TV Talk: Billy Porter plans to cast 'authentic Pittsburgh people' in his directorial debut

Pittsburgh native Billy Porter, a 1987 graduate of Pittsburgh CAPA and Taylor Allderdice High Schools and a 1991 graduate of Carnegie Mellon University’s drama program, has stayed busy during the past year’s pandemic, filming the final season of “Pose” — with its parallels to covid-19 — and readying his feature film directorial debut, “What If?,” that will shoot in Pittsburgh this summer.

“What If?” tells the story of a high school boy (cast but not announced) who posts on social media about his crush on a trans girl (British newcomer Yasmin Finney) at his school.

Porter said he was approached by “What If?” producers about directing the movie.

“I’m reading and loving the script by this writer who’s from Mexico, and he buried the lead,” Porter said. “It read very much like Anywhere, USA, for the first 30 pages and then the reveal came that we were in Pittsburgh and then I was like, I’m gonna get this movie.”

Porter said he hopes to begin filming in July. He won’t appear in an on-camera role.

“But I expect to cast a lot of Pittsburgh local actors, a lot of my mentors,” he said. “I want to populate it with true, authentic Pittsburgh people.”

FX’s “Pose” returns at 10 p.m. Sunday in a two-episode premiere that finds Porter’s Pray Tell in a bad place, overwhelmed by the number of deaths of friends from AIDS, a thematic parallel to the 574,000 U.S. deaths from covid-19.

“As a Black, gay man who lived through the AIDS crisis, I have been dealing with a lot of PTSD during this covid time. It’s very reminiscent of what it was like then,” Porter said. “We got through it. And there is another side to it. We can get to the other side. And I feel like that’s what ‘Pose’ really accomplishes this season, reminding the public that it’s when we come together and when we lead with love is how we get to the other side.”

The fourth episode of the new season revisits Pray Tell’s childhood with a trip home to Allentown (on a Greyhound bus bound for Pittsburgh), where Pray visits his childhood church. At the end of the episode, Pray departs from Allentown’s “East Liberty bus depot,” which “Pose” executive producer Steven Canals acknowledged was a nod to Porter’s hometown roots.

“One of the goals for me, as a Black, queer and spiritual person, is that really uncomfortable conversation between the LBGTQ+ community and the Black church,” Porter said. “It’s always been at the forefront of my mind, of my calling, of my purpose.”

Porter said the show’s producers “rooted out” of him his own experience and used it for his character’s story on “Pose.”

“I’m looking forward to the conversation that it cracks open once this particular episode airs,” Porter said. “You can’t be an oppressed community and demand your human rights and then turn around and oppress another group of disenfranchised people because you don’t like how they live. It’s hypocritical and it’s wrong.”

More on ‘Pose’

As for this new, final season of “Pose,” it’s a mixed bag that leads to a satisfying conclusion.

The second season ended in a way that felt like a series finale but that was two years ago so the first two episodes deliver a rushed reset that reestablishes the characters while dipping into “Afterschool Special” drama, including addiction issues that come and go within a few episodes.

“Pose” seems to be sprinting through story — the seven-episode season begins in 1994 and ends in 1998 — to fit everything in in its final season. It’s a little all over the place but entertaining enough in the soapy way “Pose” always is.

The third episode provides more backstory for curt diva Elektra (Dominique Jackson), easily the best hour of a season that explores the AIDS crisis medically and politically.

The final two episodes of the series, while overly long, deliver both smiles (a “Sex and the City”-style lunch; a wedding musical number) and sadness but still hew to the notion of friends-as-family, including a full-circle scene that shows how far the characters have come, particularly Blanca (MJ Rodriguez), the heart and soul of the series.

“Pose” set up a seemingly radical story about characters and a period previously not depicted in prime time and then told its story in a conventional TV manner. To that end, “Pose” worked magnificently, showing trans characters as not so different from their cisgender peers, just people seeking and deserving love, acceptance and respect.

Kept/canceled/spun off

Netflix renewed “Floor is Lava” for a second season.

CBS renewed “NCIS: Los Angeles” for 2021-22 and ordered new spin-off “NCIS: Hawaii.”

Disney Channel will bring back its live-action mystery series, “Secrets of Sulphur Springs,” for a second season.

Hulu ordered the “How I Met Your Mother” sequel series “How I Met Your Father,” starring Hilary Duff (“Younger”) as a woman telling her son the story of how she met his father.

Fox is developing an animated sequel series to “The Flintstones,” titled “Bedrock” and set 20 years after the original.

Channel surfing

Charleroi native Craig McCracken’s “Wander Over Yonder” (2013-16) arrives on Disney+ May 7 and Pittsburgh native Ford Riley’s “Special Agent Oso” (2009-12) comes to the streamer May 14. … A new NHL rights deal will find live games on ESPN as well as on TNT, TBS and HBO Max as the league cuts ties with NBCUniversal beginning with the 2021-22 season. … MeTV celebrates “The Month of Mayberry” throughout May, including Sunday evenings beginning at 5 p.m. with episodes of “The Andy Griffith Show.” … Reruns of ABC soap “Nashville” join the Start TV lineup Monday at 11 p.m., available locally on Channel 2.2 over the air (483 on Verizon FiOS TV, 181/183/195/196/198/1165 on Comcast, 89 on Armstrong). … Comcast’s annual Xfinity Watchathon week, through May 3, includes first-time access for X1 and Flex customers to Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” A Teacher” and “Palm Springs” and HBO’s “Game of Thrones” library.