Rob Owen stories, Page 25
TV Talk: Genre-hopping ‘AfterParty’ returns for vineyard wedding murder mysteryVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. PASADENA, Calif. — Apple TV+ generated buzz with the first season of comedic murder-mystery “The AfterParty,” so a sequel season was inevitable. Season two, streaming Wednesday, begins with Aniq (Sam Richardson) and girlfriend Zoe (Zoe...
TV Talk: Lifetime explores more V.C. Andrews’ stories with ‘Dawn’Video
Disney+ has Marvel and “Star Wars” brands. AMC has “The Walking Dead” and Anne Rice series (“Interview with the Vampire,” “The Mayfair Witches). HBO has “Game of Thrones” shows as its primary intellectual property. Lifetime’s entry in the IP sweepstakes is more down market and tawdry by comparison: Movies based...
TV Q&A: Where did WPXI’s Jessica Faith go?
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 up with Channel 11 meteorologist Jessica Faith? I haven’t seen her on air in weeks. — Lisa, via email Rob: That’s because she left...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking ‘Survivor’ strategy with Pittsburgh runner-up Heidi Lagares-Greenblatt
In this episode of the “Pittsburgh Pop” podcast, host Tim Benz and TV Talk columnist Rob Owen welcome special guest Heidi Lagares-Greenblatt of Jefferson Hills, who came in second on the most recent season of CBS’s “Survivor.” Lagares-Greenblatt reflects on her time on the show, how her engineering background may...
TV Talk: PBS explores impact of the ‘Human Footprint’Video
While we hear a lot about the human impact that’s resulting in climate change, the new PBS docu-series “Human Footprint” (9 p.m. Wednesday, WQED-TV) looks at other ways that people have transformed the planet. Princeton University professor Shane Campbell- Staton hosts this six-part science/travel series that begins with “Strangers in Paradise,”...
TV Talk: Apple TV+ Idris Elba airplane-set thriller ‘Hijack’ takes offVideo
Mix elements of the 1970s “Airport” movies with “Air Force One” and a dollop of real-time storytelling (think: “24”) and you have the key ingredients in Apple TV+’s “Hijack,” an entertaining seven-episode thriller starring Idris Elba. Now streaming, “Hijack” won’t be confused with great television but it is pretty good...
TV Q&A: Who are WPXI-TV’s weekend 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: Any news yet on who the WPXI-TV evening weekend anchor is since Ryan Houston departed in November 2022? — Joseph, via email Rob: Depends on...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh’s Zoe wins ‘Baking Championship;’ locals on ‘Bachelorette,’ ‘Jeopardy!’Video
She won! Mt. Washington’s Zoe Peckich, pastry sous chef at Ritual House in Downtown Pittsburgh, won Food Network’s “Summer Baking Championship” Monday night, pocketing the $25,000 grand prize and setting up the potential for future Food Network show appearances. It was actually a double win for Peckich, who grew up...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking Pittsburghers on ‘Bachelorette,’ ‘Summer Baking Challenge,’ ‘The Bear’
In this episode of the “Pittsburgh Pop” podcast, host Tim Benz and TV Talk columnist Rob Owen discuss Pittsburgh pop culture news of the moment including tonight’s season finale of Food Network’s “Summer Baking Championship” (9 p.m.) featuring Mt. Washington’s Zoe Peckich as one of three finalists. On last week’s...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh-set ‘Average Joe’ delivers ‘Breaking Bad’ vibes on BET+
The premise of the darkly comedic BET+ drama “Average Joe,” set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, sat with writer Robb Cullen for a long time. A Philadelphia native, Cullen created the 2003 FX comedy “Lucky,” which featured the first series regular role for Swissvale native Billy Gardell. Last year when BET+...
TV Talk: Amazon debuts magical realism series ‘I’m a Virgo;’ ‘The Bear’ roars againVideo
Filmmaker Boots Riley (“Sorry to Bother You”) delivers magical realism weirdness with Amazon Prime Video’s “I’m a Virgo,” sort of a “Pushing Daisies” with a darker Tim Burton vibe but less coherent storytelling. It’s definitely strange but often funny and sometimes even moving. Streaming June 23, the story begins with...
TV Q&A: Will Peacock no longer be free for Comcast’s Xfinity subscribers?
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 turned on Comcast’s Xfinity and it says Peacock will no longer be free after June 26. On screen, it says you can order it...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking Taylor Swift, Stan Savran, summer movies, ‘Secret Invasion’Video
In this episode of the “Pittsburgh Pop” podcast, host Tim Benz and TV Talk columnist Rob Owen discuss Pittsburgh pop culture news of the moment including the weekend’s Taylor Swift concerts and the passing of Pittsburgh sports journalist Stan Savran. The pair discuss summer movies, including box office failures so...
TV Talk: Former Pittsburgher is in the kitchen with Chef Carmy on ‘The Bear’Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. PASADENA, Calif. — Last summer’s FX- produced Hulu hit “The Bear,” about chef Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and his attempts to revive a grimy Chicago sandwich joint, returns for its second season with all 10 episodes...
TV Talk: TV’s most memorable fathers
Just as TV seared decades of TV moms into our pop culture memories, so too do we remember TV’s most memorable dads. Let’s hop in Mr. Peabody and Sherman’s Wayback Machine and revisit some favorites, good and bad, via superlatives: Wisest dad Widower and single dad Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith)...
TV Talk: WQED hires new CEO
WQED Multimedia named Jason Jedlinski, most recently general manager of The Hill, a digital political news operation in Washington, D.C., as its new CEO. In an interview Thursday morning, Jedlinski said he has been tasked by the WQED board to “usher in a new era of enhanced service that meets...
TV Talk: ‘Walking Dead’ takes Manhattan; W. Pa. native offers psychic reading on ‘Big Freedia’Video
Following in the footsteps of the Muppets and Jason Voorhees, it’s now the walking dead’s turn to take Manhattan in AMC’s latest spin-off, the six-episode first season of “The Walking Dead: Dead City” (now streaming on AMC+; 9 p.m. Sunday on linear AMC). McCandless native Greg Nicotero, a “TWD” mainstay,...
TV Talk: Marvel-ous ‘Secret Invasion’ showcases Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick FuryVideo
Two things about Marvel’s “Secret Invasion” can be true at once: Where Disney’s superhero franchise once had an easy-to-follow heroes-versus-villains plot, it has become a convoluted, labyrinthine ongoing story that requires a Ph.D. in Marvel (and viewing of all Marvel filmed entertainment) to completely understand. And yet, this latest Disney+...
TV Q&A: Will late-night shows come back like they did during the last writers’ strike?
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: During the 2007 writers’ strike, late-night talk shows (“The Daily Show,” “Colbert Report,” “Tonight Show,” etc.) resumed producing “scriptless” new shows (except “The Late Show...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking Tonys and CMU, Taylor Swift, ‘Based on a True Story,’ ‘It’s Ain’t Over’
In this episode of the “Pittsburgh Pop” podcast, host Tim Benz and TV Talk columnist Rob Owen discuss Pittsburgh pop culture news of the moment including Carnegie Mellon University’s showing at Sunday night’s Tony Awards, an excellent awards show telecast in spite of (or because of?) a lack of writers...
TV Talk: ‘Spider-Man’ star Tom Holland enters Apple TV+’s ‘The Crowded Room’Video
Hollywood has yet to produce a new movie star since the start of the social media era for many reasons — social media made stars overly accessible and less like chiseled faces on a Hollywood Mt. Rushmore; film devolved into all superheroes, all the time, sending actors scurrying to premium...
TV Talk: Kaley Cuoco charms again in true-crime satire ‘Based on a True Story;’ PFO launches podcastVideo
There may be no actor today as in tune with her strengths as Kaley Cuoco. Coming off “The Big Bang Theory,” Cuoco wisely threw herself into “The Flight Attendant,” a flight-attendant-turned-spy caper that made excellent use of Cuoco’s gift for wide-eyed facial contortions and physical comedy. She deploys those skills...
TV Q&A: Why does David Johnson change up his eyeglasses?
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 David Johnson on WPXI-TV switches among several pairs of glasses that he wears on Channel 11 newscasts. I’ve seen Lester Holt on...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking ‘Ted Lasso’ finale, ‘Stars on Mars,’ HBO’s ‘The Idol’
In this episode of the “Pittsburgh Pop” podcast, host Tim Benz and TV Talk columnist Rob Owen discuss Pittsburgh pop culture news of the moment, including a local fitness instructor/mortgage broker who will attempt to find love on ABC’s “The Bachelorette.” Benz and Owen break down the “Ted Lasso” finale...
TV Talk: Fox puts ‘Stars on Mars’ for competition showVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. If you’ve paid enough attention to TV for long enough, sometimes just a title alone will tell you what network the show airs on. The cheekiness of the title (“Stars on Mars”) and the ridiculousness...
