Yinzers, rejoice! ‘One Dollar’ feaures Pittsburghese, accent
Finally, a TV series that prominently features the Pittsburgh accent and Pittsburghese!
For years viewers have complained TV shows set in Pittsburgh did not do justice to the regional dialect, but new drama “One Dollar,” streaming via CBS All Access Thursday, breaks that barrier.
Set in the fictional Western Pennsylvania town of Braden, the serialized drama follows a swath of characters connected by a $1 bill that changes hands and by possible murders at the mill for which there is blood from seven different people (aka “the seven gloves killings”) but no bodies are found.
The first episode of “One Dollar” wallows in the struggles of several sad sack characters and jumps around a confusing amount as it introduces the unwieldy, large cast, but the show becomes more engrossing in episodes two and three. “One Dollar” hits its stride by episode six, proving it’s a worthy addition to the Peak TV era.
Viewers’ entry point to “One Dollar” is Garrett Drimmer (Philip Ettinger), who’s trying to juggle his steel mill job, single parenting his toddler daughter and working off-the-books dirty jobs.
The mill is owned by kindly Bud Carl, played by John Carroll Lynch (“Turn,” “Fargo”), who gets the MVP Award for most dedicated Pittsburgh accent. Bud is known as “Pop” to his workers, but future episodes reveal he may have a darker side.
Ken Fry, aka Mr. Walmart (Sturgill Simpson), steals from the rich in Braden Estates and sells what he’s stolen at a flea market, much to the consternation of the Braden police, led by Chief Trask (Chris Denham). His staff includes a rookie (Nike Uche Kadri) who gains a mentor in former police detective turned private investigator Jake Noveer (Nathaniel Martello-White).
Jake’s clients include a developer, Wilson Furlbee (Greg Germann, “Ally McBeal”), who wants dirt on the murder at the mill. Furlbee’s daughter, Dannie (Kirrilee Berger, “K.C. Undercover”), may know more about what happenedthat night at the mill.
The cast also includes Pittsburgh native Margot Bingham in a recurring role as Cass, a baker who catches Jake’s eye; Carnegie Mellon University grad Leslie Odom Jr. as a mover and shaker who’s new to Braden; and “Scandal” alumnus Jeff Perry, who plays a Braden con man in declining health. Actress Ashlie Atkinson makes a winning impression as the only female steelworkerat the mill.
Viewers have become accustomed to TV shows with large casts of unconnected characters who become entwined as the story unfurls. So, the $1 that connects the characters initially seems like an unnecessary gimmick (each episode is named after the character who has the $1 bill).
But at the end of episode two, the $1 gets passed to a school teacher, Carol Seerveld (excellent character actress Deirdre O’Connell), andepisode three tells her difficult, touching story that’s sort of a tangent — it doesn’t appear she’ll be pulled into the main murder plot — but a worthwhile one. At this point, the $1 getting passed starts to seem a little more integral to the series’ design.
Showrunner Craig Zobel integrates a lot of elements from real Pittsburgh, including a running gag of a selfdriving vehicle that zooms down Braden streets a la the autonomousUber vehicles.
But mostly “One Dollar” is grounded in serious, realistic issues, including the economics of a small town rooted in its steel mill past versus a developer’s vision for its future, and questions about racial prejudice inside the Braden police department. “One Dollar” also depicts the haves and have-nots of Braden, addressing socio-economic class disparity. And there’s a timeliness to the show with talk of tariffs kicking in that might help the steel industry and a white supremacist group that doesn’t believe the “seven gloves” murder actually happened, labeling it “fakenews.”
Through its early episodes, “One Dollar” never mentions Pittsburgh (characters talk about going “to the city”), but an unfocused image of the Downtown skyline can be glimpsed at the end of the opening credits.
Scenes feature Market Square, PPG Place and a lot of images of steel mills, including the logo for Mon Valley Works Edgar Thomson Plant. Steel mill scenes were shot at FrontierSteel (Neville Island), CP Industries (McKeesport) and Arcelor Mital (Monessen).
The town of Braden is played by Braddock, North Braddock, Rankin, Swissvale, Arnold and New Kensington. Scenes were also filmed in North Versailles, Fox Chapel, Wilmerding, Forest Hills, Apollo and Vandergrift, among many other locations.
The show’s set decorator gets a lot of mileage out of a Terrible Towel that hangs in the background of at least one scene in the premiere and two scenes at two different locations in episodes two.
Multiple times characters refer to other characters as “Yinzers.” And in perhaps the most Pittsburghy moment in the first six episodes, Bud Carl asks his house cleaner, former foster kid Jenny Ludlow (Lindsay Burdge), “You think you can go over to Giant Eagle and get a carpet cleaning machine? Yinzdoing OK these days?”
“One Dollar” is a TV show that gets Pittsburghers right.
Kept/canceled/revived
TNT renewed “The Alienist” for a second season, titled “The Angel of Darkness,” also based on a Caleb Carr novel like its predecessor, with stars Daniel Bruhl, Luke Evans and Dakota Fanning expected to return.
HBO renewed late-night series “Random Acts of Flyness” for a second season.
Netflix giveth, renewing “Glow” for a third season and British dark comedydrama “The End of the [expletive] World” for a second season.
Netflix taketh, canceling “The Break With Michelle Wolf” and “The Joel McHale Show With Joel McHale.”
E! canceled “The Royals” after four seasons.
CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory” will end in May 2019 after 12 seasons.
The Hollywood Reporter says Hulu may revive “Veronica Mars” with star Kristen Bell for an eight-episode season.
Channel surfing
Season four of Starz’s “Outlander” debuts at 8 p.m. Nov. 4. … Season two of Netflix’s “American Vandal” begins streaming Sept. 14. … Bruce Boxleitner (“Babylon 5”) replaces Brent Spiner (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”) in a recurring role on the upcoming season of “Supergirl.” … Nickelodeon’s “Double Dare Live” tour, featuring original host Marc Summers and sidekick Robin Russo, stops at the Benedum Center, Downtown, on Nov. 18. Tickets on sale Friday at 10 a.m. at doubledarelivetour.com.
Tuned In online
Today’s TV Q&A column responds to questions about HGTV shows, “227” reruns and sports reporting on local news outlets. This week’s Tuned In Journal includes posts on “Mr. Mercedes.” Read online-only TV content at http://communityvoices. arts-entertainment-living/ tuned-in.