TV Q&A: Did Alby Oxenreiter retire from WPXI?

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’s the story with Alby Oxenreiter? He hasn’t been seen for about a year on WPXI-TV. I’m wondering if he decided to retire early because of his health condition.

— Jon, via email

Rob: It was a year ago this month that Oxenreiter had open heart surgery, including the replacement of two heart valves.

No, Oxenreiter has not retired from Channel 11.

“Thanks to everyone who has expressed concern,” Oxenreiter said. “I’m making progress and feeling positive but still working through some lingering issues. My health and recovery continue to be my only concern.”

Q: I’ve been a fan of “Masterpiece Theater’s” “Miss Scarlett and The Duke.” I was surprised to read that Stuart Martin, who plays The Duke, is leaving the series. I’m wondering how the series can, or if it will, continue when one of the title characters leaves? They have written his character out in the storyline but in a way that the character could possibly return sometime in the future.

Will they drop The Duke from the title? Or perhaps bring in a new character who can fill in as a new Duke. Will the series even continue?

— John, Green Tree

Rob: Earlier this year PBS announced the show will be retitled “Miss Scarlet” for season five once it becomes Duke-less.

The series will add actor Durant Pritchard as Alexander Blake, who “Masterpiece” describes as “a handsome former soldier and respected detective inspector who joins the force at Scotland Yard to replace William “The Duke” Wellington who has gone to America. Shortly after he starts his new job, he meets private detective Miss Eliza Scarlet (Kate Phillips).

“He’s not particularly shocked by a woman working as a private eye, so Eliza takes this to mean she’ll be given more cases,” the “Masterpiece” announcement continues. “But their relationship gets off to a rocky start since Blake has decided not to allow private detectives to aid in his investigations. As Blake and Miss Scarlet cross paths at various crime scenes across London, they can’t help but develop mutual respect for one another, and perhaps even an attraction.”

Q: I know that watching a show live can contribute to its ratings. I’m curious about the impact of recording a show. Does recording a show contribute to its ratings, or does it also have to be watched? If so, does it have to be watched in a certain amount of time?

— Jonathan, Monroeville

Rob: The only way Jonathan’s viewership would be counted is if he became part of the Nielsen panel and Nielsen hooked up devices to his TV that measured what he watches. If that happened, then, yes, Jonathan’s viewing of live TV, recorded TV and on-demand TV would be recorded by Nielsen. And, yes, I’m pretty sure you do have to play back the recorded episode for it to count as being watched. (There are multiple metrics for how long after a live event that playback can be counted; “live plus seven [days]” is pretty standard but Nielsen also measures — and networks do sell ads based on — viewership of programs played beyond the first seven days of an original telecast.)

Most people watching TV do not have their specific viewing counted; just the folks in the Nielsen panel (for May 2024, that was 1,131 homes for households in Western Pennsylvania and 935 people in the age 25-54 demo). Nielsen then extrapolates from that sample to approximate the average viewership of a program.