This week's TV Q&A responds to questions about "The West Wing," stumbling news anchors and HD channels on Comcast.
As always, thanks for reading, and keep those questions coming.
Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV editor
Q: Who is winning the ratings race on Sunday's at 11:30, between KDKA and WTAE in their sports talk shows? I prefer KDKA because they have a better format and presentation.
-- Ron, New Sewickley Twp.
Ratings released yesterday show it was close between KDKA and WTAE, but KDKA won that half-hour in November with a 4.9 rating and 9 share to WTAE's 4.1 rating and 8 share.
Q:What happened to "The West Wing"? After the live debate it seems to have disappeared. I've heard rumors that the show has been canceled and the move to Sunday 8 p.m. sure portends its death but, I think this program has made a good rebound starting last season. The show's plots are more compelling and ring truer than "Commander in Chief." "The West Wing's" characters and their conflicts are much less soapy. Don't get me wrong, I like "Commander in Chief" but I think it's less polished then "The West Wing." Perhaps the Geena Davis vehicle will have a greater social impact but as entertaining drama, "The West Wing" wins in my book.
-- Rob, Sarver
Nothing unusual happened to "The West Wing" other than what happens to a lot of lower-rated shows in sweeps: They get pre-empted. "Wing" returns with a new episode Sunday.
Q:I used to watch WTAE every morning when it was Sam Merrill, Kelly Frey, Jerry Martz and Ellen Gamble. They were the best. When Sam Merrill left and they replaced him with Wendy Bell, I just couldn't stand it. They used to be the top dog on morning news, but I have switched to KDKA. My friends told me that Wendy is off on maternity leave. Is there a chance she won't come back or change her schedule to weekend news only?
-- Judy, Baldwin
I don't foresee that happening, but given WTAE's win at 6 a.m. this sweeps, with Mike Clark subbing for Bell -- WTAE's first major sweeps win in that time period since last November -- anything is possible.
Q:Patrice King Brown is really nothing more than a news reader, but with ever greater frequency she seems to have trouble doing even this, stumbling over her reports on a regular basis. I know that she has been on KDKA for a long time, but do you think that station management would consider replacing her with someone who can do a better job?
-- Joe, Mt. Lebanon
I would like to know how Stacy Smith keeps his job when he seems to have a problem reading a teleprompter or stutters a lot when talking.
This is very annoying. Also he seems to interrupts his co-host.
-- Kathleen, Butler
Ouch. This is something I've long noticed, and although I've acknowledged it on several occasions, I've never been quite so blunt. But when two viewers -- and I did confirm they were viewers with no connection to the media business -- write in about both of KDKA's stumbling news anchors in the same week, that tells me this is a problem the station will have to address eventually. But until viewer frustration starts to show up in the form of ratings losses, the current anchor lineup will likely remain intact.
Q:In my opinion, KDKA newscasts are among the best in our area. This applies to all of the newscasts times throughout the day. My problem lies with Comcast Cable. WNPA/19 is not available in Weirton. We watch it quite a bit whenever we are visiting our son in South Fayette. Many of the KDKA news personalities are also on their sister station WNPA. How can we get Comcast to provide the Weirton subscribers with this particular UPN station?
-- John, Weirton, W.Va.
You're going to have to move to see it. WVTX is the "must carry" UPN affiliate for the Weirton area, according to a Comcast spokesman, so they won't be adding WNPA.
Q:In one of your previous Q&As, I remember you mentioning that CBS was going to fix the problem with sound drop-outs of their digital feed. While watching the second part of the two-part "CSI" Nov. 17, the sound drop-outs were constant again. I can understand that HDTV is a new concept, but it seems as if the dropouts always occur during crucial lines. Is there any word on when this is going to be resolved?
My second question is regarding new HDTV channels on Comcast. There hasn't been an addition to the HD lineup since TNT in April. With ESPN2-HD already out for awhile and no carriage and new networks such as FOX-HD, MHD (MTV HD), FOOD-HD expected to launch in early 2006, have we run out of bandwidth for new channels? Is Comcast going to add Fox Sports HD, I believe Armstrong has it.
-- Anthony, Brookline
1) Basically, they're still working on it. Here's what KDKA general manager Chris Pike had to say: "We have been working with our network, equipment manufacturers and area cable systems to resolve the digital audio issue. After attempting some software upgrades, we are in the process of replacing our digital audio encoder, which we are hopeful will fix the problem. Audio is sent to us as data and converted by a decoder to sound and then is converted back to data by the digital audio encoder for the digital audio feed. We believe that this is where the intermittent problem is occurring and have decided rather than try additional software upgrades to replace the entire unit. For all of our digital viewers, we are hopeful that this will be the solution."
2) According to a spokesman, "Comcast is currently finalizing negotiations with dozens of channels to bring additional HD signals to our lineup in the near future. As part of these negotiations, Comcast wants to make sure each of programmers have a substantial amount of HD content to ensure an ultimate viewing experience for the customer. Comcast has plenty of bandwidth available."
Q:Please tell me if you know what happened to the show "Related" on The WB, Monday and Wednesdays nights at 9 p.m. Nov. 21 was an original show, which I missed; it is supposed to be repeated tonight (Nov. 23) but is not listed. Also, a search for upcoming episodes did not bring any results. Is this show being canceled?
-- Sybille, South Park
Nope, not at all. Despite low ratings, The WB is sticking with it and being rewarded with some audience growth. However, I don't think you can rely on the Wednesday repeat to always be there; better to get into the habit of watching it on Monday.
Q:Do you think it's a conflict of interest for you to appear on KDKA's newscast?
From where I'm sitting, it seems you slam the other three stations pretty hard in your column, but KDKA always gets the benefit of the doubt.
Then to show up on their newscast? Were you paid for your appearance?
-- Julie, Pittsburgh
Paid? Otherwise reimbursed? No.
As to your contention that I go easy on KDKA, did you read the Turkeys column (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05329/611664.stm) or the Dr. Paul column (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05224/552594.stm) or the TV Q&A on a regular basis? I've also been accused of being too hard on KDKA to compensate for the fact that the Post-Gazette has a partnership with the station. If I can get it from both sides, I figure I must be pretty much in the middle.
Insinuations that I'm somehow in cahoots with KDKA aside, Julie asks a legitimate question about appearing on their air or any TV station's air. Frankly, the entire partnership between newspapers and TV stations puts any TV critic in an uncomfortable position, but whether or not such a partnership exists is strictly a management decision.
When I arrived at the PG almost eight years ago, I sat down with my editor to see what he wanted. It was decided I could go where I was invited, and, consequently, when invited, I have appeared on local stations to talk about TV, including KDKA (in reports and promos for the PG), WQED and WPXI-owned PCNC (it's possible I've also been on WTAE, but I don't remember being on that station).
The strictest ethicists would argue I shouldn't appear anywhere at any time on the medium I critique, and though it's a worthy argument, it ignores the reality that newspapers are a business and they can't ignore promotional opportunities. Plus, it's routine for TV critics to appear on TV. How else would we know what Tom Shales (The Washington Post) and Matt Roush (TV Guide) look like?
COMMENTS
Really more of a comment than a question, but WPXI "News" (and I use that term in the loosest possible sense of the word) is notorious for breaking into regular programming for un-newsworthy reports, usually weather.
I'm only 30 years old but I often wish fondly for the good old days when weather wasn't a big deal. In Pittsburgh, we have four seasons and should be accustomed to seeing snow, rain, thunderstorms and wind. THIS ISN'T NEWS!
Quite a few people have informed me that NBC responds to viewer complaints on this subject. I plan to give it a try the next time "Scrubs" is ended 20 minutes early because it's raining in Youngstown and that rain might be headed for us.
If all of these unsatisfied viewers e-mailed NBC, WPXI may actually be forced to honor network programming instead of slowly taking over the channel.
-- Amber, Shaler
To help show Pittsburgh's viewers how bad pre-emption could have been, and to answer Rachel's question from the week of Nov. 18, the Baltimore ABC affiliate pre-empted a "Desperate Housewives" episode in the 2004 season to simulcast a Ravens game. I was new to Baltimore (so I had no newspaper column such as yours to warn me), a Steelers fan and not a Ravens fan (so I didn't know there was a game) and watch no other programming on ABC (so I had no reason to see any warnings they may have aired). I wouldn't have been bothered by any of this, however, except that the Baltimore station decided to air the "DH" episode at 5:30 that afternoon, meaning when I tuned in, I'd already missed my opportunity to see the show. It is that which I found unacceptable and complaint-worthy. For what it's worth, I think when a show is pre-empted, it should air the following night in the middle of the night (so "DH" should be at 12:30 after Monday night's programming), in order to avoid just such the time issues that occurred on TAE. Just a thought.
-- Ann, ex-Pittsburgher in Baltimore
First Published: December 2, 2005, 5:00 a.m.
