Daniel Moore’s return to “Jeopardy!” proved short-lived.

Moore, a 33-year-old contract compliance analyst in the office of business diversity in the mayor of Pittsburgh’s office, first competed on the quiz show last summer and won $41,800 over three episodes. He returned this week as part of the show’s “Season 39 Champions Wildcard” tournament.

A Brighton Heights resident, Moore faced off against Ron Cheung, an economics professor from Lakewood, Ohio, and Holly Hassel, an English professor from Calumet, Mich.

Moore got off to a strong start, taking an early lead.

Moore was in second place behind Cheung going into Final Jeopardy, which stumped all three contestants with the clue: “The first cice president and the first president not born in one of the original 13 states were both born in this state.”

Moore and Hassel both guessed, “What is Tennessee?” Cheung guessed, “What is New Hampshire?”

The correct response: “What is Kentucky?” birthplace of President Abraham Lincoln and Vice President Richard Mentor Johnson.

With all three guessing wrong, it came down to how much each contestant wagered.

Moore bet all $13,200 of his winnings to that point. Hassel bet $8,700 of her accumulated $8,800. Cheung wagered $12,401 of $14,000 and won the game with $1,599.

Vultures circling Paramount

For a while now it’s seemed likely that Paramount Global — parent company of CBS, local TV stations (including Pittsburgh’s KDKA-TV and WPKD-TV), Paramount+ and Paramount Pictures — may not survive intact in the streaming era.

Recent reporting suggested Skydance Media CEO David Ellison might make a play for National Amusements, which controls Paramount Global.

And now there’s another potential suitor: Apollo Global Management, which owns Cox stations, including WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh.

If the Apollo acquisition were to happen, Apollo would then have two Pittsburgh TV stations, which probably would not pass muster with federal regulators, requiring the divestment of one of the Pittsburgh stations, most likely Channel 11.

There’s no done deal at this point but the fate of Paramount bears watching for its local station ownership implications.

City ranks Top 20 for filmmakers

MovieMaker.com ranked Pittsburgh as the 13th best place to live and work as a filmmaker for 2024, down from No. 10 in 2023 but still ahead of Cleveland (No. 18) and just behind Philadelphia (No. 12).

MovieMaker.com complimented Pittsburgh, writing, “The Steel City has a modern sheen it’s hard to replicate elsewhere, but with its historic buildings, three rivers, sweeping bridges, and nearby mountains, it can stand in for a wide range of other cities and time periods.”

Kept/canceled

Amazon’s Prime Video will begin production this year on “The Terminal List: Dark Wolf,” a prequel series starring Taylor Kitsch with Chris Pratt reprising his role from the first “Terminal List.”

Max canceled “The Flight Attendant” co-starring McCandless native Griffin Matthews after two seasons.

Channel surfing

In the past FX researchers did the counting but per Ampere Analytics, the number of original scripted series airing across broadcast, cable and streaming in 2023 was 481, a decline of 24 percent from 2022 when Ampere said there were 633 original scripted show (FX counted 599 adult scripted series in 2022 and has yet to release its data for 2023). … Dakota Johnson hosts NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” Jan. 27 with musical guest Justin Timberlake. … “Invincible” returns with new episodes March 14 on Amazon’s Prime Video. … The final season of “Star Wars: The Bad Batch” begins streaming Feb. 21 on Disney+. … “Gilmore Girls” fans, rejoice: Yanic Truesdale, who played snooty concierge Michel on the WB/CW series will have a recurring role in “Étoile,” an upcoming Prime Video series set in the ballet world created by “Gilmore Girls” creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino. … It’s National News Literacy Week, an effort to teach people of all ages and backgrounds how to identify credible news and information.

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