TV Talk with Rob Owen category, Page 46
TV Q&A: Did Ricki Wertz host ‘Romper Room’?Video
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: Great piece about Ricki Wertz’s career in Pittsburgh television. I also believe she hosted our local production of “Romper Room,” also on WTAE, if I...
TV Talk: CMU grad Patina Miller stars in ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’Video
On TV, 2006 Carnegie Mellon University musical theater grad Patina Miller is best known for playing a press secretary on CBS’s “Madam Secretary.” On Broadway, she won the Tony for lead actress in a musical in 2013 for a revival of “Pippin.” In Starz’s “Power Book III: Raising Kanan” (8...
TV Talk: Apple TV+’s ‘Schmigadoon!’ offers a joyful ode to and send-up of musicalsVideo
Fans of Broadway musicals and the TV series “Pushing Daisies” and “Galavant” unite: Apple TV+’s “Schmigadoon” is the musical comedy series you didn’t know you need. A joyfully silly fantasy, “Schmigadoon!” begins by showing viewers how two doctors, Melissa (a game Cecily Strong, “Saturday Night Live”) and Josh (the equally...
Ricki Wertz, star of WTAE-TV’s ‘Ricki and Copper,’ diesVideo
Ricki Wertz, one of the original stars of Pittsburgh TV as the host of WTAE-TV’s “Ricki and Copper” and “Junior High Quiz,” died Wednesday in Chicago. She was 86. The cause of death was not immediately available. A Wilkes-Barre native, Ruth Elizabeth Wertz Bordenkircher came to Pittsburgh to study acting....
TV Q&A: What happened to QVC and HSN over the air?
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 are QVC and HSN no longer on Channel 16.5 and 16.4 over the air? I don’t have cable. Is there somewhere else I can...
TV Talk: Susan Koeppen returns to anchor new WPXI-TV newscast
Because the ratings for “Ellen” have been terrible in Pittsburgh for several years, it was unsurprising this month when WTAE-TV announced a 4 p.m. newscast. Similarly, with original episodes of “Judge Judy” ending on broadcast TV — she’ll have a new, similar show on free, ad-supported streamer IMDbTV in late...
TV Talk: WPXI reporter Amy Hudak marries WTAE’s Jim Madalinsky
Pittsburgh TV stations are rivals in coverage and ratings but for two reporters at different local stations, it’s just a matter of doing similar work for different outlets. And given their respective beats, they don’t compete with one another on stories, which should make married life a bit easier. WPXI-TV...
TV Talk: Netflix releases trailer for Jason Momoa’s filmed-in-Pittsburgh thriller ‘Sweet Girl’Video
The Pittsburgh skyline gets a starring role in the trailer for Netflix’s filmed-in-Western Pennsylvania Jason Momoa thriller “Sweet Girl,” available on the streaming service Aug. 20, the same day filmed-in-Pittsburgh limited comedy series “The Chair” debuts on Netflix. Locations spotted in the movie’s trailer include PPG Place, PNC Park, McConnell’s...
TV Talk: PBS’s ‘Odd Squad,’ from Fred Rogers Productions, evolves again in new episodes
Pittsburgh-based Fred Rogers Productions’ “Odd Squad,” the rare live-action, educational program for children, returns with the second half of its third season in a week of four new episodes beginning Monday (5 p.m. WQED-TV). The PBS Kids show continues to follow a quartet of child agents who investigate oddities that...
TV Talk: ‘Gossip Girl’ returns, ‘The White Lotus’ opens for business
With summer in full swing, TV networks and streaming services are premiering series after series with hopes for a buzzworthy smash. ‘Gossip Girl’ This latest reboot gets off to a stronger-than-expected start before it begins to deflate. Directed by Karena Evans (“Snowfall”) from a teleplay by showrunner Josh Safran, the...
TV Q&A: Why can’t Pittsburgh TV stations keep young anchors?
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 do you suppose Pittsburgh’s TV stations simply can’t keep the young upstarts? WTAE-TV’s Chris Lovingood is the latest in a growing list of fine...
TV Talk: Unity girl makes ‘America’s Got Talent’ history, advances to live showsVideo
Victory Brinker, a 9-year-old opera singer from Unity Township, made “America’s Got Talent” history Tuesday night, becoming the first “AGT” competitor to earn a “Golden Buzzer” from all four judges, advancing her to this season’s live shows later this summer. In the episode that aired on Tuesday but taped in...
TV Talk: CMU grad is part of ‘Leverage’ sequel seriesVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. The 2008-12 TNT drama “Leverage” returns Friday as sequel series “Leverage: Redemption” on free, ad-supported streaming service IMDb TV. The biggest change? Team leader Nathan Ford (Timothy Hutton) is dead and his grifter widow Sophie...
TV Talk: Unity girl sings on ‘America’s Got Talent’
Before she’s on “America’s Got Talent” next week, 9-year-old opera singer Victory Brinker of Unity used to play “AGT” with her 10 siblings as parents Christine and Eric took on the roles of the show’s judges. “All of my brothers and sisters would do acts, and sometimes I would pretend...
TV Talk: IMBd TV’s ‘Sprung’ to film in Pittsburgh
The latest series from writer/producer Greg Garcia, best known for the comedies “Raising Hope,” “My Name is Earl” and “The Guest Book,” will film in Pittsburgh this summer. “Sprung,” which will stream on IMDb TV, the free, ad-supported streaming service from Amazon, centers on a group of former prison inmates...
TV Talk: WTAE adds 4 p.m. newscast
In an unsurprising move, WTAE will replace low-rated talk show “Ellen” at 4 p.m. with a newscast anchored by Andrew Stockey and Kelly Sasso. Meteorologist Jeff Verszyla will provide weather forecasts. WTAE’s 4 p.m. newscast, which begins Tuesday, will compete head-to-head with news on KDKA-TV. WPXI-TV currently airs “Judge Judy”...
TV Talk: Mt. Lebanon native Gillian Jacobs visits ‘Fear Street’ on Netflix
Gillian Jacobs, a 2000 graduate of Mt. Lebanon High School, isn’t a fan of horror movies, but she was up for the challenge in acting in several over the past year, including the Netflix “Fear Street” trilogy, based on the R.L. Stine books. “Its definitely a genre that I wanted...
TV Q&A: Do longer-tenured TV anchors get more vacation time?
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: Do KDKA-TV on-air talent who have been with the station for a while get a ton of vacation time? I’ve noticed sports anchor Bob Pompeani...
TV Talk: WTAE anchor to depart, another Mister Rogers statue unveiled
WTAE weekend morning anchor Chris Lovingood will depart the station by the end of July after a three-year stint at the ABC affiliate. Lovingood joined WTAE in 2018 from a station in Fort Myers, Fla. In a Facebook post, Lovingood said he’ll move to WRAL-TV in Raleigh, N.C. “They have...
TV Talk: Paul Martino retires from KDKA-TV, on-air sendoff planned
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. After a 37-year run at KDKA-TV, reporter/anchor Paul Martino hangs up his microphone this week with an on-air exit interview farewell that’s expected to air during the station’s 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts Wednesday. “I...
TV Talk: CMU grad Josh Gad joined by college pals on ‘Central Park’Video
Comic actor Josh Gad, a 2003 Carnegie Mellon University grad, can draw a direct line from his days as a CMU student to “Central Park,” the Apple TV+ animated musical comedy he created with “Bob’s Burgers” veterans Loren Bouchard and Nora Smith. “CMU gave me an opportunity to create from...
TV Q&A: What happened to a news anchor’s wedding ring?
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 Kelly Sasso is no longer wearing her wedding ring? What’s the scoop on this? — Michael via Twitter Rob: Don’t get too excited,...
TV Talk: ‘Evil’ returns for season 2 on a new platformVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. It’s a topsy-turvy TV world these days with shows moving from linear networks to streaming services and sometimes back again, especially if it’s a Discovery Networks show. Now CBS has joined the chaos, moving...
TV Talk: Screenwriter brings a Pittsburgh friendship to Pixar’s ‘Luca’ on Disney+Video
Point Breeze native Jesse Andrews, who wrote the original novel “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” and the script for the 2015 filmed-in-Pittsburgh movie adaptation, had one of his own high school friendships in mind when writing the script for the Pixar movie “Luca,” streaming Friday on Disney+. Luca...
Showtime sets premiere date for locally filmed series ‘American Rust’Video
Showtime’s Western Pennsylvania-set drama “American Rust,” currently filming its nine-episode first season around the region, will premiere at 10 p.m. Sept. 12. Showtime on Wednesday released a first-look trailer for the series that stars Jeff Daniels as the chief of police of Buell, Fayette County, where the son (Alex Neustaedter)...
