Movies/TV category, Page 109
TV Talk: Former ‘Dance Moms’ star, Pittsburgh native stars in Lifetime movie; ‘The Morning Show’ returnsVideo
Viewers who couldn’t get enough of the train wreck that was Lifetime’s Pittsburgh-based “Dance Moms” likely remember Nia Sioux Frazier and her mom, Holly Hatcher-Frazier, as the most poised, sensible and seemingly stable of that show’s regulars. Nia, who now goes by Nia Sioux, was just 9 when “Dance Moms”...
Unity’s Victory Brinker comes up short in ‘America’s Got Talent’ final voteVideo
She may not have come away with the Vegas contract and the $1 million prize, but Victory Brinker is a winner by any standard. When the votes were counted on the Wednesday’s season finale of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” the 9-year-old opera singer from Unity came up short. Magician Dustin...
TV Q&A: Could Jackie Cain return to a Pittsburgh TV station?
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: Former WTAE-TV news anchor Jackie Cain has left her Minneapolis station. Does she end up back in Pittsburgh? And at what station? — Jodi via...
O’Brien, Carrey, Dole praise ‘comedy genius’ Norm Macdonald
NEW YORK — Reactions to the death of Norm Macdonald, who died of cancer Tuesday at age 61. “I am absolutely devastated about Norm Macdonald. Norm had the most unique comedic voice I have ever encountered and he was so relentlessly and uncompromisingly funny. I will never laugh that hard...
‘Saturday Night Live’ comedian Norm Macdonald dead at 61 after battle with cancer
Norm Macdonald, a “Saturday Night Live” cast member best known as the host of Weekend Update, died Tuesday. He was 61. Macdonald succumbed to a nine-year cancer battle that he kept private, his management team told Deadline. “He was most proud of his comedy,” producing partner Lori Jo Hoekstra told...
New Kensington, Arnold go on camera for filming of streaming series ‘Sprung’
Keith Spruill enjoyed getting a look behind the scenes of the production of a television series Monday as filming for Amazon Studios’ “Sprung” was underway in New Kensington. “This could be the new Hollywood,” he said. “That’s what I’m hoping for, at least.” Spruill is the maintenance supervisor at Valley...
TV Talk: Greenfield woman competes on ‘Jeopardy!’ during Mike Richards’ brief tenure as host
Gabbie Kim, a mother of two and birth doula from Greenfield, will compete on Monday’s 38th season premiere of “Jeopardy!” (7 p.m., WPXI-TV). And what a week to appear on the show. Not only is she up against Matt Amodio — who’s on an 18-episode winning streak that netted him...
Met Gala returns Monday with star power after pandemic delay
Thanks to the pandemic, the 2020 Met Gala and its fashion parade was pushed from its traditional May berth and morphed this year into a two-part affair that kicks off Monday night with a mini version of the celebrity-splashed fundraiser. Organizers promise no less the star power. The intimate gala...
TV Talk: Daytime changes for fall include Jay Leno-hosted game show, Nick Cannon talk showVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Already “Dr. Oz” has moved over from WTAE-TV to 10 a.m. weekdays on WPGH-TV, but perhaps the most noteworthy syndicated debut of the Fall 2021 season is “You Bet Your Life” (6 and 6:30 p.m....
‘Shang-Chi’ tops box office again with $35.8 million
NEW YORK — “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” stayed on top at the box office, collecting $35.8 million in ticket sales in its second weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. That total was good enough for the best second-weekend gross of any film during the pandemic, edging...
Disney backs theatrical releases for remaining 2021 films
After endless disruption due to the pandemic and the super-charged growth of streaming services, moviegoing may be going back to something a little like normal. The Walt Disney Co. on Friday announced that all of its remaining films this year will open exclusively in theaters. That includes the Marvel release...
TV Talk: KDKA-TV reporter Nicole Ford jumps to WPXI-TV
It’s not the norm in TV news for a reporter to file her last report for one station on a Friday and then turn up reporting on a rival station a few days later. But when a reporter is part-time and not under contract with the first station, such circumstances...
Marvel asks the question we’ve been waiting for: ‘What If… Zombies?’
NOTE: Spoilers for the Marvel Cinematic and Disney+ universe up through episode 5 of “What If…” Superheroes and zombies. Do I even need to bother with a sales pitch? The latest installment of Marvel’s newest series asks my favorite question yet: “What if… Zombies?” This story concept has already gotten...
In ‘Fauci,’ a big-screen portrait of a pandemic superstar
John Hoffman and Janet Tobias’ “Fauci” is the first big-screen documentary of the nation’s top infectious disease expert and ubiquitous face of the covid-19 pandemic. It’s an intimate portrait of a longtime public servant whose notoriety has risen dramatically — and with that, brought heaps of far-right scorn on the...
Eighty Four resident, firearms expert a part of ‘American Rust’ crew
Award-winning actors Tom Cruise and Jeff Daniels have learned a thing or two from Eighty Four resident Dale McCue. McCue is a police technical adviser for movies and television shows. He’s hired to teach actors everything from the basics of firing a gun to the importance of how to safely...
TV Talk: Is filmed-in-Western Pa. ‘American Rust’ worth watching?Video
Showtime’s Western Pennsylvania-set series “American Rust” (10 p.m. Sunday) gets off to an exceedingly slow start as it introduces its characters and their situations. In Sunday’s premiere, Del Harris (Jeff Daniels), the police chief of Buell, Fayette County, covers up a possible crime for the benefit of the woman he...
Michael Constantine of ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ dies at 94
Michael Constantine, an Emmy Award-winning character actor who reached worldwide fame playing the Windex bottle-toting father of the bride in the 2002 film “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” has died. He was 94. Constantine died Aug. 31 at his home in Reading of natural causes, his family said. The news...
‘The Matrix Resurrections’ trailer drops ahead of December releaseVideo
Fans eagerly awaiting the fourth installment of the “The Matrix” franchise can finally plug into the trailer. Warner Bros. officially released the trailer for “The Matrix Resurrections” on Thursday. Keanu Reeves returns as Neo, with Carrie-Annie Moss reprising her role as Trinity. Laurence Fishburn, who played Morpheus, and Hugo Weaving,...
TV Talk: Jeff Daniels accomplishes his quest to bring filmed-in-Western Pa. ‘American Rust’ to fruitionVideo
For actor Jeff Daniels, Showtime’s filmed-in-Western-Pennsylvania “American Rust” (10 p.m. Sunday) is more than another role. It’s the fulfillment of an idea he had more than a decade ago to adapt the 2009 Philipp Meyer novel of the same name into a filmed project after Daniels’ agent (now his manager)...
Judges’ vote sends Unity’s Victory Brinker to ‘America’s Got Talent’ finalVideo
After Victory Brinker’s performance in Tuesday’s semifinal round of “America’s Got Talent,” judge Simon Cowell told the 9-year-old from Unity, “Not only are you talented, you’re fearless.” Nerves of steel served her well Wednesday, as the young opera singer found herself in the middle of the voting pack and in...
TV Talk: WPXI ends its annual holiday parade tradition
WPXI-TV announced it will no longer stage and broadcast its annual holiday parade in Downtown Pittsburgh, a 40-year tradition. A post to the WPXI Holiday Parade Facebook page says while the station was proud to broadcast the seasonal special, “At this time we cannot continue to produce and broadcast the...
TV Q&A: What’s happening to Benny on ‘Bull’?
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: When is CBS’s “Bull” starting a new season? And why is Benny really leaving? — Millie via email Rob: Many returning series will start rolling...
Disney’s ‘Shang-Chi’ breaks record for Labor Day weekend
“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” the first Marvel film featuring an Asian actor as the star, dominated the weekend box office with an all-time record for a film opening over Labor Day. The Walt Disney Co. movie made an estimated $90 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters...
On TV, 9/11 was last huge story for ‘Big 3’ network anchors
NEW YORK — “Turn on your television.” Those words were repeated in millions of homes on Sept. 11, 2001. Friends and relatives took to the telephone: Something awful was happening. You have to see. Before social media and with online news in its infancy, the story of the day when...
Willard Scott, weatherman on NBC’s ‘Today’ show, dies at 87
NEW YORK — Willard Scott, the beloved weatherman who charmed viewers of NBC’s “Today” show with his self-deprecating humor and cheerful personality, has died. He was 87. His successor on the morning news show, Al Roker, announced that Scott died peacefully Saturday morning surrounded by family. An NBC Universal spokeswoman...
