TV Talk: Pittsburgh team competes on ‘Lego Masters’ in a summer of unscripted network shows

Aside from a few imported scripted shows on PBS and The CW, summer is where broadcast networks roll out more reality competitions and game shows, low-cost filler during the warmest weather months when fewer viewers turn on the TV.

For its fifth season, Fox’s “Lego Masters” (8 p.m. May 19, WPGH-TV; next day on Hulu) debuts its first-ever Pittsburgh team, Krista Kay of Ross and Marcella Spear of Penn Hills, who make up one of 11 two-person teams competing for the show’s $100,000 grand prize.

Kay and Spear, who are clad in Steelers black and gold in the “Star Wars”-themed season premiere, said that at the beginning of each building challenge, they took time to plan what they intended to build.

“We probably take planning to an extreme,” Kay said. “It could be a sport for us. But sometimes they throw a curveball at you, too, so you have to be flexible.”

Spear said the biggest surprise in the first episode had nothing to do with Lego.

“We were very surprised to see his very manly mustache,” Spear said of host Will Arnett. “We were very pleased to get to know it throughout the season, and that was just a huge shock for us, but it was a lot of fun.”

Western Pennsylvania natives Kay and Spear met in 2020 through the Steel City LUG (Lego Users Group) AFOL (Adult Fans of Lego) — yes, Lego fandom comes with a lot of acronyms — but they’d been creating with Lego prior to that.

Kay, an adjunct faculty member of CCAC, played with Lego as a child and reignited her interest as an adult when her parents called and asked her to get her old toys out of their attic.

“I forgot how much I loved this stuff and (the box of) one set still had the Children’s Palace (price tag) sticker on it,” Kay said. “And then I was an adult with discretionary income, so all those things I wanted as a kid and didn’t get, I got as an adult, and I just kind of went downhill from there into the rabbit hole.”

Spear, a senior executive administrative assistant with a corporate travel agency, didn’t have Lego kits as a child (“I was more of a Lincoln Logs girl,” she said) and started building in the past 15 years.

“I needed something to keep my brain active as well as express creativity. Lego bricks are tops when it comes to being able to express yourself,” Spear said.

The friends, who’ve seen all seasons of the American as well as foreign versions of the show, applied to be on “Lego Masters” in the summer of 2023, went through auditions, got selected and filmed the season in late 2023 in Atlanta.

To prepare for the filmed competition, the pair practiced building, watched old seasons and listened to podcasts featuring past contestants.

Their building efforts included MOCs (My Own Creation), which are made from Lego bricks without following the instructions of a Lego kit. (A mix of springtime-themed sets and MOCs created by members of Steel City Lugs is on display through the end of May at the Penn Hills Library.)

Going into filming “Lego Masters,” Spear said her biggest concern was, “Am I good enough?”

“And coming out of it, I would say my biggest surprise was, I can do this. I am a builder and I’m very proud of both Krista and (myself). It’s an amazing opportunity and I loved every single second.”

Kay said her biggest concern was that she’d get emotional on camera.

“I see all these shows where these people weep on camera, and I was like, ‘That’s not going to be me. I’m not going to do that,’ ” Kay said. “And guess what I did?”

In addition to a new season of “Lego Masters,” Fox will also debut two new series:

“Gordon Ramsay’s Secret Services” (9 p.m. May 21): Chef Ramsay uses spy gear and secret, inside sources to figure out the issues facing a different restaurant each week.

“The Snake” (9 p.m. June 10): Jim Jeffries hosts this “Traitors”-inspired competition featuring 15 manipulative contestants who attempt to become each episode’s snake, the person who decides who stays and who exits the competition.

Returning: “MasterChef: Dynamic Duos” (8 p.m. May 21), “Bob’s Burgers” (8 p.m. May 29), “Grimsburg” (8:30 p.m. May 20), “The Quiz with Balls” (9 p.m. June 2), “The 1% Club” (8 p.m. June 10).

ABC

“Match Game” (9 p.m. July 23, WTAE): It’s been almost four years since ABC aired this game show with Alec Baldwin as host. Martin Short will host this new iteration.

Returning: “Bachelor in Paradise” (8 p.m. July 7), “Celebrity Family Feud” (8 p.m. July 10), “Press Your Luck” (9 p.m. July 10), “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” (8 p.m. July 23).

CBS

Returning: “Raid the Cage” (9 p.m. May 28), “Big Brother” (8 p.m. July 10, KDKA-TV).

The CW

Returning: “Children Ruin Everything” (9 p.m. June 18, WPNT).

NBC

“Destination X” (10 p.m. May 27, WPXI): Jeffrey Dean Morgan (“The Walking Dead: Dead City”) makes his first foray into reality show hosting, guiding contestants who get transported via a blacked-out bus to various European locations where they compete in challenges and use clues to figure out “where in the X they are.”

Returning: “Transplant” (8 p.m. May 22), “America’s Got Talent” (8 p.m. May 27) and “American Ninja Warrior” (8 p.m. June 2).

PBS

PBS Kids’ “Alma’s Way,” produced by Pittsburgh-based Fred Rogers Productions, will debut its first-ever musical episode, 7:30 a.m. June 9 on WQED-TV. Another new episode debuts June 10 at the same time.

New PBS series include:

“Patience” (8 p.m. June 15, WQED-TV): Inspired by the French series “Astrid,” this new drama follows Patience Evans (Ella Maisy Purvis), a woman on the autism spectrum who works in a police criminal records office and eventually helps a detective inspector solve crimes.

“Walking with Dinosaurs” (8-10 p.m. June 16-18): The story of unearthing a dinosaur, told through modern special effects.

“Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty” (9 p.m. July 8): A docu-series exploration of Renaissance artists.

Returning: “Masterpiece: Grantchester” (9 p.m. June 15), “Human Footprint” (9 p.m. June 27), “The Great American Recipe” (9 p.m. July 11), “Pompei: The New Dig” (10 p.m. Aug. 6), “Professor T” (8 p.m. Aug. 24), “Masterpiece Mystery! The Marlowe Murder Club” (9 p.m. Aug. 24), “Masterpiece Mystery! Unforgotten” (10 p.m. Aug. 24).