Rob Owen stories, Page 45

Rob Owen
Rob Owen
Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
TV Talk: Pittsburgh families renovate, go ‘Home Again with the Fords’ on HGTV
The Pittsburgh-set home renovation series “Restored by the Fords” morphs into “Home Again with the Fords” for a new season that premiered at 9 p.m. Tuesday on HGTV. Pittsburgh natives and siblings Leanne (the designer) and Steve (the builder) Ford refer to it as “Season 3-1” since it’s their third...
TV Talk: Weekend anchor Brittany Hoke leaves WTAE-TV
WTAE-TV weekend evening anchor/reporter Brittany Hoke announced on her Facebook page she chose to walk away from her “dream job” at Channel 4 in favor of “freedom.” In her lengthy post, Hoke wrote there are “a lot of” reasons for her departure — she does not name them — but...
TV Talk: Media companies prioritize streaming services over cable
If one thing became clear about the TV business in the past year, it’s that media conglomerates are more interested in their streaming services than in their legacy broadcast and cable networks. Viewers can see it in the diminishing number of original series on basic cable networks (particularly among scripted...
TV Talk: New ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’ spin-off debuts in May
The latest spin-off from “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” puppet show “Donkey Hodie,” debuts on PBS stations, including WQED-TV, on May 3. Produced by Spiffy Pictures and Pittsburgh-based Fred Rogers Productions, “Donkey Hodie” is the second series inspired by “Neighborhood” characters, following animated PBS Kids series “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” which premiered in...
TV Q&A: When will Chris Meloni’s ‘Law Order’ spin-off 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: Do you know when the new “Law & Order” spin-off with Christopher Meloni reprising his role at Elliot Stabler debuts? — Scott via Facebook Rob:...
TV Talk: Eureka! Syfy debuts comedic drama ‘Resident Alien’ 
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. With media companies prioritizing streaming services over their basic cable networks, the number of original scripted shows on cable has started to decline. Other than “The Magicians,” which ended last year, Syfy’s scripted originals have...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh TV production bounces back; CMU grad stars in ‘Bridge and Tunnel’ 
Netflix’s horror series “Archive 81” has been filming in and around Pittsburgh since November and will be joined in a couple of weeks by another Netflix program, “The Chair.” Showtime’s “Rust” expects to film in March. Beyond these three series, 2021 local big-budget TV/film production is in a holding pattern....
TV Q&A: If I drop cable but want to see Penguins games, what TV service should I add?
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 really need to dump the cable portion of my Comcast bill. I saved your item about the Pens when AT&T SportsNet had their disagreement...
TV Talk: Marvel’s ‘WandaVision’ revisits sitcom styles through the decades on Disney+ 
Streaming service Disney+ debuts its first scripted Marvel series, “WandaVision,” which defies superhero story expectations in three episodes made available for review. But there are hints that action set pieces will come eventually during the nine-episode season. “WandaVision” finds Marvel heroes Wanda “Scarlet Witch” Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and sentient robot...
Joanne Rogers, widow of Mister Rogers, dies at 92
Joanne Rogers, a concert duo pianist and wife of the late Fred Rogers, died at her Squirrel Hill home Thursday at age 92 surrounded by family and friends. Known for a boisterous laugh, Joanne Rogers became the face of her husband’s legacy after his death in 2003, appearing on news...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh’s WPGH adds national morning newscast
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns Pittsburgh’s WPGH-TV, Channel 53, and WPNT-TV, Channel 22, tries to break into the morning news game with the Monday premiere of “The National Desk” (7-9 a.m. weekdays on WPGH). The...
TV Q&A: Why does background noise obscure Steelers announcers?
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 am not a guy that watches a lot of football. However, I seldom miss a Steelers game. I think my hearing is pretty good...
TV Talk: PBS reboots ‘All Creatures Great and Small’
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. It’s difficult to imagine a better TV balm coming off the annus horibilis that was 2020 than the latest production from “Masterpiece,” celebrating its 50th anniversary with the debut of a remake of an early...
TV Talk: Cable, streaming offer fresh shows to start the new year 
Even as broadcast network shows return to the air this month, production on programs at most of the major studios in Los Angeles did not resume as scheduled this week due to rising covid-19 cases. Many series were pushed back to a Jan. 11 production restart and others, including NBC’s...
TV Q&A: How were the ratings for ‘Dancing with the Stars’ with new host Tyra Banks?
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 were the ratings of “Dancing with the Stars” when comparing last year to this year since Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews were fired? —...
TV Talk: Joe Kenda recounts the cases of other cops on ‘American Detective’ 
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. On Investigation Discovery’s “Homicide Hunter,” Westmoreland County native Joe Kenda seemed like he retold cases from memory because he did: Episodes were based on cases he worked for the Colorado Springs, Colo., police department. In...
TV Talk: ‘The Bachelor,’ filmed at Nemacolin, is among midseason broadcast shows 
Premieres of new, returning and delayed-­by-the-pandemic series begin rolling out on broadcast networks next week, including the 25th edition of ABC’s “The Bachelor” (8 p.m. Jan. 4, WTAE-TV), filmed this fall under a covid-19 quarantine bubble at Nemacolin in Farmington, Fayette County. It’s the first time the show has starred...
TV Q&A: Questions about KDKA-TV on-air talent answered
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: Stacy Smith has not been at the KDKA-TV anchor desk in some time. He was giving reports from his home. Is this health-related? Also, I...
TV Talk: PBS revisits ‘Little House’ author Laura Ingalls Wilder
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. To mark the 85th anniversary of the publication of “Little House on the Prairie,” PBS’s “American Masters” does a deep dive into the life and literary work of the book’s author in “Laura Ingalls Wilder:...
TV Talk: Netflix’s ‘Bridgerton’ aches to be a sexed-up ‘Downton Abbey’ 
“Bridgerton” wants to be the next “Downton Abbey,” albeit hornier and with a more modern spin. While this Regency period-set streaming series from executive producer Shonda Rhimes (“Grey’s Anatomy”) and showrunner Chris Van Dusen (“Scandal”) can be fun and beautiful to behold (sumptuous, brightly-colored costumes and landscapes dominate in early...
TV Q&A: When will ‘When Calls the Heart’ be back?
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: When will Hallmark Channel’s “When Calls the Heart” return with new episodes? — Nina via voicemail Rob: “When Calls the Heart” wrapped production on its...
TV Talk: Peggy Finnegan bids Pittsburgh viewers farewell as she retires from WPXI-TV
Humble to the end, retiring WPXI-TV news anchor Peggy Finnegan twice tried to make Channel 11’s farewell coverage about everyone else. On Friday’s noon newscast, anchor Gordon Loesch tried to celebrate Finnegan but she turned it around and praised his work as an anchor and reporter over his 17 years...
TV Talk: Powerful, filmed-in-Pittsburgh ‘Ma Rainey’ debuts on Netflix 
The latest Netflix adaptation of one of Pittsburgh native August Wilson’s plays, the filmed-in-Pittsburgh “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” stars Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman in a period piece that feels relevant and timely. An almost unrecognizable Davis, jettisoning any semblance of vanity, stars as Ma Rainey, a real...
TV Q&A: Why so few episodes of ‘This is Us’ this season?
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 did NBC only broadcast two weeks of “This is Us” and “The Blacklist” and then they are not going to broadcast again until January?...
TV Talk: Time to catch up on the best TV of 2020
It’s inaccurate to consider this a literal “best of” list for that implies a TV critic can watch every TV series released this year. It’s nearly impossible for any one person to make such a claim in the current 500-series-relased-annually era, so instead consider this my list of favorites from...


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