Submit your question to Rob Owen

This week's TV Q&A responds to questions about "The 4400," "Flip This House" and celebs on talk shows.

As always, thanks for reading, and keep those questions coming.

-- Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV editor

---

Q: When will the new season of "Kyle XY" start? Also, do you think that by revealing that Kyle is a human clone in last season's finale the show may have already lost some of its "mystery" ?

-- Jim, Upper St. Clair

Rob: "Kyle XY" returns to ABC Family with new episodes in the summer.

I don't think the writers/producers have blown it by apparently revealing Kyle to be a clone. Better to know something than to keep dragging viewers along forever with the same old questions. My true concern is that the show needs to maintain its mix of alienated outsider angst, family matters and the big mystery. Toward the end of the season it was all about the mystery. I hope there's a better balance in season two.

---

Q: Will the remaining episodes of "The Nine" be shown online by ABC?

-- G., McKees Rocks

Rob: ABC claims "The Nine" will air on TV again. If that doesn't happen, then the remaining completed episodes will be burned off online.

---

Q: What are the odds that they will make an "Arrested Development" movie? At the end of the series finale they hinted at the idea, but do you know if there is any chance that it will happen?

-- Niki, Pittsburgh

Rob: There's always a chance, but until a movie is announced, it remains just that.

---

Q: What is "Your View" of "The View"? I'd be interested in reading your opinion.

-- Linda, Pittsburgh

Because I'm usually working -- either in the office or at home watching shows to review -- I don't have much time to watch daytime TV. I've caught snippets of "The View" since Rosie O'Donnell joined the cast, but not enough to offer an informed opinion.

I will say this for O'Donnell and Donald Trump: They deserve one another.

---

Q: I know I need to get a life -- but: What happened to the mother on "That's So Raven"? I know they have a spinoff with the little brother. Was she just not needed? Or was it her plan to leave? (I watch A LOT of Disney Channel with my daughter)

-- Jen, location unknown

Rob: According to Disney Channel, in "That's So Raven" and its new spinoff, "Cory in the House" (9:30 p.m. Jan. 12), mom Tonya Baxter, played by T'Keyah Crystal Keymah, is in England studying law. Keymah decided she wanted to pursue other opportunities.

---

Q: That's it! I'm no longer giving ANY new series a chance! (OK, I'm lying.) But really. I can understand why networks pull shows that don't do very well in the ratings, but for goodness sake, why don't they give them a chance? I thought "Day Break" was smart, new and suspenseful. What does ABC do? Get you hooked and pull it with NO NOTICE!

This show was only meant to run during "Lost's" hiatus. Couldn't ABC just leave it on for a few more weeks rather than run reruns of shows that aren't particularly entertaining anyway? I mean, it's not as if this show had no end in sight. I guess now we'll never know any of the answers to all of the questions they posed. Well, at least I have an hour of my life back each Wednesday!

-- Heather, Penn Hills

Rob: Networks rarely give much notice when they yank a show from the schedule, though we always report in the Post-Gazette as soon as we can.

---

Q: Last year, A&E's "Flip this House" featured the group from Trademark Properties in Charlotte, N.C. This year only reruns from Trademark are on and new shows from Atlanta and San Antonio are shown.

Do you know if the Trademark group will be back on with new shows?

-- Kathy, Plum

Rob: They will not be back. According to an A&E publicist, Trademark is no longer part of "Flip This House."

"We have two new casts this second season and will be adding a third new cast next season," the A&E publicist said.

A new "Flip This House" episode premieres tomorrow at 8 p.m.

---

Q: I understand that celebrities do interviews and the daytime shows ("Oprah," "Ellen," etc.) when they are promoting a new film or show, but is there any rhyme or reason to do "Good Morning America" as opposed to "Oprah" or an interview with Barbara Walters or "The Tonight Show"? Are they paid?

-- R.J., North Hills

Rob: Talk-show guests are paid a nominal appearance fee (no more than a couple hundred dollars), which many will simply donate to charity rather than accept. They also get trinkets (a T-shirt from the show they're appearing on or a mug).

As far as which shows they'd go on, "Oprah" is probably the biggest coup among the ones you mention. Because her show is largely independent of a network, any pressure to book a guest can be ignored, whereas "The Tonight Show," for example, probably has to have guests on to promote other NBC properties.

---

Q: What ever happened to the shows "The Shield" and "The 4400"?

-- Mike, Norwich, N.Y.

Rob: Nothing but a normal hiatus. "The 4400" will be back this summer and "The Shield" will return sometime in 2007, most likely in March.

---

Q: On NBC's "Today" show, there is a guy in the outside audience named Linny. He's become a regular and somewhat of a celeb. Can you find a brief biography of him? I presume he lives near the studio. What's his story? Family? Job? Retired? He's a fascinating character on the show and we know so little about him.

-- Jim, Roseburg, Ore.

Rob: The New York Times profiled Linny earlier this year. According to the Times article, Linny Boyette, the ultimate "Today" fan, was born in Jamaica and raised in both New York and London. He's described as a "retired United States Army man" who is a childless bachelor who commutes from the Bronx to the "Today" studio in Manhattan six days a week.

You can purchase the full New York Times article here.

---

Q: Just curious about the pledge drives on WQED this year. Are they really hurting for money or are they just getting greedy? So far the only programming my pledge dollars have supported are more pledge drives. I will not be renewing in the future because of this. Do they have plans to cut back on them in 2007?

-- Jennifer, Economy

Rob: At last week's WQED Multimedia board meeting, director of local and national on-air fundraising and production Linda Taggart offered a whole presentation on the station's plans for pledge. It was fascinating stuff.

She showed how pledging core programs ("Nature," "Masterpiece Theatre") brings in far less money than pledge events like an Italian singer or Suze Orman (the Top 10 pledge events in 2006 brought in $179,640 and pledging for the Top 10 core programs brought in only $56,660). But Taggart said she'll continue to pledge core programs and hope that fans support them.

Taking a page from public radio, WQED will experiment with goals of "20 new members" rather than a goal of $10,000 "in the next hour."

WQED will also make greater efforts to retain new members by giving them more reasons to feel an affinity with the station through more communication and "donor education."

She's more fond of live pledge than pre-recorded pledge events that don't generate as much of a bond with viewers and their local station.

As far as cutting down on the number of pledge days, that's already happened at WQED-FM. Taggart said on the TV side, it's certainly a goal to reduce the number of pledge days, but it's dependent on WQED developing new revenue streams and greater viewer support.

---

Q: A TV station is turning 50 next year! I was wondering if WPXI will have a special logo next year to celebrate their 50th year on TV!

-- J.P., South Fayette

Rob: No plans for a special logo, according to general manager Ray Carter, but there will be a 50th anniversary on-air campaign. The opening of the station's new building just off I-279 near the McKnight Road exit will be a part of the station's anniversary celebration.

---

FEEDBACK

Not really a question but more information on DVRs. In your column about Comcast's DVR and issues of it not recording, my suggestion is to by a DVD Recorder with a hard drive. Panasonic makes a couple different models, some with a VCR built in, too. It has TV Guide as your information to set up recording, or you can do it manually and tell it to record daily, weekly or only once. You can also adjust the times if a program is going to start early or run long. Another plus is if you want to burn a copy of what you have recorded, I do this quite a bit. Something to ponder for you and your readers.

-- Adam K. Smith, North Fayette

I'm a Pittsburgh-area transplant STUCK south of Baltimore. We have Comcast, Millennium Digital Media and Verizon's FIOS in our area all using Motorola DVR boxes. The issues you cite happen nationwide to ALL versions of the Moto box. I have agonized with others and come to my own conclusions about the DVR idiosyncrasies. They are:

1. When trying to record HD, if your picture begins to pixellate, the box sees this as an interruption of service and stops the recording.

2. If you try to schedule two at the same time with the box off, you can't turn it on until both are done being recorded (to work around this, you must leave the box on all the time).

3. While recording two shows, the DVR shows "MUTE" on the screen and no sound occurs (to work around this, you must leave the box on all time and on one of channels you wish to record).

4. DVR always seems sluggish. This is due to live TV. The box buffers live TV so you can pause and rewind.

I have had all kinds of DVR/PVR devices on PC's, from cable companies and from other providers. The best is ReplayTV, but alas they do not support HD recording.

-- Patrick Ignaczak, Pasadena, Md.

Thank you for keeping the story about Rev. Brent Dugan alive. He meant a lot to many people, and the story of KDKA's role in his death is sickening.

Interestingly, The New York Times ran an article last week about gay parishioners and pastors in fundamentalist churches, and how difficult life is for them. The Dugan story, although not about a fundamentalist preacher, certainly fits into that tale. He was lovingly accepted by so many people, and would have been forgiven, if embarrassed and shamed, by his private life being made public, even in such a distasteful way. But I believe that, knowing Brent Dugan well in the 1970s and '80s, and knowing his high degree of professionalism, that he simply couldn't bear this truth being known about him. And yet the real truth of the matter is that many people loved him and would have forgiven him and helped him through it.

-- Betsy Talbott, Glen Ellyn, Ill.

Happy New Year

The TV Q&A column may still be recovering from New Year's Eve next Friday, but will return rested (?) and ready for 2007 on Jan. 12.