The fall TV season is still a month and a half away but it's time to start thinking about what's new to look forward to or to avoid. Some of the coming trends of the season include:

• More comedy: The genre hasn't fared well in recent seasons, but ABC has four new comedies airing on Wednesday night alone. "Modern Family," in particular, has drawn positive buzz.

• Many spinoffs and remakes: The long-gestating "Family Guy" spinoff, "The Cleveland Show," will finally see the light of day in September. "NCIS" fans already watched the backdoor pilot for "NCIS: Los Angeles," which aired as a two-part "NCIS" episode in May. ABC's "Eastwick" is based on the movie/novel "The Witches of Eastwick."

The CW's "Melrose Place" reboot is a surprisingly competently made pilot, and ABC's mid-season re-imagining of the '80s sci-fi saga "V" turned out quite well.

• Many medical shows: In addition to CBS's Pittsburgh-set "Three Rivers" (about transplant doctors), there's also NBC's "Trauma" (about EMTs) and "Mercy" (about nurses and executive produced by Franklin Park native Gretchen Berg).

Next week I head out to the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Los Angeles to preview the new shows and new seasons of returning series. Look for multiple daily updates to Tuned In Journal blog -- at post-gazette.com/tv -- beginning Wednesday. If you're interested in instant TV news, now would be a good time to follow me on Twitter or Facebook. I'm registered as RobOwenTV on both social media sites.

PBS has told member stations that "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" will be available to air only one episode weekly beginning in the fall. This past season, stations that wanted to air the "Neighborhood" daily had that option. Not anymore.

"PBS is operating under very tight budget constraints, and it already has a full program lineup to support Monday through Friday," said Kevin Morrison, chief operating officer for Rogers' Oakland-based Family Communications Inc. "If it was offering 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood' on a daily basis it would only be as an option to the existing full lineup of programs, and that option is an expensive option for them, and the financial situation prevents them from making that an option."

Locally, WQED is making efforts to continue to carry the show weekdays.

Morrison said PBS remains supportive of the "Neighborhood," launching a revamped Web site for the show this week at pbskids.org/rogers.

"It's a demonstration of their continuing commitment to keep 'Mister Rogers' on the Web," Morrison said this week. "They put a lot of time and effort into keeping that fresh and alive, and it certainly looks good."

The updated site includes a section called "Neighbors of All Ages" (http://pbskids.org/rogers/neighborsOfAllAges.html) that invites fans to post their memories and photos of growing up with Fred Rogers. Video clips of Rogers are posted with more due this fall.

If you're among the few TV viewers in this market -- less than 8 percent -- who get TV signals exclusively over-the-air, take note: Some local stations are looking into adding repeater signals to help improve reception, particularly on the fringes of the Pittsburgh television market.

We previously reported on WTAE's plan to add a repeater in Oakland in late August to help reception in Pittsburgh's East End and on the South Side Slopes. In addition, WPXI has applied to the Federal Communications Commission to add repeaters in Derry, Westmoreland County; Uniontown; and New Castle.

KDKA hopes to get approval to add repeaters to stretch its signal in Morgantown, W.Va., and in Johnstown. WPCW will also look to add a repeater serving Johnstown.

There's no time table for when these signal improvements may take place.

Also, sometime in the next few months, WQED's channel position will change from UHF to VHF, although on most TVs and digital-to-analog receiver boxes WQED will still appear on Channel 13. When this occurs, reception may improve for some and deteriorate for others. A VHF antenna may help matters. When this change occurs, viewers will need to force their TV/box to do a re-scan to find WQED. I'll let you know when to do that once the change date is scheduled.

Earlier this month we reported on Comcast channel changes that will happen Aug. 3 and we said they'd be reflected in the Aug. 2 TV Week channel conversion chart. That's still the case for most of the channels, but Comcast changed its mind on channel numbers for some HD channels on former Adelphia systems too late for the TV Week deadline. Those changes will be reflected in the Aug. 9 TV Week.

Canceled Comedy Central series "Drawn Together" will return as a direct-to-DVD movie in March 2010. ... ABC has renewed "Wipeout" for a third season, likely to air next summer. ... Comcast has added HBO HD to its on demand offerings. ... Investigate Discovery's "Crime Scene University," filmed at Penn State, is now out on DVD ($19.98) with no extra features. ... Mt. Lebanon native Jeff Stimmel's "The Art of Failure: Chuck Connelly Not for Sale" has been nominated for an Emmy for outstanding arts and culture programming in the 30th annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards. ... Comcast On Demand has added "Bill Elmer's Little Show" in the "Your Town" folder. In his first show, Elmer chats with WDVE morning host Jim Krenn and Pittsburgh comedian Mike Wysocki.

TV Q&A responds to questions about the Emmy Awards, "The Bonnie Hunt Show" and TV coverage of the civil suit against Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Tuned In Journal includes posts on "Torchwood: Children of Earth" and "The Colony." Read online TV content at post-gazette.com/tv.

In this week's Tuned In podcast, we discuss the Emmy nominations, "Top Chef: Masters" and Comic-Con. Listen at post-gazette.com/podcast.