TV Talk with Rob Owen category, Page 6
TV Q&A: Days may be fewer but hours the same for KDKA-TV’s Bob Pompeani
Q: I’ve noticed lately that KDKA-TV sports anchor Bob Pompeani is appearing on television less than in recent years. He used to be on Sunday-Thursday when football season was in full swing. Now he’s only on Sunday-Tuesday. I was just curious about the reason for the change. — Zach, via...
2050 look-ahead: Streaming changed how we view entertainment. The future may look a lot like the old model
Editor’s note: One-fourth of the way through this century, TribLive is looking ahead to the next 25 years, using the events of the past 25 as a road map of what possibly is to come. This installment of the occasional series looks at entertainment. Twenty-five years into the 21st century,...
TV Talk: Tim Allen back on ABC; ‘Suits’ spin-off coming to NBC at midseason
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers viewing tips for midseason. After one of the more successful fall TV seasons in recent years — ABC’s “High Potential” and CBS’s “Matlock” were both critical and commercial hits — broadcast networks prepare a spate of new shows for the new year....
TV Talk: Streamers, cable schedule plenty of midseason new, returning series
With the hangover of the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes in the rearview mirror, streaming and cable outlets have plans to debut dozens of new and returning series through April, including: “Missing You” (Jan. 1, Netflix): Author Harlan Coben’s latest book to get adapted is a five-part limited series about...
TV Q&A: What did Celina Pompeani-Mathison announce on ‘PTL’?
Q: What did Celina Pompeani-Mathison announce on “Pittsburgh Today Live” on Dec. 20? Is she retiring to be a mom? I wasn’t able to watch. — Karen, via email Rob: Yes, Pompeani-Mathison, who already pulled back on her duties after the birth of her first child, Sonny, in 2023, decided...
TV Talk: Netflix gifts subscribers with ‘Squid Game 2’
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. What better way to celebrate the holidays than a return to the bloody, violent arena for Netflix’s “Squid Game 2,” streaming Thursday? The second season of the streaming service’s surprise 2021 global hit finds season...
TV Talk: Best TV series of 2024
There’s no way one person can watch every new scripted series each year, even in a post-PeakTV environment, so consider this list the best of the scripted shows I saw in 2024. Perhaps this list can steer you toward a program you’ve yet to watch. With broadcast TV in reruns...
TV Q&A: Will the Netflix Steelers game air locally?
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions weekly at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Sunday Tribune-Review. Q: Will the Steelers Christmas game be available to fans without Netflix? — Ed, via email Rob: Yes! Netflix’s deal for carrying NFL games on Christmas Day...
TV Talk: WTAE reporter Bob Mayo announces retirement
Applying the law of “things come in threes,” Tuesday’s announcement by longtime WTAE general assignment reporter Bob Mayo that he will retire Dec. 31 is appropriate as it’s the third significant on-air retirement from Pittsburgh TV stations this quarter, following the departures of KDKA-TV’s Jon Delano and WPXI’s David Johnson....
TV Talk: Classic Christmas commercials cater to viewers’ nostalgia
Whether or not they continue to air in 2024, Christmas-themed commercials that aired year after year are easily conjured in the minds of TV viewers. Whether it’s Santa Claus riding a Norelco razor through the snow, Peter coming home for a cup of Folgers or Hershey’s Kisses as bells, plenty...
TV Talk: PBS’s ‘NOVA’ recounts Notre Dame discoveries
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. It’s easy to take TV for granted. Its ubiquity, especially now with dozens of channels and streaming platforms, makes the medium so omnipresent and at times overwhelming with the number of choices that it’s easy...
TV Talk: David Johnson signs off; Heather Abraham going on medical leave
After a 40-year run, including more than 30 years as one of the nation’s longest duration anchor teams alongside Peggy Finnegan who retired in 2020, Channel 11 weekday evening news anchor David Johnson called it a career Friday during WPXI’s 6 p.m. newscast. Finnegan returned for Johnson’s farewell, appearing in...
TV Talk: ’High School Musical’ actor back in town for Christmas cabaret; ‘No Good Deed’ on Netflix
Joe Serafini, a 2016 graduate of Bethel Park High School who starred in several seasons of the Disney+ series “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” returns home this weekend to headline a performance at the Pittsburgh Playhouse at Point Park University. “Christmas Live! With Joe Serafini and Friends” (7...
TV Q&A: When will a KDKA-TV news anchor return to 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: Any word if Megan Shinn is returning from maternity leave as weekend morning anchor on KDKA-TV? — Paul, via email Rob: Shinn, who joined Channel...
TV Talk: ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ seeks season 4 extras
Paramount+ still hasn’t made an official announcement that “Mayor of Kingstown” has been renewed for a fourth season, but it’s clear the show will be back and a decision was made in the affirmative behind the scenes, given that a production office opened for the filmed-in-Pittsburgh series last month. Now...
TV Talk: Amazon’s ‘The Sticky’ has its moments, doesn’t entirely stick the landing
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. There’s a welcome efficiency to “The Sticky,” Amazon Prime Video’s story of a Canadian maple syrup heist that tells its story in six tightly constructed 30-minute episodes, yet its reach exceeds its grasp as it...
TV Q&A: Who will replace David Johnson on WPXI?
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions weekly at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Sunday Tribune-Review. Q: Who replaces David Johnson as the main anchor at WPXI? — Mike, Beaver Rob: I noted in the story about Johnson’s retirement last month that Channel...
TV Talk: ‘Skeleton Crew’ charts younger ‘Star Wars’ course
Disney+ has churned out “Star Wars” series for five years now, sometimes winning with audiences (“The Mandalorian”), surprising critics (“Andor”) and occasionally polarizing fans (“The Acolyte”). “Skeleton Crew” probably leans more toward “The Acolyte” because it’s wholly disconnected from the long-established elements of the “Star Wars” saga, unlike “Obi Wan...
TV Talk: Steelers get ‘Hard Knocks’ treatment on HBO
Keith Cossrow, a 1993 Mt. Lebanon High School grad who’s vice president and head of content at NFL Films, said getting the Steelers on HBO’s long-running NFL docuseries “Hard Knocks” (9 tonight, HBO and Max) was a matter of finding the right format. In the past, “Hard Knocks” has done...
TV Talk: From ‘Blue Bloods’ to ‘Bluey’ to ‘Seinfeld,’ there are plenty of gift ideas for TV fans
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers gift-giving ideas for the TV fan in your life. Seeking a Christmas or holiday present for the TV fan in your life? This guide to new TV-themed gifts offers ideas by series titles: “Blue Bloods” will end Dec. 13, but fans can...
TV Talk: Hallmark courts NFL fans, Swifties with ‘Touchdown;’ ‘The Agency’ stuns
PASADENA, Calif. — The road to Hallmark Channel’s Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce romance-inspired “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story” (8 p.m. Saturday) began in January when the Kansas City Chiefs posted a Hallmark movie parody trailer that starred Tyler Hynes, who’s now also the star of “Holiday Touchdown” with Hunter King...
TV Q&A: Where do TV stations get their filler news stories?
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 a previous article you explained that the reason KDKA (and to a slightly lesser extent WTAE) mix in 3½ hours of filler material with...
TV Talk: Netflix delivers Christmas Day Steelers game; new Tamburitzans special on WQED-TV
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers local viewing tips for the holiday season. As the number of locally produced holiday specials continues to dwindle, Netflix enters the fray to gift Steelers fans nationwide by streaming the Steelers game (against the Chiefs) from Acrisure Stadium at 1 p.m. on...
TV Talk: ‘The Pitt’ to premiere in January on Max
Max announced its Pittsburgh-set, Noah Wyle-starring medical drama “The Pitt” will premiere on the streaming service in January. That’s a little bit of a surprise given that the 15-episode first season won’t wrap production until February, suggesting, perhaps, that the first season will debut in two batches of episodes. Or,...
TV Talk: ‘Pradeeps’ stars visit Penguins game; more ‘Kingstown;’ ‘Man on the Inside,’ ‘Cruel Intentions’ debut
It’s been about a month since “The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh” premiered on Amazon’s Prime Video, and this weekend two of the show’s stars will be in town for an appearance at Saturday’s Penguins game against Utah Hockey Club (7 p.m. PPG Paints Arena). Ashwin Sakthivel, who plays Vinod, the garbage...
