WQED Experience: What Makes Rick (Sebak) Tick?

Rick Sebak is a Pittsburgh treasure whose award-winning documentaries have entertained and educated local and national viewers for 25 years. As he celebrates this anniversary at WQED, we look back at Rick's memorable programs and hear about the stories behind them. Rick talks about his inspiration as a filmmaker, while colleagues and fans share their thoughts on Rick's appealing and timeless body of work.

[@MMID303]

I love his documentaries. And his voice is instantly recognized.

[@KendaHammer]

What a privilege to meet and talk with Rick Sebak at Pitt, after closely reviewing his 1999 documentary, "Things That Are Still Here" that connected amazingly to my own Pittsburgh experiences, and then to serve one of my "best homemade apple pies ever" according to ALL in class!

[@donnabest124]

What a beautiful Chapel and how wonderful that Mr. Astorino is from Pittsburgh and Catholic.

[@conniecrawford5231]

Rick I moved to Bethel Park when it still was known as Bethel before zip codes came about-lots of our mail used to go to a town in eastern PA also called Bethel. I Graduated from BPHS in '62 and also was French Club President under Miss Bertoline but I was an excellent pres. I taught at BPHS UNTIL 1968 when I got married ---raised my kids in Richland and owned my business there until I moved to NC in the late 90's. Love the Burgh and its people but the gray skies and snow finally got to me (taxes and politics too). I love the sunshine and weather here but I remember your family name from living in BP but left BPHS a few years before you graduated and became a North Hills wife.We lived very close to South Park and loved the bison( Big Thunder and Little Thunder) and taking the bus from St. Valentines daily to the Allegheny County Fair to see the Lone Ranger,Tonto, Lassie ,rRin Tin Tin and even Nick Adams " the Rebel tv series) at the main show in different years-they never werecheap about bringing in the big names! My next door neighbor was Bill Geary, the head of the County mounted police who performed at the fair and he took a few of us into the horse barns at the fairgrounds to pet Silver and Scout which were housed there during the fair the year ClaytonMoore and Jay Silverheels were the headline act at the fair. I was really young-isometime in the early 50's- but I'll never forget it! I've been a horse lover for nearly seventy years and they were very famous horses!

[@sickkat5910]

Not from Pa., but thank you Rick and thank you to all the Pa. folks who take pride in your history and keeping it vibrant and alive!

[@sardu55]

He's a guy who should have been from and covering the City of Chicago. Instead,, the people of Pittsburgh had to settle for him. What a guy. Watching his various shows make us all want to go out and experience what he has. Today, Americans begin to demand their own nostalgia a lot sooner than those in the past, and absolutely must cut out their own retro path back thru that past before someone else comes along and claims it. Something went down 15 years ago? That's ours, get away!. And, as is our luck in Chicago, we have to watch as Pittsburgh and Rick establishes that beachhead and shows the rest of America what our lives may have been like had we grown up there.

[@danielfoster3642]

Rick Sebak is a famous Pittsburgher! He's right up there with Fred Rogers and Andy Warhol.

[@dahvyee]

Who is the voice of the guy who always say the "Thanks to" in the start of all these shows? His voice is just as synonymous with the nostalgia as Rick's :D

[@Mandilion76]

I live in Wisconsin and I love his shows!

[@rogerbuckhannon7734]

I love this .I remember being in Mikes excuse me I cant spell his last names warehouse when I was a kid with my stepdad who did business with him. so cool.

[@dandy97]

Rick has inspired me to become a documentarian.

[@khunopie9159]

Rick is the Boss of all Bosses.
Nuff said

[@rogerbuckhannon7734]

so many toys and everything you could amagine.

[@ILuria-jp5nj]

I knew and liked Rick Sebak once upon a time. Although he is a guy who is devoted to food and his late mother, he never was able to be a friend.
He immerses himself in peculiar projects where he can forget himself and what an abysmal human being he GREW & grew into...

[@JohnSmith-ij6ms]

got an axe to grind?