TV Talk: ‘The Pitt’ stars preview their characters in season 2Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. As season two of “The Pitt” begins – new episodes stream at 9 p.m. Thursday on HBO Max Jan. 8 through April 16. It’s been 10 months since the events of season one. It’s July...
TV Talk: Why an NFL playoff game on Monday?Video
A Monday night Steelers playoff game might seem like a novel concept, but it’s not new to the NFL. In 2021, ESPN signed a five-year agreement to broadcast Monday night games following the first weekend of the NFL playoffs. That’s how the Steelers wound up being scheduled to play the...
TV Talk: Renewed for season 3, ‘The Pitt’ returns for excellent 2nd season; Shaler native on ‘Traitors’
Watching season two of “The Pitt,” which HBO Max renewed for a third season late Wednesday, it’s so clear that this is a series made by TV veterans who understand that to keep a show going it needs to be both the same and different. “ER” veterans John Wells and...
TV Q&A: Why such a crowded desk during morning newscasts?
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Saturday Tribune-Review. Q: Can you explain why WTAE has three anchors during weekday broadcasts and can get away with one (like all other local channels) on weekends? Seems...
TV Talk: ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ to end with 5th season; new noon anchor
Paramount+’s “Mayor of Kingstown” will return to film its eight-episode fifth season in Pittsburgh this year, but it will also be the show’s final season. Paramount+ announced the renewal/ending on Monday, with plans for stars Jeremy Renner and Edie Falco to return. (Falco’s warden character survived the show’s fourth season,...
‘The Pitt’ team preps season 2, local references aboundVideo
“The Pitt” only films scenes in Pittsburgh a few days each season, but in season two, the Emmy-winning HBO Max ER drama continues to represent the region in large and small ways, from name-checking neighborhoods to Nurse Dana’s yinzer accent. “It’s very focused, what we use Pittsburgh for, because we...
TV Talk: Wiz Khalifa traces his ancestry on ‘Finding Your Roots’Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. For the 12th season of PBS’s “Finding Your Roots” (8 p.m. Tuesday, WQED-TV), Pittsburgh-raised music star Wiz Khalifa is among the celebrities who learn about their ancestry. The series returns this week with an examination...
TV Talk: Annie Potts stars in Fox’s remake of British series ‘Doc Martin’Video
When pitching her plan to remake British import and American public TV staple “Doc Martin,” showrunner Liz Tuccillo (“Alaska Daily”) opted for a straightforward approach. “Basically, I didn’t reinvent the wheel,” Tuccillo said in a Zoom interview last month for Fox’s “Best Medicine” (8 p.m. Jan. 4, then re-airs in...
TV Q&A: Why was a WPXI forecaster pulling double duty?
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Saturday Tribune-Review. Q: I was getting set to watch the Dec. 21 morning news on WPXI at 5:30 a.m., but they had another prerecorded show on. Their news...
TV Talk: ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ wraps its 4th season
Paramount+’s “Mayor of Kingstown” wrapped its fourth season Sunday and for the first time, there are few storylines hanging in a major way. (Spoilers follow.) But we still have questions: • It seemed like Edie Falco’s prison warden character was primed for a one-and-done season-long arc, but she managed to...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh market rank drops (again); November sweeps ratings
Talk about a lump of coal in the local TV Christmas stocking: Pittsburgh’s market rank will drop another position as Nielsen downgrades the region from No. 27 to No. 28 nationally for 2026. Salt Lake City leapfrogged Pittsburgh, jumping one spot from No. 28 to No. 27. The practical impact...
TV Q&A: Is there a way to improve over the air reception of local stations?
Q: I recently cut cable and WTAE is not available over-the-air where I live. I have been told that it was never reliably available in the South Hills! Is that true and is there a way to get WTAE broadcasts south of the city? — Jason, Scott Township Rob: Pittsburgh’s...
TV Talk: ‘Yellowstone’ spin-off, ‘Scrubs’ revival on tap for midseason
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers viewing tips for broadcast network shows at midseason. The broadcast networks didn’t debut many new scripted series in the fall, saving these expensive-to-produce programs for a slightly more robust midseason rollout. Here’s what to expect for the second half of the 2025-26...
TV Talk: Bari Weiss’ decision to pull ’60 Minutes’ report draws criticism from some at CBS News
Three hours before Sunday’s “60 Minutes” broadcast, CBS took the rare, last-minute step of removing a segment on Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration to what was described as a “brutal” El Salvadoran prison, leading to criticism from “60 Minutes” journalists. “Our story was screened five times and cleared...
TV Talk: ‘Bridgerton’ returns, new ‘Game of Thrones’ series debuts in JanuaryVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers viewing tips for the coming months. There will be no shortage of scripted streaming and cable series in 2026 as platforms and networks debut everything from a new “Star Trek” show to the long-awaited adaptation of author Patricia Cornwell’s Dr. Kay Scarpetta...
TV Talk: ‘Pluribus,’ ‘The Pitt,’ ‘Andor’ among 2025 TV’s best scripted shows
As broadcast channels move into reruns for the holidays, it’s an ideal time to catch up on the best scripted series of the year: 1. “Pluribus” (Apple TV): Writer Vince Gilligan (“Breaking Bad”) re-teams with “Better Call Saul” star Rhea Seehorn for this unique, often darkly comic story of an...
TV Q&A: Where did KDKA’s Erica Mokay go?
Q: What’s up with Erica Mokay on KDKA-TV, who’s been missing from KDKA+ morning news with John Shumway? She has been off, then came back for a few days, and now she’s off again. Has she been sick? — Nancy, via Facebook Rob: It’s December, a time when TV news...
NBC’s Tom Llamas talks broadcasting from Pittsburgh
Tonight at 6:30 on WPXI, Tom Llamas will anchor “NBC Nightly News” from a familiar – but undisclosed for security reasons – Pittsburgh location as part of NBC News’ “Reporting for America” campaign, an effort to report from communities nationwide, not just from the media centers on the coasts. Llamas...
TV Talk: New ‘The Pitt’ trailer released; Hamlin on HallmarkVideo
Although a teaser for season two of “The Pitt” released in August, a new trailer offers more hints about what’s to come in season two — perhaps even some spoilers; watch at your own peril. This preview of the Pittsburgh-set ER drama, which debuts its second season at 9 p.m....
WPXI taken off Verizon’s FiOS TV in retransmission spat
Following weeks of negotiations and threats of a looming impasse, Verizon failed to reach agreement on a new retransmission deal with WPXI parent company Cox Media Group and Pittsburgh’s Channel 11 is no longer available to subscribers to Verizon’s FiOS TV. “The telecom giant is blocking viewers’ access to breaking...
TV Talk: ‘The Pitt’ season 2 opening scene debuts, featuring music by The ClarksVideo
“The Pitt” won’t debut its second season on HBO Max until 9 p.m. Jan. 8, but this week HBO Max put the new season’s opening scene online, featuring star Noah Wyle as Dr. Robby riding his motorcycle over Pittsburgh bridges and roadways en route to work at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical...
TV Talk: Michelle Wright to retire from WTAE
Michelle Wright, the longest-tenured morning news anchor in the Pittsburgh TV market, will retire from WTAE following the Feb. 27 broadcast. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while,” said Wright, who is leaving by her choice well before the expiration of her current contract. “I approached [Channel 4 news...
TV Talk: PBS profiles Dick Van Dyke, debuts charming musical-comedy ‘Happiness’Video
On the cusp of turning 100 Saturday, TV legend Dick Van Dyke gets the “American Masters” treatment in the new PBS film “Starring Dick Van Dyke” (9 p.m. Friday, WQED-TV). The two-hour documentary offers an entertaining career retrospective that’s full of surprises, including: • CBS initially canceled “The Dick Van...
TV Talk: ‘The Pitt’ returns Jan. 8 as characters grapple with events of season oneVideo
This week, Entertainment Weekly named the cast of “The Pitt” the “entertainers of 2025” in advance of the show’s Jan. 8 return for its second season on HBO Max. In its exclusive interview with the show’s stars from the set while filming the show’s second season — other interviews with...
TV Q&A: Why more than one forecaster in a newscast?
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 noticed Jill Szwed has been on the morning news Monday-Wednesday. Is it really necessary to have two meteorologists? — Catherine, via email Rob: It...
