TV Talk with Rob Owen category, Page 2
TV Talk: Pittsburgh-filmed ‘Forked’ debuts at PIFF; local chef makes EatThis.tv pilot
With advances in digital technology and cameras, anyone can make a TV pilot these days. Getting it distributed is a greater challenge, but two indie projects with Western Pennsylvania ties are having a moment. ‘Forked’ Writer/actor Sarah Goeke first got inspired to make her web series “Forked” while performing in...
TV Q&A: How does a Pirates announcer handle a losing team?
Q: The Pittsburgh Pirates have had three winning seasons in the last 30 years. The one constant during this period is play-by-play announcer Greg Brown. I read a report that Greg has called well over 2,000 Pirates losses and Brown is the losingest play-by-play announcer among active announcers. Has Greg...
TV Talk: HBO’s ‘Gilded Age’ grows more dramatic in 3rd season
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. HBO’s “The Gilded Age” returns for its third season (9 p.m. June 22, HBO, Max) and the show remains the best (and only!) “Upstairs Downstairs”/“Downton Abbey”-esque series in production today. Sometimes it feels like not...
TV Talk: Reimagined ‘Walking with Dinosaurs’ stomps to PBS
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. When the original “Walking with Dinosaurs” debuted in 1999, Emily Bamforth was a teenager already intrigued by Mesozoic creatures. Her favorite film remains the original “Jurassic Park” (the sequels, reboot and the reboot’s sequels, not...
TV Talk: Magee doc talks filming ‘1000-lb Sisters’
For Dr. Peter Rubin, professor and chair of plastic surgery at UPMC, being filmed isn’t that unusual. He’s had cameras trained on him during surgery for a documentary, for medical teaching films and he’s been a guest on “Dr. Oz.” But appearing in a reality docu-series was new. Rubin appeared...
TV Talk: WTAE, WPXI sweep May ratings; ‘Revival’ debuts on Syfy
In the May 2025 local weekday newscast ratings, WTAE newscasts ranked first most often in households, a measure of general popularity, and WPXI newscasts had the greatest number of newscasts ranking first in the key demographic of persons ages 25-54, often used to set advertising rates. In households, WTAE was...
TV Q&A: Why isn’t ‘Live’ live some days?
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 that “Live with Kelly and Mark” has now a small previously recorded message that pops up at the beginning of every episode. Has...
TV Talk: Stephen Moyer talks Pittsburgh, ‘Art Detectives,’ ‘Elsbeth’
Actor Stephen Moyer, best known for his role as vampire Bill Compton on HBO’s “True Blood” (2008-14), has a new British detective drama, “Art Detectives,” streaming on Acorn TV on June 9. But before we got into his new show, Moyer wanted to talk about Pittsburgh. “My daughter (Lilac Emery-Haynes)...
TV Talk: Golf gets pop culture moments with ‘Stick,’ ‘Happy Gilmore 2,’ ‘Steel Links’
With the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club coming up June 12-15, golf is in the zeitgeist locally — but there are also multiple national programs with golf themes coming this summer, beginning this week with Apple TV+’s “Stick” and continuing in July with Netflix’s “Happy Gilmore 2.” Invariably,...
TV Q&A: Why do the same sitcoms rerun most often?
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: Reruns like “The Big Bang Theory” and “Friends” are constantly on TV. Why are these on so often? I would love to watch reruns of...
CMU grads help Universal Orlando one-up Disney with Epic Universe
In an era when filmed entertainment is fragmented among thousands of choices — TV, streaming, cable, gaming, YouTube, TikTok — experiences offer a differentiator, a business where media companies don’t have to worry about ratings, ad sales, time-shifted viewing and the nonstop fight for eyeballs. Disney now leans more heavily...
TV Talk: Apple TV+ series, Amazon movie to film in Pittsburgh
In addition to “Mayor of Kingstown,” currently filming its fourth season locally, and the movie “Hershey,” also now in production, Pittsburgh will soon see the arrival of an Apple TV+ series and an Amazon MGM Studios film. Pete Davidson (“Saturday Night Live”), Zoe Kravitz (“The Studio”), Nicholas Hoult (“Nosferatu”), Anna...
TV Talk: ‘Succession’ writer depicts tech bros behaving badly in HBO’s ‘Mountainhead’
“Succession” writer/creator Jesse Armstrong returns well to the lifestyles of the rich and semi-famous with the new satirical HBO movie “Mountainhead” (8 p.m. Saturday, HBO and Max), the story of four awful billionaire tech bro friends on a weekend retreat. For “Succession” fans, it’s easiest to imagine “Mountainhead” as a...
TV Q&A: Why do full weather forecasts come late in a 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: In my opinion, the reason all TV stations put the complete weather forecast on so late in their broadcast is because they know people will...
TV Talk: Scripted summer originals debut on streaming, cable
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. The summer’s most popular direct-to-streaming title is likely to be the Netflix movie “Happy Gilmore 2” (July 25), starring Adam Sandler. But beyond that one-shot, there are a slew of scripted shows coming to streaming...
TV Talk: ‘Destination X’ marks the spot in NBC competition; Gordon Ramsay seeks Pittsburgh restaurants
There aren’t many new series to look forward to this summer on the broadcast networks, but NBC’s “Destination X” (10 p.m. Tuesday, WPXI) has a decent hook, blending “The Amazing Race”-style travel with “Love Is Blind” blinders and the social game of “Survivor”/“Big Brother.” A “Destination X” preview aired earlier...
TV Q&A: Why are network TV series getting shorter?
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 a lot of network television series run shorter seasons than they used to? For example, ABC’s “High Potential” only has a 13-episode first...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh team competes on ‘Lego Masters’ in a summer of unscripted network shows
Aside from a few imported scripted shows on PBS and The CW, summer is where broadcast networks roll out more reality competitions and game shows, low-cost filler during the warmest weather months when fewer viewers turn on the TV. For its fifth season, Fox’s “Lego Masters” (8 p.m. May 19,...
TV Talk: ‘Overcompensating,’ ‘Duster,’ ‘Murderbot’ debut; ‘Prison Break’ seeks extras
It’s not often three worthwhile streaming series premiere in the same week, but here we are. ‘Overcompensating’ Perhaps the funniest streaming comedy since “Hacks,” Amazon Prime Video’s “Overcompansating” presents as a wild, profanity-filled “Animal House”-style bacchanal. But at its heart, the eight-episode series is an endearing coming-of-age story centered on...
TV Q&A: Alby Oxenreiter looks back while looking ahead
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: Does Alby Oxenreiter have any plans of returning to Channel 11? We have not seen him in almost two years. — Jon, via email Rob:...
TV Talk: What’s next on ‘Watson’; Pittsburgher back on ‘Jeopardy! Masters’; ‘Kingstown’ back this fall
Note: Spoilers for the May 11 season finale of “Watson” follow. In Sunday’s season finale of CBS’s Pittsburgh-set medical mystery drama “Watson,” Dr. John Watson (Morris Chestnut) killed his rival, Moriarty (Randall Park), who spent the show’s first season blackmailing Watson’s staff into harming Watson and their colleagues. Watson’s ex-wife,...
TV Talk: Moriarty, Watson face off in ‘Watson’ season finale
When CBS’s Pittsburgh-set medical mystery drama “Watson” (9 p.m. Sunday, KDKA-TV) premiered in January, the first episode featured scenes shot in Pittsburgh over a few days in June 2024, including a confrontation filmed on the Duquesne Incline between Moriarty (Randall Park) and Shinwell Johnson (Ritchie Coster), Dr. Watson’s aide-de-camp. But...
WQED lays off staff, suspends Creator Academy
This week, WQED Multimedia laid off four full-time staff and one part-time employee and announced the suspension of its Creator Academy, formerly known as WQED Film Academy and before that, Steeltown Entertainment Project. In an online post at wqed.org/thecreatoracademy, WQED cited the “unprecedented threats to federal funding for the arts,...
TV Talk: Former Pittsburgher Chbosky directs, Joe Manganiello stars in Netflix’s ‘Nonnas’
For his latest film project, 1988 Upper St. Clair High School grad Stephen Chbosky, author of coming-of-age novel “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” and writer/director of its film adaptation, looked to an actor from a rival high school to cast in “Nonnas,” streaming May 9 on Netflix (just in...
TV Q&A: Why are different job titles used on local newscasts?
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 noticed on at least three occasions that when a story on which Chandi Chapman is reporting she is introduced as “WTAE reporter Chandi...
