TV Talk with Rob Owen category
TV Talk: KDKA-TV forecaster announces retirement
Kristin Emery, who’s offered forecasts at KDKA-TV since 2012, posted to social media that she plans to retire. “I am forecasting a major change for me starting August 28th: Retirement!” Emery wrote. “After 37 years in broadcasting and 13 years of it here at KDKA, I will officially retire at...
TV Talk: From ‘Barry’ to ‘Superman’ to ‘Twisted Metal,’ CMU grad jumps genres
Anthony Carrigan, a 2006 graduate of the Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama, is having quite a summer. In addition to a co-starring role in box office hit “Superman” as Metamorpho, this week Carrigan introduces a classic video game character in the second season of Peacock’s “Twisted Metal,” based on...
TV Talk: Verzsyla to weekends, Hutton to weekdays at WTAE
WTAE will shake up its forecaster assignments, moving weekend evening meteorologist Brian Hutton Jr. to noon and 4 p.m. weekdays beginning Sept. 1. Jeff Verszyla, who had been working that weekday shift, relocates to weekend evenings (and subbing weekdays). “Brian has been a steady voice for our viewers during severe...
WQED lays off another 19 employees
Following the May elimination of five employees, WQED laid off 19 employees on Wednesday, primarily in marketing, membership and production. In a statement, WQED president Jason Jedlinski said the layoffs were in response to “the recent elimination of federal funding for public broadcasting … to ensure long-term financial stability.”...
TV Q&A: Where did WPXI reporter Jillian Hartmann go?
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: Can you tell us what happened to Jillian Hartmann on WPXI’s news team? — Jim, Uniontown Rob: In April, we reported that Hartmann exited Channel...
TV Talk: Jason Momoa’s ‘Chief of War’ recounts Hawaiian history
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. The opening scene of Apple TV+’s Jason Momoa-starring “Chief of War” brings to mind Momoa’s “Aquaman” as he lassoes a shark. After that, this nine-episode historical fiction drama most resembles FX’s “Shogun.” “Chief of War”...
TV Talk: How media companies are responding to political, legal pressure from Trump
As some media companies and personalities facing political or legal pressure from President Donald Trump are capitulating to his demands or censoring themselves, others are standing firm or lashing out defiantly against the administration, media observers say. Some of the companies and personalities just don’t want the headaches. Others are...
TV Talk: ‘Watson’ season 2 expands; ‘Gilded Age’ offers late-season twists
Earlier this month we learned that CBS’s medical drama “Watson,” which CBS announced in May would not return until midway through the 2025-26 TV season, was moving up to a fall launch as CBS’s new “FBI” spinoff, “CIA,” originally announced for fall, changed showrunners and moved to midseason. With that...
TV Q&A: How will CBS fill Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ time slot?
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 will CBS fill the “Late Show” time slot now that they’re ending the show and sending Stephen Colbert packing next May? — Laura, via...
TV Talk: WQED boss talks impact of $1.8 million fed funds loss
After Congress voted last week to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS and NPR, Pittsburgh’s WQED Multimedia announced an open-to-the-public “State of the Station” webinar to address the resulting $1.8 million federal funding cut, about 11% of WQED’s annual funding for each fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, 2025, and...
TV Talk: Western Pa. dentist’s murder conviction gets true crime treatment in Hulu’s ‘Trophy Wife’
The story of a former Pittsburgh-area dentist convicted of murder gets the true crime docuseries treatment in ABC News Studios’ “Trophy Wife: Murder on Safari,” now streaming on Hulu. The three-episode program (about 40 minutes each) chronicles the story of Larry Rudolph, who was convicted of killing his wife, Bianca,...
TV Talk: Netflix pulls back curtain on end game of ‘Stranger Things’
This week, Netflix dropped the first trailer for the final season of “Stranger Things,” which lives up to its title with some of the new hairstyles on the ever-aging lead characters. (“Terminator” alum Linda Hamilton joins the cast with a ’do that resembles ’80s-era Lucille Ball.) Set in fall 1987,...
TV Talk: ‘Strange New Worlds’ treks to mostly familiar terrain
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Is the “Star Trek” franchise running out of steam on Paramount+? “Star Trek: Discovery” got unceremoniously canceled after five seasons without an opportunity to wrap its story in a satisfactory fashion. Animated comedy “Lower Decks”...
TV Q&A: Do NWS cuts impact TV meteorologists?
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 know this might be difficult — or downright impossible considering potential political implications — to get an answer to: Have our three local weather...
Emmy nominations: ‘The Pitt’ lands 13, ‘Severance’ leads all with 27
Given the critical acclaim and buzz, the question going into the 2025 Emmy nominations wasn’t if the ER drama “The Pitt” would get nominated, it was how many noms would the HBO Max series take home. Turns out the answer is 13, including best drama, lead actor in a drama...
TV Talk: Pittsburghers on Hallmark cruise show; locally shot indie on Prime
For its annual “Christmas in July” programming event, Hallmark Channel created “Christmas at Sea,” a docuseries about last November’s four-night Hallmark Christmas Cruise that features two Pittsburgh grandmothers and their Hallmark Christmas movie-loving 16-year-old grandson. Airing its second episode tonight at 8 (streaming tomorrow on Hallmark+), this week’s installment spends...
TV Talk: Dexter lives in ‘Resurrection,’ but should he?
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Maybe Dexter shoulda stayed dead. Alas, you can’t keep popular IP down. Despite serial killer Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) dying at the end of 2021’s “Dexter: New Blood,” Showtime reanimates him in “Dexter: Resurrection,”...
TV Talk: WQED settles lawsuit; ‘Too Much’ on Netflix is just right
In January, veteran Emmy-winning design director Paula Zetter filed an age discrimination lawsuit against WQED after the public broadcaster eliminated her position in 2024. The case settled late last month. Sam Cordes, Zetter’s attorney, declined to comment, but the court docket shows the case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it...
TV Q&A: Will ‘Deadliest Catch’ air new episodes this year?
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 have any info on whether “Deadliest Catch” will be on this year? — Deb via Facebook Rob: I hadn’t realized “Deadliest Catch” did...
TV Talk: 25 years after PBS’s living history series, Magnolia goes ‘Back to the Frontier’
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. It’s been more than two decades since the advent of PBS’s living history series that began with 1999’s “The 1900 House” and 2002’s “Frontier House.” These quasi-social experiment series took a diverse array of everyday...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh native celebrates ‘Jaws @ 50;’ Apple TV+ show seeks extras
This 50th anniversary summer since the release of Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws,” which ushered in the box office blockbuster era, got the attention of local theatergoers last month with Barebones Productions’ “The Shark Is Broken,” a stage play set behind the scenes during the making of “Jaws.” And “Jaws” content remains...
TV Q&A: Did KDKA’s Lauren Linder leave?
Q: Did Lauren Linder leave KDKA-TV news? — Dave, via Facebook Rob: She did not. Linder simply moved from mornings to the dayside shift. It happens often that viewers question if a reporter left a station when the reporter just moved to work a different shift, a news time the...
TV Talk: ‘The Bear’ back in better shape, more story for former Pittsburgher star
Spoiler alert: This column addresses Season 4 of “The Bear,” now available in its entirety, with mild thematic spoilers. There was general consensus that Hulu’s restaurant dramedy “The Bear” declined in quality last summer during the show’s third season. But, good news: “The Bear” returns much improved, fresher and with...
TV Q&A: Did a WPXI reporter exit?
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 saw that WPXI has a new reporter, Rachel Pierce. Who did she replace? — Gary, via Facebook Rob: It’s unclear if Rachel Pierce is...
TV Talk: Family-friendly ‘Nautilus’ sails rough seas from Disney+ to AMC
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Like last summer’s final season of “Snowpiercer,” AMC’s two-episode debut of “Nautilus” (9-11 p.m. June 29, AMC, AMC+) represents another salvage operation. Just as TNT declined to air the fully produced “Snowpiercer” season as a...
