TV Talk with Rob Owen category, Page 19

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. PASADENA, Calif. — Apple TV+ generated buzz with the first season of comedic murder-mystery “The AfterParty,” so a sequel season was inevitable. Season two, streaming Wednesday, begins with Aniq (Sam Richardson) and girlfriend Zoe (Zoe...

Disney+ has Marvel and “Star Wars” brands. AMC has “The Walking Dead” and Anne Rice series (“Interview with the Vampire,” “The Mayfair Witches). HBO has “Game of Thrones” shows as its primary intellectual property. Lifetime’s entry in the IP sweepstakes is more down market and tawdry by comparison: Movies based...

While we hear a lot about the human impact that’s resulting in climate change, the new PBS docu-series “Human Footprint” (9 p.m. Wednesday, WQED-TV) looks at other ways that people have transformed the planet. Princeton University professor Shane Campbell- Staton hosts this six-part science/travel series that begins with “Strangers in Paradise,”...

Mix elements of the 1970s “Airport” movies with “Air Force One” and a dollop of real-time storytelling (think: “24”) and you have the key ingredients in Apple TV+’s “Hijack,” an entertaining seven-episode thriller starring Idris Elba. Now streaming, “Hijack” won’t be confused with great television but it is pretty good...

She won! Mt. Washington’s Zoe Peckich, pastry sous chef at Ritual House in Downtown Pittsburgh, won Food Network’s “Summer Baking Championship” Monday night, pocketing the $25,000 grand prize and setting up the potential for future Food Network show appearances. It was actually a double win for Peckich, who grew up...

Filmmaker Boots Riley (“Sorry to Bother You”) delivers magical realism weirdness with Amazon Prime Video’s “I’m a Virgo,” sort of a “Pushing Daisies” with a darker Tim Burton vibe but less coherent storytelling. It’s definitely strange but often funny and sometimes even moving. Streaming June 23, the story begins with...

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 Taylor Swift concerts and the passing of Pittsburgh sports journalist Stan Savran. The pair discuss summer movies, including box office failures so...

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. PASADENA, Calif. — Last summer’s FX- produced Hulu hit “The Bear,” about chef Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and his attempts to revive a grimy Chicago sandwich joint, returns for its second season with all 10 episodes...

Following in the footsteps of the Muppets and Jason Voorhees, it’s now the walking dead’s turn to take Manhattan in AMC’s latest spin-off, the six-episode first season of “The Walking Dead: Dead City” (now streaming on AMC+; 9 p.m. Sunday on linear AMC). McCandless native Greg Nicotero, a “TWD” mainstay,...

Two things about Marvel’s “Secret Invasion” can be true at once: Where Disney’s superhero franchise once had an easy-to-follow heroes-versus-villains plot, it has become a convoluted, labyrinthine ongoing story that requires a Ph.D. in Marvel (and viewing of all Marvel filmed entertainment) to completely understand. And yet, this latest Disney+...

Hollywood has yet to produce a new movie star since the start of the social media era for many reasons — social media made stars overly accessible and less like chiseled faces on a Hollywood Mt. Rushmore; film devolved into all superheroes, all the time, sending actors scurrying to premium...