TV Talk with Rob Owen category, Page 7
TV Talk: KDKA-TV’s Jon Delano retires
After 30 years as KDKA-TV’s political analyst and 23 years as the station’s full-time money and politics editor, Jon Delano will retire from the station Dec. 1, with his last day on-air next Monday. “I have always said that you should retire when you’re at the top of your game,...
TV Q&A: How did a reporter’s hairstyle change so quickly?
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 noticed a while back that all of a sudden Trisha Pittman’s hair was longer than the day before. Has she been wearing a wig?...
TV Talk: Netflix’s ‘Spellbound’ seeks to cast a spell on viewers
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Netflix’s new animated musical “Spellbound” introduces a soundtrack of songs by Alan Menken (“The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast”) and Glenn Slater (“Tangled”) in a tale that emphasizes the need to accept change. Ellian...
TV Talk: ‘Landman’ marks Taylor Sheridan’s best series yet
“Landman,” streaming Sunday on Paramount+, is Taylor Sheridan’s best series yet. It’s even more entertaining than “Yellowstone.” Partly that’s the perfect match of actor and material — Billy Bob Thornton was born to play oil company fixer Tommy Norris. But it’s also the subject matter — West Texas oil, but...
TV Talk: WTAE announces new weekend morning anchor
WTAE general assignment reporter Lily Coleman will become the station’s new weekend morning news anchor effective Nov. 23. Coleman, who reported weekday mornings before most recently filling in as morning traffic/noon anchor while Elena LaQuatra has been on maternity leave (LaQuatra will be back to work next week), has also...
TV Q&A: Why do stations cover high school football from the end zone?
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: One thing I’ve always wondered when watching highlights of high school football games — on really all the local news channels — is that they...
TV Talk: David Johnson retires from WPXI after 40 years
WPXI announced that veteran news anchor David Johnson, 67, will retire from Channel 11 effective Dec. 13. Johnson, who joined the station in January 1985, currently anchors the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts on WPXI and the 6:30 and 10 p.m. news on WPGH-TV, Pittsburgh’s Fox affiliate. “As I...
TV Talk: CMU grad, ‘Pretty Little Liars’ alum stars in Christmas programs
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. PASADENA, Calif. — Actor Ian Harding graduated from Carnegie Mellon University’s acting program in 2010 and didn’t have to pay his dues waiting tables, as many actors do. Instead, he was almost immediately cast in...
TV Talk: More smiles than laughs from ‘St. Denis;’ Pittsburgh’s Nielsen rank ticks up
NBC’s “St. Denis Medical” (8 p.m. Nov. 12) has a great cast — Wendi McLendon-Covey, Allison Tolman, David Alan Grier — but this mockumentary set at a bland Oregon hospital is more “American Auto” than “The Office” or “Parks and Recreation.” “St. Denis” will conjure a smile but it doesn’t...
TV Q&A: How does ‘Yellowstone’ get away with more profanity than other TV shows?
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 does “Yellowstone” seem to have a different foul-language barrier than other TV shows? — Steve, Titusville Rob: I suspect if you compared “Yellowstone” episodes...
TV Talk: Netflix’s ‘Piano Lesson’ director seeks to honor Hill District, August Wilson
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming month. ^ The second Pittsburgh-set film-with-an-exorcism of 2024 arrives this month with Netflix’s adaptation of Pittsburgh native August Wilson’s play “The Piano Lesson,” playing at Waterworks Cinema Friday and streaming Nov. 22 on Netflix. Unlike Netflix’s...
TV Talk: Networks warn viewers before airing some political ads
In recent weeks, particularly during sporting events and news broadcasts, broadcast TV outlets have aired content warnings before televising political ads that carry anti-trans messaging and in front of ads with graphic images for a little-known anti-abortion presidential candidate. “The following political advertisement contains graphic images that may disturb viewers,”...
TV Talk: ‘The Diplomat’ is Netflix’s best ongoing drama
Netflix stated a goal of creating TV shows that are like “gourmet cheeseburgers,” but those patties often come off the grill more McDonald’s and less Five Guys. However, returning drama “The Diplomat” is that Netflix rarity: A great show. Now streaming all six episodes of its second season, “The Diplomat”...
TV Q&A: Who’s the new forecaster on KDKA-TV?
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: Who’s the new weatherman on KDKA-TV? — Ed, Oil City Rob: With the TV season now back in full swing, it’s unsurprising that some folks...
TV Talk: Disney replays a past hit with ‘Wizards Beyond Waverly Place’
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. The reboots come quicker after the original than ever these days, with a sequel series to 2007-12 Disney Channel tween hit “Wizards of Waverly Place,” now called “Wizards Beyond Waverly Place,” debuting this week (two...
TV Talk: German leader reimagined as detective; ‘Pradeeps’ fact-checked
For the sheer novelty, it’s hard to beat the oddity that is “Miss Merkel,” a two-episode foreign series that imagines former German chancellor Angela Merkel as a Jessica Fletcher-like amateur detective. Now streaming on indie service MHz Choice, the German-language “Miss Merkel” (with English subtitles) stars veteran German actress Katharina...
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 think WPXI-TV’s Lonni Rivera is a freelancer, but I haven’t seen her in quite a while. Is she on vacation or maybe I am...
TV Talk: Recent books go behind the scenes of ‘West Wing,’ ‘Sopranos,’ ‘Gilmore Girls,’ ‘thirtysomething,’ ‘Golden Girls’
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers reading tips for recent books about TV. One of the best aspects of writing about TV is the opportunity to occasionally visit the sets of shows to gather insider intel. A raft of recent books about the industry take readers behind the...
TV Talk: Michael Keaton on ‘SNL,’ ‘Sunday Night Football’ this weekend
Pittsburgh native Michael Keaton will make multiple appearances on NBC this weekend, beginning with hosting “Saturday Night Live” (11:30 p.m. Saturday, WPXI-TV) and continuing Sunday as part of the cinematic opening sequence (around 8:17 p.m. Sunday) for the New York Jets-Pittsburgh Steelers game on “Sunday Night Football” (coverage starts at...
TV Talk: Harris enters Fox News’ lion’s den; NFL family drama planned
Vice President Kamala Harris tangled with Fox News anchor Bret Baier from the earliest moments of their interview Wednesday evening. As Harris tried to answer Baier’s first question, he kept interrupting her before she had time to complete three full sentences. And so it went throughout the almost 30-minute interview,...
TV Talk: CBS slots Pittsburgh-set ‘Watson’
CBS’s Pittsburgh-set medical-investigative drama, “Watson,” will debut at 10 p.m. Jan. 26 following CBS’s coverage of the NFL’s AFC Championship Game (start time is approximate after post-game coverage). Actor Morris Chestnut stars as Dr. John Watson, who, a year after the death of best friend Sherlock Holmes, resumes his medical...
TV Talk: What to know about Kamala Harris’ interview on Fox News
Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is set to appear on Fox News Channel tonight. While Democrats do appear on Republican-leaning Fox News — especially frequent Democratic surrogate U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg — they’re not in abundance, and a Democratic presidential nominee on Fox airwaves is rarer...
TV Q&A: What happened to WPXI’s Pete DeLuca?
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 there no male news reporters on Channel 11 anymore? What happened to Pete DeLuca? — Cathy, Blairsville Rob: I think WPXI’s Rick Earle,...
TV Talk: Comedic gem ‘Pradeeps of Pittsburgh’ premieres
Although it filmed in Toronto, don’t hold that against “The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh,” a genuinely smart, funny, entertaining and timely comedy that streams all eight first-season episodes Thursday on Amazon’s Prime Video and on Amazon Freevee. Created by writer Vijal Patel (“The Middle,” “Black-ish”), who grew up partially in Monroeville,...
TV Talk: 2 Western Pennsylvanians compete on NBC’s ‘The Voice;’ ‘Georgie’ debuts
The new season of NBC’s “The Voice” (8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, WPXI-TV) features two contestants with Western Pennsylvania ties, including 2021 “American Idol” contestant Sloane Simon, a 2023 Fox Chapel Area High School grad who’s now a sophomore studying music in the Clive Davis Institute at New York University....
