Movies/TV category, Page 29
‘Megalopolis’ flops, ‘Wild Robot’ soars at box office
NEW YORK — Francis Ford Coppola’s decades-in-the-making, self-financed epic “Megalopolis” flopped with moviegoers, while the acclaimed DreamWorks Animation family film “The Wild Robot” soared to No. 1 at the weekend box office. “The Wild Robot,” Chris Sanders’ adaptation of Peter Brown’s bestseller, outperformed expectations to launch with $35 million in...
‘Saturday Night Live’ launches 50th season with Jean Smart, Jelly Roll and maybe Maya as Kamala
NEW YORK — “Saturday Night Live” is set to set off its 50th season with host Jean Smart and musical guest Jelly Roll. Smart, the 73-year-old “Hacks” and “Designing Women” star who just won her sixth Emmy, has never hosted the NBC sketch comedy institution before in her more than...
Ryan Murphy believes he ‘did right’ by Lyle and Erik Menendez in ‘Monsters’: ‘It’s faux outrage’
LOS ANGELES — There’s an indisputable fact about Lyle and Erik Menendez: The brothers killed their parents, Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez, on Aug. 20, 1989, in the den of their Beverly Hills mansion. But what was the motivating factor behind the murders? Was it greed, as prosecutors contended,...
Maggie Smith, star of stage, film and ‘Downton Abbey,’ has died aged 89
LONDON — Maggie Smith, the masterful, scene-stealing actor who won an Oscar for “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” in 1969 and gained new fans in the 21st century as the dowager Countess of Grantham in “Downton Abbey” and Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, died Friday. She...
Hoda Kotb says she’s leaving NBC’s ‘Today’ show early next year
NEW YORK — Hoda Kotb, a fixture at NBC for more than two decades, says she will leave her morning perch on the “Today” show early next year, telling staffers “it’s time.” In a memo to her team — and later in an emotional on-air reveal Thursday — Kotb said...
TV Talk: Need a feel-good show? ‘Colin from Accounts’ fits the billVideo
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Every now and then a feel-good series comes along and becomes part of the cultural conversation. That’s more difficult to achieve than ever in this post-monoculture era with hundreds of scripted shows vying for viewers’ attention. But Paramount+’s “Colin from Accounts” deserves the same accolades once heaped...
Reality TV star Julie Chrisley to be re-sentenced in bank fraud and tax evasion case
ATLANTA — A federal judge was set to re-sentence reality TV star Julie Chrisley on Wednesday after an appeals court ordered a new sentence for her conviction on bank fraud and tax evasion charges. Chrisley and her husband, Todd Chrisley, gained fame on their show “Chrisley Knows Best,” which followed...
TV Q&A: Did CBS cancel ‘Blue Bloods’ because the family prays before dinner?
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 are they taking “Blue Bloods” off the air? I don’t believe their ratings suddenly fell. I think it’s because they prayed on every episode!...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh native Zachary Quinto returns to primetime in ‘Brilliant Minds’Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. PASADENA, Calif. – Pittsburgh native Zachary Quinto first hit it big in primetime on NBC when he played the villain on “Heroes.” This week he’s back on NBC, starring in new medical drama “Brilliant Minds”...
‘The West Wing’ cast visits the White House for a 25th anniversary party
WASHINGTON — With President Joe Biden away from the White House, it was left Friday to another man with Oval Office experience to stand at the front of the Rose Garden and give a rousing call to service. Martin Sheen and others from the cast of “The West Wing,” the...
Patrick Cassidy talks about mom Shirley Jones in advance of gala honoring her
On Saturday, Pittsburgh CLO will honor Shirley Jones, Western Pennsylvania native and legend of stage and screen, with a Broadway star-studded gala celebration at the Byham Theater in Downtown Pittsburgh. Jones was born in Charleroi and grew up in Smithton — her family owned Jones Brewing Co., which made Stoney’s...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh-set Hallmark movie depicts local Alzheimer’s walk, namechecks local landmarks
Natalie (Ashley Williams) relocates to Pittsburgh in Hallmark Channel’s Pittsburgh-set “Falling Together” (8 p.m. Saturday, World Alzheimer’s Day), which features Natalie falling for her apartment building’s standoffish superintendent (Paul Campbell, “Battlestar Galactica”) and volunteering with the annual Walk to End Alzheimer’s. One of the film’s executive producers, Neal Dodson, pushed...
TV Talk: ‘Sopranos’ meets ‘Batman’ in ‘The Penguin’; Agatha back on Disney+Video
As a sufferer of superhero fatigue, I skipped the 2022 Robert Pattinson-starring “The Batman” and had no real interest in HBO’s “The Penguin” (9 p.m. today, HBO and Max). But once I started watching “The Penguin,” it was hard to stop. Events of “The Batman” get a recap at the...
TV Talk: Amazon announces ‘Pradeeps of Pittsburgh’ premiere dateVideo
Originally ordered as an Amazon Freevee series, when Pittsburgh-set “The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh” debuts all eight episodes Oct. 17 the show will stream on both Freevee and Amazon’s Prime Video. Filmed last summer in Toronto, the half-hour comedy series was created by Vijal Patel (“Schooled,” “Black-ish”) and inspired by his...
TV Q&A: Does KDKA-TV have another new sportscaster?
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: Does Suzie Cool now work for KDKA-TV? She reports on their high school and college football broadcasts, Nightly Sports Call and she is a co-host...
TV Talk: Streaming/cable spigot gushes with return of ‘Yellowstone,’ ‘Waverly Place’Video
“Yellowstone,” TV’s most-watched scripted series, returns in November but without star Kevin Costner (presumably his character will die off-screen). After a lackluster summer of premieres due to last year’s dual actors’ and writers’ strikes, production has caught up and there will be no dearth of scripted originals on cable and...
TV Talk: ‘Hacks,’ ‘Shogun,’ ‘Baby Reindeer’ dominate Emmys; Jonasi advances to ‘AGT’ finals
January’s strike-delayed Emmys telecast succeeded by giving viewers what they want: A celebration of the medium and its most successful shows, including cast reunions of “Ally McBeal,” “Cheers” and “Martin” among others. Sunday’s telecast of the “76th Emmy Awards,” honoring programs that aired/streamed between June 1, 2023, and May 31,...
‘The Bear’ romps early with 3 acting wins at Emmy Awards
LOS ANGELES — “The Bear” is coming back for seconds in a big way at the Emmys, scoring repeat wins Sunday night for best actor, best supporting actor and best supporting actress in a comedy. The star of the FX show Jeremy Allen White won best actor in a comedy...
‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ is No. 1 again; conservative doc ‘Am I Racist’ cracks box office top 5
Moviegoers said yes to more ” Beetlejuice Beetlejuice ” this weekend. After its monster opening, the Tim Burton sequel easily topped the domestic box office charts again with $51.6 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. Down only 54% from a week earlier, the North American gross for...
TV Talk: ‘Elevated procedurals’ redeem an unscripted-heavy fall seasonVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers viewing tips for the 2024-25 TV season. The fall broadcast TV season isn’t what it used to be as budgets shrink, forcing networks to add more unscripted (re: cheaper) fare in place of the scripted shows they were once known for. With...
TV Talk: Ken Burns’ latest, ‘Leonardo da Vinci,’ highlights PBS’s fall; WQED-TV stitches together shortsVideo
Ken Burns tackles his first non-American subject in the four-hour PBS documentary “Leonardo da Vinci” (8-10 p.m. Nov. 18-19, WQED-TV), exploring how the artist’s work inspired future generations. PBS will air several election-themed programs, including its staple “Frontline” episode “The Choice 2024” profiling Kamala Harris and Donald Trump as they...
Harvey Weinstein indicted on additional sex crimes charges ahead of New York retrial
NEW YORK — Disgraced ex-movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been indicted on additional sex crimes charges in New York ahead of a retrial in his landmark #MeToo case, Manhattan prosecutors said at a court hearing Thursday. The indictment will remain under seal until Weinstein is arraigned on the new charges,...
Buffalo Bill’s House near Perryopolis open for more tours
With Halloween season looming, horror movie buffs have two more opportunities this year to tour Buffalo Bill’s House — the real film site where the cinematic climax of “The Silence of the Lambs” was filmed. The two weekends fans can sign up online for limited guided house tours include September...
TV Talk: ‘American Sports Story’ recounts Hernandez case; Cam Heyward on ‘Hot Ones’Video
PASADENA, Calif. – Producer Ryan Murphy understands one of the few truisms in current pop culture: Crime pays. Or at least true crime stories do because American viewers lap them up. Next week Murphy embarks on a true crime story spree with his latest Netflix series, “Monsters: The Lyle and...
NFL averaged 21 million viewers per game for opening week, its highest on record
LOS ANGELES — The NFL averaged 21.0 million viewers per game during the league’s opening week, making it the most-watched Week 1 on record. The league and Nielsen said Wednesday that the per-game average on TV and digital platforms was a 12% increase over last year. Nielsen began electronic measurement...
