Rob Owen stories, Page 49
TV Talk: PBS’s ‘Philly D.A.’ docu-series follows progressive Pa. prosecutor
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Even before the 2020 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, attempts at criminal justice reform were beginning to take root, including in Philadelphia with the 2017 election of civil rights attorney Larry Krasner as...
TV Talk: Another Pa. accent showcased in HBO’s ‘Mare of Easttown’Video
Director Craig Zobel isn’t from Pennsylvania – he grew up in Atlanta – but for the past few years his work has taken him to both ends of the commonwealth, first for 2018’s shot-in-Pittsburgh “One Dollar” and more recently for filmed-around-Philly HBO limited series “Mare of Easttown” (9 p.m. Sunday,...
TV Q&A: What’s going on with KDKA weekend evening anchors?
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: Where has Paul Martino been? He’s no longer anchoring the weekend evening news on KDKA-TV. For at least the last three weekends they have been...
TV Talk: ‘This is Us’ goes to ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’
Two disparate Pittsburgh pop culture touchstones crossed paths on Tuesday night’s episode of partially Pittsburgh-set “This is Us.” In scenes set in Pittsburgh in the early 1980s, Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) took kindergarten-age sons Randall and Kevin to a taping of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” at WQED-TV’s studios. The episode, written...
TV Q&A: Where has WTAE’s Mike Clark been?
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Sunday Tribune-Review. Q: It seems like three or more weeks that Mike Clark hasn’t been on WTAE-TV’s evening news. Andrew Stockey keeps saying he’s in for him, but something seems...
TV Talk: North Hills teen appears in Amazon thriller ‘Them’
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Sometimes being the tag-along kid sister works out. For Sophie Guest, a 15-year-old sophomore in the Avonworth school district, tagging along landed her a small part in the 2012 filmed-in-Pittsburgh movie “Jack Reacher.” Now she...
TV Talk: ‘Deadliest Catch’ returns; ‘The Nevers’ debuts on HBOVideo
Westmoreland City native Wild Bill Wichrowski is back on Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch” for a covid-impacted season of crab fishing. Due to the pandemic, the state of Alaska didn’t do its annual crab survey, leaving crab fisherman to guess the best spots to fish when the season began last fall....
TV Q&A: Will WPXI add a noon co-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: Four months after Peggy Finnegan’s retirement and with the pandemic still ongoing, will WPXI-TV fill the co-anchor position on the noon news with Gordon Loesch?...
TV Talk: ‘Atlantic Crossing’ debuts on PBS; ‘Kung Fu’ comes to The CWVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Every now and then TV networks wind up premiering a lot of new shows all in the same week. This is one of those weeks. ‘Atlantic Crossing’ A rare non-British period costume drama on PBS’s...
TV Talk: Mahalia Jackson, Ernest Hemingway revisited in new programs
Two biographies of famous Americans – one a fictional movie, the other a documentary – highlight the next week of TV premieres. ‘Mahalia’ Gospel biopic “Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia” (8 p.m. Saturday, Lifetime) stars Tony Award nominee Danielle Brooks (“Orange Is the New Black”) as gospel legend Mahalia Jackson, who...
TV Q&A: How does freelancing work in TV 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: You talk a lot about some of the reporters, specifically on KDKA, being “a freelancer.” Exactly how does that work? Are any of the reporters...
TV Talk: McCandless native Greg Nicotero tells new ‘Creepshow’ stories set in Pittsburgh
It should come as no surprise that both stories in the season two premiere of McCandless native Greg Nicotero’s “Creepshow” are set in Pittsburgh. He’s an unabashed devotee to his hometown and his memories growing up watching WPXI-TV’s “Chiller Theater” before getting his earliest work doing makeup effects on Pittsburgh...
TV Talk: Heinz featured in ‘Soup of the Century;’ ‘Mighty Ducks’ premieresVideo
Cable’s The History Channel series “The Food that Built America” revisits Pittsburgh’s H.J. Heinz Co. in “Soup of the Century” (9 p.m. Sunday), a look at the rivalry between Heinz and New Jersey-based Campbell’s Soup in the late 1800s. Senator John Heinz History Center president and CEO Andy Masich features...
TV Q&A: Why so much turnover on local TV newscasts?
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 none of the weathermen last at WTAE? First Jerry Martz, then Stephen Cropper and then Ray Petelin left. — Diana, Harrison City Rob:...
TV Talk: KDKA-TV adds to its news team
Briana Smith started on the job last week at KDKA-TV, taking over weekend morning anchor duties. She’ll also report some weekdays and serve as a fill-in anchor as needed. She takes the place of Lisa Washington, who left KDKA in November to become a weeknight evening anchor at WNEP-TV in...
TV Talk: ‘48 Hours’ executive traces love of news to growing up in Pittsburgh’s West End
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Pittsburgh native Judy Tygard, executive producer of CBS News’ “48 Hours” (10 p.m. Saturday, KDKA-TV), can trace the inspiration for her career back to middle school and reading about pioneering journalist and Western Pennsylvania native...
TV Talk: Fox Chapel’s Sloane Simon talks about filming tonight’s ‘American Idol’
Sloane Simon, a 16-year-old Fox Chapel Area High School sophomore, made it to Hollywood Week on Monday night’s episode of ABC’s “American Idol” (8 p.m., WTAE-TV). But due to the vagaries of TV production and editing, her audition in front of the show’s celebrity judges where she received that “golden...
TV Talk: Disney+ debuts latest Marvel series, ‘Falcon and the Winter Soldier’
After the inventiveness of Marvel’s “WandaVision,” a meditation on grief that lead character Wanda tried to escape by inhabiting TV sitcoms through the decades, whatever came next was likely to pale in comparison, particularly for those non-Marvel devotees who appreciated the attention to pop culture detail in “WandaVision.” And so...
TV Talk: Mister Rogers gets a new statue at his alma mater
The late Fred Rogers carried the words found on a plaque at his alma mater, Rollins College, in his wallet: “Life is for Service.” Now Rogers’ life of service to children through PBS’s “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” will be honored with a sculpture to be unveiled on the Rollins campus in...
TV Q&A: Why so many WPXI-TV morning anchors?
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 WPXI Channel 11 morning news switch to a separate anchor for reporting the “breaking news” in the mornings? — Michelle, Penn Hills Rob:...
TV Talk: WTAE-TV hires meteorologist to replace Cam Tran
Hearst-owned Channel 4 has hired a replacement for Cam Tran, who departed for a Hearst sister-station, WESH-TV, in Orlando. Brian Hutton Jr. arrives from WNCN-TV, the CBS affiliate in Raleigh, N.C. He’s also an adjunct lecturer in meteorology at Mississippi State University. Hutton grew up in Johnstown and attended California...
TV Talk: Swissvale native Billy Gardell grateful for ‘Bob (Hearts) Abishola’ success
A few weeks ago, Swissvale native Billy Gardell received welcome news: An early third season renewal of his CBS sitcom “Bob (Hearts) Abishola,” returning with a new episode at 8:30 p.m. Monday on KDKA-TV. “That never happened to me on ‘Mike & Molly.’ They usually made you wait until May...
TV Q&A: What happened to WINP-TV’s Ion Plus channel?
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: What happened to Ion Plus on FiOS in Pittsburgh? I noticed the night of Feb. 27 it wasn’t on and now on Feb. 28 it’s...
TV Talk: Niecy Nash guest hosts ‘The Masked Singer’Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. In a completely unscientific poll a year ago just before the pandemic began, Fox’s “The Masked Singer” was the TV show children wanted to talk about most during a career day at my sons’ elementary...
TV Talk: HBO Max’s ‘Genera+ion’ explores modern teen life
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Until the debut of “Euphoria” in 2019, HBO hadn’t shown much of a desire to put on programming about teens. That’s changed for HBO, which last year added “We Are Who We Are,” and sister-streamer...
