TV Talk: Carnegie Mellon student competes on ‘American Idol;’ Netflix debuts Rob Lowe comedy ‘Unstable’
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Tripp Taylor, a freshman studying musical theater at Carnegie Mellon University, impressed the “American Idol” judges in his audition that aired earlier this month, singing Ray Charles’ “I Believe to My Soul.”
“The most promising thing is you’ve got your own kind of sound, just the right amount of gravel and grit,” said host Luke Bryan.
Tripp, a deep-voiced 19-year-old from Florence, S.C., said he’s a fan of old soul music, so he was most excited to meet judge Lionel Richie, who said, “Your stage presence is strong.”
Judge Katy Perry said Taylor has the talent, the “it factor,” the humility and “people are gonna remember your name.”
Taylor got his Golden Ticket to “Idol’s” Hollywood Week episodes that air at 8 p.m. Sunday and Monday on WTAE-TV.
Taylor filmed his audition for the judges in Nashville in November and flew to L.A. more recently to film his Hollywood Week episode. He was back in Pittsburgh when we spoke last week.
“I’ve always wanted to audition for one of the shows,” Taylor said. “The auditions for (‘American Idol’) just kept on popping up on my Instagram and then popping up on all my social media, and I was talking to my friends about it, and I didn’t think I was gonna do it. But they convinced me that there wasn’t really any downside to auditioning. So why not just do it?”
Taylor attended the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, a boarding high school, prior to CMU. He said his CMU professors have been supportive of his “Idol” run, even though it’s novel for a CMU drama student.
“I don’t believe they have had (a student on ‘Idol’) before,” he said. “It’s definitely tough keeping up with the schoolwork. Everyone’s been trying to figure out ways that I can work out missing some school and being able to go to the competition. The teachers were all super OK with it, and all my classmates are impressed by it, all congratulating me.”
Although he looked pretty calm on TV, Taylor said walking into the audition room — with bright lights and cameras moving around — “was probably the most nerve-wracking thing I’ve ever done. It’s a pretty surreal moment. I feel like I was shaking on the inside. I was trying not to look nervous, but I was nervous out of my mind.”
Whatever happens on future “Idol” episodes, Taylor maintains the same goal that brought him to CMU: He wants to perform.
“I’d love to be on television and in movies,” he said. “But I also have a big passion for music and I never want to give that up. So I’d love to put out music. I just want to pursue everything in that area.”
‘Unstable’
When Netflix started its original series a decade ago, it was clearly going for a prestige play with critically adored shows such as “House of Cards,” “Orange Is the New Black” and filmed-in- Pittsburgh “Mindhunter.” It was Netflix trying to be the HBO of streaming.
And Netflix stayed that course — for a while.
But then when Netflix’s originals grew at such a rapid pace that there were multiple new series of every imaginable genre debuting monthly, Netflix transitioned to a quantity-over-quality approach, flooding the market with original series. Netflix no longer wanted to be HBO, it wanted to be CBS with the occasional HBO-caliber series (think: “Maid”) alongside must-watch tentpoles like “Stranger Things.”
With the Rob Lowe-starring “Unstable,” Netflix has managed to put forward a worthwhile comedy again. Lowe is certainly a winning star, and it’s fun to see him back in “Parks and Recreation” comedy mode after multiple seasons on the Fox drama “911: Lone Star.”
But credit for the success of “Unstable,” now streaming, largely goes to series co-creator Victor Fresco, the writer behind two excellent-but-short-lived comedies from the early 2000s: “Andy Richter Controls the Universe” (2002-03, Fox) and “Better Off Ted” (2009-10, ABC).
Like those two series, Fresco imbues “Unstable” with a gonzo, almost manic comic energy. Characters talk quickly, make quippy asides and then hurriedly move on. Fresco even cribs from “Ted,” repeating the conceit of two lab techs but with a gender flip from two men to two women.
Fresco co-created “Unstable” with Rob Lowe and his son, John Owen Lowe. Sure it’s a “nepo baby” vanity project, but it also works.
Lowe stars as Ellis Dragon, a genius biotech entrepreneur with a narcissistic streak (a Lowe specialty), who’s in emotional freefall since the death of his wife.
His company’s chief financial officer, Anna (Sian Clifford), calls on Dragon’s son, Jackson (John Owen Lowe), to come home and help his father regain his equilibrium and avoid scaring off the company’s board of directors, particularly a hilarious dim set of fraternal twins.
“Unstable” proves consistently funny and involving. The father-son dynamics, while familiar, do manage to feel real (for a TV comedy) amongst the whiplash comedy. And then there’s the premiere episode’s left turn in its final moments, which turns out to be a fairly common occurrence in the show’s eight-episode first season.
Renewed
• ABC renewed “Grey’s Anatomy” for a 20th season.
• Fox picked up freshman dramas “Accused” and “Alert: Missing Persons Unit” for sophomore seasons.
• Netflix ordered a fifth and final season of “You.”
• Paramount+ renewed “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” for a third season ahead of the June 15 season two premiere.
• Animated “Star Trek: Lower Decks” was renewed for a fifth season.
Channel surfing
WPXI forecaster Jessica Faith will exit Channel 11 on April 21 for a job as meteorologist at WRC-TV in Washington, D.C.
Western Pennsylvania native Andrew Havranek will join WPXI-TV in April from Spectrum News 1 Wisconsin as Channel 11’s Westmoreland County Bureau chief. … Finally: The long-gestating Broadway musical based on the 2012-13 NBC drama “Smash,” which starred Christian Borle, who grew up in Fox Chapel, Ross native Andy Mientus and CMU grads Megan Hilty and Leslie Odom Jr., will debut during the 2024-25 theater season (no word on any casting yet). … Anderson Cooper will anchor CNN newsmagazine “The Whole Story” at 8 p.m. Sunday beginning April 16. … “The Monkees” reruns will air on cable’s AXS TV at 8:30 p.m. Fridays beginning April 7.
Actor Jeremy Renner, who stars in filmed-in-Pittsburgh drama “Mayor of Kingstown,” will give his first interview since a January snowplow accident in “Jeremy Renner: The Diane Sawyer Interview” (10 p.m. April 6, ABC).
Quinta Brunson hosts NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” this weekend with musical guest Lil Yachty; Molly Shannon hosts April 8 with Jonas Brothers; Ana de Armas hosts April 15 with Karol G.