PBS explores the 'Faces of America'

PASADENA, Calif. -- Last month after a press conference for PBS's "Faces of America" (8 p.m. Wednesday beginning tomorrow and running through March 3, WQED) a few reporters approached host Henry Louis Gates Jr., to ask about that beer summit last summer between the Harvard professor/TV host, the cop who arrested him for entering his own home and President Barack Obama.

Reporters tend to be more restrained at PBS press conferences and less likely to ask about unpleasantness (except at the PBS president's sessions) but after the press conference, all bets were off.

"It's old news," Gates said about the controversy. "It was an unfortunate incident that happened a long time ago. I've turned the page on that."

But it turned out Gates' arrest happened when he was in the midst of production on "Faces of America," happening just after he returned from researching the history of one of the celebrities featured in the program. This new show is a lot like Gates' previous PBS shows, "African-American Lives" and "African-American Lives 2." But instead of tracing the genealogy of famous black Americans, Gates expands his panel of celebrities, looking at the histories of a diverse group of Americans, including chef Mario Batali, comedian Stephen Colbert, musician Yo-Yo Ma, actress Eva Longoria and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, among others.

Gates describes how past shows have revealed details of his own ancestry -- he has more white ancestors than black and he's descended from an Irish great-great-grandfather.

"We'll trace the stories of 12 Americans and go back to their ancestors' country of origin to see what surprises we can find," Gates says. He presents each person with a bound history of their lives.

"I call it the Noah's Ark approach," Gates said of his new program during the PBS press conference. " 'African-American Lives' was so popular, I got thousands of letters from people who weren't black, saying, 'What about me?'Particularly Jewish people from Russia, with Russian roots, saying, 'Why don't you try to trace us?' And the Mors had told me Russian, Jewish lineages are very, very hard to trace.People in Japan, very, very hard to trace. So I wanted to take that on.

"So, like Noah, I wanted two Muslims, two Jews, two Asians," he said. "Yo-Yo Ma is a friend of mine, so I thought it  would be intriguing to do him. I had always admired [Yamaguchi], and I thought it would be a great way to do it, to meet her. ... We had one person, Tony Shalhoub had said yes.  He was my other Arab person, and then his shooting schedule [conflicted]. He had to cancel it. So then, I asked Mehmet Oz, and he agreed right away."

'Frontline' explores the dangers of 'Flying Cheap'

If you fly with any regularity out of Pittsburgh International, odds are that you've flown on a regional carrier, the smaller planes that nowadays are more often jets but still could be a propeller-driven "prop plane."

These aircraft carry the same logo and branding as larger planes, which makes them look to passengers like they are on a Continental plane or a United plane. After all, in many cases the tickets were purchased from the Continental or United Web sites. But often a small notation indicates otherwise: "Flight operated by Comair" or "Operated by EV," as noted on my confirmation of a Delta flight later this week. (I had to do a Google search to discover that means my flight Thursday is actually operated by something called Atlantic Southeast Airlines.)

Even if you've noticed such notations, you may not realize that the flagship carrier has no responsibility for your flight,  not when it comes to safety, crew training and especially not when it comes to damages in a lawsuit resulting from a crash.

Former CNN science correspondent Miles O'Brien teamed with "Frontline" producer Rick Young for PBS's "Frontline: Flying Cheap" (9 p.m. Tuesday, WQED), an excellent, in-depth look at the complicated American aviation system on the one-year anniversary of the crash of Continental Flight 3407 outside Buffalo, N.Y.

"Flying Cheap" uses the Buffalo crash as a jumping off point but traces the history of regional carries like Colgan Air, the company responsible for Flight 3407. The program shows how deregulation gave rise to these cheaper-to-operate alternative carriers that "code share" with the major airlines, allowing for what one industry insider calls "a seamless travel experience."

But this system also glosses over the qualitative differences between regional carriers and a major airlines, which have much higher standards for pilot experience. The program also shows the economic and fatigue factors facing regional carrier pilots, some of whom make less than $22,000 per year. A former Colgan pilot says he was upgraded from first officer to captain in nine months -- on a major airline that can take more than seven years.

O'Brien and Young interview one regional pilot who was asked by his Colgan bosses to fly a new type of plane he was not qualified to fly. Another pilot recounts the captain he flew with falsifying flight records. When the first officer filed a complaint, the captain's license was revoked by the Federal Aviation Administration but Colgan executives defended the captain.

"They said safety was a priority a lot," says former Colgan pilot Chris Wiken. "In my experience, however, on a day-to-day basis, being on time and completing the flight was much more important."

"Flying Cheap"  is a must-see hour of television for anyone who flies regularly or has concerns about airline safety.

Dave, Oprah and Jay: 'Late Show' Super Bowl promo

Snowpocalypse! coverage

The timing of this snowstorm could not be better as far as local TV stations are concerned: It came right at the start of February sweeps, drawing viewers with a Pavlovian predictability to their TV sets. Not only will stations get viewers to tune in now, it gives the stations special coverage they can brag about later ("When the storm of the century hit Pittsburgh, only Channel X News brought you blah blah blah.")

Channel 11 used the strom to unveil a new radar system called, laughably, "Storm Tracker Doppler 11 Radar." Seriously, that mouthful of mumbo jumbo is what they call it. When I first heard about it, I thought it was a joke, a parody of TV news promotion excesses. Nope. It comes with "1 million watts of power," as the station's meteorologists kept reminding viewers over and over again during the Friday evening newscasts. Wake me when it's a 1.21 gigawatts and Doc Brown is the meteorologist. Then I'll be impressed.

A viewer from Penn Hills e-mailed this observation Friday night: "Channel 11 has reached the height of irritation and annoyance this evening with their constant mentioning of their ‘brand new powerful radar' which appears to differ little from their former system or those of the other channels.  Why must we be reminded almost every other minute, even within other reporters' stories, that they have introduced this radar?  Ridiculous overplay of a new toy."

I can't disagree with that sentiment.

My favorite early moment of TV news insanity came Friday night when WPXI's Jodine Costanzo ran alongside a car as it tried to drive up a hill in the snow. She shouted at the driver, "What's it like to drive in this weather?"

Saturday morning all three stations were on the air at 6 a.m. WTAE seemed most interested in capitalizing on the storm, bringing in two meteorologists (Stephen Cropper and Demetrius Ivory), weekday morning anchor Mike Clark and weekday traffic reporter Scott Stiller.

WPXI anchor Danielle Nottingham finally got a shot at some real breaking news (she's been off on several past breaking news weekends) and KDKA sent Harold Hayes and Trina Orlando out into the white stuff for reports on road conditions. But WTAE really seemed to have the best morning report with the most live shots and staffers calling in to discuss conditions in their neighborhoods.

Of course, Channel 4 also didn't know when to quit, pre-empting ABC's "Good Morning America" at 7 a.m. Saturday to the dismay of viewers with a broader, less parochial worldview.

The next phase should be viewer backlash as people start to complain about never-ending coverage, like they have no choice but to watch. That's when it's time to turn off the TV and go sledding.

***

SATURDAY EVENING: I checked in a few times throughout the day and was pleased to see local stations eventually relinquished their death grip on snogramming by returning to schedule and away from repetitive coverage.

Evening newscasts are now in full swing with WPXI expanding its half-hour program to an hour. WTAE also went for an hour and called in its weekday anchors, Wendy Bell and Andrew Stockey, to anchor at 6 p.m. Anchor/reporter Sally Wiggin reported from what Bell described as a snow bank "lounge." KDKA's Stephanie Watson, who normally anchors solo, was joined by weekday morning anchor Rick Dayton.

Let the bragging begin: WTAE already has a promo (recorded in advance?) with the station's meteorologists patting themselves on the back: "We saw this coming. We knew it was going to be big."

But not this big!

Pittsburgh got 21 inches of snow. Friday at 6 p.m. WTAE was calling for 5-8" in the city, so we ended up with more than double the prediction.

Neither of the other stations was in the ballpark either although WPXI's Julie Bologna got closest with a sneaky map that cut the accumulation dividing line right through Pittsburgh (4-8" in Pittsburgh and north; 8-12" in Pittsburgh and south).

KDKA's Jeff Verszyla was calling for 6-10".

Not that I fault any of them for getting it wrong: As we've said before, a forecast is a prediction, not a promise. But if they're going to start bragging ...

Locally made 'Munhall' making the rounds

In an era when anyone with a digital video camera can make a pilot episode of a proposed television series locally and relatively inexpensively, I'm generally loathe to report on such independently made pilots. Odds are any pilot won't go anywhere let alone one made outside the studio/network system. But for every rule there are exceptions, like "The Magic Woods" in 2001 and now "Munhall."

Filmed over seven days last summer using HD digital video cameras and a largely local cast, "Munhall" is the brainchild of Jason Coll, a Whitehall native who was associate artistic director at the CLO from 2004-08. The idea for the TV series began with a CLO Late Night Cabaret production Coll did. There he created a few of the characters who would come to life in "Munhall," the story of a community theater and its boozy owner, Pat Gallagher (Tim Brady).

As "Munhall" begins, Pat is at rock bottom, preparing to close his community theater and have his fingers cut off by a friend who works for a loan shark. But fate, in the form of a nice sleight of hand plot twist, intervenes and gives Pat and the theater a second chance.

George Wendt ("Cheers") is the biggest name in the cast as Pat's best friend. Wendt's wife, actress Bernadette Birkett, also makes a favorable comedic impression as the enabling mother of a thirtysomething loser.

"Munhall" is not for the prude -- there's some profanity and the opening scene is set in a strip club complete with topless dancers -- but the show has a gentle spirit. Its tone and setting owe a debt to the Canadian show "Slings and Arrows," which was set backstage at a lunacy-filled Shakespeare company and Coll admits he was a fan of that series.

"It is an inspiration in terms of the backstage life of actors," he said. "But we're not a professional Shakespeare company. This is Munhall Dinner Theater, a whole other level of desperation."

For an indie production, "Munhall" is actually pretty well made. The production values are better than decent and some of the performances are strong. Some, of course, are not, but on average "Munhall" is better than one would expect from a $76,000 production. Coll's script is also pretty funny at points although in watching the program it was unclear to me if the show wanted to be a half-hour or an hour-long comedy-drama. (Coll says it's intended to be a one-hour dramedy but even at that the pilot needs to be tightened.)

What I found most appealing about "Munhall" was its potential. I could clearly see plots that Coll was setting up that will pay off down the road if a network picks up the show and finances additional episodes, a very big "if."

Coll seems to understand the odds and although there was a premiere for cast and crew Monday night at Dormont's Hollywood Theater, no public screenings are scheduled.

"We're keeping it to ourselves," Coll said. "Our next step is to line up representation."

Coll also hopes to meet with network executives in the coming months to sell them on the show, recognizing that they might want to scrap this pilot, re-cast and start over, which is common industry practice. (This version of "Munhall" could always make a fun DVD extra.)

"We know what the odds are in putting a TV show up," he said. "We decided to film it and not just pitch it as a script."

In addition to presenting potential networks with a finished pilot, Coll also has additional scripts to give execs a better sense of how the series would unfold.

Coll, a 1993 graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, said he chose Munhall as the setting and title because of "the sound of the town's name.

"I love Munhall," Coll said. "It's a relatively quaint, insulated town, a little post-World War II community that's frozen in time where Munhall is the center of the universe."

Although Coll grew up and shot much of "Munhall" in Whitehall, he said that town's name didn't sound as appropriate to the TV series he envisioned. The dinner theater exterior and interior stage is VFW Post 1810 in Brentwood. McGinnis Sisters was also used for filming in one scene, shot after the store closed.

To watch a preview of "Munhall," visit Coll's Web site (warning: includes mild profanity and gives away the show's best plot twist).

NBC comedies return

I've heard a fair bit of grumbling in the past month about too many reruns of NBC's Thursday night comedy lineup. Some of these can be chalked up to impatience and short memories (I've explained the math on why there are pre-emptions and reruns before) but when NBC does an "Office" clip show, as the network did last month, I can understand why fans' tempers fray.

So viewers should be happy to know they get two weeks of fresh comedies, beginnning tonight. This comes on the heels of the good news that NBC quietly last week gave "Parks and Recreation" an early third season renewal. "Parks" has become my favorite NBC comedy this season, easily surpassing "30 Rock."

I still enjoy "30 Rock," but it has seemed more uneven than usual. Tonight's episode is one of the stronger entries, particularly the quick, witty dialogue.

Jenna (Jane Krakowski) freaks out when her estranged mother (Jan Hooks, "SNL") shows up in New York, waiting for her outside the 30 Rock building.

"I'm sure she's down there, sitting on a curb and chainsmoking and waiting for me to come out, just like the day I was born," Jenna says.

Later there's a reconciliation. Jenna, trying to reassure her mother, says, "Could a bad mom have rasised a daughter who was engaged to a congressman a 16?"

Funny, funny stuff.

When viewer hyperventilation trumps TV news hype

I hear from viewers all the time who are upset and harrumphing about how local TV news done them wrong. Often their complaints are real and warranted. But not always.

This week, I received this complaint from a viewer:

During "The Good Wife" KDKA news teased something like, "there are flurries now, find out what it will mean for your morning commute...." Then, a few minutes later when the newscast starts, given the "dramatic," non-story weather outside, the anchors toss almost immediately neaer the top of the show to meteriologist Jeff Verszyla to ask him what's going on weatherwise right now and he says (almost embarrassed to have been asked), "not much" and when asked what the "flurries" now mean for the morning commute informs it won't accumulate and won't be a problem for the morning commute.

All our local TV news operations treat us like idiots when it comes to weather. ...  Here, they try to make news of the weather and scare us into watching their show even when the weather is not a story, not dramatic. Heck, it's mild out tonight.  Pathetic.  Insulting to one's intelligence.

I hope you call them all, all the local TV news operations, on this.

This sounded egregious so I made a point of watching the promo during "The Good Wife," which I had DVRed:

Ken Rice: Tonight at 11, some scattered flurries falling overnight...

Patrice King Brown: You'll find out how it will affect your morning commute.

Umm, that wasn't very sensational. I was expecting more.  Not measured words like "some" and "scattered" and "flurries." Those are not words strung together to inspire fear. Saying, "You'll find out how it will affect your morning commute" is a tease but TV stations try to woo viewers with teases every day. But given the non-hyped description of the forecast, it wasn't even all that effective.

So then I thought, maybe the introduction to the 11 p.m. news will offer more of a smoking gun:

Ken Rice: A little bit of light snow falling about in parts of our area.

Patrice King Brown: But that shouldn't be an issue when you hit the roads in the morning, but let's check in with our chief meteorologist. Jeff, what's going on?

Jeff Verszyla: Not much. Some flurry activity few and far between and that will be the case overnight tonight as well.

Again, I ask, where's the true sensationalism, the fear-mongering? Does "not much" in the way of flurries warrant a newscast lead? Of course not, but maybe it was a slow news night. That's not ideal TV news coverage but I'm at a loss how it inspires viewer outrage.

Look, I'm happy to put the smackdown on local TV stations when they deserve it but this one does not rise to the occasion.

Two other weather notes:

I enjoy Verszyla's tweets that make fun of the excesses of TV news winter weather coverage. On a storm coming in Friday night he tweeted:

@verz: we missed out on the storm last weekend (it passed south)...this time we will not be as fortunate...let the hype begin :)

@verz: raise the warning flags, sound the sirens...snow on the way fri/sat...prepare yourself for competing snow team coverage next 2 days ;)

On the other hand, I hated a WPXI promo last week that boasted Channel 11 has more "local" weather coverage than other stations. All I could think was this will make the people I hear from, like the viewer who e-mailed the complaint this week, watch any station but WPXI.

'Lost': Beginning of the end

The last "Lost" season premiere aired tonight (spoilers ahead for any West Coast viewers) and it started out with Jack (Matthew Fox) back on the plane, seemingly having forgotten the bomb blast. Scenes from the pilot were revisited but slightly changed. Instead of the flight attendant giving Jack two bottles of alcohol, she gives him one. (H/T Vikki)

The plane vibrated but did not crash, Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) sat next to Jack, who seemed to recognize Jack, and Jack noticed blood on his neck in the bathroom mirror. And then we saw images of The Others village, the four-toed statue and a Dharma shark at the bottom of the sea.

Then after the first commercial break, the explosion happened again with a horrible ringing sound and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) was still on the island up a tree. She and Miles (Ken Leung) wound up knocked out of 1977 and ahead to the future, where they find Jack.

No wonder the cast members were confused when they read the script!

Back on Oceanic 815: Boone (Ian Somerhalder) and Locke (Terry O'Quinn) discuss the odds of surviving a plane crash and Boone's sister, Shannon (Maggie Grace), does not appear to be ont he plane. Hmmm...

In another timeline, Ben (Michael Emerson) comes face-to-face with Locke's body.

Still confused but choosing to just go with it rather than getting frustrated.

Jacob (Mark Pelligrino) appears to Hurley (Jorge Garcia) even though he died an hour ago. Tells Hurley to take a shot Sayid (Naveen Andrews) to The Temple. Meanwhile, the other Losties attempt to save Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell), sucked into a pit in the seaosn finale and presumed dead. But they heard her voice.

Back on the plane, the flight attendant asks Jack to help with a passenger who's been in the bathroom too long: Charlie (Dominic Monaghan).

In the pit, Sawyer (Josh Holloway) makes it to a still-breathing Juliet, who tells him she detonated the bomb. "I wanted you to be able to go home," she tells Sawyer. "I wanted it to be so you never came to this damn island."

Ben brings armed men to talk to Not-Locke. They shoot at him, he disappears. And then the Smoke Monster comes and kills them all. Except Ben, who cowers behind pottery. Smokey is temporarily put off by a guy who encircles himself in black powder but then the wily supernatural force finds a way to get the guy out of the ring and kill him (head's up from the Twitterverse: evidently there was a ring of black powder around Jacob's cabin, which makes sense in retrospect). Not-Locke returns and says to Ben, "I'm sorry you had to see me like that." That seems to confirm that The Man in Black who took the form of Locke (and presumably Christian Shepard) is also able to take the form of Smokey. Or maybe is his natural state of being?

Sawyer and Juliet share a kiss. She says she has to tell him something "really, really important" but of course she dies before she can another word. Damn you, "Lost" writers and your infuriating teases! Sawyer instantly blames Jack for her death.

Back on the plane a revived Charlie resents Jack saving his life. "You should have let it happen, man," Charlie tells jack. "I was supposed to die." Ohhh, double meaning: Jack should have let Charlie die on the plane and/or should have let the other timeline carry out in which Charlie drowned. Oceanic 815 touches down at LAX. Charlie gets arrested, glares at Jack. Locke waits for a wheelchair to be brought aboard.

Jack gets a page at the airport. Oceanic lost his father's casket, which will be late to the funeral.

Back on the island, the Lostaways take Sayid to the temple.

Can I just say, I really hope these two timelines get reconciled by the end of tonight's two-hour premiere? It's getting easier to follow the more time you're immersed in it, but I would like something on this show to make a modicum of sense. My go-with-the-flow attitude from earlier seems to be ebbing a bit.

The Losties in the temple get captured by the folks from the crashed Ajira flight and discover they were not in the Temple. There's a Pyramid behind the first structure that's the real temple.

At the airport, Kate escapes from custody. Winds up in an elevator with Sawyer.

On the island, Sawyer has buried Juliet and forces Miles to commune with her spirit. Turns out she wanted to say, "It worked." Hmmmm. At the Temple, flight attendant from 815 resurfaces with the temple dwellers. Hurley shows what's in the guitar case he got from Jacob:  A large cross of some sort. It gets broken open and they find a piece of paper inside. With their names on it maybe? Evidently it said if Sayid dies "we're all in a lot of trouble."

Woo-hoo, ancient temple hot tub! Hope they brought their bathing suits. Aww, nevermind, now a temple dweller has cut his hand and allowed it to bleed into the hot tub. Party canceled. Except for Sayid who gets baptized Baptist-style, full immersion. Or maybe they are drowning him. Yup, Sayid is dead. So why did Jacob say to take him to the temple for quality health care? Maybe this is what a "death panel" looks like...

And yet, Sayid remains alive in the past at LAX. Kate is trying to get a cab but Frogurt keeps her from the cab and she gets in line between Hurley as cops swarm. She hops in a cab with pregnant Claire (Emilie de Ravin).

Should we be calling the temple dwellers The Other Others? They sort of seem like that. Hurley tells them Jacob is dead. The Other Others prepare their defenses against Smokey and begin enircling the temple in black ash. They also send up a flair -- to notify who? The Other Other Others, perhaps?

Ben asks Not-Locke what he is. Get's a non-answer. Makes Ben feel bad again for killing the real Locke. Not-Locke says, "I want to go home." And where would that be?

Jack gives Locke his card, offers a free consult after they have a chat about lost luggage (and deeper things).

Oh, yeah, it's been more than an hour so I forgot about Richard Alpert and The Beach Boys. That's who the flair was for. Alpert gapes at Not-Locke, who knocks Alpert out. Lecture time from Not-Locke: "I am very disappointed in all of you." More mouths agape as Not-Locke walks into the jungle carrying Alpert past Locke's body, lying in the sand.

OMG, Sayid comes back to life in the temple, says, "What happened?" echoing the thoughts of TV viewers nationwide. An intentional nod from executives producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, no doubt.

Post your thoughts below.

KDKA's Lokay assigned to 'Does It Really Do That?' segment

With February sweeps starting Thursday, I was curious to see if KDKA would continue with the popular "Does It Really Do That?" segment reported by the late Yvonne Zanos. The segment will continue with morning traffic reporter Jim Lokay as the reporter "for the immediate future," according to KDKA general manager Chris Pike, who also said much consideration was given to whether or not the segment should continue.

"This was a particularly difficult decision given the recent passing of our friend and colleague Yvonne," Pike wrote in an e-mail. "Ultimately, we know that there continues to be significant viewer interest in these segments and we are comfortable that Yvonne would have been supportive of this decision."

Zanos' daughter, Niki Conaway of Mt. Lebanon, said Zanos' family is happy that the segments will continue.

"None of us ever thought it would not go on," she said. "I think she would be really happy they're continuing the segment because she loved to do it."

Conaway praised Pike for the way he handled her mother's illness.

"I can't even tell you what he has done for my mom in the last two-and-a-half years," Conaway said. "He has treated her like a sister. Truly, any decision he made in dealing with her, it wasn't about the business or what's best for KDKA, it was always about what's best for Mom. When he made the decision to carry this on he did it knowing she would love for it to carry on. I heard he struggled with if it should go on but it absolutely should."

We'll have to wait and watch the first report, airing Thursday, before passing judgment, but on paper Lokay seems like a smart choice. He shares several qualities with Zanos -- both are approachable and down-to-earth -- and he's got a folksy appeal that marks him as relateable, a trait Pittsburghers seem to appreciate.

Read more about this decision and hear what Lokay has to say in tomorrow's Post-Gazette.

TV from all over, including Australia's 'Underbelly'

One of the more welcome side effects of the ever-expanding global media village is the increase in the number of foreign televsion series many Americans now have the opportunity to see.

I'm reminded of this by DirecTV adding "Underbelly" (10 p.m. tomorrow, DirecTV's The 101 Network). The show is an Australian import, an organized crime drama based on true events. The satellite provider acquired three seasons of the show and will air them in the following order:

-- "Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities" (1970s-1980s)

-- "Underbelly: War on the Streets" (1995-2004)

-- "Underbelly: The Golden Mile" (1989-present), a sequel to "A Tale of Two Cities" with several surviving characters returning.

The premiere episode of "A Tale of Two Cities," complete with R-rated nudity and profanity, introduces the characters, their conflicts and a sense of the Australian mob scene.

Of course, "Underbelly" is just one import from abroad. In addition to many remakes ("The Office," "Ugly Betty") originals are also getting more exposure these days. Several Canadian shows ("Corner Gas," "Flashpoint") have crossed the border in recent years as well as some Australian shows ("Home and Away," "Blue Water High").

This trend is likely to continue and only increase in the future as media outlets clamor for more content.