‘This Is Us’ promises Pittsburgh surprise
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — When NBC’s partially Pittsburghset “This Is Us” (9 p.m. Tuesday, WPXI-TV) returns next week, viewers in Pittsburgh will get a shoutout of some sort.
“We have a really cool one,” said executive producer Isaac Aptaker in a phone interview last week. “To say anymore would give it away, and the surprise is part of the fun of watching. Everyone in Pittsburgh should keep their eyes peeled and watch. There’s a very special shoutout to the city that will resonate with fans right out of the gate this year.”
But there still aren’t any concrete plans to travel from the show’s Los Angeles home base to film in Pittsburgh even though the series shot some scenes in Philadelphia last month.
“We’ve always talked about it, and we’ve had an open invitation with the Steelers to figure something out at their stadium,” Mr. Aptaker said. “It’s such a big show with so many moving pieces that whenever we come across the country there are such logistical things to figure out. So there’s nothing planned at this point, but our location scout does a pretty fantastic job finding places in L.A. that evoke Pittsburgh. I hope people don’t feel it’s totally bogus.”
We’ll leave that to individual viewers to conclude, but the time travel Kevin (Justin Hartley) did in this year’s Super Bowl episode — getting from New Jersey to Jack’s tree somewhere near Pittsburgh and back to New Jersey to watch the game with Rebecca (Mandy Moore) — was, uh, really something!
“Geography is not our strongest suit,” Mr. Aptaker acknowledged. “We ask a little suspension of disbelief for how long people take to get where we need them. We do have a map of Pennsylvania-New Jersey-New York on the writers
room wall, and we try our absolute hardest to be accurate. … But it’s not compelling television to watch someone in a car for six hours driving across the state, so we take occasional liberties here and there.”
As for the show’s overall season three tone, at NBC’s portion of the Television Critics Association summer press tour, Mr. Aptaker and executive producer Elizabeth Berger described the new season as more hopeful following season two’s emphasis on the death of Pearson family patriarch Jack (Milo Ventimiglia).
“There’s something very freeing about being past the mystery of Jack’s death and moving into this new chapter and getting to tell just a whole completely different kind of story,” Ms. Berger said.
For the period stories that take place in Pittsburgh, Mr. Aptaker said the emphasis will be on exploring how Jack became the man viewers got to know in season one.
“If this was a superhero movie, it would be exploring his origin story,” he said. “His childhood and home life we know very little about.”
Viewers will also see the early days of Jack and Rebecca’s courtship story in the 1970s.
“It’s this happy time where they’re people falling in love, and that’s all in Pittsburgh,” Mr. Aptaker said. “They’re two people from very different worlds. He’s from a blue collar broken home; she’s from a much more affluent family.”
And while producers and cast members have discussed already filming scenes for the show’s eventual series finale, NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt said that final episode won’t air anytime soon.
“The show is going to go on for a long time,” Mr. Greenblatt said in a phone interview last month. “[Series creator] Dan [Fogelman] and his close group of producers have really thought about where these characters go, and they have storylines going for several years into the future in the characters’ lives. … He does have an idea of exactly how all these stories play out and where some of them end. That gives him the advantage of shooting pieces of things that mean nothing now to viewers, but they’ll look back and when so-andso is waiting outside the hospital room and realize that was all sort of planned. That’s the beauty of Dan’s vision for the whole series, the concept of where you can jump around in time. But, no, it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.”
Steelers pre-empt ABC
WTAE picks up a “Monday Night Football” game from ESPN next week, preempting the ABC Monday night lineup that includes the season premiere of “Dancing With the Stars,” which will instead air on WTAE at 1:20 a.m. Tuesday.
“The Good Doctor” season premiere will air 1:05 a.m. Wednesday.
Kept/canceled
Netflix renewed the critically reviled “Insatiable” for a second season.
Amazon picked up a second season of Stana Katic’s “Absentia.”
OWN renewed “Greenleaf” for a fourth season.
FX renewed “Snowfall” for a third season.
Channel surfing
Green Tree native Zachary Quinto will star in AMC’s 2019 vampire drama “NOS4A2” based on the Joe Hill novel . ... Former Pittsburghers Brynn Marie and Josh Himes, who previously appeared on HGTV’s “House Hunters” looking for homes in Nashville, Tenn., return to the series Friday at 10 p.m. for a new house hunt for a second home in the Pittsburgh area closer to family. … “Jeopardy!” will celebrate its 35th season will an all-star tournament Feb. 20 to March 5, 2019, featuring returning contestants Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter, Julia Collins and Austin Rogers. … Nickelodeon’s revival of “Blue’s Clues,” which will be called “Blue’s Clues & You” when it rolls out in 2019, has found a new host in Joshua Dela Cruz, an understudy for the title character in Broadway’s “Aladdin.” … Julie Chen exited CBS’s “The Talk” this week to spend more time with her family in the wake of husband Leslie Moonves’ departure as CBS CEO following allegations of inappropriate behavior. … Monday’s Emmy Awards on NBC drew the awards telecast’s lowest ratings ever with an audience of 10.17 million, down 11 percent from 2017. … Adam Driver hosts the 44th season premiere of “Saturday Night Live” (11:30 p.m. Sept. 29, WPXI-TV) with musical guest Kanye West.
Tuned In online
Today’s TV Q&A column responds to questions about “Manifest,” “The Chew,” the “M*A*S*H” finale and a famous voice in a local ad. This week’s Tuned In Journal includes posts on “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” Read online-only TV content at http://communityvoices.post-gazette.com/arts-entertainment-living/tuned-in.