Now that the six-episode, easily bingeable, filmed-in-Pittsburgh “The Chair” has been out for a week on Netflix, it’s time to share more from my interviews with series co-creator Amanda Peet and star Sandra Oh, spoilers included (if you don’t want to be spoiled, skip to the next subhead).
“The Chair” follows Ji-Yoon Kim (Sandra Oh), the first woman and first person of color to chair Pembroke University’s English department, and the challenges she encounters when her colleague and potential love interest, Prof. Bill Dobson (Jay Duplass), creates a firestorm after sarcastically giving a Nazi salute in class. Students take offense, Bill refuses to apologize initially and viewers are left to wonder what to make of it all.
It’s clear “The Chair” doesn’t actually think Bill in any way condones Nazism but the show also doesn’t invest enough time and development in the student characters, which makes them come off like an amorphous mob.
“I didn’t have any intention of skewering the students,” Peet told me. “We’re all due for a reckoning. The system has favored rich, white people for so long that I wanted to dig into that and show that Pembroke was a part of that and therefore the student position is understandable and their need to call out this legacy of imbalance is justified.”
Peet described Bill’s offense as an ill-advised joke.
“This is a time for humility and listening,” Peet said. “I also wanted to show a middle-aged white man who’s not entirely heroic in his attempts to listen and be humble.”
As for that cameo by David Duchovny as a big-name visiting professor, Peet’s long been friends with Duchovny, who actually did earn a master’s of English literature at Yale and began work on a PhD before “The X-Files” catapulted him to fame.
“I knew his academic history so I thought of him right away because I needed someone who you would believe had gotten that far along in getting his PhD in literature,” Peet said. “He’s absurdly handsome but he’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. He’s a person who’s willing to take the piss out of himself and I needed a middle-aged white man who was really, really willing to do that.”
“The Chair” ends in a way that could be a conclusion (Bill’s fired, Joon-Yi loses control of the English department) or could be the start of a new chapter for the lead characters. Oh said she’d like to revisit Joon-Yi, especially in a post-covid world where she could see the faces of Pittsburgh crew members unobscured by the masks they wore during the production of season one.
“There’s always more story,” Oh said. “It’ll get harder but of course there’s more story because (season one ends asking the question), can one make change?”
How did Netflix’s double debut of filmed-in-Pittsburgh “The Chair” and “Sweet Girl” fare since Aug. 20? There’s no reliable, verified data available, however looking at Netflix’s own “Top 10 in the U.S. today” list, “Sweet Girl” shot to No. 1 on Saturday and stayed there through at least Tuesday while “The Chair” debuted at No. 8 Saturday and then started creeping up, making it to No. 4 on Aug. 23 and 24.
9/11 remembered
After the last 18 months, it’s difficult imagining sitting down to watch programs about the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, but the networks are rolling out a slew of 9/11 memorial programming anyway.
National Geographic Channel airs “One Day in America” (9 p.m. Aug. 29, 30, 31 and Sept. 1), a six-part, seven-hour docu-series that offers first-person accounts of the attacks.
Next week PBS focuses on the stories of seven children whose fathers died on 9/11 in the two-hour “Generation 9/11” (9-11 p.m. Tuesday, WQED-TV).
“When covid hit, the concept that these guys have been bracketed by tragedy became very powerful,” said “Generation 9/11” director Liz Mermin during a PBS press conference earlier this month. “They were born in the wake of one and graduated college in the midst of others.”
PBS’s “Frontline” explores the U.S. response to the terror attacks and the consequences of three presidencies in “America After 9/11” (9-11 p.m. Sept. 7, WQED-TV).
History Channel offers a full slate of programming, including a documentary on the impact of 9/11 on children, “9/11: The Legacy” (7 p.m. Sept. 10); “Rise and Fall: The World Trade Center” (8 p.m. Sept. 10); “9/11: Four Flights” (8 p.m. Sept. 11), which includes United Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, Somerset County, and “9/11: I Was There” (10 p.m. Sept. 11).
In addition, Tim O’Brien’s Pittsburgh-based podcast “Shaping Opinion” debuts the nine-part podcast “9/11: A Generation Removed” (starting Sept. 3), including an interview with Aaron Brown, the former news anchor who covered the calamity for CNN.
‘Only Murders in the Building’
It’s great to see Steve Martin and Martin Short together again on screen – “Three Amigos!” fans, rejoice! – and a hoot to see them alongside Selena Gomez, but it’s also difficult not to wish “Only Murders in the Building” (streaming Tuesday on Hulu), created by Martin and John Hoffman, was funnier.
More mysterious and occasionally amusing, “Only Murders” follows the trio as they try to solve a murder in their New York apartment building while also recording a podcast about their quest. It’s a cute, novel trifle that could have used some punching up but worth watching for its comedy legend stars.
Kept/canceled
Freeform renewed “Motherland: Fort Salem” for a third and final season.
Showtime ordered second seasons of “Your Honor” and “Flatbush Misdemeanors.”
Roku Channel ordered a second season of its former Quibi series “Most Dangerous Game” with David Castaneda as the new lead and Christoph Waltz returning (Liam Hemsworth is not back).
Peacock canceled its “Punky Brewster” revival after a single season; HBO canceled “Betty” after two seasons.
Channel surfing
Pittsburgh native Billy Porter, helming his directorial debut, “What If?,” in Pittsburgh, will next direct Amazon’s queer teen comedy film “To Be Real.” … CNN premieres “The Price of Freedom” (9 p.m. Sunday), a production of Dick’s Sporting Goods Films among others, exploring gun violence in America and the history of the National Rifle Association. … Pittsburgh actor/writer/playwright Elise Robertson’s one-woman show “Imagining Rachel,” about Pittsburgh native/environmentalist Rachel Carson, is available for ticketed, digital on-demand screening as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe through Aug. 30 at eliserobertson.com/imaginingrachel. … Disney’s “Cruella,” starring Emma Stone, becomes available to Disney+ subscribers without an additional fee on Aug. 27. … Carrie Ann Inaba, on leave from “The Talk” since April, announced she’s moving on from the daytime chat fest altogether.
You can reach TV writer Rob Owen at rowen@triblive.com or 412-380-8559. Follow Rob on Twitter or Facebook. Ask TV questions by email or phone. Please include your first name and location.
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TV Talk: More on 'The Chair,' including that celeb cameo; 9/11 remembered - TribLIVE
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