Rob Owen stories, Page 26
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...
TV Talk: Pittsburgher looks for love on ‘The Bachelorette’Video
Tanner Courtad, a 30-year-old mortgage lender from Pittsburgh will be one of 25 men vying for the affections of Charity Lawson on the 20th season of ABC’s “The Bachelorette” (9 p.m. June 26, WTAE-TV). Courtad’s Instagram suggests he works in the mortgage business for Kiavi Inc. and is also a...
TV Talk: Taking the temperature of Pittsburgh’s TV market
Pittsburghers love TV, and data from a January 2023 Nielsen Insights report proves it. Even though Pittsburgh is now the 26th largest TV market nationally, it’s No. 1 in TV viewing in the top U.S. markets with the most advanced Nielsen measurement. Pittsburgh viewers ages 18 and older spend an...
TV Q&A: Will WPCW still air 10 p.m. news after dropping CW affiliation?
Q: If WPCW-TV will no longer have an affiliation with The CW come September, does that mean their 10 p.m. news and “Nightly Sports Call” programs will be canceled? — Xavier, via email Rob: It does not. I reported when I broke the news that WPCW will shed its CW...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking possible ‘Succession’-baseball connection, ‘FUBAR,’ ‘Survivor,’ WPXI newcomers
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 new on-air talent at WPXI-TV and a suburban Pittsburgh woman who came in second on the recently-concluded season of CBS’s “Survivor.” Benz and Owen...
TV Talk: Streaming services, cable networks schedule scripted summer seriesVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers viewing tips for the coming season. There are still a few summer series that don’t yet have premiere dates — notably Disney+’s “Star Wars” series “Ahsoka” — but here are the new and returning scripted cable and streaming shows viewers can expect...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh’s Heidi isn’t the sole ‘Survivor;’ Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in his first TV seriesVideo
Going into this 44th season of CBS’s “Survivor,” Heidi Lagares-Greenblatt of Jefferson Hills described a strategy of head-down, don’t-rock-the-boat, no-nonsense play. That worked for almost the entire season. It was clear from the first episode, in which she was barely featured, that Lagares-Greenblatt likely was in it for the long...
TV Q&A: Why did James Corden leave ‘The Late Late Show’?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: Why did James Corden choose to leave “The Late Late Show?” I enjoyed that program. — Gary, Leechburg Rob: Corden said in several interviews that...
TV Talk: WPXI-TV adds to on-air roster; Rick Sebak launches podcast
WPXI-TV made three recent on-air hires, including one familiar face (for those with a long local TV news memory). Adis Juklo (pronounced “add-is” “you-klo”), who grew up in Lawrenceville and Aspinwall, is the station’s new weekend morning meteorologist. Antoinette DelBel is a new full-time reporter. Lonni Rivera is on her...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking fall TV schedules, animated ‘Gremlins,’ ‘American Born Chinese’
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 Ming-Na Wen, who grew up in Mt. Lebanon and graduated from the Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama, lending her voice to a character...
TV Talk: Ming-Na Wen voices character in ‘Gremlins’ series; ABC, CW set fall scheduleVideo
Actress Ming-Na Wen, who grew up in Mt. Lebanon and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama, said she was drawn to a voice acting role in the animated prequel series “Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai” by her love of sci-fi and the show’s 1920s setting. The series uses...
TV Talk: Soaring fights, searing drama make all-family series ‘American Born Chinese’ a best betVideo
Based on the graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang, the Disney+ series “American Born Chinese” proves to be one of the year’s best surprises. A coming-of-age story that at times brings to mind TV greats “My So-Called Life” (though this one is from a boy’s perspective) and “Freaks and Geeks,”...
TV Q&A: Why no substitute when one of the WTAE morning anchors is absent?
Q: For more than a year, WTAE-TV has used three anchors on its morning newscasts and when one of the anchors is off, they never use a substitute anchor in order to keep three people at the anchor desk at any one time. Why don’t they ever use a substitute...
TV Talk: W.Pa. native writers in Hollywood explain why they’re on strike; NBC, Fox unveil fall lineups
Striking writers of scripted TV/streaming dramas and comedies have to make their case in an entertainment environment that’s changed radically since the last strike 15 years ago. During that previous 100-day Writers Guild of America strike that began in November 2007 — in the heart of the 2007-08 TV season...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking TV with retired WTAE-TV anchor Sally Wiggin
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, and this week they welcome a special guest, former WTAE-TV news anchor Sally Wiggin. Wiggin offers an update on her post-WTAE life (she retired in...
TV Talk: TV’s most memorable moms reflect American erasVideo
TV show characterizations, like all popular culture, simultaneously reflect the times and push the envelope. It’s how “The Brady Bunch” got away with its blended family concept in the late 1960s without mentioning that Carol Brady got divorced. One can track the changes in American culture through the roles of...
TV Talk: Former President Barack Obama visited Pittsburgh to film Netflix’s ‘Working’ documentaryVideo
Inspired by the 1974 non-fiction Studs Terkel book “Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do,” the four-episode Netflix docu-series “Working: What We Do All Day” not only counts former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as executive...
TV Talk: Broadcast networks plan summer series premieres, ‘Doc Martin’ back on WQED-TVVideo
With the writers’ strike in full effect — and the prospect of directors and actors striking when their contracts are up June 30 — networks are scrambling to balance the need for summer programming with contingencies for fall programming in the event the strike (or strikes) haven’t concluded by July...
TV Q&A: When will ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ end?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: When will “Grey’s Anatomy” end and why hasn’t it yet? There’s been HUGE turnover recently, and I thought the end of Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) would...
