Movies/TV category, Page 117
TV Talk: ‘Meerkat Manor’ rebooted on BBC America with bigger scope
In this age of remakes, reboots and revivals, it stands to reason that even a 2005-08 natural history series can return with new episodes. Previously airing on Animal Planet, the reboot of “Meerkat Manor” from original series creator Caroline Hawkins and Oxford Scientific Films debuts at 8 p.m. Saturday on...
TV Q&A: Why did KDKA-TV make such a big deal out of an anchor’s retirement?
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Sunday Tribune-Review. Q: In reference to “Stacy Smith prepares to sign off from KDKA-TV on his terms” and his three-day consecration: I appreciate Stacy Smith and his devotion...
Gavin MacLeod, ‘Love Boat’ captain, dies at 90
LOS ANGELES — Gavin MacLeod, the veteran supporting actor who achieved stardom as Murray Slaughter, the sardonic TV news writer on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” before going on to even bigger fame as the cheerful Capt. Stubing on “The Love Boat,” has died. He was 90. MacLeod died early...
Bill Cosby refuses sex offender program, so parole is denied
PHILADELPHIA — Actor Bill Cosby won’t be paroled this year after refusing to participate in sex offender programs during his nearly three years in state prison in Pennsylvania. The 83-year-old Cosby has long said he would resist the treatment programs and refuse to acknowledge wrongdoing even if it means serving...
Voice of Disney’s ‘Sebastian the Crab’ dies at age 72
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Samuel E. Wright, the South Carolina native who famously voiced “Sebastian the Crab” in Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” and had an acting career spanning five decades, died this week. He was 72. Wright died Monday in New York after a three-year bout with prostate cancer, according to...
WWE returns to Pittsburgh this summer
After a last-minute cancellation in 2020, the WWE is coming back to Pittsburgh. The sports entertainment company on Friday announced new live event dates for this summer. Pittsburgh is slated for a Supershow at 7:30 p.m. July 24 at PPG Paints Arena. The arena has the event listed on their...
TV Talk: ‘Friends’ cast reunites; May sweeps local news ratings released
HBO Max and media hype over the long-in-the-works “Friends” reunion would make more sense if it was the cast of the one-time NBC hit reuniting to reprise their classic characters, but this is not that. The “Friends” reunion, streaming on HBO Max, is just the actors as themselves reminiscing about...
TV Talk: TV specials shine a light on 1921’s Tulsa race massacreVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Although The Washington Post began to dig into the history of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre earlier, it was HBO’s 2019 fictional limited series “Watchmen” that really turned the spotlight on this shameful forgotten piece...
Pittsburgh-raised music star Wiz Khalifa revealed on ‘Masked Singer’Video
In the end, it makes sense that Wiz Khalifa would turn out to be The Chameleon. After all, he’s already a chameleon-like multi-hyphenate: rap star, actor (“Dickinson”) and businessman (Khalifa Kush cannabis). The Pittsburgh Allderdice grad was unmasked Wednesday night on the fifth season finale of Fox’s “The Masked Singer”...
After 38 years, Stacy Smith anchors his last KDKA-TV newscastVideo
In the end, the most stoic of Pittsburgh news anchors remained as steady as ever. Stacy Smith’s voice cracked just the tiniest, almost imperceptible bit as he bid farewell to a 50-year broadcasting career, 38 years of it at Pittsburgh’s KDKA-TV. Smith anchored his final KDKA-TV newscast at 6 p.m....
Amazon to buy MGM, studio behind James Bond and ‘Shark Tank’
NEW YORK — Amazon is going Hollywood. The online shopping giant is buying MGM, the movie and TV studio behind James Bond, “Legally Blonde” and “Shark Tank,” with the hopes of filling its video streaming service with more stuff to watch. Amazon is paying $8.45 billion for MGM, making it...
TV Q&A: Why do newscasts use so much file footage? They didn’t do that in Walter Cronkite’s day
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Sunday Tribune-Review. Q: Why is it that the local TV news stations feel the need to always fill with file photos/video when on a given subject? I’ll pick...
‘Humans’ movie set for 2021 release
May 25—The film adaptation of Stephen Karam’s Tony Award-winning play “The Humans” should hit our screens this year. The movie, which wrapped production in 2019, is set to come out in 2021, according to the Internet Movie Database, although an exact release date has not been announced. The story focuses...
TV Talk: WPXI meteorologist Danielle Dozier leaving Pittsburgh
Danielle Dozier, weekend evening meteorologist at WPXI since April 2018, will exit the station this week. Dozier’s last broadcast will be at 12 p.m. Wednesday. Dozier says it was her choice to leave Channel 11 but she wasn’t yet ready to say at what TV station or in which TV...
Timothée Chalamet to play Willy Wonka in origin story
NEW YORK — Timothée Chalamet will play Willy Wonka in a musical based on the early life of Roald Dahl’s eccentric chocolatier. Warner Bros. and the Roald Dahl Story Co. announced Monday that the 25-year-old Chalamet will star in “Wonka.” The studio said the film will “focus on a young...
‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ to return to full in-studio audience in June
Stephen Colbert is getting his crowd back. The “Late Show” host will welcome back a full audience to the Ed Sullivan Theater for the June 14 show, his first in-person audience since March 16, 2020, CBS announced Monday. “Over the last 437 days, my staff and crew (and family!) have...
TV Talk: Stacy Smith prepares to sign off from KDKA-TV on his terms
For KDKA-TV news anchor Stacy Smith, the decision to retire was less about his age, 72, than about hitting a milestone. Now in his 50th year as a full-time broadcaster, Smith reached his five-decade goal. “I really feel like I could go on another five or 10 years,” Smith said...
CNN cuts ties with Rick Santorum over disparaging comments
NEW YORK — CNN is cutting ties with former Pennsylvania senator and current TV analyst Rick Santorum over disparaging comments he made about Native American culture. On CNN, Santorum was a senior political commentator who was often tasked with giving the Republican point of view during campaign coverage. His parting...
Actor Danny Masterson must stand trial on 3 rape charges
LOS ANGELES — After three days of dramatic and often emotional testimony from three women who said “That ’70s Show” actor Danny Masterson raped them nearly 20 years ago, a judge on Friday found that he must stand trial. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo ordered Masterson...
The 1995 Diana interview with BBC: A look at the pivotal moment in time
LONDON — The respected British broadcaster BBC is facing questions about its integrity following a scathing report on its explosive 1995 interview with Princess Diana. Britain’s justice secretary said Friday that the government would review the rules governing oversight of the BBC after an investigation found that one of its...
David Zurawik: ‘This Is Us’ is network TV’s greatest family drama, and I am already suffering separation anxiety about it
I have been feeling separation anxiety for weeks, and it is only getting worse. Season five of NBC’s “This Is Us’ ends Tuesday. And the network has also officially announced that the greatest family drama in the history of network TV will conclude after season six next year. That was...
‘Hocus Pocus’ sequel to put a spell on Disney+ next year
They’ll put another spell on you, come 2022. The long-awaited “Hocus Pocus 2” will hit Disney+ in 2022, with Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy reprising their roles as the Sanderson sisters, according to a press release Thursday. The sequel to the 1993 Halloween cult classic will center...
TV Talk: Broadcast networks plan game show-heavy summer schedulesVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers viewing tips for the coming summer season. With the exception of The CW — and to a lesser extent, Fox — it’s looking like a steady diet of unscripted programming on the broadcast channels this summer. CBS Although CBS still has season...
Oak Street in Irwin used for ‘Quadfather’ film shootVideo
Dominick Domasky of Greensburg is in the inspiration business. Whether it takes the form of books, motivational speaking or, on Thursday night, film-making in downtown Irwin, Domasky’s Motivation Champs company “shares inspiration, positivity and smiles 24/7, and helps other people do the same,” he said. One of Domasky’s clients is...
TV Talk: Broadcast networks announce fall schedulesVideo
Stability is the strategy most broadcast networks are using for fall, adding just a few new shows and keeping their prime-time lineups largely intact. ABC Aside from “Big Sky” moving to 10 p.m. Thursday and “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” joining “Supermarket Sweep” on Sunday, ABC’s prime-time schedule will look largely...
