TV Talk: More awards for ‘The Pitt;’ Pittsburgh drag queens host WOW’s ‘Pillow Talk'

Pittsburgh-set ER drama “The Pitt” won two Emmys over the weekend at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards (airing 8 p.m. Sept. 13, FXX), including for drama casting and a best guest actor in a drama series award that went to Shawn Hatosy for his role as Dr. Jack Abbot.

In addition, on Sunday, “The Pitt” episode “2:00 PM,” written by Joe Sachs, won the drama teleplay trophy at the Humanitas Awards.

“The Pitt” – along with CBS’s “Matlock” and Apple TV+’s “Shrinking” among others – also received honors in the Hollywood Health Society’s Norman Lear Awards for TV That Makes a Difference, a program from the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

“The Pitt” will receive the Culture of Health Award for its first season at a ceremony Oct. 27 at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Drag series starring Lydia B. Kollins

It’s been a wild year for Pittsburgh Drag Queen Lydia B. Kollins (Nicholas Fry), who’s gone from relative obscurity to competing in “RuPaul’s Drag Race” (twice!) and now hosting a second show on the WOW Presents Plus streaming service.

Kollins joins boyfriend Kori King (Rashawn King) on “Pillow Talk with ButtKing,” streaming Wednesday. The show’s title comes from Lydia’s middle name (Butthole) and Kori’s last name.

The pair filmed 10 episodes this summer in Los Angeles. Each episode is about six minutes and looks like it was made with a budget of $6, but King jokingly said the production was paid for with a Starbucks gift card.

In the premiere episode, the couple sits on a bed in front of a green screen background and kiki (AKA discuss) topics ranging from dating to dream marriage proposals to their favorite love language.

Kollins describes the show as a “deeper dive into Kori and my relationship,” while King calls it an “intoxicated conversation between a loving couple.”

Kollins said many topics they discuss come from fans.

“We want to give the people what they want with this, so we’re sourcing from everywhere online to try and figure out what the hell to talk about,” Kollins said.

King said staying on topic proved to be a challenge during filming.

“I can go on a tangent for 30 minutes,” said King, who moved to Pittsburgh this year to be with Kollins. “If the topic is food, and I start talking about trains, we gotta reel me back in.”

Kollins first appeared on the 17th season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” that premiered in January, where Kollins first met King, and then Kollins went directly into “Drag Race All-Stars” in May. In July, the pair hosted their first WOW streaming series, “Binge Queens,” where they reacted to episodes of cult classic “Absolutely Fabulous.”

When asked if they have any Pittsburgh appearances coming up, Kollins quipped, “Ooh, maybe at the local Applebee’s in Edgewood.”

Kollins and King are currently on the ButtTootKing tour with friend Suzie Toot (Benjamin Shaevitz). The tour comes to the Pittsburgh Improv in Homestead Oct. 5 at 2 p.m. (sold out) and 6 p.m. (tickets available as of this writing).

‘Khan’ podcast

“Star Trek” boldly goes into fiction podcasts with this week’s premiere of “Star Trek: Khan,” an audio story now streaming its first of nine episodes wherever you get podcasts. Future episodes release on Mondays through Nov. 3.

Based on a story by “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” director Nicholas Meyer, this “Khan” podcast fills in what happened between the “Space Seed” episode of the original series and the 1982 film. Granted, this is ground that’s been covered previously in novels and comic books, but the podcast is the first scripted version of the story.

In a wrap-around set a few months after the death of Capt. James T. Kirk in “Star Trek: Generations,” Dr. Rosalind Lear (voice of Sonya Cassidy, “Reacher”) hitches a ride with the U.S.S. Excelsior, under the command of Capt. Sulu (George Takei) with Ensign Tuvok (Tim Russ) aboard, to recover audio recordings created by former Starfleet Lt. Marla McGivers (voice of Wrenn Schmidt, “For All Mankind”), who was marooned on Ceti Alpha V along with Khan (Naveen Andrews, “The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh”) at the end of “Space Seed.”

Through four episodes made available for review, “Khan” attempts to paint a more comprehensive picture of Khan beyond the villain glimpsed previously.

Andrews is well cast in the title role, the addition of Takei and Russ makes for welcome fan service and Schmidt is an excellent addition to the “Trek” universe, but it’s often difficult to distinguish the voice of McGivers from that of another one of Khan’s followers, Ursula (Mercy Malick), which makes “Khan” a frustratingly confusing listening experience.

Channel surfing

To replace departing cast members Heidi Gardner, Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker and Emil Wakim, NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” added five new featured players — Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall, Kam Patterson and Veronika Slowikowska — for its 51st season that begins Oct. 4. In the process, it’s the end of Please Don’t Destroy producing material for “SNL” with Marshall (the redhead) joining the cast, Martin Herlihy remaining on the writing staff and John Higgins exiting the series, though all three will continue to work together outside of “SNL.” Michael Che and Colin Jost are now expected to remain the hosts of “Weekend Update.” … “The Kelly Clarkson Show” (3 p.m. weekdays, WTAE) will return with new episodes Sept. 29. … For the first time since 2017, History will televise a new season of “Ice Road Truckers” (9:30 p.m. Oct. 1). … Paramount+’s “Yellowstone” spin-off, now titled “The Dutton Ranch,” will star Ed Harris and Anette Bening in addition to the returning Kelly Reilly (as Beth Dutton) and Cole Hauser (as Rip Wheeler). … This fall C-SPAN, C-SPAN2 and C-SPAN3 will stream via YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV’s basic package. … Deadline.com reports “The White Lotus” will head to France for its fourth season.