TV Talk with Rob Owen

TV Q&A: Do KDKA-TV morning anchors color coordinate wardrobes?

Q: I’ve always enjoyed how the KDKA morning news anchors coordinate their outfits. Do they coordinate this the night before or does David Highfield just keep multiple ties at the station and choose one after he sees what his anchor partner is wearing each day? — Laurie, Bolivar Rob: Turns...
TV Talk: 27K apply to be ‘The Pitt’ extras; new Fred Rogers-inspired series planned

If you applied to be an extra when “The Pitt” films scenes for its third season in Pittsburgh Oct. 27-29, you’re in for some competition. More than 27,000 people heeded that call for background actors, according to a Movie Casting PGH representative, an overwhelming response. Although that seems like it...
TV Talk: Former Pittsburgher scripts Disney’s short form ‘Coven Academy’Video

Quibi, the short-form, professional-grade platform that lasted less than a year when it launched mid-covid-19-pandemic in 2020, failed fast. But perhaps it was ahead of its time. In the past few years, short-form microdramas proliferated online, growing into what’s expected to be a $14 billion global business this year. Many...
TV Q&A: Who died and made you chief meteorologist?

Q: Why does WPXI still continue to call their meteorologist “Pittsburgh’s chief meteorologist?” They have been doing this for years. Whenever I hear this, I immediately switch to another channel. — Dave, via email Rob: The station continues to use that slogan for the same reason they started using it:...
TV Talk: Apple TV releases locally filmed ‘Nocturne’ trailer; regional Emmy winners announcedVideo

Apple TV released the first full trailer for filmed-in-Western-Pennsylvania “Nocturne,” which streams its first two episodes Oct. 30 followed by one new episode every Friday through Dec. 25. The 10-episode first season, based on the crime novels “Lazarus” and “The Sandman” by Lars Kepler (a pseudonym for writers Alexandra Coelho...
TV Talk: Even peaceniks will embrace delicious drama of HBO’s ‘War’Video

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Shaggy and unfocused in the first half of its first episode, British import “War” (9 p.m. Oct. 1, HBO, HBO Max) grows into a cerebral, domestic legal thriller by the end of its first episode....
TV Talk: HBO revisits Dennis Miller’s ‘MNF’ stintVideo

Gotta admit, until I saw HBO’s announcement for its new short doc, I’d completely forgotten Pittsburgh native Dennis Miller’s two-season role, starting in 2000, in the “Monday Night Football” announcers’ booth. Turns out, that was part of the appeal for director Jeff Cameron (“Hard Knocks,” “The Shuffle”) in making the...
TV Q&A: What’s up with forecasters’ look in KDKA’s Weather Sphere?

Q: KDKA-TV recently added a “weather sphere” to its forecast. When the meteorologists are doing their forecasts, their skin tones look gray/green — not natural. I was in L.A. and was watching the CBS station there and they also have the same “weather sphere,” but their forecasters look natural. Is...
TV Talk: Next generation enrolls in ‘A Different World’ sequel seriesVideo

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. When TV shows return as legacy sequel series, the original creatives behind the show may or may not return. For Netflix’s new iteration of NBC’s 1987-93 sitcom “A Different World,” streaming Sept. 24, it was...
TV Talk: Networks cut costs, debut fewer scripted shows this fallVideo

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers viewing tips for the fall TV season. At first glance, the fall 2026 broadcast schedule looks typical with its mix of new and returning series. But look a little deeper, and you’ll notice there are no new scripted titles debuting this fall...
TV Talk: ‘The Pitt’ seeks Pittsburgh extras

Two-time best drama Emmy winner “The Pitt” will be back in Pittsburgh late next month to film exterior scenes for the show’s third season, and the production needs locals to act as background players in those scenes filming Oct. 27 through 29. The production seeks paid, nonunion background actors ages...
TV Talk: Lizzie Borden in Netflix’s ‘Monster’ among fall’s streaming, cable debutsVideo

There’s a pulp fiction quality to Ryan Murphy’s “Monster,” particularly in its new season devoted to Lizzie Borden (Ella Beatty, daughter of Annette Bening and Warren Beatty). It’s not just Lizzie’s murder of her stepmother Abby (Rebecca Hall, “Iron Man 3”) and her father Andrew (Charlie Hunnam, “Monster: The Ed...
TV Talk: Ross Guidotti signs off from KDKA-TV

Talking with KDKA-TV reporter Ross Guidotti is like a frank conversation with a buddy, a guy you’ve known for ages — even if he’s neither of those things. Guidotti tells it like it is. No gilding the lily, no choosing words uber-carefully or tiptoeing around potential land mines. He’s plainspoken...
TV Q&A: Can broadcast networks no longer afford scripted series?

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Saturday Tribune-Review. Q: Has it become prohibitively expensive for major broadcast networks to produce scripted series? It used to be in the summer, networks would try out new...
TV Talk: Ligonier-raised contestant competes on ‘Traitors: New Blood’Video

“The Traitors” became a reality TV phenomenon on streaming service Peacock with C-list celebrities playing a murder mystery game. NBC gets in on the action with “The Traitors: New Blood” (8-10 p.m. Thursday, WPXI; next day on Peacock), a “civilian” version (no celebs) that includes 26-year-old Wyatt Gillespie, who grew...
TV Talk: ‘The Pitt’ is it – again! — on Emmy night

For the second year running, “The Pitt” won the best drama Emmy at the 2026 awards ceremony and star Noah Wyle took home his third Emmy and second consecutive win for “The Pitt.” “I’m so grateful to everybody I work with,” Wyle said. “To all the men and women on...

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