TV Talk: KDKA-TV forecaster announces retirement
Kristin Emery, who’s offered forecasts at KDKA-TV since 2012, posted to social media that she plans to retire. “I am forecasting a major change for me starting August 28th: Retirement!” Emery wrote. “After 37 years in broadcasting and 13 years of it here at KDKA, I will officially retire at...
Pete Davidson to make surprise Pittsburgh visit
Pete Davidson is coming back to Pittsburgh last minute — this weekend. Davidson, an actor and comedian, will take the stage at Bottlerocket Social Hall at 1226 Arlington Ave. in Pittsburgh’s Allentown neighborhood for one night only on Saturday with an “intimate crowd of just 140 people,” the venue announced...
Sewickley Shoe Repair to be featured in documentary
In the Sewickley Shoe Repair on Beaver St., Mario Ulizzi toils among rows of worn shoes and boots. The cobbler meticulously works various leathers, sometimes for hours, doing the work by hand. Ulizzi can replace a sole, bring back the shine, put on a new heel, make scuff marks disappear...
TV Talk: From ‘Barry’ to ‘Superman’ to ‘Twisted Metal,’ CMU grad jumps genres
Anthony Carrigan, a 2006 graduate of the Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama, is having quite a summer. In addition to a co-starring role in box office hit “Superman” as Metamorpho, this week Carrigan introduces a classic video game character in the second season of Peacock’s “Twisted Metal,” based on...
TV Talk: Verzsyla to weekends, Hutton to weekdays at WTAE
WTAE will shake up its forecaster assignments, moving weekend evening meteorologist Brian Hutton Jr. to noon and 4 p.m. weekdays beginning Sept. 1. Jeff Verszyla, who had been working that weekday shift, relocates to weekend evenings (and subbing weekdays). “Brian has been a steady voice for our viewers during severe...
ESPN cuts ties Shannon Sharpe after settlement of sexual assault lawsuit, AP source says
Hall of Fame tight end-turned-broadcaster Shannon Sharpe will not return to ESPN, a person with knowledge of the decision told the Associated Press on Wednesday. The decision comes less than two weeks after Sharpe resolved a lawsuit that accused him of sexually assaulting a woman during their relationship. The person...
WQED lays off another 19 employees
Following the May elimination of five employees, WQED laid off 19 employees on Wednesday, primarily in marketing, membership and production. In a statement, WQED president Jason Jedlinski said the layoffs were in response to “the recent elimination of federal funding for public broadcasting … to ensure long-term financial stability.”...
TV Q&A: Where did WPXI reporter Jillian Hartmann go?
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: Can you tell us what happened to Jillian Hartmann on WPXI’s news team? — Jim, Uniontown Rob: In April, we reported that Hartmann exited Channel...
TV Talk: Jason Momoa’s ‘Chief of War’ recounts Hawaiian history
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. The opening scene of Apple TV+’s Jason Momoa-starring “Chief of War” brings to mind Momoa’s “Aquaman” as he lassoes a shark. After that, this nine-episode historical fiction drama most resembles FX’s “Shogun.” “Chief of War”...
‘Validity’ to be screened as part of Lindsay Theater’s Emerging Filmmakers series
As part of its Emerging Filmmakers series, The Lindsay Theater and Cultural Center is preparing to screen a film that will both thrill and challenge its audience. In “Validity,” a doctor working on research regarding treatment practices for hypothermia unearths studies that could cause a breakthrough in the field —...
TV Talk: How media companies are responding to political, legal pressure from Trump
As some media companies and personalities facing political or legal pressure from President Donald Trump are capitulating to his demands or censoring themselves, others are standing firm or lashing out defiantly against the administration, media observers say. Some of the companies and personalities just don’t want the headaches. Others are...
‘Fantastic Four: First Steps’ scores Marvel’s 1st $100 million box office opening of 2025
LOS ANGELES — Marvel’s first family has finally found box office gold. “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” the first film about the superheroes made under the guidance of Kevin Feige and the Walt Disney Co., earned $118 million in its first weekend in 4,125 North American theaters, according to studio...
‘South Park’ premiere skewers Trump, prompting White House response
The season 27 premiere of “South Park” may have been delayed two weeks, but it made quite an entrance Wednesday night — so much so that even the White House took note. It is perhaps not all that surprising since President Donald Trump played a starring role. Though many of...
Hulk Hogan, icon in professional wrestling, dies at age 71
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Hulk Hogan, the mustachioed, headscarf-wearing icon in the world of professional wrestling, has died at the age of 71, Florida police and WWE said Thursday. In Clearwater, Florida, authorities responded to a call Thursday morning about a cardiac arrest. Hogan was pronounced dead at a hospital, police...
White House suggests ‘The View’ could be ‘pulled off air’ over Trump-Obama comments
After ” The View ” cohosts said President Donald Trump was jealous of former President Barack Obama on Wednesday, the White House issued an intimidating statement to Entertainment Weekly about the talk show possibly being “pulled off the air.” It’s all because of Trump’s allegation Tuesday that Obama “was trying...
AMC tells moviegoers to expect lots of trailers and commercials
Late for the movies? You’ll probably still make it if you’re headed to an AMC movie theater. AMC Theatres announced this month it would be putting more regular advertisements ahead of movie screenings alongside regular movie trailers, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It’s typical for patrons to show up at...
TV Talk: ‘Watson’ season 2 expands; ‘Gilded Age’ offers late-season twists
Earlier this month we learned that CBS’s medical drama “Watson,” which CBS announced in May would not return until midway through the 2025-26 TV season, was moving up to a fall launch as CBS’s new “FBI” spinoff, “CIA,” originally announced for fall, changed showrunners and moved to midseason. With that...
Review: Villains steal the show in ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’
More than six decades after Jack Kirby and Stan Lee created a superhero team to rival the Justice League, the Fantastic Four finally get a worthy big-screen adaption in a spiffy ’60s-era romp, bathed in retrofuturism and bygone American optimism. Though the Fantastic Four go to the very origins of...
TV Q&A: How will CBS fill Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ time slot?
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: How will CBS fill the “Late Show” time slot now that they’re ending the show and sending Stephen Colbert packing next May? — Laura, via...
‘Superman’ movie and new canine sidekick cause surge in dog adoption inquiries
Interest in dog adoptions has soared nationally and locally following the release of the “Superman” summer blockbuster. ”Superman,” directed by James Gunn, was released July 8 and introduced a new relationship between the superhero, played by actor David Corenswet, and Krypto, the red-caped schnauzer and terrier mutt mix, with a...
Venice Film Festival lineup features Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Emma Stone and Dwayne Johnson
Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Emma Stone, Dwayne Johnson, Adam Sandler and Idris Elba are just some of the celebrities headlining films at this year’s Venice International Film Festival. Organizers on Tuesday unveiled the starry lineup for its 82nd edition, which kicks off a busy fall film festival season in August....
TV Talk: WQED boss talks impact of $1.8 million fed funds loss
After Congress voted last week to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS and NPR, Pittsburgh’s WQED Multimedia announced an open-to-the-public “State of the Station” webinar to address the resulting $1.8 million federal funding cut, about 11% of WQED’s annual funding for each fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, 2025, and...
Jimmy Kimmel attends anti-Trump rally as president predicts his cancellation
Jimmy Kimmel is taking time out of his vacation to protest against President Donald Trump amid “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’s” cancellation and the president’s prediction Kimmel is on the chopping block, too. The 57-year-old host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” shared a photo of himself at an anti-Trump protest...
Malcolm-Jamal Warner, ‘Cosby Show’ actor, dies at 54 in Costa Rica drowning
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who as teenage son Theo Huxtable on “The Cosby Show,” was central to a cultural phenomenon that helped define the 1980s, died at age 54 in an accidental drowning in Costa Rica, authorities there said Monday. Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Department said Warner...
TV Talk: Western Pa. dentist’s murder conviction gets true crime treatment in Hulu’s ‘Trophy Wife’
The story of a former Pittsburgh-area dentist convicted of murder gets the true crime docuseries treatment in ABC News Studios’ “Trophy Wife: Murder on Safari,” now streaming on Hulu. The three-episode program (about 40 minutes each) chronicles the story of Larry Rudolph, who was convicted of killing his wife, Bianca,...
