TV Talk: ‘Dark Winds,’ TV’s best current crime drama, back on AMCVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. There are grittier, hipper, more popular crime dramas coursing through the TV/streaming ecosystem – “Tulsa King,” “Presumed Innocent,” “The Rookie” — but none of those shows can match the quality of AMC’s “Dark Winds,” returning...
TV Talk: Winning host Conan O’Brien presides over niche Oscars
It was tough for the 97th annual Academy Awards telecast to put its best foot forward when so many viewers saw so few of the niche movies nominated for best picture, an award that ultimately went to “Anora,” which won five Oscars total. The best Oscar telecast producers could do...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh doctors give ‘The Pitt’ a positive prognosis
For staff in the Allegheny General Hospital emergency room, Max’s Pittsburgh-set “The Pitt” isn’t just a TV show, but an education for friends and family about the work they do every day. “These aren’t things we actually talk about with our golf group or friends group or at the dinner...
TV Talk: Joseph Cannon, Pittsburgh broadcaster’s son, stars in Lifetime movie
Churchill native Joseph Cannon, son of local broadcaster and former PCNC host Ellis Cannon, gets his biggest acting break to date this weekend with a role in Lifetime’s “Abducted in the Everglades” (8 p.m. Sunday). Joseph Cannon stars in scenes with Tori Spelling (“Beverly Hills, 90210”), who plays a mom...
TV Q&A: What happened to a reporter seen on WTAE?Video
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: Is “Rossen Reports,” with reporter Jeff Rossen, still on WTAE news? I haven’t seen it in a few weeks and the station didn’t respond to...
TV Talk: Why so many national news anchor changes?
Although this wasn’t always true, in the modern era it’s safe to conclude anytime there is an upheaval in the general TV order, the reason almost always comes down to one thing: money. This week, Lester Holt announced his departure later this year from anchoring “NBC Nightly News,” a position...
TV Talk: ‘Born Again’ picks up Daredevil’s story, brings it to Disney+Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Before the arrival of Disney+ in 2019, Disney licensed some of its Marvel characters to Netflix for series that originally streamed 2015-18, including “Jessica Jones,” “Luke Cage,” “Iron Fist,” “Defenders,” “The Punisher” and “Daredevil,” probably...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh native Tamara Tunie leads CBS’s ‘Beyond the Gates’Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Nowadays actors cross from one medium to another all the time: Meryl Streep stars in movies, Hulu and HBO series and on Broadway; Harrison Ford returns to Paramount+ this week in the second season of...
Retired KDKA-TV personality Jon Burnett dies
Former KDKA-TV weathercaster and daytime talk show host Jon Burnett died of suspected CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) following a 2022 diagnosis of the disease, according to KDKA. He was 71. Burnett shared his diagnosis with KDKA viewers in February 2024 reports by his longtime “Pittsburgh Today Live” co-host Kristine Sorensen,...
TV Talk: Robert De Niro stars in ‘Zero Day;’ ‘Suits LA,’ ‘Grosse Pointe’ debutVideo
Another month, another American cataclysm as the inciting incident for a conspiracy thriller streaming series. Following Hulu’s “Paradise,” Netflix debuts limited series “Zero Day,” now streaming all six episodes. “Zero Day” marks star Robert De Niro’s first foray into scripted series TV, but one wishes it was in service of...
TV Q&A: What’s up with KDKA-TV meteorologists playing musical chairs?
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 is going on with the KDKA-TV meteorologists? In the mornings, it seems like they are double teaming us, alternating between Ron Smiley and Trey...
TV Talk: ‘SNL’ celebrates 50 years; Pittsburgher back on ‘Jeopardy!’
“SNL50: The Anniversary Special” offered something for all fans: Those who come for the music (Lil Wayne and The Roots; Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard; Paul McCartney), for viewers who love the recurring sketches/characters (Mike Myers’ Linda Richman; Cecily Strong’s Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation with at...
TV Talk: Max renews ‘The Pitt’ for 2nd season
Midway through its first season, the Pittsburgh-set medical drama “The Pitt” has been renewed for a second season by Max. The series, which films almost entirely in Burbank, Calif., shot at Allegheny General Hospital on the North Side for a week in September, collecting scenes that have been inserted in...
TV Talk: ‘White Lotus’ drips with dread, soothes with dark humor; KDKA-TV hires reporterVideo
Even after the peak of Peak TV, few programs become topics of watercooler conversation because everyone is in their own silos watching their own thing. Still, it’s nice to have a known quantity back on HBO weekly. Not everyone will watch “The White Lotus” season three (9 p.m. Sunday, HBO,...
TV Q&A: When did ‘SNL’ start airing in Pittsburgh?Video
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: After watching the first two episodes of the “Saturday Night Live” documentary on Peacock, the memory came back: It was the fall of 1975. I...
TV Talk: Western Pa. native competes on Discovery’s ‘Moonshiners’
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Belle Vernon native Jason Bartolozzi never made moonshine until he started watching Discovery Channel’s “Moonshiners: Master Distiller” when it premiered in 2011. Now Bartolozzi, 45, competes in an upcoming episode (9 p.m. Feb. 18, Discovery...
TV Talk: Confusion and celebrities highlight Super Bowl LIX ads
Some companies bought ads during Super Bowl LIX that failed to make clear the purpose of the product being advertised, essentially setting fire to an $8 million investment (the cost to buy a 30-second ad, not including millions of dollars in production costs). Overall, the ads were not memorable (or...
TV Talk: Prime Video cancels winning comedy ‘Pradeeps of Pittsburgh’
In typical late Friday, take-out-the-trash (e.g. bad news you don’t want too many people to see) fashion, Amazon’s Prime Video confirmed it canceled “The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh,” its entertaining-for-the-whole-family comedy about an Indian family that immigrates to Pittsburgh. Although filmed in Toronto, the series was created by veteran TV comedy...
TV Talk: ‘Sanford & Son’ reboot evolves into ‘Clean Slate’ on Prime VideoVideo
Prior to his December 2023 death, veteran TV comedy producer Norman Lear signed on to executive produce a series that fits his oeuvre of pro-social, anti-prejudice comedies, from “All in the Family” to “Maude” to both iterations of “One Day at a Time.” “Clean Slate,” now streaming eight episodes on...
TV Q&A: What happened to ‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’?Video
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: The other two “Law & Order” shows have returned but not the Chris Meloni one, “Organized Crime.” How come? What happened to it? Is it...
TV Talk: 4 dogs from 2 Western Pa. rescues compete in ‘Puppy Bowl XXI’Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Western Pennsylvania will be represented by four dogs from local two shelters in Animal Planet’s “Puppy Bowl XXI” (2 p.m. Feb. 9, Animal Planet, Discovery, TBS, truTV, Max and discovery+). For its 21st edition, the...
TV Talk: ‘Recruit’ returns; Michael Keaton’s ‘Goodrich;’ WTAE hires reporterVideo
Netflix’s “The Recruit” is a poppier, more bubblegum spy show than Paramount+ with Showtime’s serious, dour and more authentic-seeming “The Agency.” But “The Recruit” is also more fun, a bit more of a lark that, profanity aside, could probably survive on a broadcast network. No wonder “The Recruit” comes from...
TV Q&A: Will Penguins games air this year on WTAE?
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 was wondering if you knew when the Penguins games will be on WTAE. I know they do a few every year on there. I...
TV Talk: ‘This Is Us’ creator follows NBC hit with Hulu thriller ‘Paradise’Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. “This Is Us” creator Dan Fogelman, who spent a portion of his childhood in Bethel Park, returns with his first new one-hour drama series since the partially Pittsburgh-set NBC drama ended in 2022. Hulu’s “Paradise,”...
TV Talk: How CBS’s ‘Watson’ recreates Pittsburgh in British ColumbiaVideo
VANCOUVER, Canada — Turns out Pittsburgh is big enough for two TV medical dramas. Three weeks after streaming service Max debuted “The Pitt,” set at a fictionalized version of Allegheny General Hospital on the North Side, CBS premieres “Watson” (approximately 10 p.m. today following the AFC Championship game, KDKA-TV), a...
