TV Talk: KDKA-TV hires meteorologist; ‘Kingstown’ trailer debuts

Following the August retirement of forecaster Kristin Emery, this week, KDKA-TV announced a new weekend morning meteorologist hire, Rob Wilson.

The Fox Chapel resident most recently worked as a financial advisor but he had a long stint as a meteorologist in Erie at WICU, where he worked from 2000 to 2013.

Prior to his role at the NBC affiliate in Erie, Wilson worked at WJHG in Panama City, Fla., and KOLD in Tucson, Ariz., while stationed at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.

Wilson will join Channel 2 the weekend of Oct. 25.

Emery started at KDKA as a freelancer and eventually went full-time. Wilson will start work at KDKA on a freelance basis and will appear “as needed” on weekends and in evening newscasts.

Pitt on The CW

The CW, carried locally on WPNT (Channel 22), announced its coverage plans for 2025-26 ACC men’s and women’s basketball and the University of Pittsburgh is represented in the lineup.

The men’s team will be featured in national broadcasts on Jan. 3 (12 p.m. against Clemson), Feb. 7 (3:45 p.m. against SMU) and March 7 (5 p.m. at Syracuse).

The women’s team will get a national telecast Jan. 11 (2 p.m. at Louisville).

Mister Rogers AI

The potential and the dangers of OpenAI’s Sora 2 are on full display in myriad videos, including at least two featuring AI versions of the late Fred Rogers.

In one, Rogers wrestles another PBS mainstay, Bob Ross. In another, Rogers is on the deck of the Mayflower talking about the conditions faced by the pilgrims.

But the videos also show the limits of AI: The computer-created Mister Rogers only occasionally looks like the real Fred Rogers and often looks more like “Everwood” actor Tom Amandes. AI does a better job replicating Rogers’ voice.

Regardless, traditional Hollywood creators have an existential dread about how this new technology may eventually upend the entertainment industry.

‘The Last Frontier’

There’s a solid “Prison Break”-meets-“Yellowjackets” concept at the heart of Apple TV+’s “The Last Frontier:” Prison transport crashes in the Alaska frontier, local U.S. Marshal Frank Remnick (Jason Clarke, “Winning Time”) has to round up the bad guys.

But the series, created by “The Blacklist” veterans Jon Bokenkamp and Richard D’Ovidio, is over-stuffed with predictable cliches and characters who speak like caricatures. (Alfre Woodard, as a federal bos,s declares, “Remnick is the gatekeeper of that Cowtown.”) It plays like a weak, modern broadcast drama.

The opening crash scene is admirably intense even as the lead baddie (Dominic Cooper) seems to be the only one capable of defying the laws of physics, but what follows is a bunch of banal roadblocks as Reminick’s family members get put predictably in harm’s way. There’s also a side of tedious conspiracy mongering involving a government cover-up.

Unlike 2023’s winning Apple TV+ thriller “Hijack,” “Last Frontier” is another streaming series that should have been a movie. Two episodes are now streaming; additional episodes release weekly on Fridays through Dec. 5.

Kept/canceled

Amazon’s Prime Video renewed “Ballard” for a second season.

Apple TV+ renewed “The Buccaneers” for a third season.

Paramount+ with Showtime renewed “Dexter: Resurrection” for a second season.

Fox renewed “MasterChef” for a 16th and 17th season.

Fox canceled animated comedy “The Great North” after five seasons.

Channel surfing

A new trailer for the fourth season of Paramount+’s “Mayor of Kingstown” shows off its Pittsburgh filming locations in quick clips. The new season begins streaming Oct. 26. … A CNN live stream will disappear from HBO Max Nov. 17 in advance of CNN launching its own streaming service later this fall. … “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” HBO’s latest “Game of Thrones” series, debuts Jan. 18. … New York Times online trivia game Wordle will become a prime-time NBC series, filmed in the United Kingdom and hosted by Savannah Guthrie (“Today”). … Pittsburgher Joe Wos, “The Pitt” star Katherine LaNasa and Pittsburgh native Michael Keaton are among the signatories on the relaunched Committee for the First Amendment, initially created during the McCarthy era when the federal government repressed and persecuted American citizens for their political beliefs.