Rob Owen stories, Page 12
TV Talk: Pittsburgh native Zachary Quinto returns to primetime in ‘Brilliant Minds’Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. PASADENA, Calif. – Pittsburgh native Zachary Quinto first hit it big in primetime on NBC when he played the villain on “Heroes.” This week he’s back on NBC, starring in new medical drama “Brilliant Minds”...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh-set Hallmark movie depicts local Alzheimer’s walk, namechecks local landmarks
Natalie (Ashley Williams) relocates to Pittsburgh in Hallmark Channel’s Pittsburgh-set “Falling Together” (8 p.m. Saturday, World Alzheimer’s Day), which features Natalie falling for her apartment building’s standoffish superintendent (Paul Campbell, “Battlestar Galactica”) and volunteering with the annual Walk to End Alzheimer’s. One of the film’s executive producers, Neal Dodson, pushed...
TV Talk: ‘Sopranos’ meets ‘Batman’ in ‘The Penguin’; Agatha back on Disney+Video
As a sufferer of superhero fatigue, I skipped the 2022 Robert Pattinson-starring “The Batman” and had no real interest in HBO’s “The Penguin” (9 p.m. today, HBO and Max). But once I started watching “The Penguin,” it was hard to stop. Events of “The Batman” get a recap at the...
TV Talk: Amazon announces ‘Pradeeps of Pittsburgh’ premiere dateVideo
Originally ordered as an Amazon Freevee series, when Pittsburgh-set “The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh” debuts all eight episodes Oct. 17 the show will stream on both Freevee and Amazon’s Prime Video. Filmed last summer in Toronto, the half-hour comedy series was created by Vijal Patel (“Schooled,” “Black-ish”) and inspired by his...
TV Q&A: Does KDKA-TV have another new sportscaster?
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 Suzie Cool now work for KDKA-TV? She reports on their high school and college football broadcasts, Nightly Sports Call and she is a co-host...
TV Talk: Streaming/cable spigot gushes with return of ‘Yellowstone,’ ‘Waverly Place’Video
“Yellowstone,” TV’s most-watched scripted series, returns in November but without star Kevin Costner (presumably his character will die off-screen). After a lackluster summer of premieres due to last year’s dual actors’ and writers’ strikes, production has caught up and there will be no dearth of scripted originals on cable and...
TV Talk: ‘Hacks,’ ‘Shogun,’ ‘Baby Reindeer’ dominate Emmys; Jonasi advances to ‘AGT’ finals
January’s strike-delayed Emmys telecast succeeded by giving viewers what they want: A celebration of the medium and its most successful shows, including cast reunions of “Ally McBeal,” “Cheers” and “Martin” among others. Sunday’s telecast of the “76th Emmy Awards,” honoring programs that aired/streamed between June 1, 2023, and May 31,...
TV Talk: ‘Elevated procedurals’ redeem an unscripted-heavy fall seasonVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers viewing tips for the 2024-25 TV season. The fall broadcast TV season isn’t what it used to be as budgets shrink, forcing networks to add more unscripted (re: cheaper) fare in place of the scripted shows they were once known for. With...
TV Talk: Ken Burns’ latest, ‘Leonardo da Vinci,’ highlights PBS’s fall; WQED-TV stitches together shortsVideo
Ken Burns tackles his first non-American subject in the four-hour PBS documentary “Leonardo da Vinci” (8-10 p.m. Nov. 18-19, WQED-TV), exploring how the artist’s work inspired future generations. PBS will air several election-themed programs, including its staple “Frontline” episode “The Choice 2024” profiling Kamala Harris and Donald Trump as they...
TV Talk: ‘American Sports Story’ recounts Hernandez case; Cam Heyward on ‘Hot Ones’Video
PASADENA, Calif. – Producer Ryan Murphy understands one of the few truisms in current pop culture: Crime pays. Or at least true crime stories do because American viewers lap them up. Next week Murphy embarks on a true crime story spree with his latest Netflix series, “Monsters: The Lyle and...
TV Q&A: Do political ads bump regular advertisers?
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: We are starting to see more and more political advertising on television as we approach the 2024 election. Are there rules in place to allow...
TV Talk: ABC moderators push back during presidential debate
June’s presidential debate was the most consequential in modern political history — it led President Joe Biden to drop out of the race. So the debate on Tuesday between newly minted Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump seemed unlikely to have such dramatic consequences. But ABC hyped...
TV Talk: When viewers’ broadcast favorites return
Want to know when your favorite broadcast network shows will be back? Find out below: “Abbott Elementary” (9:30 p.m. Oct. 9, ABC). “Accused” (8 p.m. Oct. 8, Fox). “Alert: Missing Persons Unit” (midseason, Fox). “All American” (midseason, The CW). “The Amazing Race” (midseason, CBS). “American Idol” (midseason, ABC). “America’s Funniest...
TV Talk: Max’s ‘The Pitt’ to film locally this week; WPXI reporter exits
Max’s upcoming 15-episode, Pittsburgh-set medical drama “The Pitt,” executive produced by Carnegie Mellon University grads John Wells and Michael Hissrich and starring Noah Wyle (“ER”), is filming the bulk of its scenes on soundstages at Warner Bros. in Burbank, Calif. However, Wyle, producers and likely a few additional cast members...
TV Talk: ‘The Old Man’ returns, ‘Universal Basic Guys’ premieresVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers viewing tips for the coming week. PASADENA, Calif. — It’s been more than two years since the end of season one of “The Old Man” but the FX series returns at 10 p.m. Sept. 12 (next day on Hulu) with back-to-back episodes...
TV Talk: Judge Judy returns to WPXI, more daytime changesVideo
There will be a minimum number of changes in syndicated daytime TV this fall on local stations — KDKA and WTAE will stand pat with no significant changes to their schedules — but perhaps the most consequential change, if past is precedent, will be the arrival of “Judy Justice” on...
TV Q&A: Where did Katherine Amenta land?
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: Have you heard anything as to where Katherine Amenta, formally of WPXI, has landed? I was very surprised when I heard of her exit in...
TV Talk: WTAE off DirecTV Stream only
Over the weekend, a retransmission dispute between the Walt Disney Co., owner of ABC, and DirecTV erupted, taking ABC-owned channels (ESPN, Disney Channel, ABC-owned affiliates) off DirecTV properties, including satellite-based DirecTV as well as internet-distributed DirecTV Stream. In a new wrinkle, this retransmission dispute took other ABC-affiliated stations, regardless of...
TV Talk: Enroll in FX’s ‘English Teacher’ for smart laughsVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. FX deservedly cleaned up in this year’s Emmy nominations — its “Shogun” and “The Bear” received the most and second-most awards of any series — but the network, which produces programming for both its own...
TV Talk: Jeff Goldblum causes ‘Kaos;’ Caitlin O’Connor honored; WPXI reporter exits
It’s a busy week for performers with Western Pennsylvania ties: Friendship’s Learnmore Jonasi competed and advanced to the semifinals on “America’s Got Talent.” (He’ll next perform on the Sept. 11 episode of “AGT.”) This weekend, 2007 Uniontown High School grad Caitlin O’Connor, who had a role in HBO’s “Winning Time”...
TV Talk: KDKA-TV’s Ray Petelin and daughter go viral with sweet videoVideo
KDKA-TV meteorologist Ray Petelin and his daughter, Elizabeth, have experience appearing on-camera together in his “Hey Ray!” segments that air on Channel 2, but the pair’s exposure reached a whole new level following Ray’s social media posts last week. Ray Petelin edited together interviews he did with Elizabeth at the...
TV Q&A: Is KDKA-TV likely to drop a meteorologist?
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 noticed that KDKA now has five meteorologists on its staff with the addition of Trey Fullbright. I am curious to know if there are...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh resident Learnmore Jonasi competes on ‘AGT’Video
Comedian Learnmore Jonasi, a 31-year-old Pittsburgh resident born in Zimbabwe, is having a moment this summer on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” making it into the Top 44 with his next appearance tonight (8 p.m., WPXI-TV) as he competes for a spot in the show’s semifinals. Jonasi, who said on “AGT”...
TV Talk: Director Lee Daniels exorcises demons in Netflix’s filmed-in-Pittsburgh ‘The Deliverance’Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Director Lee Daniels approached his filmed-and-set-in-Pittsburgh exorcism thriller “The Deliverance,” streaming Friday on Netflix, not simply as a horror film but also an exploration of a dysfunctional family damaged by intergenerational trauma. And his...
TV Talk: Lesley Ann Warren on Blake Edwards, making ‘Clue’; August Wilson’s ‘Piano Lesson’ slatedVideo
PBS’s latest “American Masters” film, “Blake Edwards: A Love Story in 24 Frames” (9 p.m. Aug. 27, WQED-TV), proves entertaining and easily watchable regardless of a viewer’s familiarity with Edwards’ films. Directed, produced and co-written by Danny Gold (“Killing Me Softly with His Songs”), Edwards’ widow, Julie Andrews, leads viewers...
