TV Talk with Rob Owen category, Page 50
TV Talk: Pittsburgher competes on ‘Design Star: Next Gen’Video
Regent Square’s Tony Allgeier — and his drag alter ego, Alora Chateaux – are in the race to become the next “Design Star” with the revival of the eight-season HGTV series that ended in 2013. Now called “Design Star: Next Gen,” the show features the 2010 La Roche University interior...
TV Q&A: Why isn’t Celina Pompeani on KDKA-TV’s morning news anymore?
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: Is Celina Pompeani no longer a part of the KDKA-TV news team? — Sherry, Latrobe Rob: Pompeani is a freelancer and has never been on...
TV Talk: PBS traces history of ‘The Black Church’ with John Legend, Yolanda Adams, Henry Louis Gates Jr.Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. PBS’s “The Black Church: This is Our Story, This is Our Song” (9-11 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, WQED-TV), hosted by writer Henry Louis Gates Jr. (“Finding Our Roots”), explores the role of the church in...
TV Talk: ‘Young Rock’ pumps up NBC; ‘It’s a Sin’ will leave viewers sobbingVideo
Over the next seven days, NBC premieres two comedies, Starz debuts a road show and HBO Max introduces an excellent British drama. ‘Young Rock,’ ‘Kenan’ Of NBC’s two new single-camera, laugh-track-free comedies, “Young Rock” (8 p.m. Tuesday, WPXI-TV) proves funnier and altogether better than “Kenan” (8:30 p.m. Tuesday). There’s a...
TV Q&A: How are ratings for KDKA’s 7:30 p.m. newscast?
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: How have the ratings been for KDKA’s 7:30 p.m. news broadcast compared to the show it replaced, “Extra”? — Lucas via email Rob: Looking at...
TV Talk: CBS’s ‘Silence of the Lambs’ sequel ‘Clarice’ is no ‘Hannibal’Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. There’s an easy way to figure out if CBS’s “Silence of the Lambs” sequel series, “Clarice,” is for you: If you were a fan of the 1991 Jonathan Demme-directed “Lambs,” partially filmed in Pittsburgh, and...
TV Talk: WPXI back on DirecTV, AT&T TV
Following a five-day blackout, WPXI-TV is back on AT&T’s DirecTV and live streaming service AT&T TV. Sunday morning AT&T and Cox Media Group, parent company of WPXI, announced a multi-year deal that ended the retransmission dispute, returning CMG stations to AT&T’s platforms in 20 cities nationwide, including Boston, Atlanta and...
TV Talk: 1st-time Western Pa. filmmaker enters ‘Red Woods’; CBS reboots ‘The Equalizer’Video
For his directorial feature film debut, Western Pennsylvania’s Nick Danko looked no further than his own backyard. Danko’s “Red Woods” is a found footage film in the vein of “The Blair Witch Project” (minus the shaky-camera effect) that follows an urban explorer group as they tromp through abandoned houses in...
TV Q&A: Does CBS’s ‘S.W.A.T.’ have a Pittsburgh connection?
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 was watching the fifth episode of the third season of CBS’s “S.W.A.T.” on Hulu recently. In one scene, actress Lina Esco wears a Beaver...
TV Talk: WPXI comes off DirecTV; WQED adds ‘Cartoon Academy’
In the latest retransmission battle, WPXI is no longer available to AT&T’s DirecTV and AT&T TV live streaming subscribers. AT&T and WPXI parent company Cox Media Group, owned by private equity firm Apollo Global Management, failed to come to terms on a new contract. The old contract expired at 2:59...
TV Talk: ‘The Chair’ adds to cast; WPXI may go off DirecTV, AT&T TV
Netflix’s latest series to film in Pittsburgh, “The Chair,” is rounding out its cast with the addition of several actors, including Philadelphia’s David Morse, who previously spent two seasons in Pittsburgh filming WGN America’s “Outsiders” and before that appeared in the filmed-in Pittsburgh Will Smith film “Concussion.” Most recently Morse...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh families renovate, go ‘Home Again with the Fords’ on HGTV
The Pittsburgh-set home renovation series “Restored by the Fords” morphs into “Home Again with the Fords” for a new season that premiered at 9 p.m. Tuesday on HGTV. Pittsburgh natives and siblings Leanne (the designer) and Steve (the builder) Ford refer to it as “Season 3-1” since it’s their third...
TV Talk: Weekend anchor Brittany Hoke leaves WTAE-TV
WTAE-TV weekend evening anchor/reporter Brittany Hoke announced on her Facebook page she chose to walk away from her “dream job” at Channel 4 in favor of “freedom.” In her lengthy post, Hoke wrote there are “a lot of” reasons for her departure — she does not name them — but...
TV Talk: Media companies prioritize streaming services over cable
If one thing became clear about the TV business in the past year, it’s that media conglomerates are more interested in their streaming services than in their legacy broadcast and cable networks. Viewers can see it in the diminishing number of original series on basic cable networks (particularly among scripted...
TV Talk: New ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’ spin-off debuts in May
The latest spin-off from “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” puppet show “Donkey Hodie,” debuts on PBS stations, including WQED-TV, on May 3. Produced by Spiffy Pictures and Pittsburgh-based Fred Rogers Productions, “Donkey Hodie” is the second series inspired by “Neighborhood” characters, following animated PBS Kids series “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” which premiered in...
TV Q&A: When will Chris Meloni’s ‘Law Order’ spin-off 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: Do you know when the new “Law & Order” spin-off with Christopher Meloni reprising his role at Elliot Stabler debuts? — Scott via Facebook Rob:...
TV Talk: Eureka! Syfy debuts comedic drama ‘Resident Alien’Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. With media companies prioritizing streaming services over their basic cable networks, the number of original scripted shows on cable has started to decline. Other than “The Magicians,” which ended last year, Syfy’s scripted originals have...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh TV production bounces back; CMU grad stars in ‘Bridge and Tunnel’Video
Netflix’s horror series “Archive 81” has been filming in and around Pittsburgh since November and will be joined in a couple of weeks by another Netflix program, “The Chair.” Showtime’s “Rust” expects to film in March. Beyond these three series, 2021 local big-budget TV/film production is in a holding pattern....
TV Q&A: If I drop cable but want to see Penguins games, what TV service should I add?
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 really need to dump the cable portion of my Comcast bill. I saved your item about the Pens when AT&T SportsNet had their disagreement...
TV Talk: Marvel’s ‘WandaVision’ revisits sitcom styles through the decades on Disney+Video
Streaming service Disney+ debuts its first scripted Marvel series, “WandaVision,” which defies superhero story expectations in three episodes made available for review. But there are hints that action set pieces will come eventually during the nine-episode season. “WandaVision” finds Marvel heroes Wanda “Scarlet Witch” Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and sentient robot...
Joanne Rogers, widow of Mister Rogers, dies at 92
Joanne Rogers, a concert duo pianist and wife of the late Fred Rogers, died at her Squirrel Hill home Thursday at age 92 surrounded by family and friends. Known for a boisterous laugh, Joanne Rogers became the face of her husband’s legacy after his death in 2003, appearing on news...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh’s WPGH adds national morning newscast
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns Pittsburgh’s WPGH-TV, Channel 53, and WPNT-TV, Channel 22, tries to break into the morning news game with the Monday premiere of “The National Desk” (7-9 a.m. weekdays on WPGH). The...
TV Q&A: Why does background noise obscure Steelers announcers?
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 am not a guy that watches a lot of football. However, I seldom miss a Steelers game. I think my hearing is pretty good...
TV Talk: PBS reboots ‘All Creatures Great and Small’
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. It’s difficult to imagine a better TV balm coming off the annus horibilis that was 2020 than the latest production from “Masterpiece,” celebrating its 50th anniversary with the debut of a remake of an early...
TV Talk: Cable, streaming offer fresh shows to start the new yearVideo
Even as broadcast network shows return to the air this month, production on programs at most of the major studios in Los Angeles did not resume as scheduled this week due to rising covid-19 cases. Many series were pushed back to a Jan. 11 production restart and others, including NBC’s...
