TV Talk: ‘Children in Crisis,’ 8 p.m. news, ‘Ted,’ ‘Death’ premiere
Share this post:
Filmmaker Scott Galloway looked back on his coming of age in Pittsburgh for his latest project, “Children in Crisis: The Story of CHIP,” premiering at 9 tonight on WQED’s WORLD Channel (Channel 13.3 over the air, Channel 1013 on Comcast Xfinity and Channel 473 on Verizon’s FiOS TV) and already streaming at pbs.org.
Set against the backdrop of the collapse of Pittsburgh’s steel industry in the early 1980s, the one-hour documentary traces the creation of the 1997 federal CHIPS Act to its grassroots beginning among Western Pennsylvania faith communities and unemployed steelworker protesters.
The Children’s Health Insurance Program provides insurance to working families with incomes just above states’ Medicaid eligibility levels.
Galloway, a 1986 Fox Chapel Area High School grad now based in Davidson, N.C., has a personal connection to CHIP. His father, the Rev. Dr. John T Galloway Jr., was the pastor of Fox Chapel Presbyterian when laid off steelworkers protested at the church.
Galloway interviewed plenty of Pittsburgh boldfaced names for the film — Bill Cowher (who attended Galloway’s father’s church), Merril Hoge, Allen Kukovich, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr., Bill Flanagan and Bill Isler — in the four trips he made to film locally before and post-pandemic.
“One of the things I really appreciate about PBS documentaries — if they’re done right — they have the ability to inform and inspire,” Scott Galloway said Wednesday. “When it comes to federal programs, it helps for people to understand the origin of the program.”
In addition, Galloway said the film depicts Pittsburgh as a collection of towns and neighborhoods working together.
“I do hope the takeaway is the importance of listening to and understanding somebody else and then working together to try to come up with a solution,” Galloway said. “The film shows you can live out democracy’s promise provided you work together.”
KDKA+’s 8 p.m. news
The KDKA-TV-produced 8 p.m. newscast on WPKD-TV, Channel 19, kicked off Monday with multiple weather hits, sports at 8:49 p.m., a clip from a “Pittsburgh Today Live” segment and a recap of the day’s news.
Little of it felt new — a report on Astrobotic’s launch seemed somewhat dated because there was a lot of happy talk about the launch and not much coverage that reflected the news push alert I received hours earlier saying the mission would fail to make it to the moon’s surface — but that’s not the broadcast’s goal. Its aim is to offer news to viewers who didn’t tune in earlier in the day.
Jessica Guay, who also is the WPKD-TV 10 p.m. news anchor, replacing the departed Royce Jones, anchored from the newsroom, but it was smart to have her move to the studio so she could interact in person with forecaster Ray Petelin for a “Talk Around Tahn” segment at the end of the first half hour.
‘Ted’
Everything about Peacock’s 1993-set “Ted,” a prequel to the 2012 and 2015 films about a foul-mouthed, walking and talking teddy bear, screams TV sitcom, from its family setting to the thin plots (Ted tries to get kicked out of school; Ted tries to thwart a school bully). Yet series creator/writer/director Seth MacFarlane, who also voices Ted, delivers episodes that run 40-50 minutes. The material does not support that running time.
Now streaming, “Ted” offers intermittent but not consistent laughs, and, at those one-hour drama episode lengths, it’s not worth viewers’ time.
Max Burkholder (“Parenthood”) stars as 16-year-old John Bennett, a younger version of the Mark Wahlberg character from the “Ted” movies. John lives in Framingham, Mass., with his parents, Matty and Susan (Scott Grimes and Alanna Ubach) and cousin Blaire (Giorgia Whigham). Ted is, of course, a bad but supportive influence on John.
MacFarlane populates “Ted” with actors from his past series — Ubach voiced characters on “Family Guy” and “American Dad;” Grimes starred on “The Orville” alongside Penny Johnson Jerald, who guest stars as the school principal in “Ted” — and while that loyalty is admirable, one wishes it was in service of a more consistently entertaining series.
‘Death and Other Details’
Hulu’s light mystery “Death and Other Details,” streaming Jan. 16, wants to be the next “Knives Out,” but “Death” is not as clever.
Premiering the same week as HBO’s much better (if darker) mystery series, “True Detective: Night Country,” there’s not going to be a lot of space in the pop culture zeitgeist for the disappointing “Death and Other Details.”
Mandy Patinkin stars (a rough British-ish accent in tow) as Rufus Cotesworth, who some consider “the world’s greatest detective.” He’s on a small cruise ship with two families — the Colliers and the Chuns — who are about to merge their companies. Along for the getaway is twentysomething Imogene Scott (Violett Beane), who’s been part of the Collier family since the car bombing death of her mother, a crime Cotesworth once investigated.
“Death” boasts a large ensemble cast, and much of the series is devoted to uncovering the secret connections amongst them.
The 10-episode series’ tone, as suggested by the musical underscore, is breezy and jaunty, another way “Death” mimics “Knives Out.” Through eight often interminable episodes made available for review, “Death” has occasional moments of intrigue. But there’s way too much time dedicated to buildup. One whole episode is a flashback where Imogene imagines herself as Cotesworth as she tries to unlock a long-buried secret in her own memory.
Don’t get me started on the production design: The terrible green screen backdrops of the ocean when scenes take place on the ship’s deck manage to look less realistic than “Love Boat” backgrounds from 30 years ago.
Channel surfing
Actor Jeremy Renner posted a photo to social media from the set of “Mayor of Kingstown” to mark the start of production in Pittsburgh of the show’s third season. … Max canceled “Our Flag Means Death” and “Julia” after two seasons each. … Season two of “Chad” arrives on Roku Channel Jan. 19. … ABC’s “The Good Doctor” will end with its upcoming seventh season.