Entertainment category, Page 168
TV Talk: HBO recaptures ‘Game of Thrones’ political dynamics in ‘House of the Dragon’Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Although “Game of Thrones” spin-off “House of the Dragon” (9 p.m. Sunday on HBO and HBO Max) is technically a prequel set 172 years before the first “GOT” series, structurally its first episode is more...
Brian Stelter out at CNN as his media criticism show ‘Reliable Sources’ is canceledVideo
In the first major on-air personnel move under CNN chief Chris Licht, the network is parting ways with senior media correspondent Brian Stelter and canceling his Sunday program “Reliable Sources.” Stelter announced his departure to NPR. A CNN representative did not respond to a request for comment. Stelter is scheduled...
KDKA Radio Morning Show host Kevin Battle let go by Audacy as part of layoffs
Kevin Battle, co-host of the popular “KDKA Radio Morning Show,” has been let go by the station’s parent company Audacy, Inc. in an apparent cost cutting move. Battle joined the 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. show as a co-host with Larry Richert in March 2020. Also let go by the...
Floral mural created by Export native, touts borough’s historyVideo
There is little doubt that the Westmoreland Heritage Trail has helped reinvigorate downtown Export. Shops along Washington Avenue that once were shuttered have sprung back to life, and projects large and small signal changes to come. Where the trail ends, walkers and cyclists will be treated to the work of...
Cindystock backyard music fest benefitting cancer screenings returns to Wexford
An annual event for a good cause that folks in the area look forward to each summer is returning to the Wexford home of founders Cindy and Ted Yates. The 19th annual outdoor music festival known as Cindystock is set for Aug. 20 beginning at 4 p.m. Tickets are $50...
Billy Strayhorn-Duke Ellington’s jazz ‘Nutcracker’ to premiere in Pittsburgh
On Dec. 1, 1938, Pittsburgh resident and jazz composer Billy Strayhorn met the legendary Duke Ellington backstage after a show at what was then the Stanley Theater. Their musical personalities meshed, and Strayhorn’s composition “Take the ‘A’ Train” eventually became the Ellington band’s theme song. The duo also collaborated on...
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust gala comes at critical point for Cultural DistrictVideo
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust will celebrate the Band of Dreamers who envisioned the downtown Cultural District more than 35 years ago during the Building on the Dream Gala, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 7 in the Benedum Center. Featured entertainer will be Renee Elise Goldsberry, a Tony Award-winner for her role...
TV Talk: Offbeat humor springs from filmed-in-Pittsburgh ‘Sprung’Video
If you’ve been a fan of writer/director Greg Garcia’s past series — “My Name is Earl” (2005-09, NBC), “Raising Hope” (2010-14, Fox), “The Guest Book” (2017-18, TBS) — and his shows’ mix of sophomoric humor and character-driven comedy with a messy surface but heart underneath, you’re likely to get a...
Phoenix Theatres 18 closing in North Versailles
A North Versailles movie theater that’s served as a town hub for several decades will close in September. The final day for movies at Phoenix Theatres 18, which sits along Lincoln Highway, will be Labor Day. “We know many people have memories of coming to the theatre on dates, family...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking new movie casting call, North Shore concerts, Steelers game, ‘A League of Their Own’
In this episode of the “Pittsburgh Pop” podcast, host Tim Benz and TV Talk columnist Rob Owen discuss Pittsburgh pop culture news of the moment, including the weekend’s concerts on the North Shore and TV coverage of the first Steelers pre-season game. The pair discuss Amazon Prime Video’s “A League...
Metallica roars through Pittsburgh in display of classic metal dominanceVideo
Metallica didn’t show any signs of slowing down in their visit to Pittsburgh’s PNC Park on Sunday night. The veteran thrash metal band — if “classic metal” isn’t a thing like classic rock, it should be — played a two-hour set that might have blown the roof off if they...
Anne Heche, star with troubled life, dies of crash injuriesVideo
LOS ANGELES — Anne Heche, the Emmy-winning film and television actor whose dramatic Hollywood rise in the 1990s and accomplished career contrasted with personal chapters of turmoil, died of injuries from a fiery car crash. She was 53. Heche was “peacefully taken off life support,” spokeswoman Holly Baird said in...
Review: Aubrey Plaza kills it in ‘Emily the Criminal’
Aubrey Plaza knows a thing or two about stealing. With her laserlike glare and killer deadpan timing, she can say absolutely nothing and slyly pocket a scene. Given the right setup, her characters can push memorably against the boundaries of acceptable behavior, mixing absurdity and menace in often dangerously unstable...
Concert review: Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jett rock PNC Park
Four bands transported PNC Park back to the Three Rivers Stadium era when The Stadium Tour finally came to Pittsburgh on Friday. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Poison, Def Leppard and Motley Crue combined for a raucous six-and-a-half-hour concert that delighted fans both young and old. Multiple bands remarked on...
Anne Heche, TV, film and stage actor, dies at 53 from injuries sustained in car crash
LOS ANGELES — Anne Heche, the Emmy- and Tony-nominated actor whose work in “Six Days Seven Nights,” “Another World” and dozens of other projects dovetailed with a groundbreaking romance with Ellen DeGeneres that challenged homophobia in Hollywood, has died. She was 53. Her son Homer confirmed her death in a...
Amazon’s Ring, MGM to launch show from viral doorbell videos
Two Amazon-owned companies — Ring and Hollywood studio MGM — are teaming to create a TV show in the mold of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” using viral footage from Ring’s doorbell and smart-home cameras. The half-hour show, called “Ring Nation,” will be hosted by actor and comedian Wanda Sykes and...
Former Westmoreland County softball standouts find ‘extra’ special roles in ‘A League of Their Own’
Mollie Kovalcin watched the film “A League of Their Own” so many times growing up, she lost count. It was part of her childhood and still holds a special place in her film collection. You might say it is “extra” special now. “I’ve probably seen it maybe 300 times, over...
Steve Martin and Martin Short mix it up on ‘Murder,’ mirth and … ‘Melrose Place’?
LOS ANGELES — Martin Short is relaxing in an Adirondack chair at his summer cottage in Rosseau, Ontario, a couple hours north of his Canadian birthplace and three time zones ahead of his longtime friend and “Only Murders in the Building” co-star, Steve Martin, who’s joining us from his Santa...
Anne Heche on life support, survival of crash ‘not expected’
LOS ANGELES — Anne Heche is on life support after suffering a brain injury in a fiery crash a week ago and her survival isn’t expected, according to a statement from a representative. The actor, who is in a coma and in critical condition, is being kept on life support...
PNC Park fans love Billy Joel just the way he isVideo
It had been six years since Billy Joel last played a concert at PNC Park when he showed up at Pittsburgh’s baseball palace Thursday night. But Joel hadn’t forgotten what his fans wanted from him and did he ever give it to them. “Good evening Pittsburgh. Long time no see,”...
Shannon Bream selected as Fox Sunday host; Chris Wallace gets CNN show
NEW YORK — Shannon Bream, a Fox News Channel veteran who is the network’s chief legal correspondent, is the new anchor of the “Fox News Sunday” political talk show, filling a role left vacant when Chris Wallace left last December. Meanwhile, CNN said Thursday that Wallace’s interview program will air...
TV Talk: Is ‘A League of Their Own’ worth watching?Video
Amazon Prime Video’s “A League of Their Own,” filmed mostly in Western Pennsylvania and streaming Friday, is definitely the best series spin-off of the 1992 Geena Davis-Madonna-Tom Hanks movie. The previous iteration, a forgettable 1993 CBS sitcom, was pretty bad. Where the original film explored sexism with a passing reference...
Pittsburgh Playwrights staging August Wilson’s ‘Jitney’ at his childhood home
Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company will join in celebrating the revitalization of the August Wilson House by staging Wilson’s “Jitney” at the historic property in Pittsburgh’s Lower Hill. The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright’s childhood home has been renovated as a community art center. Grand opening activities will be held Saturday, with Friday’s...
Matt Stone and Trey Parker talk 25 years of ‘South Park’ and their lost ‘deep fake’ Trump movie
College buddies Trey Parker and Matt Stone needed a theme song for their upcoming TV show, an irreverent cartoon about four foul-mouthed young boys in a Colorado mountain town called South Park. When they asked avant-garde rock band Primus to record the intro music, not even bassist and vocalist Les...
Andy Warhol’s family plans to auction 10 art school paintings
When Andy Warhol left Pittsburgh for New York City, he traveled lightly. “My uncle left Pittsburgh in 1949 and he didn’t leave with much, just a brown paper bag of clothes and a few of his essentials,” said James Warhola, the son of Warhol’s oldest brother, the late Paul Warhola....
