TV Talk with Rob Owen category
TV Talk: How the TV sausage gets made; ‘Bait’ is British ‘Comeback’Video
This past weekend, the final three episodes of Paramount+’s “The Madison” premiered. A second season already got filmed, according to director Christina Alexandra Voros, who also pulled back the curtain on the show’s production process. Set in Montana and Manhattan, Voros said “The Madison” filmed in Montana and at series...
TV Q&A: Has WTAE picked a new traffic reporter?
Q: I see WTAE weekend anchor Lily Coleman has been filling in as weekday morning traffic reporter. Has she been promoted to the role Elena LaQuatra previously occupied before her promotion to morning news anchor? — Kevin, Cranberry Rob: My understanding is Coleman — as well as Sam Hall —...
TV Talk: Current events echo in alt-history past of ‘For All Mankind’Video
Although Netflix, Amazon’s Prime Video and Hulu had a decade head start, launching their streaming operations circa 2006-07, the streaming wars began in earnest in 2019 when Disney+ and Apple TV came online (HBO Max and Peacock followed in 2020). But there aren’t many series that debuted in 2019 that...
TV Talk: Paul Van Osdol retires from WTAE after 26 years
WTAE investigative reporter Paul Van Osdol will retire from Channel 4 after 26 years with the station. His last day at WTAE will be Wednesday. Van Osdol joined Channel 4 in 1999 and his coverage included an investigation into fire response times, which earned a George Foster Peabody Award in...
TV Talk: HBO’s ‘The Comeback’ comes back 1 last time
A funny thing happened across three seasons over 21 years as HBO’s “The Comeback” comes back one last time: Sitcom star Valerie Cherish (Lisa Kudrow) grows into a more confident, better version of herself. A character who seemed desperate and prone to humiliation in seasons one and two, Valerie, by...
TV Q&A: Are these Channel 11 reporters related?
Q: I enjoy watching Channel 11 News. Just curious, is Rachel Pierce, the reporter, related to Rich Pierce, the news anchor? Or is either of them related to the Pittsburgh lawyer with the same last name whose ads are on TV? — Kay, via email Rob: When Rachel Pierce arrived...
TV Talk: PBS’s ‘Masterpiece’ reimagines ‘Forsytes’ sagaVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. “The Forsyte Saga,” based on the John Galsworthy novels and stories, has been a PBS mainstay since the first filmed-for-TV iteration debuted in 1967. PBS remade the series once already with two seasons in 2002-03...
TV Talk: Where to watch March Madness
As professional sports leagues make more deals with streaming services, it can sometimes be clear as mud where to watch a sports telecast. This year’s men’s March Madness games are spread over four networks: CBS and Turner Networks TNT, TBS and truTV. Games start with the First Four on Tuesday...
TV Talk: Winning host Conan O’Brien keeps Oscars moving
In his second consecutive year as Oscars host, Conan O’Brien proved his first time was no fluke. If O’Brien is to become the new Billy Crystal of the Academy Awards, that’s A-OK. Although a post-telecast bit naming him “Oscars Host for Life” ends with O’Brien being gassed (like the ending...
TV Talk: ‘Kingstown’ begins filming final season, adds to cast
Production is underway on the fifth and final season of Paramount+’s “Mayor of Kingstown” with actor David Morse (“The Last Thing He Told Me”) returning to Pittsburgh for the new series regular role of Russell Hardy, a seasoned FBI agent. Morse, who is from Philadelphia, previously starred in “Outsiders,” which...
TV Talk: Michelle Pfeiffer at home on the range in ‘The Madison’Video
The latest Paramount+ series written and created by Taylor Sheridan arrives this weekend with Saturday’s debut of “The Madison,” another show set in Montana — but it’s not a “Yellowstone” spinoff. “The Madison” moves at the snail’s pace of Sheridan’s “1923” — and the music score sometimes sounds nearly identical...
TV Talk: Joe Manganiello talks villainous ‘One Piece’ role, moving homeVideo
Mr. 0 (Zero) emerges from the shadows in the second season finale of Netflix’s live-action “One Piece” series and his face belongs to Mt. Lebanon native Joe Manganiello. But because of the makeup used to make Manganiello resemble the manga and comic book character that inspired his role — specifically...
TV Talk: ICE agents enter ‘The Pitt’Video
In Season 1, “The Pitt” showed its prescience when the writers included a measles outbreak storyline that aired around the same time an actual measles outbreak was ongoing in West Texas in January 2025. “I think when you do this for as long as we have, part of our job...
TV Q&A: What’s 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 Saturday Tribune-Review. Q: It seems that KDKA-TV has made the decision that Ken Rice will be the only anchor of the 6 p.m. news, and the 7:30 p.m....
TV Talk: Pittsburgh teen advances on ‘The Voice’Video
Singer Ashley Marina, who grew up in Kennedy Township and previously competed of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” at age 12, advanced from the blind auditions to the battle round on NBC’s “The Voice” Monday night. Now 18 and a freshman studying commercial voice at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., Marina...
TV Talk: Steve Carell in ‘Rooster’ gives HBO comedy to crow aboutVideo
This is the second week in a row we’ve seen the premiere of a show that feels like a duplicate. Last week, MGM+ debuted “American Classic,” the story of a full-of-himself actor (Kevin Kline) who, after a meltdown, returns home to the theater he grew up in, the same premise...
TV Talk: WPXI names Harner sports director, will air Pirates game
Following last year’s news that Alby Oxenreiter was leaving his role as Channel 11 sports director after a 2023 surgery to replace two heart valves, WPXI announced his replacement. As expected, the station promoted from within, naming sports anchor/reporter Jenna Harner as sports director. Channel 11 also hired Shelby Cassesse...
TV Talk: With ‘The Pitt,’ AGH is in a Hollywood success loopVideo
The success of “The Pitt” already influenced HBO Max’s programming strategy going forward — more on that below — but we’re now also seeing reports of renewed interest in a reality show that, like “The Pitt,” also filmed at Allegheny General Hospital. Back in the late ‘90s as basic cable...
TV Q&A: What happened to ‘The Rossen Report’ on WTAE?
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: What happened to “The Rossen Report” on WTAE? It was off for a while last year, came back for a few months and now it...
TV Talk: Michelle Wright anchors her final WTAE broadcastVideo
And then she was done. After 30 years at WTAE, most of that time as a morning news anchor, Michelle Wright said farewell to viewers Friday just before 7 a.m., capping a sweeps month of on-air walks down memory lane, including a live visit with “Good Morning America” host Robin...
TV Talk: ‘Watson’ returns; ‘Yellowstone’ spinoff, ‘American Classic’ debutVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Sherlock Holmes’ partner, John Watson (Morris Chestnut), is in a precarious situation, facing a mystery even Holmes would have trouble solving: “The Case of the Shrinking Audience.” After a strong ratings start in January 2025...
TV Talk: Soapy Civil War drama on Amazon; KDKA-TV anchor goes full-timeVideo
It’s been a minute since we’ve had a Civil War-set miniseries, a genre that proved popular in the 1980s thanks to ABC’s “North and South” (and its soaring Bill Conti score) and CBS’s “The Blue and the Gray.” PBS took a crack at a Civil War story with the 2016-17...
TV Q&A: Will season 1 of ‘The Pitt’ come out on DVD?
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: Will “The Pitt” season one be available on DVD anytime soon? — Jack, via email Rob: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, the entity that would release...
TV Talk: ‘Scrubs’ back in top form; Tracy Morgan stars as ‘Reggie Dinkins’
It’s a rare, banner week for broadcast TV comedy when two genuinely funny new shows premiere. ‘Scrubs’ Whenever a TV series returns 16 years after it first ends, there’s always good reason to worry that a revival will sully memories of the original, that the new episodes won’t live up...
TV Talk: East Liberty entrepreneur competes on ’60 Day Hustle;’ ‘Expedition X’ visits Laurel Highlands
East Liberty native and resident Jordyn Ford went on a “60 Day Hustle” last year, competing in season two of the competition series that’s now streaming all six episodes on Amazon. “60 Day Hustle” is different from many reality competitions because it was not commissioned by Prime and is not...
