TV Talk: ‘Kingstown’ ends its 3rd season

Paramount+’s filmed-in-Pittsburgh drama “Mayor of Kingstown” ends its third season with guns blazing.

Streaming Sunday, it’s an episode overflowing with gunfire, including a massive shootout filmed on the 16th Street Bridge in Downtown Pittsburgh in mid-May.

But the bloody mayhem is not confined to that scene. Multiple characters wind up dead ­— most often killed by a bullet, but there are at least two other deaths by other means.

I’ll put up with a high degree of violence in the TV shows I watch (I stuck with “Sons of Anarchy” until its penultimate season when the violence finally drove me away from the show), but the orgy of gratuitous killing in “Kingstown” is so over the top. I generally watch the first and last episode of each “Kingstown” season to keep tabs on the series, given it’s a local production, but I’m not willing to subject myself to that level of violence for a full 10-episode run.

Sunday’s season finale, written by showrunner Dave Erickson (“Fear the Walking Dead,” “Sons of Anarchy”), continues to explore the backstory of Mike McClusky (Jeremy Renner) and his experience in prison, which he discusses in voiceover narration. There’s also some welcome brotherly bonding between Mike and his last remaining sibling, Kyle (Taylor Handley).

“I’m your brother and I’m gonna look after you whether you like it or not, so there,” Mike says in a riverside heart-to-heart. The dialogue is not Shakespeare — one scene uses the f-word seemingly every third word — and the foreshadowing is not subtle (if a character seems to catch a break or get closure, they’ll be dead within a few scenes).

Given the high body count, the third-season finale of “Mayor of Kingstown” feels like the writers are clearing the decks. Characters who have run their course into narrative dead ends get swept away. New characters will emerge in the show’s fourth season, which has not yet been ordered.

That seems like a formality at this point. “Kingstown” made it into Nielsen’s streaming originals Top 10 for multiple weeks. That’s not a place many Paramount+ series land. Unless Renner wants out, it seems likely “Kingstown” will be back to film in Pittsburgh at some point.

KDKA+’s fall sports

KDKA+, Channel 19 (WPKD-TV), again will air regional high school football at 7 p.m. Fridays. Matchups include Central Valley at Montour (Aug. 23), Plum at Latrobe (Aug. 30), Central Catholic at Woodland Hills (Sept. 6), Steel Valley at South Park (Sept. 13), Aliquippa at Penn Hills (Sept. 20), Peters Township at Upper St. Clair (Sept. 27), Trinity at Thomas Jefferson (Oct. 4), Fort Cherry at Bishop Canevin (Oct. 11), North Catholic at Avonworth (Oct. 18) and South Fayette at Moon (Oct. 25).

KDKA+ also will carry regional Division III college football on Saturdays, but game times have not been set for Geneva at Grove City (Sept. 7), Saint Vincent at Allegheny (Sept. 14), Thiel at Geneva (Sept. 21), CMU at W&J (Sept. 28), CMU at Grove City (Oct. 12), Grove City at W&J (Oct. 19), Waynesburg at Allegheny (Oct. 26), Westminster at Geneva (Nov. 9), W&J at Alle­gheny (Nov. 16) and a TBD bowl game (Nov. 23).

O’Donnell exits anchor chair

After the November election, Norah O’Donnell will exit as anchor of “CBS Evening News” and take on a senior correspondent role where she’ll seek out big interviews. CBS has not named her replacement at the anchor desk.

Kept/canceled/spun off

AMC renewed “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon” for a third season (Season 2 debuts at 9 p.m. Sept. 29) that will move the action from France to Spain.

Already renewed for its third season before its second season airs, Fox’s “Krapopolis” now has been renewed for a fourth season, too.

Acorn TV renewed “Harry Wild” for a fourth season.

Hulu renewed adult animated comedy “Solar Opposites” for a sixth season in advance of its fifth season premiere Aug. 12.

Amazon’s Prime Video ordered new seasons of adult animated comedies “Invincible,” “Hazbin Hotel” and “Sausage Party: Foodtopia.”

Hulu canceled “Life Beth” after two seasons.

Disney+ canceled “Renegade Nell” after one season.

Prime Video ordered “Vought Rising,” a prequel to “The Boys” set to feature “Boys” characters Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) and Stormfront (Aya Cash).

“Dexter” star Michael C. Hall will narrate the upcoming Paramount+ with Showtime prequel series “Dexter: Original Sin” (premiering in December), and he’ll somehow star in a new sequel series, “Dexter: Resurrection” (premiering next summer), despite Dexter getting killed off at the end of 2021’s “Dexter: New Blood.” Clyde Phillips returns to executive produce both series.

A five-episode “ Doctor Who” spin-off, “The War Between the Land and the Sea,” will star Russell Tovey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and returning “Doctor Who” cast members Jemma Redgrave (as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart) and Alexander Devrient (as Col. Ibrahim).

Writer Justin Simien (“Dear White People”) and actress/writer Tawny Newsome (“Star Trek: Lower Decks,” returning for its final season Oct. 24) are developing a live-action “The Office”-style action-comedy set in the “Star Trek” universe about “Federation outsiders serving a gleaming resort planet (where) their day-to-day exploits are being broadcast to the entire quadrant.”

Channel surfing

Pittsburgh native Billy Porter will be among the celebrity hosts of a new travel series, “My Happy Place,” debuting on CNN next year. Porter will travel to Europe for his episode. … The Teamsters and Hollywood studios reached a tentative new deal averting a possible strike. … Max’s animated “Gremlins” prequel series, “Gremlins: The Wild Batch,” debuts Oct. 3. … ABC ordered the pilot of a new Tim Allen sitcom, “Shifting Gears,” to series but passed on a Ty Burrell (“Modern Family”) comedy pilot, “Forgive Forget.” … A would-be summer blockbuster that fizzled at the box office, “The Fall Guy” was much better than its disappointing reception suggests. The movie debuts Aug. 30 on Peacock in both its original form and an extended cut (20 minutes longer). … Add one more local to the list of Pittsburghers getting inducted into the Mid-Atlantic Regional Emmys Silver Circle Society (for 25 years of service) at the 42nd regional Emmys on Sept. 21 at Pittsburgh’s Wyndham Grand Hotel: KDKA-TV videographer Aaron Sledge.