Submit your question to Rob Owen

This week's TV Q&A responds to questions about "30 Days," "Cash Cab" and the potential for merging local markets. As always, thanks for reading, and keep those questions coming.

-- Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV editor

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Q: Will Discovery Channel produce new episodes of "Cash Cab"? I found the premise extremely entertaining, and Ben Bailey is one of the most underrated talents in the medium.

-- Mike, White Oak

Rob: According to Discovery Channel, 40 new episodes will air at 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, beginning March 3.

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Q: Do you happen to know when the next season of "30 Days" is scheduled to run? I'm fairly sure that a third season of episodes was produced, but FX has no information on their Web site.

-- Mike, Collier

Rob: A third season of six "30 Days" episodes has been completed but no air date has been scheduled, although it seems like they'll air sometime in 2008.

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Q: Why were The People's Choice Awards aired on TV this week yet the Golden Globes have been canceled?

-- Peggy, Speers

Rob: Because the People's Choice producers changed the format of the show to avoid picketing. The People's Choice Awards sent camera crews out to tape winners' acceptance speeches on location where there would be no picketing.

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Q: Being an avid TV viewer and affected by this writers' strike, I would like to know if this is just a handful of people that are preventing the writers and the producers from negotiating? I was wondering this because there has been no negotiations going on in weeks. How much longer do you think this stalemate will go on? How will it affect the Oscars?

-- Patty, Johnstown

Rob: Well, we saw how the strike impacted the Golden Globes this week, so I suppose a similar fate could befall the Oscars, even though Oscars producers insist the show will go on.

My understanding is producers broke off talks, and the ball is in their court to get them restarted. I hope that will happen soon, but as of this writing, the outlook appears grim and the strike could stretch into spring.

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Q: I've got to admit I was taken aback by Conan O'Brien's "strike beard" and more so when I saw Letterman was sporting facial hair as well. It's so odd to see a beard on any TV host, which got me thinking, are they usually not allowed to grow facial hair? If so, is this their on-air picket sign? A sort of hairy "all is not right" sign?

-- Brandon, Waynesburg

Rob: Yes, a strike beard is just what it sounds like, a beard grown during the strike as a sign of solidarity with striking writers.

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Q: I am looking either for an episode of Boris Karloff's "Thriller" or Alfred Hitchcock's show in which a little girl plays with an imaginary friend who is actually a doll that comes to life and takes the little girl's place after being chased away by her parents.

It was probably the scariest television that I have ever seen in my life, because when the two were alone the doll mysteriously came to life. Just like some music that I have heard this thing has haunted my wife and I, avid "Thriller" and Hitchcock addicts, since we saw it.

-- Mike, Charleroi

Rob: It appears that you're talking about the episode "Child's Play" from season one of "Boris Karloff's Thriller." A different 1970s "Thriller" series is available on DVD, but I couldn't find the 1960 series with the "Child's Play" episode on DVD.

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Q: Any word on the status of Showtime's "The Brotherhood"? Has it been canceled?

-- Randall, West Mifflin

Rob: No decision has been made, according to Showtime.

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Q: On game shows such as "Jeopardy!" how often do they tape these shows, and usually how many at a time?

-- Linda, Brookline

Rob: "Jeopardy!" tapes 10 shows in two days every other week, according to the show's publicist. He said "Wheel of Fortune" adheres to a similar schedule.

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Q: I've written in numerous times, so I'm sure you've noticed that not only am I a local news junkie, but a weather geek, too. So, with that in mind, what's your opinion on the recent announcement of The Weather Channel's sale? I've already read that NBC, News Corp, and Comcast are all potential buyers. Here are my gripes:

News Corp. -- NO. I can already see it ... "The FOX Weather Channel ... We Forecast, You Decide." Yet, somehow, all the global warming stories they'd show would end up only showing the Republican point of view.

Comcast -- YIKES. They already run a crappy cable company -- and their own station, CN8, stinks. I couldn't imagine them buying TWC, though.

NBC -- We all know NBC's attempt at an all-weather network hasn't done that well (WeatherPlus, cough cough). But, NBC has been cheap in the past, so TWC's $5 billion asking price could be too high. But, of the three candidates, NBC may be the best.

-- Tyler, Penn Hills

Rob: As a geek (but not a weather geek), I can't say I've given this pending sale and likely acquisition much thought.

The News Corp. purchase does give me pause for the political reasons you suggest. Comcast also owns G4 and E! so if it were run by that Comcast division, it might not be so bad (then again, when I think about synergy and the potential for E! personalities on the Weather Channel, maybe it would be terrible). So I guess I tend to agree with you that NBC wouldn't be a bad option.

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Q: Last week I watched the first new "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" show since its two-month hiatus and became increasingly annoyed with the problems that WPXI seemed to be having with the commercial spots. For relatively long stretches (30 seconds or so) I'd be treated to a blank screen with the NBC peacock logo periodically flying in to view. The same commercial for a local culinary institute would then be shown -- sometimes twice. By the time they cut back to Conan, the show was already well underway (in one instance it was time for another commercial break within 10 or 15 seconds after WPXI went back to the show). This happened at least twice during the course of the program and caused me to miss some segments. Was this a one-time thing or have other WPXI-aired programs experienced similar snafus as the station adjusts to its new facilities and technology?

-- Kevin, Pittsburgh

Rob: WPXI has had its share of technical glitches since the new facility went online. In this case, it was a total failure of the station's NBC feeds, according to general manager Ray Carter.

"At times we had no high definition, no standard definition. Even the NBC back-up dish went down," Carter said. "Without knowing the exact cause as of yet, we experienced a technical failure which resulted in the temporary loss of the NBC feed. We were forced to air the majority of prime and late-night programming in standard definition. NBC and WPXI continue to seek the source of the failure."

A sub-contractor for NBC was able to repair the failure last Friday and Carter said all has been well since.

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Q: Back in November you mentioned that Verizon's FiosTV package would not be offering FSN Pittsburgh in HD format until sometime this year. With the success that the Penguins have been enjoying over the last few weeks, has Verizon made any movement to get FSN Pittsburgh and Versus in HD into their channel lineup quicker than they had originally planned?

-- Brian, Ross

Rob: As noted on the submission page, we don't generally cover sports on TV here (that's Bob Smizik's domain), but as a follow-up, I asked a FiOS spokesman if there was an update on the time table. There is not.

"As you know, we have announced plans to add more HD channels this year, and we'll have more information about specific channels as we get closer to launching them," the FiOS spokesman said.

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Q: A friend forwarded me this link that I found pretty interesting about the Pittsburgh DMA absorbing Erie. Might be an interesting topic to ask local ND's.

-- Bill, Washington

Rob: I think it's just a brainstorm with no basis in reality. I can't imagine Erie and Pittsburgh merging. I could maybe see Johnstown, but even at that it seems unlikely. I put your question to three local TV station general managers and two of them responded.

"Counties are assigned to one market or another by Nielsen. Simplistically, a county is assigned to the market which receives the preponderance of its over the air viewing," explained KDKA general manager Chris Pike. "Counties can move from one market to another (and have) but it happens relatively rarely. I forget the exact formula but viewing changes have to happen over a longer period of time not just in one survey period. I can not think of any circumstance where one market has been completely folded into another and I certainly don't envision it happening here."

I seem to remember the Pittsburgh DMA inheriting a few small, rural counties a few years ago, but none with a city as large as Johnstown.

"Not a chance," said WPXI general manager Ray Carter to the notion of consolidation. "Nielsen hasn't eliminated a market in decades. You have four or five viable TV stations in Erie and a small handful in Johnstown/Altoona. Those markets will stand on their own."

WTAE general manager Rick Henry did not respond to your question.

"I don't need a call, but can you put something in the paper about what happened to "Life"?

-- Female caller

Rob: I get these all time and I'm always baffled: Do people really think the newspaper is made-to-order like a Whopper? It's especially amusing given that nine times out of 10, we've already had the answer to the question in the paper and the reader has simply missed it.