TV Q&A: Was Steve Harvey ever a real judge?

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Sunday Tribune-Review.

Q: I’ve been watching ABC’s “Judge Steve Harvey.” It’s very entertaining. Is he a real judge?

– Theresa, Allegheny Township

Rob: Unlike the judges on daytime TV court shows who generally have some background in the legal field, Harvey is simply an entertainer who now is playing a judge on prime-time TV.

“I came up with this idea about 12 years ago, and I just never told anybody,” Harvey said in a January Zoom press conference during ABC’s portion of the Television Critics Association virtual winter 2022 press tour.

At the start of the pandemic, Harvey had a Zoom meeting with ABC executives who wanted to pitch him on a sitcom. He wasn’t interested. When a network exec asked what Harvey wanted to do, Harvey pitched himself as a judge.

“And the Zoom got kind of quiet because they went, like, ‘A judge?’ ” Harvey recalled. “After everybody’s looking at me, trying to figure out where that came from, and when I told them I wanted it to be funny, I wanted to be insightful, I wanted it to be not about the verdict but about the story. And the next day, they greenlit it.”

Q: I have watched “The Amazing Race” for years. I have always wondered how eliminated contestants return to their hometowns? Figured you can find out the answer.

– Rick, via email

Rob: Contestants are normally all at the finish line to congratulate the winners and final teams. Then they all are flown home. While waiting for the race to end, they spend their time at an elimination station until it’s time to head to the finish line.

Q: I recently watched two seasons of a show called “Rebellion.” It finished with unanswered questions. Can you find out if they plan to have a season three?

– Judy, via email

Rob: I’d never heard of this Irish show that initially aired in the U.S. on SundanceTV and later streamed on Netflix. It looks like this was initially a miniseries (season one) and then the Irish broadcaster ordered a sequel (season two) and that was it. No third season exists or appears to be planned.

Q: I have HBO and HBO Max on my Comcast cable. HBO Max is free if you have HBO. I thought all of the movies and series there were free with a subscription, but I went to watch “King Richard” with Will Smith and it said I had to buy it or rent it for $15. I also thought that Warner Brothers made a covid-19 deal that their movies would play on HBO Max for free. Do they only put them up for free for a limited time?

– Peter, via Facebook

Rob: The Warner Bros. movies in theaters and on HBO Max the same day deal was for movies only released in 2021. And the movies were only free to HBO Max subscribers for 30 days. “King Richard” was released Nov. 19, 2021. Peter’s question arrived earlier this year. Since then, thanks to the vagaries of movie rights windowing, some of those 2021 Warner Bros. movies, including “King Richard,” have returned to HBO Max.

Q: Is there any chance that the Pens and Pirates games will be shown again on local TV? They were removed from DISH last year. I enjoy watching them and cannot go to every game in person.

– Don, Hempfield

Rob: Pens games are still airing on AT&T SportsNet, a local cable sports channel carried by Comcast, Verizon, DirecTV and streamer fuboTV. Only DISH dropped the channel.

You will need to cancel DISH and subscribe to one of the other services that carries AT&T SportsNet. If you are under contract with DISH, there could be a significant penalty for canceling early.