TV Talk: WTAE, WPXI sweep May ratings; ‘Revival’ debuts on Syfy

In the May 2025 local weekday newscast ratings, WTAE newscasts ranked first most often in households, a measure of general popularity, and WPXI newscasts had the greatest number of newscasts ranking first in the key demographic of persons ages 25-54, often used to set advertising rates.

In households, WTAE was first at 5 and 6 a.m., 4, 5 and 6 p.m. KDKA-TV ranked first at noon and 11 p.m.

In the key demo, WPXI ranked first at 5 and 6 a.m. and 4, 5, 6 and 11 p.m., and its 10 p.m. news on WPGH was also the No. 1 newscast in the time period. KDKA was first at noon.

Among non-news local programs, KDKA’s “Pittsburgh Today Live,” was No. 1 in households and a hair behind “Today” on WPXI in the key demo.

At 3 p.m., KDKA’s “Talk Pittsburgh” ranked second in households behind “Judy Justice” on WPXI. In the key demo, “Talk Pittsburgh” came in third behind “Judy Justice” on WPXI and “Kelly Clarkson” on WTAE.

In its first full sweeps period, CBS’s new daytime soap “Beyond the Gates” ranked second in households on KDKA behind ABC’s “General Hospital” on WTAE. “Gates” ranked third in the key demo behind “Drew Barrymore” on WPXI and “General Hospital” on WTAE.

Magee on TLC

This week’s seventh season finale of TLC’s “1000-LB Sisters” featured Tammy losing weight and needing surgery to address her excess skin, with the procedure carried out in Pittsburgh.

Tammy’s doctor in Kentucky referred her to Dr. Peter Rubin, chair of plastic surgery at UPMC. Two surgical teams operating simultaneously conducted her surgery, with both UPMC Magee-Womens and the UPMC Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Center featured on the show when “1000-LB Sisters” filmed locally in May 2024 for an episode last season and again in January 2025 for this week’s surgery episode.

The season finale is now streaming on Max and discovery+ and will re-air at 9 a.m. Friday, June 13, 1 p.m. Saturday, June 14, and 9 a.m. Sunday, June 15.

Local Emmy honors

The Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will induct two Pittsburgh broadcasting veterans, WQED’s former “Black Horizons” host Chris Moore and longtime KDKA-TV assignment editor Aviva Radbord, into its Gold Circle Society, honoring those with 50 or more years of industry experience, at its 43rd awards ceremony Sept. 20 in Philadelphia.

Inductees into the Silver Circle, recognizing those with 25 years of service, include Pittsburgh freelance producer Gina Catanzarite and retired KDKA-TV political reporter Jon Delano.

‘Revival’

Syfy’s new comic book adaptation “Revival” (10 p.m. June 12; streaming next week on Peacock), based on the Image Comics series from Tim Seeley and Mike Norton, has a premise that usually makes me worry about being strung along, waiting interminably for the big mystery box reveal.

In rural Wisconsin, everyone who died on a certain date rises from the dead, leading to confusion and fear among the populace, including single mother cop Dana Cypress (Melanie Scrofano), her sister Em (Romy Weltman) and their police sheriff father (David James Elliott, “JAG”).

But to its credit, the low-budget “Revival” focuses primarily on the “revivers” in the aftermath of their miraculous returns and what it means for their futures. That’s a meaningful difference from other post-“Lost” series that tended to more forcefully tease the answer to “how did it happen?” — then the show invariably got canceled before getting to an answer. “Revival” includes a CDC scientist character (Andy McQueen) but the emphasis isn’t on resolving that “what happened?” question.

Instead, “Revival” has a sense of humor – about its characters, about the situation – and turns its focus to the mystery surrounding the possible murder of one of the characters who’s now risen from the dead.

Through its first three episodes, “Revival” showrunners/writers Aaron B. Koontz and Luke Boyce seem more interested in the impacts of Revival Day — personally, politically and culturally — than the mystery of it all, and that is to the show’s benefit.

Kept/canceled

Amazon’s Prime Video renewed “Maxton Hall – The World Between Us” for a third season ahead of its Nov. 7 second season premiere.

Despite an initial two-season order, Prime Video canceled the “Gilmore Girls” creators’ “Etoile” after a single season.

Fox canceled “The Cleaning Lady” after four seasons and “Alert: Missing Persons Unit” after three seasons.

Channel surfing

Next week, a new documentary on Sally Ride, the first American woman to go to space, debuts at 9 p.m. Monday, June 16, on National Geographic Channel and streams Tuesday, June 17, on Disney+ and Hulu. … Sunday’s Tony Awards telecast on CBS drew the show’s largest audience since 2019, just shy of 5 million viewers, up 38% from last year on broadcast and up 208% from a year ago on streaming. … CNN’s Saturday telecast of George Clooney’s Broadway show “Good Night and Good Luck” reached more than 7 million viewers.