TV Talk: 2 of ‘The Boys in the Band’ have Pittsburgh ties

It was a mini-Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama reunion for Matt Bomer (CMU class of 2000) and Green Tree native Zachary Quinto (CMU class of 1999) in the Netflix movie “The Boys in the Band,” directed by Joe Mantello and executive produced by Ryan Murphy (“Ratched”).

A remake of the 1970 film adapted from the 1968 stage play, the new “Boys in the Band” is now streaming on Netflix with both Quinto and Bomer reprising roles they originated in a 2018 Broadway revival of “Boys.”

Set in New York in the 1960s, “The Boys in the Band” tells the story of a group of gay men – all played by out, gay actors – who gather in a New York apartment in 1968 for a party thrown by screenwriter Michael (Jim Parsons, “The Big Bang Theory”) celebrating the birthday of acid-tongued Harold (Quinto). Michael’s former flame, Donald (Bomer), is among the party-goers.

Bomer said he was unfamiliar with the play or film before joining the cast.

“I was shocked when we first did the readings. I thought that the text had to have been updated or made more contemporary,” he said in a Zoom interview last week. “There were so many younger members of the [LGBTQ+] community who would want to talk to me after the show and say how they could relate to this piece. … There was something that they could see about themselves or people they knew.”

While Parsons and Quinto get the most screen time, Bomer was happy to be part of the ensemble.

“It’s not about putting on some kind of showcase performance and trying to make a three-course meal out of someone who’s there to support Hamlet,” Bomer said. “It’s about making sure the themes and the messages of the piece come across and that you’re supporting the ensemble that you’re a part of. I learned that at Carnegie Mellon building sets for the seniors.”

Quinto said it was a smooth transition translating his character from stage to screen.

“I was really fortunate to play a character whose whole worldview revolves around the idea that he’s the most important person in the room and everyone should come to him,” Quinto said in a separate Zoom interview last week. “There’s something about the medium of film that really lends itself to that perspective.”

Quinto hadn’t seen the original film – he still hasn’t – and came to the play “under the influence of a certain kind of stigma that’s been associated with this piece over the years.” He wondered if the story was relevant or if it was a stereotyping, reductive backwards-looking exploration of self-loathing gay men.

“The reality is there’s something much more universal about this story,” he said. “It has to do with longing for a kind of acceptance from within ourselves and from the world around us that each of these characters represents in their own way and I think that’s something that transcends gay male identity.”

Bomer said the intimacy of film through close-up shots offers the opportunity to deliver a different kind of performance than on stage when an actor plays to a 1,000-seat theater. His 20-year friendship with Quinto was an added bonus working on the play and then the movie.

“Our dressing rooms were next to each other on Broadway,” Bomer recalled. “[On the movie] if there was down time between a setup, I was in his trailer or hanging out around his trailer. So much of the camaraderie and the understanding, the sense of ensemble, was informed by the fact that we were all openly gay men. The fact that many of the members of the cast are people who I was good friends with before this even began just made it even more special.”

‘The Walking Dead: World Beyond’

The latest “Walking Dead” spin-off, “World Beyond” (10 p.m. Sunday on AMC, already available on subscription streamer AMC+) begins with a promising first episode that makes the walkers almost incidental.

Set 10 years after the start of the zombie apocalypse, “World Beyond” shows a gated campus community in Nebraska that has formed a society where zombies are managed while scientists search for a cure.

A focus on younger, female characters buys “World Beyond” a somewhat fresh take initially but by the end of the first hour sisters Iris (Aliyah Royale) and Hope (Alexa Mansour) take off on a distaff “Stand by Me”-style quest to rescue their scientist father with two nerdy boys in tow.

Episode two, rife with flashbacks for establishing character, plunges viewers back into the familiar, now-tired “Walking Dead” routine as the quartet elude zombies with dad-designated guardian Felix (Nico Tortorella, “Younger”) in pursuit.

‘NEXT’

With Amazon’s Alexa in thousands of homes, it’s easy to see how the idea of an artificial intelligence device as a mayhem-sowing rogue agent appealed to Fox executives. But “NEXT” (9 p.m. Oct. 6, WPGH-TV) is the latest in a long line of TV series that would be better as a one-shot movie. The plotting is similar to “Little Shop of Horrors.” Just sub in a digital assistant for the talking plant (and remove songs).

When the concept gets stretched to become a series, it loses steam fast. Stop the AI and the show is over. Instead in its first two episodes “NEXT” becomes a redundant cat-and-mouse game between the rogue artificial intelligence — dubbed Next at its core, operating from in-home units called Iliza — and the humans in pursuit, tech guru Paul LeBlanc (John Slattery, “Mad Men”) and FBI agent Shea Salazar (Fernanda Andrade).

Kept/canceled/spun off

HBO Max ordered “Peacemaker,” a spin-off of the next “Suicide Squad” film, and a reboot of “Pretty Little Liars” set in a new town.

Channel surfing

Netflix’s filmed-in-Pittsburgh adaptation of August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” starring Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman, will be released on the streaming service Dec. 18. … Tyler Cottrill, a 27-year-old lawyer from Morgantown, W.Va., is among the 31 bachelors wooing “The Bachelorette” (8 p.m. Oct. 13, ABC). … Free, non-profit streaming service Channel Pittsburgh, available online at ChannelPittsburgh.org and on Roku devices, launches its fall season next week, including Tuesday’s season premiere of “Pittsburgh Tempo” (music videos created by local artists). … E.W. Scripps will buy Ion media for $2.65 billion. The purchase includes Pittsburgh station WINP-TV, Channel 16. … Chris Rock hosts the season premiere of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” this weekend (back in Studio 8H at Rockefeller Center) with musical guest Megan Thee Stallion. … Discovery Channel explores what could be “The Lost Lincoln” image in its “Undiscovered” series (9 p.m. Sunday).