TV Talk: ‘Great Escapes’ revisits a Pittsburgh prison break; ‘Hawkeye’ and ‘Hot Zone’ sequel debut

Next week’s episode of “Great Escapes with Morgan Freeman” (10 p.m. Tuesday, History Channel) devotes its full hour to a 1997 prison break from the former Western Pen (AKA the now-shuttered SCI Pittsburgh).

Freeman, known for prison-set movie “The Shawshank Redemption,” hosts the series with each episode devoted to a different prison break. Executive producer James Younger said in choosing stories he tries to avoid tales of “genuinely bad guys” in favor of a focus on the resourcefulness and ingenuity of escapees.

“Where the guys escaped Pittsburgh, they developed an entire winemaking operation as a cover for the truly illegal operation which was tunneling out of the prison,” Younger said. “[The prison escape mastermind], Nuno Pontes, made a copy of a key by walking up behind the guard and using a Styrofoam cup and squeezing it against the key while it was on the guard’s belt. And he used that Styrofoam cup impression to make a new key. That was just so he could [get into a building on prison grounds and] start digging the tunnel, not so he could get out of the prison.”

Pontes and his fellow escapees were recaptured and then spent time in solitary confinement.

Younger said “Great Escapes” did not film in Pittsburgh, relying on stock footage, computer-generated renderings of the prison and live-action recreations filmed in Mississippi for all its first-season episodes.

The Pittsburgh “Great Escapes” episode does include new on-camera interviews with corrections officials, Pontes and his former cellmate, Greg Quiring, but Pontes insisted on having his face pixelated.

“He’s never wanted to discuss this on camera before,” Younger said. “He has a new life and lives in Portugal now. His mother doesn’t like to see him talking about being in prison anymore so he doesn’t want his mother to see him on camera, which is actually very charming.”

‘Hawkeye’ mines humor

What’s the best way to handle a humorless Avenger? Put him in as many scenes as possible where he’s made to feel uncomfortable and watch the comedy flow.

Based on the first two episodes, now streaming, that’s the approach Disney+ takes with “Hawkeye,” which uses Clint “Hawkeye” Barton’s frequently dour mood to pretty good comedic effect.

The six-episode series opens in 2012 offering the perspective of a young girl in her family’s Manhattan apartment as the climactic events of “The Avengers” unfolds outside her window. She’s particularly taken with the work of Hawkeye.

Fast-forward almost a decade and 22-year-old Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) has become a skilled archer and Hawkeye’s biggest fan. Eventually, Hawkeye and Kate collide and he, somewhat reluctantly, becomes her mentor.

But first, he must survive a Christmastime trip to New York with his children, grimacing through an Avengers show on Broadway, “Rogers: The Musical,” featuring singing and dancing Avengers in what seems like a more rousing, less synth-heavy version of “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.” If an extended cut of this musical number exists somewhere, please, Disney+, release it, pronto.

In a recent virtual press conference for “Hawkeye,” director/executive producer Rhys Thomas said the scene started as an “innocent suggestion” that he tried to backtrack on but executive producer Kevin Feige loved the idea and enlisted Broadway composer/lyricist Marc Shaiman.

“It gave us context for why Clint is in New York, context for Clint seeing himself in the way the world sees Hawkeye,” Feige said.

More humor follows as Clint has to retrieve an item at a LARP (Live Action Role Players) festival where those guarding the gate insist he must participate to gain entry.

“Hawkeye” features plenty of Marvel-standard action, but it’s the comedy and Christmas setting that make this entry stand out.

‘The Hot Zone: Anthrax’

Two-and-a-half years after “The Hot Zone” became National Geographic Channel’s most-watched scripted series, the network turned to the writers of the original, Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson, for a sequel: “The Hot Zone: Anthrax” (9 p.m. Sunday-Tuesday and streaming the next day on Hulu).

The characters are new, as is the case. This time the focus is on the anthrax attacks that killed five Americans in the weeks after 9/11. The less a viewer remembers about that, the better, otherwise, this six-hour miniseries, which has about four hours’ worth of story, will seem like a slog.

Inspired by real events but told through the eyes of some fictional characters, “The Hot Zone: Anthrax” stars Daniel Dae Kim (“Lost”) as FBI agent Matthew Ryker and Tony Goldwyn (“Scandal”) as Dr. Bruce Ivins, a government microbiologist involved in tracking down who sent letters laced with anthrax to congressional leaders and media figures, including NBC News’ Tom Brokaw (Harry Hamlin, trying to his best to mimic Brokaw’s unique speech patterns).

It is meat-and-potatoes storytelling served as a tiny portion on an oversized platter. As in real life, the story peters out with an unsatisfying conclusion.

Another WTAE departure

As discussed in Monday’s Pittsburgh Pop podcast, Channel 4 general assignment reporter Katelyn Sykes, who grew up in Shaler and joined the station in 2015, announced Monday on her Facebook page that she’ll leave the station next week. She chose not to sign a new contract, the latest in a growing list of departures from WTAE this year.

Sykes said she plans to remain in Pittsburgh but won’t be staying in TV news (she has a one-year non-compete clause in her current WTAE contract).

‘Cartoon Academy’ returns

WQED-TV’s “Cartoon Academy with Joe Wos,” which offers step-by-step drawing lessons, is releasing a second season of six-to-nine-minute videos on WQED’s YouTube channel and at wqed.org/cartoonacademy.

Episodes devoted to household pets debuted Nov. 22-24 and winter wonderland episodes premiere Dec. 27-29. A marathon of both seasons will air 12-2 p.m. Jan. 2 on WQED-TV, Channel 13.

Kept/canceled

NBC renewed “La Brea” for a second season; Peacock did the same for sketch comedy “We Are Lady Parts.”

TBS renewed “Miracle Workers” for a fourth season and truTV did the same for “Tacoma FD.”

USA’s “The Sinner” will end its run with its fourth-season finale at 10 p.m. Dec. 1.

Channel surfing

“Ray Donovan: The Movie,” directed and co-written with star Liev Schreiber by showrunner and Mt. Lebanon native David Hollander (“The Guardian”), debuts at 9 p.m. Jan. 14 on Showtime. … “The Miss America Pageant” will no longer air on TV but instead will stream on Peacock as a five-day event beginning Dec. 12 and ending with a live competition at 8 p.m. Dec. 16. … Munhall’s Gabby Barrett will host “CMA Country Christmas” (8 p.m. Monday, ABC) alongside Carly Pearce.