TV Talk: Pittsburgh native talks about her exit from ‘The Bachelor;’ ‘The Ark,’ ‘Wolf Pack' premiere

Pittsburgh native Cara Ammon made her debut and her exit on Monday’s season premiere of ABC’s “The Bachelor.”

Ammon got little screen time and then she didn’t secure a rose that would have kept her on the reality competition.

She wasn’t the woman who made bachelor Zach Shallcross guzzle maple syrup or the one who introduced him to a pet pig – yes, those things really happened – but Ammon got less than 10 seconds of air time in her introduction.

“I’ve actually been on at least, let’s say, 30 first dates or something like that,” Ammon told Shallcross, “and I’m really hoping you’re my last first date.”

From there, Ammon receded into the background until she was one of 10 women eliminated.

In a phone interview Wednesday afternoon, the 2013 North Allegheny High School grad who earned a degree in business management from Penn State in 2017 said she applied to be on “The Bachelor” after getting out of a long-term relationship of many years.

She tried dating apps, blind dates and setups and found the dating scene in New York, where she works as a recruiter for J.P. Morgan’s investment banking division, to be “a crazy experience.

“I just came to the point where I was talking with my mom and we were joking around, saying, ‘You know what else you haven’t tried?’” Ammon recalled. “Growing up we watched [‘The Bachelor’] together so she was like, ‘Why don’t you apply for “The Bachelor”?’ And then crazily enough I got on.”

Ammon had not applied to any other reality shows.

“I wasn’t looking to get into reality TV,” she said. “I was just looking for a husband.”

Ammon filmed “The Bachelor” this past fall in Southern California. She’d never been on a TV show before and she said she was nervous in the limo on the way to the “Bachelor” mansion.

“But after stepping in, it was really comforting to me [to meet] the rest of the girls and it became a very exciting opportunity,” she said. “Those nerves really turned into excitement.”

Though Ammon had nothing negative to say about how she was edited and called her brief time on “The Bachelor” “a great experience,” I wondered why she thought she didn’t get a rose. Was there a scene not included of her talking to Shallcross?

“There were other connections that he had that were maybe a bit stronger,” Ammon said. “It was a very busy night and so I, unfortunately, didn’t get to speak with him much. I think everything happens for a reason.”

As for her edit, I wondered if she was not dramatic enough. After all, other women left the show in dramatic tears; one was almost wailing. How was Ammon feeling after she exited?

“It was a mixture of emotions,” she said. “It was super-exciting to be there and to some extent a bit of a disappointment but a sense of calm and relief that something else will work out so I think I was feeling a bunch of things.”

Back home in McCandless, her mom Tammy and father Drew had their own viewing party for Monday’s season premiere.

As for dating, Ammon is “still giving it a go.

“I think the experience has also opened my eyes and going on that was something that was a little bit out of my comfort zone — not my typical experience so I’m trying to …. push myself out of the comfort zone,” she said. “I think good things will happen from that.”

Local filmmakers’ ‘Running’

Patrick Lope and Nicholas Mross (“The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin”) of Pittsburgh-based Wild Arrow Media released a new documentary earlier this month that’s now available via video on demand on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube Movies, Apple TV and Google Play.

“Running with Speed: The Fastest Gamers on Earth” chronicles the niche community of the world’s fastest video game players.

‘The Ark’

With “The Expanse” done, it’s high time for a new, original sci-fi soap but “The Ark” (10 p.m. Feb. 1, Syfy) won’t fill that void.

Set 100 years in the future aboard planetary colonization vessel Ark One, the story begins as a catastrophe wakens the surviving crew prematurely from cryogenic sleep with still a year left on their space travels.

Executive produced by co-showrunners Dean Devlin (“Independence Day,” “Stargate”) and Jonathan Glassner (“Stargate SG-1”), “The Ark” is poorly written (grating exposition galore!) with mediocre special effects and cardboard characters. Syfy’s latest disappoints on every level.

‘Wolf Pack’

As genre shows go, “Wolf Pack” is infinitely more watchable than “The Ark” even if “Wolf Pack” is no more original than “The Ark.”

Credit “Wolf Pack” writer/creator Jeff Davis (“Teen Wolf”) with the ability to make viewers care about the latest iteration of teenagers fighting demons – both the literal and metaphorical variety.

Streaming now on Paramount+, “Wolf Pack” features “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star Sarah Michelle Gellar in a glorified cameo in the first two episodes, though one hopes her role expands deeper into the season.

Gellar plays an arson investigator who may be onto the secret of the show’s four leads who appear to be werewolves, though they only threaten to wolf-out in the show’s first two plodding episodes, the only ones provided for review. These episodes feel like an overlong prologue.

But credit Davis’ ability to blend teen horror and romance and his photogenic young cast for making me want to learn more about them and the secrets that seem destined to bind them as a pack.

Channel surfing

Filmed-in-Pittsburgh “Mayor of Kingstown” star Jeremy Renner is out of the hospital after a New Year’s Day snowplow accident that he says broke 30 bones in his body. He’s doing physical therapy at home as part of his recuperation. … Pittsburgh filmmaker Andy Keleman and his partner Rachel Lipko are featured on HGTV’s “House Hunters International” (10:30 p.m. Jan. 26) as they searched for a second home in Provence, France, in August 2022. … CBS renewed Swissvale native Billy Gardell’s “Bob (Hearts) Abishola” for a fifth season to air during the 2023-24 TV season. … Tatyana Ali, who played Ashley Banks in the original “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” will play a new English teacher character in season two of Peacock’s “Bel-Air.” … HBO Max’s “Harley Quinn” debuts “A Very Problematic Valentine’s Day Special” on Feb. 9. … DirecTV dropped NewsMax in another retransmission fee dispute. … PBS’s “Frontline” debuts “Putin and the Presidents” (10 p.m. Tuesday, WQED-TV), about how five American presidents miscalculated in their attempts to constrain Vladimir Putin’s power before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. … Adult Swim ordered a 12th season of “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” in advance of the movie “Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm,” debuting on HBO Max Feb. 8 and on Adult Swim at midnight on March 12. … … HBO Max’s “Doom Patrol” and “Titans” will end with their current fourth seasons.

You can reach TV writer Rob Owen at rowen@triblive.com or 412-380-8559. Follow Rob on Twitter or Facebook. Ask TV questions by email or phone. Please include your first name and location.