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: Recently you wrote about several CBS shows that have been renewed, but there was no mention of “SEAL Team.” Do you know the renewal status of that show?

— Rick via email

Rob: “SEAL Team” is one of a number of broadcast network series that are “on the bubble” this year, meaning maybe they will get renewed, maybe they will get canceled. Star David Boreanaz has been vocal about encouraging CBS to renew the show.

Other shows on the bubbleinclude CBS’s “All Rise,” “B Positive,” “Clarice,” “Evil” (which has yet to air its second season) and “The Unicorn;” ABC’s “American Housewife,” “Call Your Mother,” “For Life,” “The Goldbergs,” “A Million Little Things,” “Mixed-ish,” “Rebel” and “The Rookie;” Fox’s “Call Me Kat,” “The Moodys,” “Prodigal Son” and “The Resident” and NBC’s “Debris,” “Good Girls,” “Law & Order: Organized Crime,” “Manifest” and “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.”

Whether or not ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” will return depends on whether ABC can make a deal with star Ellen Pompeo to come back.

The CW’s “Kung Fu” just got renewed earlier this week. CBS’s “United States of Al” is also likely to get a second season.

Broadcast networks will make decisions about their shows’ futures in advance of upfront week, the week of May 16, when broadcasters unveil their fall schedules to advertisers.

Q: I read that Jane Lynch will be in a new ABC show called “Bucktown.” Will she also be continuing as the host of “The Weakest Link”?

— Sherry, Murrysville

Rob: NBC renewed this iteration of “The Weakest Link” for season two and Lynch will return as host. Game shows film many episodes over a short period of time, allowing hosts the freedom to partake in other projects.

“Bucktown” is an ABC comedy pilot from the co-executive producer of “The Conners.” Whether it gets picked up or not will likely be determined by the upfronts later this month.

Q: I don’t see Frank Fritz on “American Pickers” anymore. What became of him?

— Don via email

Rob: He’s been battling Crohn’s Disease since 2013 and more recently he had back surgery.

He hasn’t updated his Facebook page since 2018 but my understanding is he’s not off the show, just paused due to covid-19 concerns related to his underlying conditions. There’s no current time table for this return to the show.

Q: Is “Long Lost Family” on TLC coming back with new episodes or is it over? I found the true life stories of folks finding their birth families riveting!

— Larry, Greensburg

Rob: There are no plans for new episodes.

Q: Why do all the TV networks constantly show close-up videos of people being stabbed to the hilt of the arm with what looks like 3-inch needles? This certainly does not encourage the queasy among us to rush out and get vaccinated.

— Gerald, Verona

Rob: TV is a visual medium. Shots for vaccinations have been in the news. Therefore TV news shows people getting vaccinated. It seems pretty clinical to me, certainly not an attempt to scare or discourage viewers from getting vaccinated.

Q: We watch WTAE-TV news. The news banner disappears when the weather comes on. Why is this? I thought if it was branded weather like Accuweather it would be contractual requirement. But it’s not Accuweather.

— Joe, North Huntingdon

Rob: I’m told by WTAE general manager Charles Wolfertz III “this is a station choice based on presentation.”

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