Movies/TV category, Page 29
TV Q&A: Did KDKA-TV debut a new set?
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 Jon Delano interviewed Kamala Harris on Oct. 1, it looked like he was on a different set. I do not remember seeing that screen...
TV Talk: When is a reboot not a reboot? When it’s CBS’s ‘Matlock’Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Note: This column contains spoilers for the premiere episode of CBS’s “Matlock” that aired last month. HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Despite perpetual mocking, with Grandpa Simpson wailing “Matlock!” in “The Simpsons” episodes from the late 1980s/early...
August Wilson’s niece highlights his life, film adaptation of ‘The Piano Lesson’
The latest adaptation of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson’s work, “The Piano Lesson,” will hit theaters on Nov. 8. Wilson’s niece and executive director of The Historic Hill Institute, Dr. Kimberly Ellis, gave the keynote speech on Sept. 27 at the 109th meeting of the Association for the Study of...
TV Talk: Ming-Na Wen has more ‘Gremlins’ adventures; WTAE reporter exitsVideo
Before we talked about the second season of Max’s animated “Gremlins” series, there was a local matter to discuss with actress Ming-Na Wen: Her family’s business, Chinatown Inn (owned by her brother, Jonathan Yee), is the latest model added to Carnegie Science Center’s Miniature Railroad & Village. “It is so...
Doctor who helped supply Matthew Perry ketamine pleads guilty to drug charge
LOS ANGELES — A San Diego doctor charged in connection with Matthew Perry ‘s fatal overdose pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring to distribute the surgical anesthetic ketamine. Dr. Mark Chavez, 54, entered the plea to the felony in federal court in Los Angeles, becoming the third person to admit guilt...
Fact-check fight: CBS News cuts candidates’ mics after JD Vance objects to a moderator’s correction
CBS News briefly cut off the microphones of vice presidential candidates JD Vance and Tim Walz during an exchange in their debate Tuesday when the Republican objected to an attempt by moderator Margaret Brennan to correct something he said about immigration. It was one of the evening’s more contentious moments...
TV Q&A: Will WTAE hire a new weekend morning anchor?
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: Is WTAE-TV still looking for a weekend morning news anchor? — William, via email Rob: Following the July departure of weekend morning anchor Tom Garris,...
John Amos, patriarch on ‘Good Times’ and an Emmy nominee for the blockbuster ‘Roots,’ dies at 84Video
LOS ANGELES — John Amos, who starred as the family patriarch on the hit 1970s sitcom “Good Times” and earned an Emmy nomination for his role in the seminal 1977 miniseries “Roots,” has died. He was 84. Amos’ publicist, Belinda Foster, confirmed the news of his death Tuesday. No other...
The Joker is back, this time with Lady Gaga — and songs
VENICE, Italy — “Joker” is a hard act to follow. Todd Phillips’ dark, Scorsese-inspired character study about the Batman villain made over a billion dollars at the box office, won Joaquin Phoenix his first Oscar, dominated the cultural discourse for months and created a new movie landmark. It wasn’t for...
Drake Hogestyn, ‘Days of Our Lives’ star, dies at 70
Drake Hogestyn, the “Days of Our Lives” star who appeared on the show for 38 years, died Saturday, his family confirmed. He was 70. The actor was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and his family said in a statement Hogestyn died after “putting up an unbelievable fight” against the disease. “He...
TV Talk: Fred Rogers Productions’ ‘Odd Squad’ relocates to UKVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Pittsburgh-based Fred Rogers Productions’ “Odd Squad” celebrates its 10th anniversary this month with the release of its fourth season, its first to film outside North America as a co-production between Toronto-based Sinking Ship Entertainment and...
‘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...
