Rob Owen stories, Page 27

Rob Owen
Rob Owen
Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
TV Talk: Mister Rogers comparisons abound in ‘Barney’ doc ‘I Love You, You Hate Me’ 
There are some interesting ideas explored in Peacock’s “I Love You, You Hate Me,” a two-part docu-series about 1990s PBS phenomenon “Barney & Friends,” the kids’ show starring a loved and loathed purple dinosaur. But the series, now streaming, veers from its nostalgia lane into true crime territory. Is the...
TV Talk: HBO to debut ‘A Tree of Life’ documentary executive produced by Michael Keaton, Billy Porter, Mark Cuban 
“A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting,” executive produced by Pittsburgh natives Michael Keaton, Billy Porter and Mark Cuban, will premiere on HBO and HBO Max at 9 p.m. Oct. 26. Directed by Trish Adlesic (“Gasland,” “I Am Evidence”), the 80-minute film re-tells the story of the 2018 shooting...
TV Q&A: Did KDKA-TV’s Royce Jones play for the Steelers?
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: Someone told me Royce Jones on KDKA-TV once played for the Steelers. I don’t believe them. Is this a fact? — Ralph, Greenburg Rob: I...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking Penn State limited series, new ‘Saturday Night Live’ cast, ‘Midnight Club’
In this episode of the “Pittsburgh Pop” podcast, host Tim Benz and TV Talk columnist Rob Owen discuss Pittsburgh pop culture news of the moment, including a report in The Hollywood Reporter about a limited Hulu series “Death at Penn State,” based on the real-life story of the 2017 hazing...
TV Talk: Western Pa. natives behind live-action ‘Monster High’ 
Now streaming on Paramount+ and premiering at 7 p.m. Oct. 6 on Nickelodeon, “Monster High The Movie” takes the 12-year-old Mattel fashion doll franchise, already adapted into an animated series, and brings it to live-action life as a movie musical directed by TV veteran Todd Holland (“Wonderfalls”), a Kittanning native...
TV Q&A: Did ‘Curse of Oak Island’ get cursed again by a hurricane?
Q: I was wondering how Hurricane Fiona impacted this year’s search on “The Curse of Oak Island”? News reports say Nova Scotia was hammered, so one would have to assume that Oak Island, just offshore, got it as bad if not worse than the coastline. Has this year’s search season...
TV Talk: CMU grad scrubs in as new ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ cast member 
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Carnegie Mellon University musical theater grad Alexis Floyd is making her mark in Shondaland, the production company founded by “Grey’s Anatomy” creator Shonda Rhimes. First, Floyd was cast in Shondaland’s Netflix series, “Inventing Anna,” playing...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking ‘Dahmer,’ regional Emmy Awards for local TV news, ‘Alaska Daily’
In this episode of the “Pittsburgh Pop” podcast, host Tim Benz and TV Talk columnist Rob Owen discuss Pittsburgh pop culture news of the moment, including the Mid-Atlantic Regional Emmys, where TRIBLive.com won three awards, WQED won nine (including overall excellence), WPXI was awarded five, KDKA took home two and...
TV Talk: Subscribe to ABC’s ‘Alaska Daily,’ a newspaper drama with low-key ‘West Wing’ vibes 
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Comparisons among TV series are tricky. It’s unfair to burden a new show with high expectations by comparing it to a past critical hit. But saying “if you like X, you might like Y” is...
Pittsburgh native, ‘Eyewitness News’ creator Al Primo dies
Many of the conventions of TV news today — on local newscasts or cable news or the “Today” show — originated in the mind of Pittsburgh native Al Primo, a University of Pittsburgh graduate who worked at Pittsburgh’s WDTV, which was re-christened KDKA-TV during his tenure as a news writer,...
TV Talk: Deb Acklin steps down as WQED Multimedia CEO
After 12 years WQED Multimedia president and CEO Deborah Acklin will step down effective Friday to focus on treatment following a diagnosis of non-smoker’s lung cancer. “Leading WQED — my hometown PBS and classical music station -- has been a singular professional honor,” Acklin said in a statement released by...
TV Talk: ‘Interview with a Vampire’ draws blood; ‘Doc Martin’ pulled from PBS stations 
Already one vampire series debuted this fall – teen-focused “Vampire Academy” on Peacock – and soon there will be three more, beginning with “Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire,” previously adapted as the 1994 Tom Cruise-Brad Pitt movie. This new “Interview,” premiering at 10 p.m. Sunday on AMC and streaming...
TV Q&A: Will the ‘FBI’ episode CBS pulled in May ever 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: Does CBS ever intend to air or stream what was going to be last year’s season finale of “FBI” that got pulled after the Texas...
TV Talk: WPXI’s Susan Koeppen recounts life-saving CPR event
Just as two medical students ran to the aid of news anchor Susan Koeppen when she collapsed while jogging in Shadyside in 2011, Koeppen came to the aid of a man who had a cardiac incident while driving in July. The WPXI-TV anchor will be reunited with him in a...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking ‘Andor,’ Steelers on Amazon, ‘Ghosts,’ ‘Rookie: Feds,’ ‘Reboot’
In this episode of the “Pittsburgh Pop” podcast, host Tim Benz and TV Talk columnist Rob Owen discuss Pittsburgh pop culture news of the moment, including Amazon’s telecast of the Steelers-Browns game on “Thursday Night Football” and WTAE-TV reporter Sheldon Ingram on “Law & Order: SVU.” Benz and Owen also...
TV Talk: WTAE-TV reporter Sheldon Ingram guest stars on ‘Law & Order: SVU’
It’s not unusual to see a Pittsburgh news anchor play a reporter or anchor in a fictional movie or TV show shot in Pittsburgh — Sally Wiggin and Ken Rice were in “Striking Distance;” Mike Clark was in “Abduction,” “Unstoppable,” “Southpaw” and “Concussion” ­— but veteran WTAE-TV reporter Sheldon Ingram...
TV Talk: Dianne Wiest talks filming ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ season two in Pittsburgh
Oscar-winner Dianne Wiest has become a Pittsburgh fan after spending recent months filming season two of Paramount+ series “Mayor of Kingstown” locally. “It’s just wonderful,” she said Tuesday of her first time in the city. “It’s a great town, really. And I get some time off while I’m there in...
TV Q&A: Can local TV stations refuse politicians’ ads?
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 me if local stations can refuse to put political ads on? I would think whichever stations refuse would get a huge bump...
TV Talk: ‘Star Wars’ series ‘Andor’ begins slow, improves as it goes 
“Star Wars” finds itself in a precarious position: It can either continue to replay its greatest hits by going back to the well of past, major characters as leads in series for a short-term boost (e.g. “The Book of Boba Fett,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi”) or tread new ground to sustain the...
TV Talk: ‘Abbott Elementary,’ ‘Ghosts’ return for sophomore seasons 
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers viewing tips for the coming week. Broadcast television may be down, but don’t count it out just yet. After all, there were two broadcast hits to come out of the 2021-22 TV season: ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” and CBS’s “Ghosts,” both returning this...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking KDKA-TV’s new weekend anchor, DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket fumble
In this episode of the “Pittsburgh Pop” podcast, host Tim Benz and TV Talk columnist Rob Owen discuss Pittsburgh pop culture news of the moment, including KDKA-TV’s newly-appointed weekend evening and late news anchor, Erika Stanish. Paul Martino had anchored those newscasts for years before he was pulled from the...
TV Talk: CMU grad plays an exec on a TV comedy in Hulu’s ‘Reboot’
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. With all the sequel series and reboots on TV and streaming services in recent years (see NBC’s “Quantum Leap,” premiering at 10 p.m. Monday), it’s unsurprising that some TV writer/producer would want to critique...
TV Talk: Aaron Donald on ‘Secret Celebrity Renovation;’ ‘Quantum Leap’ is back on NBC 
Although he’s made his NFL career as a Super Bowl winner with the Los Angeles Rams, Pittsburgh native Aaron Donald says he still feels “a lot of love, a lot of support in Pittsburgh” in this week’s episode of CBS’s “Secret Celebrity Renovation” (8 p.m. Friday, KDKA-TV). It’s the show’s...
TV Q&A: Why do local TV news anchors sometimes read the sports report?
Q: Why do Channels 4 and 11 have their news anchors deliver the full sports reports from time to time? I was a sportscaster for WBRZ-TV, the ABC affiliate in Baton Rouge, from 1981-93. Back in our day, sportscasters never did news, and news anchors and reporters never did sports....
TV Talk: Premiere dates for returning broadcast series
Premiere dates for returning prime-time broadcast network shows are below. Please note: For their premiere week only, NBC’s Thursday night “Law & Order” shows will air on WPXI’s Channel 11.2, MeTV, while Channel 11.1 broadcasts the Steelers- Browns game. The “Law & Order” shows will return to Channel 11.1 on Sept....


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