TV Talk: ’High School Musical’ actor back in town for Christmas cabaret; ‘No Good Deed’ on Netflix

Joe Serafini, a 2016 graduate of Bethel Park High School who starred in several seasons of the Disney+ series “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” returns home this weekend to headline a performance at the Pittsburgh Playhouse at Point Park University.

“Christmas Live! With Joe Serafini and Friends” (7 p.m. Dec. 14, tickets: $25-50) brings Serafini’s expansion of past TikTok and Instagram performances to a Pittsburgh stage. He’ll sing holiday classics alongside local talent, including Jeff Howell, who played Bob Cratchit to Serafini’s Tiny Tim in Pittsburgh CLO’s “A Christmas Carol” when Serafini was 7.

“I worked a little bit harder weaving a bit of a message throughout and what I want the audience to leave feeling,” Serafini said of his Pittsburgh cabaret show, which follows previous shows in New York, where he lives. “Also, this is special because it’s a hometown edition, and that always adds a whole other layer to it because so much of the holiday is about being home.”

His sister, Kristin Serafini, will perform at the show along with Serafini’s boyfriend and “HSM: TM: TS” co-star Frankie Rodriguez. Pittsburgh stage mainstay Chris Laitta will also perform.

“Christine is someone I didn’t work with until I was a little older,” Serafini said. “It’s fun to have someone there I’ve gotten to know more as an adult.”

Serafini also invited the Bethel Park Top 21 choir, which he was once a part of at Bethel Park High School. The singers will kick off the evening under the direction of Todd Kuczawa.

And Serafini will perform “Evergreen Love,” a song he co-wrote with friends from his recent Christmas EP.

“Because I grew up here, when I think of Christmas, I definitely associate it with Pittsburgh,” Serafini said. “There’s a lot of Pittsburgh love in all these memories I’ll be sharing and talking about.”

New Sebak special

The first half-hour episode of “Lucky to Live in Pittsburgh,” which edits together Sebak’s recent YouTube shorts “Visit Badamo’s Pizza,” “Original Dairy Queen Neon Sign in Perryopolis” and “Visit Traveler’s Rest,” will air at 8 and 8:30 p.m. Dec. 26, 4 and 4:30 p.m. Dec. 27 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 31, featuring some additional bonus content for TV.

WQED will replay Sebak’s 2002 program “Happy Holidays in Pittsburgh” (8 p.m. Dec. 12 and 4 p.m. Dec. 13), 2010’s “It’s Pittsburgh: I Think Santa Will Like the Sleigh” (10:30 p.m. Dec. 12, 4:30 p.m. Dec. 17), 2012’s “It’s Pittsburgh: Gingerbread Lane” (7:30 p.m. Dec. 23, 12 a.m. Dec. 24) and Chris Fennimore’s 2013 show “Memories from the Table” (7:30 p.m. Dec. 30).

‘No Good Deed’

This week Netflix debuts “No Good Deed, ”a new series from writer Liz Feldman, who previously created “Dead to Me” for Netflix. “No Good Deed” has the same tragi-comic tone. If you liked “Dead to Me,” you’ll probably enjoy “No Good Deed.” If you didn’t like “Dead to Me,” probably best to skip “No Good Deed,” too.

Now streaming, “No Good Deed” tells the story of former symphony pianist Lydia (Lisa Kudrow) and husband Paul (Ray Romano) who decide to sell their home in a tony Los Angeles neighborhood to try to fix the problems in their lives. But that decision only exacerbates their challenges when hidden secrets come to light as an array of couples express interest in buying the house.

In a recent virtual press conference, Feldman said she drew inspiration for “No Good Deed” from her experience in the thick of the covid-19 pandemic.

“We were really locked down in our homes, so our homes took on this supernatural power for us,” Feldman said. “It was literally the only place where we could be safe. I just started thinking about that and at night I’d be, like, doom surfing through Zillow, thinking about any other house I could potentially live in.”

Feldman didn’t have an office in her home and wound up working at her kitchen table, leading Feldman and her wife to look for a new house.

“Every time we would walk (through) a new door, I realized, there’s a story there,” Feldman said. “There’s someone’s whole life. There’s a ton of secrets.”

One house they toured had just been remodeled. Feldman couldn’t understand why the owners wanted to sell it.

“Then I learned that one of the owners was a musician with the (Los Angeles) Philharmonic, and they had to sell because it was the pandemic and they weren’t working,” Feldman said. “It gutted me; it was so heartbreaking. That was the inspiration for Lydia’s character.”

For Kudrow and Romano, “No Good Deed” marked the first time they met, despite working near one another in the late ‘90s.

“Our shows were three stages apart on the Warner Bros. lot, which I knew, but you didn’t,” Romano said to Kudrow.

“I didn’t leave my stage,” Kudrow said.

“We were all in awe, saying the Beatles are three stages down,” Romano recalled. “But you made it up to me by telling me you watched every (‘Raymond’) episode during the pandemic. And I thought you were just trying to be nice, but then you started quoting episodes.”

“I’m not that nice, as it turns out,” Kudrow joked.

“And we hit it off,” Romano said. “We bonded a lot over our insecurities.”

“I don’t like crowds, either,” Kudrow said.

“It became great,” Romano said. “I’m always intimidated on day one meeting somebody and especially someone from such an iconic thing, but you made me feel very comfortable.”

‘Pitt” premiere date

Pittsburgh-set Max medical drama “The Pitt” will premiere with two episodes Jan. 9. Additional episodes will stream subsequent Thursdays through April 10.

Channel surfing

Local ties in Golden Globes nominations announced Monday include Carnegie Mellon University grad Ted Danson (best male comedy actor for “A Man on the Inside”), who will also be honored with the Carol Burnett Award. … Pittsburgh-set Netflix movie “The Piano Lesson” was shut out, receiving no Globes nominations. … HGTV’s “White House Christmas 2024” debuts at 6 p.m. Sunday hosted by Brian and Mika Kleinschmidt. … Whitney Cummings hosts “Fast Friends,” a “Friends”-themed competition series streaming new episodes Thursdays from Dec. 19 to Jan. 9 on Max.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that Stephen Schwartz was not nominated for a Golden Globe for his musical “Wicked.”