Rob Owen stories, Page 30
TV Q&A: What happened to 2 ‘NewsHour’ regulars?
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: For as long as I’ve been watching “PBS NewsHour” they have had a regular weekly feature, “Political Stakes” with Tamara Keith of NPR and Amy...
TV Talk: Why do Super Bowl ads feel less super these days?Video
Fox sold out its “Super Bowl LVII” commercial inventory with some spots going for $7 million for 30-seconds of ad time, but with many companies releasing their spots in advance of the big game, have the ads become less of an event if you can watch them days before Sunday’s...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking Pittsburgh as a football town, Bruce Campbell’s upcoming visit, ‘Cunk on Earth’Video
In this episode of the “Pittsburgh Pop” podcast, host Tim Benz and TV Talk columnist Rob Owen discuss Pittsburgh pop culture news of the moment, including how Pittsburgh ranks as a football town in a Wallet Hub survey, Super Bowl preparations, Twitter reactions and a possible Tony Romo intervention. Benz...
TV Talk: Mt. Lebanon native Joe Manganiello surprised in PBS’s ‘Finding Your Roots’
Actor Joe Manganiello, a 1995 graduate of Mt. Lebanon High School and a 2000 graduate of Carnegie Mellon University’s acting program who was most recently seen in the now-canceled AMC+ series “Moonhaven,” gets some surprises when his family history is revealed by Henry Louis Gates Jr. on PBS’s “Finding Your...
TV Talk: Former Pittsburgher profiled in ‘Murf the Surf;’ ‘Titanic’ turns 25Video
While the story of “Murf the Surf” runs through Pittsburgh, the four-part docu-series devotes little attention to Murf’s time in Western Pennsylvania. That might make sense if there was a lot of other story to tell, but it turns out to be a generally overlong, unsatisfying program. “Murf the Surf:...
TV Q&A: Is a morning anchor team coordinating their wardrobes?
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: It is my imagination or are the KDKA-TV morning anchors color-coordinating their outfits? I’m referring to the whole team: Lindsay, David, John and Ron. The...
TV Talk: WQED-TV remakes daytime schedule; Pittsburgher competes on MTV’s ‘Are You the One?’Video
Pittsburgh’s PBS station WQED-TV will overhaul its daytime schedule Feb. 6, removing children’s programming from 2-6 p.m. weekdays and replacing it with reruns of programs normally seen in PBS’s prime time. The station is calling it “Prime Time on Your Time” with each day of the week dedicated to a...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking Pittsburgh native on ‘The Bachelor,’ Super Bowl prequel ads, Sunday’s ‘Last of Us’
In this episode of the “Pittsburgh Pop” podcast, host Tim Benz and TV Talk columnist Rob Owen discuss Pittsburgh pop culture news of the moment, including a Pittsburgh native seen briefly on ABC’s “The Bachelor” and Steelers defensive tackle Cam Heyward in a Super Bowl teaser. The pair also discuss...
TV Talk: ‘Gilmore Girls’ veteran proves the MVP of ‘The Watchful Eye’Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Teen-targeted TV has largely moved to online streaming — see: Amazon Prime Video’s “The Summer I Turned Pretty” — because that’s where teens are consuming entertainment. Surely the fact that Freeform’s “The Watchful Eye” will...
TV Talk: ‘Poker Face’ gives ‘Columbo’ vibe; WPXI-TV reporter exitsVideo
PASADENA, Calif. — Miss “Columbo?” Then you might appreciate Peacock’s “Poker Face,” a modern take on the episodic detective show that’s less whodunnit (that’s shown in the opening scene of each episode) and more “howcatchem,” as premiere episode writer/director Rian Johnson (“Knives Out”) calls the show’s formula of starting with...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh native talks about her exit from ‘The Bachelor;’ ‘The Ark,’ ‘Wolf Pack’ premiereVideo
Pittsburgh native Cara Ammon made her debut and her exit on Monday’s season premiere of ABC’s “The Bachelor.” Ammon got little screen time and then she didn’t secure a rose that would have kept her on the reality competition. She wasn’t the woman who made bachelor Zach Shallcross guzzle maple...
TV Q&A: Why was there an exclamation mark on the door of ‘The Golden Girls’ home?
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 reruns of “The Golden Girls” and noticed on the inside of the front door there is an exclamation point. Does this mean...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking ‘Pradeeps,’ filmed-in-Pittsburgh ‘American Rust’
In this episode of the “Pittsburgh Pop” podcast, host Tim Benz and TV Talk columnist Rob Owen discuss Pittsburgh pop culture news of the moment, including Pittsburgh-set but Toronto-filmed “Pradeeps of Pittsburgh” and locally-filmed “American Rust” and “Justified: City Primeval.” Owen also talks about the end of the winter 2023...
TV Talk: ‘How I Met Your Father’ returns with more romantic complicationsVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Sometimes it’s easy to get a recurring guest star back. For “How I Met Your Father” (Hulu’s sequel series to the 2005-14 “How I Met Your Mother”), recurring guest star Josh Peck...
TV Talk: Fox tries to woo true crime fans with ‘Accused,’ including Billy Porter-directed episodeVideo
Ever since Fox announced the anthology series “Accused,” a one-hour drama that each week introduces a new story and new characters caught up in a criminal legal case, I’ve pondered why Fox wanted this series. While season-long anthology series have thrived in recent years – think: “American Horror Story,” “American...
TV Talk: Amazon Freevee orders ‘Pradeeps of Pittsburgh’ comedy series
“The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh” is coming to Amazon Freevee – but not to Pittsburgh. The eight-episode, half-hour comedy series will film in Toronto. The show, created by Vijal Patel (“Schooled,” “black-ish”) and inspired by his personal experience growing up in Pittsburgh, has been in development since at least May 2021....
TV Talk at TCA: ‘Kindred Spirits’ visits Western Pa.
You can tell the popularity of ghost-hunting TV series remains high because Travel Channel visited the same Western Pennsylvania property twice in two years. “Destination Fear” visited the Greene County Almshouse (AKA the Greene County Historical Society) for an August 2021 episode and now “Kindred Spirits” kicks off a new...
TV Talk at TCA: ‘American Rust’ actor talks season 2; PBS CEO on WQED’s search for new leaderVideo
PASADENA, Calif. – Before co-starring in filmed-in-Pittsburgh “American Rust,” actor Rob Yang was a series regular on the first two seasons of HBO’s “Succession” and since “Rust,” he’s filmed a pivotal role in Paramount+’s upcoming Kiefer Sutherland thriller “Rabbit Hole” (March 26). Yang was at the Television Critics Association winter...
TV Q&A: Will ‘Hometown High Q’ ever return to the studio?
Question: Will KDKA-TV’s “Hometown High Q” ever return to the studio? — Dave, via email Rob: My understanding is if “Hometown High Q,” currently hosted by Ray Petelin, returns to the studio, it won’t be until the 2023-24 TV season at the earliest — and maybe not even then. Some...
TV Talk at TCA: How ‘Justified: City Primeval’ ended up back in Western Pa.Video
PASADENA, Calif. – FX’s “Justified” (2010-15) filmed its pilot episode in Western Pennsylvania back in 2009 before production on the subsequent episodes shifted to Southern California. For the sequel series, “Justified: City Primeval,” premiering on FX this summer, the show is set in Detroit and primarily filmed in Chicago with...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking filmed-in-Pittsburgh ‘Mayor of Kingstown,’ Steelers local ratings, ‘The Last of Us’
In this episode of the “Pittsburgh Pop” podcast, host Tim Benz and TV Talk columnist Rob Owen discuss Pittsburgh pop culture news of the moment, including filmed-in-Pittsburgh “Mayor of Kingstown” and star Jeremy Renner’s recovery and NFL local market ratings, including the Steelers in Pittsburgh. Owen discusses what it was...
TV Talk: Behind the scenes at Critics Choice Awards
CENTURY CITY, Calif. — Sure, on TV the stars look glamorous in their bespoke wardrobes, but what’s it like to attend a televised awards show? As a journalist who covers TV/streaming, I’ve not yet made it into the room where it happens, but I have made it into the next...
TV Talk at TCA: More TV series than ever, more challenges than ever destabilize entertainment industryVideo
PASADENA, Calif. – The entertainment business is in turmoil, particularly in TV and streaming. On the TV side, ratings for linear – broadcast and cable – continue an inexorable decline. For streaming, viewing is on the rise but profits remain scarce due to exorbitant programming costs. Those challenges impact companies...
TV Talk: Filmed-in-Pittsburgh ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ debuts 2nd seasonVideo
PASADENA, Calif. – Paramount+ series “Mayor of Kingstown” filmed its second season in Pittsburgh, and viewers can see the results when season two begins streaming episodes weekly Sunday. My first impression: Kingstown, Mich., has a lot more bridges in season two than it had in season one, which filmed in...
TV Talk at TCA: Conceived-in-Pittsburgh video game ‘The Last of Us’ becomes excellent HBO seriesVideo
PASADENA, Calif. – After finally moving on from the original “Walking Dead,” which ended its run late in 2022 (though there will apparently be spin-offs ad infinitum), the last thing I was looking forward to was HBO’s “The Last of Us” (9 p.m. Sunday, HBO, HBO Max), a dramatic series...
