TV Q&A: Where has KDKA-TV anchor Meghan Schiller been?

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: Is Meghan Schiller among those let go from KDKA?

— Jean, via email

Rob: Nope, she’s just out on maternity leave and is expected to return to work in January.

Q: Is Isobel (Alana de la Garza) going to be back on “FBI”?

— Calvin, via Facebook

Rob: It’s unclear if the character will return in the show’s upcoming eighth season, premiering at 9 p.m. Oct. 13 on CBS. Isobel was seemingly killed off in the seventh season finale. A description for the new season suggests a bad fate for the character.

On the side of “she’s likely done,” CBS has been routinely cutting back casts to save money lately (see: “Tracker”).

On the side of “she’ll survive,” the actress played coy and said viewers will have to tune in to find out. Often, when an actor is cut, they don’t play coy.

Q: Will there be a season three of “Rogue Heroes” and “Billy the Kid” on MGM+ coming anytime soon, if at all?

— Bill, via email

Rob: “Billy the Kid” was renewed a while back and it was included in our fall cable/streaming preview earlier this month as returning at 9 p.m. Sept. 28.

MGM+ only announced a third season renewal of WWII drama “Rogue Heroes” earlier this month, with production now underway in the UK and France. My best guess is it won’t premiere until sometime in 2026.

Q: I’d like to know what happened to all the late-night TV talk show hosts. They’re not even live anymore. Every time you turn around, they’re on vacation. Those guys get paid all that money and they don’t even do anything anymore.

— Gary, Leechburg

Rob: It’s no secret that late-night TV is in the doldrums (see: CBS canceled “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”). And while late-night shows have not been live for quite some time — most tape in the evening a few hours before air — the lack of original episodes in August, when Gary’s question arrived, is not new. Summer has always been the hosts’ vacation time.

If these shows produce fewer shows annually now compared to a decade ago, that’s probably less about hosts demanding more vacation time and more about networks trying to contain production costs. What they pay a host is a sunk cost regardless of how many new episodes get made. For every new episode, a network has to pay the entire staff. Fewer episodes means less money going out the door.

Q: Showtime’s “City on a Hill” ended abruptly. Why? There were a lot of unfinished storylines.

— Darrin, McDonald

Rob: “City on a Hill” was canceled in 2022 after three seasons for the same reason most TV shows get canceled: financial. Not enough viewers tuned in to make the series financially worthwhile. Producers don’t always know ahead of time that a show won’t return, so they often are unable to conclude stories in a neat and tidy fashion.