Tag: Talk

Netflix’s “The Recruit” is a poppier, more bubblegum spy show than Paramount+ with Showtime’s serious, dour and more authentic-seeming “The Agency.” But “The Recruit” is also more fun, a bit more of a lark that, profanity aside, could probably survive on a broadcast network.

No wonder “The Recruit” comes from Alexi Hawley, the writer and showrunner of ABC’s “The Rookie.”

Now streaming its six-episode second season, “The Recruit” picks up right where season one left off: Newbie CIA lawyer Owen Hendricks (Noah Centineo) was held captive by mysterious blond Karolina (Maddie Hasson), who claims to be the daughter of the former CIA asset Max (Laura Haddock). Karolina shoots Max in the chest. Annnnndddd, cliffhanger!

As the new season begins, Owen declares Max dead as the CIA captures and attempts to turn Karolina (aka Nichka) into a double agent. As the series goes on, the show’s supporting cast gets more involved in this season’s mission.

“When you start a show, you’re not exactly sure how everything’s going to pop,” Hawley said in an interview last week. “And then the second you realize there’s some genius there with this casting, you want to write to them.”

The new season also explores Owen’s backstory, the loss of his father and a childhood friend in South Korea who figures into the plot.

“As a guy who is built to jump into the deep end without looking as a character trait, which, of course, is the stupidest thing to do when you’re in the CIA, I did want to start him in a place where he had learned some things, where he was trying to grow up,” Hawley said. “But at the end of the day, as much as he tried to do better, he falls back on his instincts, which are to look before he leaps. It’s part of the superpower, but at the same time, leaning into this idea of his actions having consequences which now are much more serious than they used to be.”

Hawley has a cameo in “The Recruit” season two finale as a submarine commander, which Hawley said they managed to film in an actual U.S. Navy submarine (doubles were used for the sub exterior distance shot; exterior close-ups of characters on the conning tower’s bridge were filmed atop a yacht).

“It was a practical decision” to appear on camera, Hawley said, noting that the show also filmed in the CIA and the U.S. State Department this season. “I had gotten used to jumping through the security hoops that you have to jump through to get permission, so for me it was the easiest thing to do: Be the director and the actor with a really small crew.”

‘Goodrich’

Pittsburgh native Michael Keaton is on an odd streak of movies that barely open in theaters and then go straight to Max. Last year there was “Knox Goes Away,” which he also directed, and this week there’s “Goodrich” (8 p.m. Feb. 1, Max), which stars Keaton as Andy Goodrich, who becomes a single dad to his 9-year-old twins when his wife enters a 90-day rehab program.

Written and directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer, daughter of rom-com film vets Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer (“Father of the Bride”), “Goodrich” follows Keaton’s character as he reconnects with his daughter (Mila Kunis) from his first marriage and learns to be a better dad to all his kids.

Too long (almost two hours) and too obvious (Goodrich is a good but oblivious guy who has to learn to spend less time at work and more time with his family), it’s understandable why viewers have never heard of “Goodrich.” Skip it and stream “Knox,” still on Max, instead.

WTAE hires reporter

WTAE-TV hired Pittsburgh native Jordan Cioppa as a general assignment reporter who will work nightside weekdays beginning Feb. 3.

A 2015 graduate of Plum High School, Cioppa arrives at Channel 4 after a three-year stint at the NBC affiliate in Charleston, S.C., where she was a reporter/MMJ (multimedia journalist who acts as her own videographer). She got her start in broadcasting at WJAC-TV in Johnstown.

While a student at Penn State, Cioppa interned at KDKA-TV.

Kept/canceled/revived

A&E ordered two seasons of a reboot of its one-time hit “Duck Dynasty” that will air this summer.

Fox renewed game show “The 1% Club” for a second season but will replace host Patton Oswalt with Joel McHale.

Ahead of its third season premiere on Feb. 16, HBO renewed “The White Lotus” for a fourth season.

PBS’s “Masterpiece” ordered “Marble Head Murders,” the third and final installment in the Susan Ryeland (Lesley Manville) series whose previous installments were “Magpie Murders” and “Moonflower Murders.”

HBO’s “The Righteous Gemstones” will end with its fourth season, debuting on a yet-to-be-announced date in March.

Premiere dates

ABC’s “The Conners” kicks off its final season at 8 p.m. March 26.

The 10-episode final season of “Bosch: Legacy” debuts March 27 on Amazon’s Prime Video.

Channel surfing

Pittsburgh dropped from the 13th best large city to live in as a filmmaker in MovieMaker Magazine’s 2024 list to No. 17 (one spot lower than Cleveland) in the 2025 list. … CBS already relocated its new version of “Hollywood Squares” from Thursday to 8 p.m. Wednesday. … CNN will shake up its daytime anchor lineup in March with Rahel Solomon hosting at 5 a.m., Audie Cornish at 6 a.m., Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown at 10 a.m., Kasie Hunt at 4 p.m. and Jake Tapper 5-7 p.m. After a potential demotion from daytime to midnight that observers viewed as CNN’s attempt to placate the Trump administration, Trump critic Jim Acosta announced his departure from the network. … In an effort to compete with YouTube TV, Fubo TV and Hulu Plus Live TV, Comcast’s Xfinity launched a $70 monthly streaming offering (when combined with Xfinity internet service), Sports and News TV, that includes local ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC channels as well as CNBC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, ESPN, FS1, Golf Channel, SEC Network, Peacock and 300 hours of cloud DVR storage.