Rob Owen stories, Page 48
After 38 years, Stacy Smith anchors his last KDKA-TV newscastVideo
In the end, the most stoic of Pittsburgh news anchors remained as steady as ever. Stacy Smith’s voice cracked just the tiniest, almost imperceptible bit as he bid farewell to a 50-year broadcasting career, 38 years of it at Pittsburgh’s KDKA-TV. Smith anchored his final KDKA-TV newscast at 6 p.m....
TV Q&A: Why do newscasts use so much file footage? They didn’t do that in Walter Cronkite’s day
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: Why is it that the local TV news stations feel the need to always fill with file photos/video when on a given subject? I’ll pick...
TV Talk: WPXI meteorologist Danielle Dozier leaving Pittsburgh
Danielle Dozier, weekend evening meteorologist at WPXI since April 2018, will exit the station this week. Dozier’s last broadcast will be at 12 p.m. Wednesday. Dozier says it was her choice to leave Channel 11 but she wasn’t yet ready to say at what TV station or in which TV...
TV Talk: Stacy Smith prepares to sign off from KDKA-TV on his terms
For KDKA-TV news anchor Stacy Smith, the decision to retire was less about his age, 72, than about hitting a milestone. Now in his 50th year as a full-time broadcaster, Smith reached his five-decade goal. “I really feel like I could go on another five or 10 years,” Smith said...
TV Talk: Broadcast networks plan game show-heavy summer schedulesVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers viewing tips for the coming summer season. With the exception of The CW — and to a lesser extent, Fox — it’s looking like a steady diet of unscripted programming on the broadcast channels this summer. CBS Although CBS still has season...
TV Talk: Broadcast networks announce fall schedulesVideo
Stability is the strategy most broadcast networks are using for fall, adding just a few new shows and keeping their prime-time lineups largely intact. ABC Aside from “Big Sky” moving to 10 p.m. Thursday and “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” joining “Supermarket Sweep” on Sunday, ABC’s prime-time schedule will look largely...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh native, ‘Pose’ star Billy Porter reveals he’s HIV-positiveVideo
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Pittsburgh native Billy Porter revealed he was diagnosed as HIV-positive in 2007. It’s one reason why his HIV-positive character, Pray Tell, on FX’s “Pose” meant so much to him. “I was able to say everything that I wanted to say through a surrogate,”...
TV Q&A: What is going on at KDKA-TV?
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: What is going on with KDKA-TV? All these young women newscasters — and a few young men, too. There are so many. The good ones...
TV Talk: ‘American Rust’ showrunner talks filming in and around Pittsburgh
Dan Futterman, writer, executive producer and showrunner on Showtime’s “American Rust,” currently filming around the region, first came to appreciate Western Pennsylvania when he shot a small role in the locally-filmed 1992 movie comedy “Passed Away.” “It’s not a great movie but I had a lot of time on my...
TV Talk: Wilkinsburg native says goodbye to ‘Last Man Standing’Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Actors know they’ve signed up for an itinerant career, moving from one role to the next, but even by Hollywood standards the 2011-21 run of sitcom “Last Man Standing” has been a roller coaster for...
TV Talk: Summer TV series already debuting on cable, streamersVideo
It’s not yet Memorial Day but cable networks and streamers are already setting up their summer scripted series premieres, in part to get them out the door before the Summer Olympics in late July, a noticeably lighter month for premieres. On Friday Amazon’s Prime Video debuts “The Underground Railroad,” adapted...
TV Talk: Netflix sets premiere date for Pittsburgh-filmed ‘The Chair;’ ‘This is Us’ ending
Filmed-in-Pittsburgh Netflix comedy “The Chair” will premiere on the streaming service Aug. 27. The six-episode, half-hour comedy stars Sandra Oh and filmed locally earlier this year. The series follows the chair (Oh) of a university English department and should not be confused with Starz’s 2014 movie-making reality competition series, also...
TV Q&A: Where has a WTAE-TV forecaster gone?
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 thought Ashley Dougherty returned from maternity leave already but I haven’t seen her on the noon news lately. Is she still with the station?...
TV Talk: John Shumway will anchor weekends on KDKA-TV
KDKA-TV veteran John Shumway will take over the weekend evening anchor desk this summer. The change in KDKA’s weekend anchor lineup comes after longtime weekend anchor Paul Martino was reassigned to weekday general assignment reporting and subsequently opted to retire July 1. KDKA reporters Bryant Reed and Royce Jones frequently...
TV Talk: Stacy Smith to retire from KDKA-TV
Another veteran KDKA-TV news anchor will depart the station with the May 30 retirement of Stacy Smith. Unlike the recent news about Paul Martino’s retirement, this departure was more expected and had been in the works for some time. Smith departs after 38 years at KDKA and 50 years in...
TV Talk: Bethel Park’s Joe Serafini stars in ‘High School Musical’ Disney+ seriesVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. When the Disney+ series “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” debuted in late 2019, Bethel Park native Joe Serafini had a recurring guest role in the show while still studying musical theater at the...
TV Talk: CMU grad, ‘Hamilton’ star sings lead in comedy from ’30 Rock’ writersVideo
Carnegie Mellon University musical theater grad Renee Elise Goldsberry, who played Angelica Schuyler in Broadway’s “Hamilton,” stars in the new Tina Fey-produced comedy series “Girls5eva,” now streaming all episodes on Peacock, included as part of a Comcast Xfinity subscription. The show follows members of a ‘90s girl group who attempt...
TV Q&A: Which shows are ‘on the bubble’ for renewal?
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...
Jason Momoa’s filmed-in-Pittsburgh movie gets streaming debut date
The Jason Momoa-starring “Sweet Girl,” which filmed in Pittsburgh in late 2019, got a release date from Netflix this week: Aug. 20. Momoa stars as Ray Cooper, who vows to bring justice to those responsible for the death of his wife while protecting his daughter (Isabela Merced). The film, directed...
TV Talk: Paul Martino leaving KDKA-TV
Paul Martino, a veteran KDKA-TV reporter/anchor, will retire from the station July 1. Martino has been with the station since 1984 and until recently anchored weekend evening newscasts. He was replaced in that role by younger reporters and reassigned to weekday general assignment reporting. KDKA-TV news director Kathy Hostetter did...
TV Talk: Billy Porter plans to cast ‘authentic Pittsburgh people’ in his directorial debut
Pittsburgh native Billy Porter, a 1987 graduate of Pittsburgh CAPA and Taylor Allderdice High Schools and a 1991 graduate of Carnegie Mellon University’s drama program, has stayed busy during the past year’s pandemic, filming the final season of “Pose” — with its parallels to covid-19 — and readying his feature...
TV Talk: ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’ spin-off ‘Donkey Hodie’ debuts on PBSVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Even after the director says, “Cut!,” sometimes puppeteers stay in character. “I said all my lines right!” said Donkey Hodie, as performed and voiced by former Point Park University student Haley Jenkins. And she said...
TV Talk: Billy Porter’s ‘What If?’ to film in PittsburghVideo
Pittsburgh native and TV’s “Pose” star Billy Porter will bring his feature film directorial debut home, shooting the movie “What If?” in Western Pennsylvania this summer. Porter confirmed the filming during an interview on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Tuesday while promoting the final season of FX’s “Pose,” which kicks off...
TV Q&A: Why don’t laid off TV news anchors get rehired?
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: Just reading your articles about the new reporters at KDKA, and I’ve been wondering for a while now with all the new reporters coming to...
TV Talk: Worst Oscars ever?
It’s tough to remember Oscars ceremonies from one year to the next, but the 2021 Academy Awards telecast may stand the test of time for all the wrong reasons. It was bad. Really bad. Producers Jesse Collins, Stacey Sher and Steven Soderbergh decided to eschew so many of the regular...
