TV Talk with Rob Owen category, Page 40

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: There are two DeLucas on the WPXI-TV news staff. Are they related? – Mike, Beaver Rob: We noted when reporter Pete DeLuca was hired at...

WTAE-TV reporter Elena LaQuatra, who has been filling in as morning traffic reporter since July, has been promoted to that position as well as noon weekday newscast anchor on Channel 4, effective next week. LaQuatra, a Mt. Lebanon native, first worked at WTAE in 2015 as a digital content creator....

In this week’s episode of the “Pittsburgh Pop” podcast, host Tim Benz and TV Talk columnist Rob Owen discuss Pittsburgh pop culture news of the moment, including WPXI-TV hiring a new reporter. Originally from Penn Hills, Talia Kirkland is a Duquesne University grad (an undergraduate degree in journalism and a...

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers viewing tips from 2021. While there’s still plenty of new TV this month — “Sex and the City” sequel series “And Just Like That…” streams on HBO Max Thursday but wasn’t available for review by deadline — December also offers an opportunity...

In an episode of “Meet Your Makers Showdown” streaming Saturday on discovery+, 23-year-old Erin Fulton of Jeannette is one of four stained glass artists competing for a $10,000 prize. “Meet Your Makers Showdown,” which premiered on the streaming service last week, features artisans from a different craft field in each...

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 have a controversial opinion: I hate having film crews here. I have the unfortunate luck to have “A League of Their Own” filming on...

Netflix’s “Archive 81,” the first series to go into production in Pittsburgh after the onset of the covid-19 pandemic in November 2020, will premiere on the streaming service Jan. 14. The supernatural horror series follows archivist Dan Turner (Mamoudou Athie) who takes a job restoring a collection of damaged videotapes...

The two-year-old ACC Network, which carries Atlantic Coast Conference sporting events, including Pitt athletics, will finally become available on Comcast’s Xfinity cable service. The arrival of ACC Network is part of a larger overall carriage renewal agreement between telecommunications/entertainment behemoths The Walt Disney Company and Comcast, parent of NBCUniversal. There...

In this week’s episode of the “Pittsburgh Pop” podcast, host Tim Benz and TV Talk columnist Rob Owen discuss Pittsburgh pop culture news of the moment, including November sweeps ratings for local TV stations and this week’s Pittsburgh-set episode of History Channel’s “Great Escapes with Morgan Freeman.” The pair also...

Whichever series the TV fan in your life can’t stop talking about, there’s probably a product tie-in gift out there, including from: “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood:” Fred Rogers may not have been a fan of commercializing his PBS children’s show, but adults who grew up on that program continue to want...

While locally produced holiday season specials have declined over the years, some favorites remain, including: “WTAE Project Bundle-Up Telethon” (Dec. 3): Channel 4 and the Salvation Army Western Pennsylvania Division launch their 36th year of community service to area children and seniors in need. The Project Bundle-Up telethon, hosted by...

In this week’s episode of Trib Live Extra’s “Pittsburgh Pop” podcast, host Tim Benz and TV Talk columnist Rob Owen discuss Pittsburgh pop culture news of the moment, including WTAE-TV’s Shannon Perrine being sidelined by covid-19 and general assignment reporter Katelyn Sykes’ decision not to sign a new contract and...

Q: I was wondering where Shannon Perrine of WTAE-TV is? I know it is sweeps so I doubt she is on vacation. We haven’t seen her in a couple of weeks. – Evelyn via email Rob: Evelyn is correct: It is indeed unusual for a main anchor to be off...

Q: What is going on at WTAE? The station has lost what I believe to be exceptional, diverse on-air talent. Chris Lovingood and David Kaplan leaving was unexpected, but Kelly Frey, really? WTAE has to know this is not a good look for them and I’m sure they’ll take a...

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Nonfiction streaming service Curiosity Stream goes “Beyond the Spotlight” for an episode dedicated to Beaver Falls native Joe Namath. Now streaming, “Beyond the Spotlight” debuted this fall with three episodes about celebrities who are trying...

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. “Alive” meets “Lost” in “Yellowjackets” (10 p.m. Sunday, Showtime), an engrossing, character-driven thriller about a 1996 New Jersey high school girls’ soccer team whose chartered plane crashes in the wilderness leading to “Lord of the...

Q: Another person leaving WPXI-TV with the departure of Michele Newell. What’s going on at that station in recent times? — Gary via Facebook Rob: Newell left Channel 11 and her hometown of Pittsburgh for a reporter position in the larger Atlanta TV market at a station that’s part of...

Spoiler warning: This article includes spoilers for the season-one finale of Showtime’s filmed-in-Pittsburgh “American Rust” that aired at 10 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 7. While the first season of “American Rust” began at a glacial pace, the show steadily improved through its nine-episode run, culminating in Sunday’s chickens-coming-home-to-roost first-season finale. If...

Former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome “The Bus” Bettis guest stars on Monday’s episode of “The Neighborhood” (8 p.m., KDKA-TV) as himself. The storyline finds Calvin Butler (Cedric the Entertainer) running into Bettis at a restaurant and learning the Hall of Famer grew up knowing Calvin’s wife, Tina (Tichina Arnold),...

When Disney+ launched in November 2019, “The World According to Jeff Goldblum” was among the first original series to be available. The quirky “Jurrasic Park” star, who grew up in West Homestead, explored everyday items and occurrences in season one, from ice cream to sneakers, including an episode on tattoos...