Rob Owen stories, Page 9

Rob Owen
Rob Owen
Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
TV Talk: Western Pa. natives star in new seasons of ‘Deadliest Catch,’ ‘Love Island USA’ 
Next week, Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch” returns for its 20th season (8 p.m. June 11) and for the first time in several years the show’s crabbers had the ability to catch red king crab during the October 2023 to February 2024 season (fishing for king crab was forbidden beginning in...
TV Q&A: Did WTAE hire a new weekend anchor?
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: Another new anchor was on Channel 4 Saturday night, June 1. Why so many new hires in Pittsburgh? Are all the stations going to make...
TV Talk: WPXI reporter’s live shot goes viral after ‘a woman tried to grab my face’
WPXI’s Andrew Havranek, the station’s Westmoreland County bureau reporter, doesn’t usually work weekends. But on Saturday during the 5:30 p.m. newscast on PCNC, Havranek was filling in, reporting from outside the Kenny Chesney concert at Acrisure Stadium when his live shot went sideways. Havranek said bystanders asked if he was...
TV Talk: May sweeps ratings released; ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ ends 
Although sweeps periods are diminished by daily ratings measurement, ratings periods in February, May and November still offer a snapshot of a Pittsburgh market that remains competitive. KDKA-TV crept ahead of WPXI at 5 and 6 a.m. in households (WTAE remained No. 1). But in the key demo of viewers...
TV Talk: A recovering Jeremy Renner struts confidently through Pittsburgh-filmed ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ 
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Following a horrific snowcat accident in January 2023, it was initially questionable if “Mayor of Kingstown” star Jeremy Renner would survive, let alone walk again. But 18 months later, watching him in the TV-MA-rated third...
TV Q&A: Where has Jeff Verszyla been?
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. Why haven’t I seen Jeff Verszyla on WTAE-TV lately? How come? — John, via email Rob: I reported on May 16 that Verszyla would be off...
TV Talk: Disney+ profiles Muppets creator Jim Henson 
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Before settling on the career goal of TV critic, I went through four distinct areas of job interest, all entertainment-­related. As much as I was a fan of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” it was always the...
TV Talk: NFL spreads telecasts among networks, streaming platforms 
Remember in January when the NFL’s AFC Wild Card game streamed nationally on Peacock and viewers were confused about how to watch it? Well, steel yourself for the 2024-25 NFL season with games on platforms as varied as Amazon’s Prime Video, home to Thursday night games for a couple of...
TV Talk: Point Breeze’s Victoria Groce wins ‘Jeopardy! Masters’ 
Point Breeze’s Victoria Groce won this year’s “Jeopardy! Masters” tournament on ABC on Wednesday night, vanquishing past “Jeopardy!” champs including Yogesh Raut, James Holzhauer, Amy Schneider, Mattea Roach and Matt Amodio. “Masters” began taping in mid-April with its final episode, where Groce won $500,000 and the Trebek Trophy, recorded May...
TV Q&A: Does retired KDKA anchor Stacy Smith star in an Ozempic TV ad?
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 Stacy Smith do a commercial for Ozempic where he’s stepping off a small airplane with clipboard in hand? — Susan, via email Rob: I...
TV Talk: Except PBS, broadcasters rely on competition, game shows this summer 
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Remember back in the ‘80s and ‘90s when broadcast networks used to put out a “Gone Fishin’” sign for the summer, airing mostly reruns? Then in the early 2000s to compete with cable, broadcasters upped...
TV Talk: Broadcast networks announce fall schedules 
This week, “the upfronts” took place in New York as advertisers committed to buy ads ahead of the 2024-25 TV season that begins in September. With no pandemic or strikes, this fall the networks get back to normal — albeit a new normal with more, lower-cost unscripted programs than ever...
Former WPXI reporter Dee Thompson dies at 84
Retired WPXI reporter DeHaven “Dee” Thompson died May 9 at age 84. Thompson worked at Channel 11 from 1974 until his retirement in 2009. WPXI meteorologist Scott Harbaugh posted a tribute on Facebook, writing, “ ‘Dee’ was one of the kindest people you would ever want to meet. … Always...
TV Talk: ‘Young Sheldon’ signs off; new KDKA freelancer
PASADENA, Calif. – CBS’s “Young Sheldon” signs off tonight with its final two episodes at 8 and 8:30 p.m. on KDKA-TV, exploring the aftermath of the death of Sheldon’s father (Lance Barber) from a heart attack and then closing its run with a finale that brings back the adult Sheldon...
TV Q&A: Why do Channel 4 anchors stand to read the news?
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 they make Kelly Sasso and others on Channel 4 Action News stand while giving us the news when other news stations don’t? I...
TV Talk: ‘Bridgerton’s’ return kicks off summer scripted series on streaming, cable 
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Netflix’s hit Shonda Rhimes-produced, Regency-period drama “Bridgerton” returns for the first half of its eight-episode third season May 16, capturing the events of Julia Quinn’s fourth book in the “Bridgerton” series, “Romancing Mister Bridgerton.” (Part...
TV Talk: Mister Rogers Lego set won’t happen; AMC’s ‘Vampire’ draws blood 
PASADENA, Calif. — AMC’s “Interview with the Vampire,” returning for its second season at 9 p.m. Sunday on AMC and AMC+, managed to eclipse the 1994 film in quality in its first season as it retold the first story of Anne Rice’s “The Vampire Chronicles.” The show’s first season was...
TV Talk: Abrupt departures abound at WQED-TV in recent months
Editor’s note: This is the second part of a column on the current state of WQED Multimedia. Read part one here. Pittsburgh’s PBS station, WQED-TV, has had its turbulent moments in the past and it seems to be amid another storm. Nine months into the tenure of new CEO Jason...
TV Q&A: Does the star of ‘Tracker’ do his own stunts?
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 really enjoying the show “Tracker” with Justin Hartley and when I was watching the show this past week, he skydived into a remote...
TV Talk: Does WQED still care about local programming?
WQED Multimedia eliminated five positions on April 29 amid a wave of staff dissatisfaction and concern about the future of the station’s local TV programming. Four of the employees exited immediately while one, IT director Mike Kobulnicky, was “invited” to stay on through June as the station outsources IT and...
TV Talk: Astronaut with Pittsburgh ties appears in ‘The Longest Goodbye’ on PBS 
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. PASADENA, Calif. — Retired NASA astronaut Cady Coleman says in PBS’s new “Independent Lens” documentary “Space: The Longest Goodbye” (10-11:30 p.m. May 6, WQED-TV) that even after she’d spent 159 days in space on the...
TV Talk: Billy Gardell ends ‘Bob (Hearts) Abishola,’ explores what’s next 
BURBANK, Calif. — Swissvale native Billy Gardell has experience with ending a sitcom. He saw CBS’s “Mike & Molly” through 127 episodes to its conclusion in 2016 and now he’s saying farewell to CBS’s “Bob (Hearts) Abishola” (8:30 p.m. Monday, KDKA-TV), which ends its five-season run next week. “I told...
TV Talk: ‘A Man in Full’ debuts; ‘Hacks’ returns better than ever 
It’s a busy TV week as networks and platforms debut shows in time for 2024 Emmy Awards consideration, including Peacock’s Holocaust drama “The Tattooist of Auschwitz,” the return of Max’s “Hacks” and the debut of Netflix’s “A Man in Full,” which includes a reunion of “American Rust” actors. ‘A Man...
TV Q&A: Are local channels faking when they toss to a network anchor?
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 local TV news affiliates make it seem as though when they are running news feeds from their respective networks they are live and...
TV Talk: SportsNet Pittsburgh available as subscription streaming app; WPXI back on DISH 
Pirates and Penguins fans frustrated with Comcast and Verizon moving the teams’ cable TV home, SportsNet Pittsburgh, to often more expensive tiers, take note: The cable channel is available as a direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service app similar to Netflix or Disney+. The SportsNet Pittsburgh app, called SNP 360, has a...


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