Culture / Television

Putting the number two after a title is dangerous — sequels are hard to make and rarely live up to the originals. And while the second season of “Stranger Things,” released last Friday, falls victim in some ways to the sequel slump, it was a solid nine episodes that indulged in the things people loved […]

When Anthony Bourdain goes to any city, locals are bound to complain that he missed one of the best restaurants or didn’t talk to an important person. But when Bourdain’s Pittsburgh episode of “Parts Unknown” aired on CNN Sunday night, many Pittsburghers were furious, claiming the show didn’t show the “real” Pittsburgh. Bourdain focused more […]

“Nobody exists on purpose, nobody belongs anywhere, everybody’s going to die. Come watch TV.” Morty Smith says this to his sister Summer in season one, episode eight of “Rick and Morty,” referencing the show itself along with its nihilistic and existential premise. “Rick and Morty” — a television show on Cartoon Network’s “Adult Swim” created […]

Watching the “Game of Thrones” season seven finale was as entertaining as it was frustrating. The creators of HBO’s fantasy and action juggernaut provided six seasons of carefully crafted dynamic characters and complex interwoven storylines. But the finale of season seven was unfortunately rushed — reunions between characters lacked dimension, important plot points that took […]

In the “Game of Thrones” season seven premiere, “Dragonstone,” the remaining pieces of the Great Game finally move into their places on the board. A large part of prestige television — which viewing audiences are drowning in lately — is waiting. That is definitely true of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” and also true of Sunday […]

Eugene Garcia-Cross was one of us just over a decade ago: holed up in the Cathedral of Learning and studying for exams. “The Cathedral was the center of my universe,” said the Pitt alum, who graduated in 1999 with a degree in history and English, and completed his MFA in creative writing in 2006. As […]

Children from around the country grew up singing “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood” along with the Mr. Rogers they saw on TV. But children in Pittsburgh needed only to walk down the street to see the TV personality in person. Rogers’ presence is still tangible in his steel city hometown, at places like […]

One of the most talked about scenes in FX’s “Atlanta” happens at the beginning of the first episode. The series’ protagonist, Earn Marks, played by creator Donald Glover, lies in bed with his on-again, off-again girlfriend and daughter’s mother Van (Zazie Beetz). Their playful banter about morning breath quickly becomes tense when Earn is slow […]

As a college student, Hannibal Buress never expected to be found on prominent IMDB pages. Instead, he was on his way to having a listing in the Yellow Pages. If told he’d be a prominent actor and comedian then, Buress assumes he would’ve said, “What are you talking about? … I’m a business major.” Buress […]

If you were the host of America’s most-viewed late-night show and you had a guest that was a presidential candidate known for hateful rhetoric against minorities and immigrants, what would you do with him? Did you say ruffle his hair? Because that’s what Jimmy Fallon and NBC thought was the right answer. “The next time […]