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This week's TV Q&A responds to questions about "V," "Scrubs" and baby birthdays on KDKA's morning news. As always, thanks for reading, and keep those questions coming.

-- Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV editor

Q: This week the "V" promos said that next week's episode was the last until 2010. What gives? Are they TRYING to kill the show?

-- Justin, 29, Squirrel Hill

Rob: No, they're trying to make sure it lives a good, long time, even if their approach seems suspect.

Here's the deal: Production on "V" shut down after three episodes because someone (studio? network?) was not happy with the show's future creative direction. I keep waiting for evidence of that on screen but so far I've enjoyed the series and haven't seen much reason for concern.

Production resumed for the fourth episode that airs next week and then shut down again. A new executive producer was named around the time the show premiered earlier this month (executive producer Jeffrey Bell is no longer with the series while Scott Peters, who developed the show, remains on board). Production will resume again in January for nine more episodes that will begin airing in March. The delay until March is both a factor of the production schedule and a desire to avoid competing with NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics in February.

Q: I watched ABC's premiere of "V." I missed last week's episode (forgot to set DVR) so I though it would be available via on demand. I have Verizon and I was shocked that a series that continues the base story week-to-week would not be On Demand.

What I saw was everything else except "V." They even had "Good Morning America" as an on demand choice.

Who picks exactly what show is available to watch on Demand'? WTAE, ABC or Verizon? Whoever it is should take another look at what they have posted: "Good Morning America," really????

-- Pat, 55, Conroy

Rob: These are the toughest questions to get answers to because 1) There are a million possible reasons as part of a rights owner's platform strategy and 2) the publicists I deal with primarily work on the shows and don't know about these digital distribution issues.

According to ABC in the case of "V" it is a "rights issue," which generally means the studio that produces the show (in this instance, it's Warner Bros.) will not allow the show to be available on the on demand platform.

The good news: Episodes are available for streaming online at ABC.com and Hulu.com.

Q: Does Simon Helberg, who plays Howard on "The Big Bang Theory," also provide the voice of Howard's mother on the show?

-- Sharon, 53, Observatory Hill

Rob: Fantastic guess, Sharon, but, no, it's not Helberg. Actress Carol Ann Susi provides the voice of Simon's mom.

Q: When is "Lost" coming back, and do you have any spoilers?

-- Emerson, Pittsburgh

Rob: ABC announced late yesterday that "Lost" will have a final, two-hour season premiere at 9 p.m. Feb. 2. The show will regularly air at 9 p.m. Tuesday.

I'm not a big fan of spoilers and the producers are refusing to share any footage from the new season in advance of the premiere (notice recent promos use recycled footage), but here's what I do know: ABC also announced the series regulars yesterday and they are Naveen Andrews as Sayid, Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Emilie de Ravin as Claire, Michael Emerson as Ben, Jeff Fahey as Frank Lapidus, Matthew Fox as Jack, Jorge Garcia as Hurley, Josh Holloway as Sawyer, Daniel Dae Kim as Jin, Yunjin Kim as Sun, Ken Leung as Miles, Evangeline Lilly as Kate, Terry O'Quinn as Locke and Zuleikha Robinson as Ilana.

Executive producer Carlton Cuse also tweeted yesterday that actress Rebecca Mader, whose character Charlotte died last season, will return.

I'm eager to have "Lost" back and sad about it ending but happy that it didn't run on too long like some other myth-arc shows (cough, "X-Files," cough).

Q: It appears that "Scrubs" is now on ABC. Is this its last year for sure, or is there a chance the new crop of students will get a couple of seasons?

-- Jay, Shadyside

Rob: "Scrubs" moved to ABC last season and got a semi-surprise renewal after producers created the show's series finale. Producers consider the new season a spin-off but ABC executives would not allow them to change the title. So we don't really know how long the series will continue.

Q: What do you think about Comcast buying NBC Universal? I wonder what changes may be made and if reality programming may become a bigger part of life in their networks given the channels Comcast already holds (G4, E!, etc).

-- Jeff, Ross Township

Rob: I think it will be difficult to judge until we see exactly what transpires. Some reports have speculated that Comcast will sell off NBC and just keep the more profitable NBC-Universal cable properties (USA, Syfy, Bravo, etc.). The most distressing report so far is that Comcast will retain NBC chief Jeff Zucker, who's probably most responsible for the peacock network's demise (although he probably deserves some credit for the rise of the NBC-Uni cable outlets).

Q: My question is about the ABC show, "Shark Tank." For those not familiar, it's a show where would-be business people pitch an idea for expanding or starting an enterprise and then ask the "sharks" (a group of successful business people) for an equity stake in the new operation. Have you seen it? My questions are: (1) Is it going to be renewed for another season? And (2) If so, when will the new season start? I can't seem to find any info about it.

-- Josh, Pittsburgh

Rob: I have seen "Shark Tank" and understand the appeal -- it's all about the wacky inventions and the personalities of the sharks -- but I do not watch it regularly.

ABC has not ordered a second season of the show but the network did order additional episodes to be made from leftover parts from the first season. No word yet on when those might air. The show seemed to do decently in the ratings after its August premiere but lost steam once it was competing against scripted series. That makes me think it's likely to return in summer or another time when there's not a lot of scripted competition.

Q: On KDKA-TV in the morning there is a segment where they show baby pictures and their birthdays. They used to announce the babies names and where they were from. Now there isn't even a lead in, they just start to play the music and if you are not glued to the set you might miss one of the pictures.

Is there some reason that they cannot announce their names anymore? Just curious.

-- Jeannine, 71, Baldwin

Rob: I have to admit, I was never fond of the anchors participating in the baby birthdays. It seemed a little rinky-dink.

As for the reason for the change, KDKA news director Coleen Marren explained, "The number of baby pictures we receive varies from day to day. We do have time constraints in the newscast, so to be fair, we stopped reading the names. By not reading the names, we can get all the pictures into the newscast and celebrate everyone's birthday."

That seems like a fair compromise to sate the desires of viewers who like to see baby pictures but spare the anchors from being involved in something that's relatively harmless but doesn't send a message of "this is a serious newscast."

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