a kitchen at Vangura Surfacing Products in North Huntingdon. The “Bachelor” spot shot at Revival on Lincoln in Bellevue. A Telenovela spot was filmed at the Inn on the Mexican War Streets.

“What’s really fun about these is they hit the [reality TV] trope really hard on the head, which makes it so much quirkier when a Pokemon appears,” Keleman said, noting he felt he’d done well when the official “Antiques Roadshow” account commented approvingly on YouTube about his parody.

‘Our Flag Means Death’

Fans of FX’s “What We Do in the Shadows” will find a kindred spirit in HBO Max’s “Our Flag Means Death,” streaming Thursday. Both shows count Taika Waititi as an executive producer and both series mine humor by applying modern sensibilities to a subculture.

This time Waititi trades contemporary vampires for period pirates.

Inspired by the true adventures of 18th-century would-be pirate Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby), the series begins in 1717 as the wealthy aesthete Bonnet, dressed in finery, attempts to lead a crew that views him as weak. Perhaps it’s because of his concern that his crew may return from a raid “mentally devastated,” in which case, Bonnet sing-songs, they should, “Talk it through/as a crew!”

Bonnet advises his crew to “look scary!” when raiding a rowboat (Bonnet’s plunder: a dying plant in a tin cup) and then offers “notes” afterward that his crew needs more energy.

“We’re swashbuckling!” Bonnet exclaims. “Have fun with it!”

Later he asks them all to sew a pirate flag which some turn their noses up at as “women’s work.”

In “Our Flag Means Death,” the farcical humor is more of the subtle, knowing variety than it is playing for big belly laughs.

Flashbacks show Bonnet’s pirate adventure is really an attempt to work through childhood trauma. He was verbally abused by his father and mocked by his classmates.

Although early episodes focus largely on Bonnet, viewers get enough details about some of the secondary characters that one gets a sense that even though this is a much larger cast than “Shadows” that the writers of “Our Flag Means Death,” led by showrunner David Jenkins (underrated 2016-17 TBS comedy “People of Earth”), have a plan to embellish all of the series regular characters.

Kept/canceled/relocated

NBC renewed “The Blacklist” for a 10th season.

Amazon’s Prime Video ordered a fifth and final season of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

HBO Max renewed “Peacemaker” and “Sort Of” for second seasons.

FX renewed “Dave” for a third season.

Amazon’s Prime Video renewed “Harlem” for season two.

HBO canceled its “In Treatment” revival after a single season.

Netflix canceled sci-fi drama “Another Life” after two seasons.

FX’s third season of “Atlanta” debuts March 24 at 10 p.m. and the series will end with the fourth season coming this fall.

The fourth season of Netflix’s “Stranger Things” will premiere in two parts on May 27 and July 1 with the series ending with a fifth season at some later date.

“Love Island” jumps from CBS to Peacock with a two-season order.

Channel surfing

A $250,000 grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation to Fred Rogers Productions will be split between its PBS Kids shows “Alma’s Way” and “Donkey Hodie” to support production and community outreach. FRP also received a $100,000 grant from the Heinz Family Foundation earmarked for “Donkey Hodie.” … “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain,” directed by Morgan Neville (“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”), will have its CNN premiere at 9 and 11:30 p.m. Sunday. … Court TV Mystery, carried locally on WINP-TV, Channel 16.4, has rebranded as ION Mystery. … The 15th season of Canadian hit “Heartland” will have its U.S. premiere on the UP Faith Family streaming service March 17. … Sherri Shepherd will launch her own daytime talk show this fall that will replace “The Wendy Williams Show” on some TV stations; Shepherd has been subbing for the ill Williams. … On March 5, Oscar Isaac hosts NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” with musical guest Charli XCX; Zoe Kravitz hosts March 12 with Rosalia.