A work in constant progress (and occasional regress).
Birthplace:
Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Born:
June 5, 1953
Rick Sebak is an American public broadcasting television producer, writer and narrator who lives and works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States. Rick makes unusual television programs. His slightly wacky documentaries celebrate various aspects of modern American life and the unexpected charms of Pittsburgh. Audiences have learned to recognize his friendly narrative style and the unusual topics that he obviously loves. Sebak is the creator of the "scrapbook documentary" genre, many of which he has created for WQED and PBS. This scrapbook style incorporates lots of old films, home movies, postcards, old photos and memorabilia of all sorts. Rick does not appear on-camera in these programs, but audiences have learned to recognize his voice and distinctive narrative style.
Director:
1988 Kennywood Memories
1988 The Mon, The Al & The O
1989 Holy Pittsburgh!
1990 Flying Off the Bridge to Nowhere
1990 Things That Aren't There Anymore
1992 Downtown Pittsburgh
1992 The Pennsylvania Road Show
1993 Pennsylvania Diners and Other Roadside Restaurants
1994 It's the Neighborhoods
1994 Stuff That's Gone
1996 An Ice Cream Show
1996 Shore Things
1996 The Strip Show
1997 North Side Story
1999 A Hot Dog Program
1999 Great Old Amusement Parks
2000 Something About Oakland
2001 A Flea Market Documentary
2001 Pittsburgh A to Z
2002 Happy Holidays in Pittsburgh
2002 Sandwiches That You Will Like
2004 A Program About Unusual Buildings & Other Roadside Stuff
2005 A Cemetery Special
2006 What Makes Pittsburgh Pittsburgh?
2007 To Market To Market To Buy A Fat Pig
2007 Underground Pittsburgh
2008 A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway
2008 Invented, Engineered, and Pioneered in Pittsburgh
2010 Breakfast Special
2012 25 Things I Like About Pittsburgh
2012 Breakfast Special 2: Revenge of the Omelets
2015 A Few Good Pie Places
2015 A Few Great Bakeries
2016 Return to Downtown Pittsburgh
???? South Side
Producer:
1988 Kennywood Memories
1988 The Mon, The Al & The O
1989 Holy Pittsburgh!
1990 Flying Off the Bridge to Nowhere
1990 Things That Aren't There Anymore
1992 Downtown Pittsburgh
1992 The Pennsylvania Road Show
1993 Pennsylvania Diners and Other Roadside Restaurants
1994 Houses Around Here
1994 It's the Neighborhoods
1994 Stuff That's Gone
1996 An Ice Cream Show
1996 Shore Things
1996 The Strip Show
1997 North Side Story
1999 A Hot Dog Program
1999 Great Old Amusement Parks
2000 Something About Oakland
2001 A Flea Market Documentary
2001 Pittsburgh A to Z
2002 Happy Holidays in Pittsburgh
2002 Sandwiches That You Will Like
2004 A Program About Unusual Buildings & Other Roadside Stuff
2004 Fred Rogers: America's Favorite Neighbor
2005 A Cemetery Special
2006 What Makes Pittsburgh Pittsburgh?
2007 To Market To Market To Buy A Fat Pig
2007 Underground Pittsburgh
2008 A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway
2008 Invented, Engineered, and Pioneered in Pittsburgh
2010 Breakfast Special
2012 25 Things I Like About Pittsburgh
2012 Breakfast Special 2: Revenge of the Omelets
2015 A Few Good Pie Places
2015 A Few Great Bakeries
2016 Return to Downtown Pittsburgh
???? South Side
Writer:
1988 Kennywood Memories
1988 The Mon, The Al & The O
1989 Holy Pittsburgh!
1990 Flying Off the Bridge to Nowhere
1990 Things That Aren't There Anymore
1992 Downtown Pittsburgh
1992 The Pennsylvania Road Show
1993 Pennsylvania Diners and Other Roadside Restaurants
1994 Houses Around Here
1994 It's the Neighborhoods
1994 Stuff That's Gone
1996 An Ice Cream Show
1996 Shore Things
1996 The Strip Show
1997 North Side Story
1999 A Hot Dog Program
1999 Great Old Amusement Parks
2000 Something About Oakland
2001 A Flea Market Documentary
2001 Pittsburgh A to Z
2002 Happy Holidays in Pittsburgh
2002 Sandwiches That You Will Like
2004 A Program About Unusual Buildings & Other Roadside Stuff
2004 Fred Rogers: America's Favorite Neighbor
2005 A Cemetery Special
2006 What Makes Pittsburgh Pittsburgh?
2007 To Market To Market To Buy A Fat Pig
2007 Underground Pittsburgh
2008 A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway
2008 Invented, Engineered, and Pioneered in Pittsburgh
2010 Breakfast Special
2012 25 Things I Like About Pittsburgh
2012 Breakfast Special 2: Revenge of the Omelets
2015 A Few Good Pie Places
2015 A Few Great Bakeries
2016 Return to Downtown Pittsburgh
???? South Side
Most data and links to images for the Movies section come from TheMovieDB (TMDB).
Additional data for Film Titles come from The Open Movie Database (OMDb).
At least one plug-in comes from IMDb.
Data are -- hey, it's a plural -- subject to the limitations of their sources. (For example, TMDB search results currently max out at 20.) I am limiting myself to free data sources for now. (No, a "free trial" is not free.)
While much of the above data are retrieved directly from outside APIs and other such sources, data from American Film Institute (AFI) and British Film Institute (BFI) were manually entered the old fashioned way into a MySQL database. Re BFI I took the following liberties:
Regarding profile removals and data corrections:
Filtering is applied here to film projects flagged as "adult" by TheMovieDB. Pending "popular demand" I am contemplating a login and profile system with preferences (such as whether to allow adult images to appear) and permissions (such as data entry).
Whereas the overall purpose of this website is to serve as a personal demo/portfolio/workshop of web and data skills, this Movies section is not meant to compete with or substitute for far more definitive movie websites.
Whether or not he still clings to an award which he won in 1986 as a film critic for his college's newspaper, Jeffrey Hartmann is not responsible for the texts of overviews and biographies supplied by external data sources.