This week's TV Q&A responds to questions about WPCW in HD, TV shows in syndication and the "Save Carson Beckett campaign." As always, thanks for reading, and keep those questions coming.
-- Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV editor
Q:Please tell me that ABC is going to pick up "Greek." It is a very funny and practical show.
-- Scott, Boca Raton, Fl.
Rob: "Greek" is not ABC's show to pick up. It's possible ABC aired episodes, but it's actually an ABC Family series. And just this week, the cable channel ordered an additional 10 episodes.
Q:How long does it take for the past season of a show to enter syndication (assuming that that series itself is already syndicated, of course)? Does it happen when the new season begins or does it take a year or two?
-- Matthew, Pittsburgh
Rob: Excellent question! And not one I had a precise answer to. But I thought KDKA/WPCW program director Mike Karas might know. In conversations over the years, I've realized he has a good knowledge of TV history, and he didn't disappoint with this one, recalling a time when TV shows were re-titled for their syndication runs if the show still aired in prime time (e.g. "Happy Days" became "Happy Days Again," "Laverne & Shirley" became "Laverne & Shirley and Company").
Karas said episodes that aired in the 2006-07 TV season in prime time, will air in syndication sometime during the 2007-08 TV season.
"Sometimes with newer episodes they may schedule them in sweeps period," Karas said, noting that the syndicator schedules which episodes air when, not the local stations.
Q:When will we see The CW in HD in Pittsburgh? Is it even available or is Comcast just being slow to add it to the line-up?
-- Mike, Lawrenceville
Rob: WPCW station manager Rich Davis said the station is still waiting for the Federal Communications Commission approval for a construction permit. WPCW is supposed to air its digital signal on Channel 49, but that channel allocation is being held up by a low-power station, WLLS Channel 49, in Indiana, Pa.
"There has been litigation involved, but we are confident that we will prevail and be awarded the permit," Davis said. "As soon as this occurs, we will get WPCW-DT on the air as soon as we possibly can."
A call to Larry Schrecongost, listed with the FCC as WLLS's licensee, was not returned.
Q:I noticed today during the noon and evening newscasts that they are doing the news in the newsroom. Is Channel 4 getting a new set? How often does each channel change their set and or slogans?
-- Ryan, Kennedy
Rob: Yes, as we reported earlier this week, WTAE is building a new set.
Set changes seem to occur at irregular intervals. In some markets, stations get new sets about every five-to-seven years. In Pittsburgh, wholesale changes seem to happen with less frequency on some stations but with more updates and tweaks to the set between major overhauls.
Q:Have you ever watched the local news with the sound off and only the closed captions telling you what is being said? I have, and the captions are sometimes so dreadful that the story is literally lost in translation. I sincerely doubt that anyone at the station is in fact monitoring the closed captioning. If they were, they would be most unhappy!
-- Tom, Mt Lebanon
Rob: I have noticed misspellings and phonetic spellings on a few occasions.
Q:I have a question about FSN Pittsburgh and DirecTV. DirecTV has a long list of FSN channels that will be carried in HD in September, but FSN Pittsburgh is not one of them. Is there achance of DirecTV picking up the HD feed?
-- Bob, Bellefonte
Rob: According to a FSN-Pittsburgh spokeswoman, "DirecTV is working to add satellite capacity for more HD channels. They plan to add a number of HD channels this September and then again in mid-2008, at which time they plan to offer local HD games produced by FSN Pittsburgh to their customers."
Q:Where can those of us who do not have cable find Steelers games listed as being on "NFL Network" (e.g. this coming Sunday) or ESPN?
-- Ann, Pittsburgh
Rob: I can't answer this one in a general sense (the Post-Gazette's Bob Smizik covers sports on TV), but I can answer it with specific regards to Sunday. I saw an ad on KDKA saying Channel 2 will have the local rights to the game this weekend.
WTAE has long had a history of carrying Steelers games locally that air on ESPN nationally.
Q:Did Comcast screw up or does Pittsburgh get punished with a blackout for the Cleveland Indians not selling out their stadium? Monday night ESPN2 was supposed to air the Red Sox-Indians game, but when I turned it on, there was ESPN News instead. Initially I thought it was a rain delay but then they started showing game updates. What gives? Are we really considered part of the Cleveland market for blackout decisions? I like to catch the Red Sox when I can and was disappointed I couldn't watch this game.
-- Andrew, Glenshaw
Rob: According to a Comcast spokeswoman, Major League Baseball is the culprit.
"The MLB has blackout restrictions and the Indians Game on ESPN was subject to those," said Comcast's Jody Doherty. "We are subject to Indians blackout because we have the Pirates and the MLB enforces those restrictions."
Q:Since you are fortunate (?) enough to be able to communicate with them because of your profession, can you please ask a Comcast spokesperson what they may have in store for us later this year, besides higher prices, regarding additional HD channels? I hear satellite providers will be increasing their HD channels dramatically later this year.
-- Bob, Lower Burrell
Rob: I asked your question but the response, I'm afraid, was not very illuminating.
"We are in constant negotiations to gain more HD content," Doherty said in an e-mailed statement. "As the content comes available and we secure the rights to it we will add the content."
FEEDBACK
Rob: Last week I published a viewer's letter asking about DISH Network dropping gay channel Logo. I tried for weeks to get a response from the network to no avail. After last week's Q&A a response arrived: "Logo has never been carried by Dish," Logo publicist Steven Fisher wrote in an e-mail. "We're currently distributed in 27.5 million homes across the country via multiple cable, satellite and other partners. While Logo is not carried on DISH, we are working with them and ultimately hope to have all our distribution partners carry Logo. We encourage current Dish customers to let Dish know that they want Logo."
This is regarding your answer to a letter from someone within the Save Carson Beckett Campaign.
Ignoring the fact that you seek to insult not only the letter's author but myself and countless others as well, by venomously hurling the moniker "geek" into your response (an adjective that I wear proudly), my only question for your royal-highness would be this:
What EXACTLY makes us "nutty"? That we show support for a television character and the actor who portrays him? That we have vested interests in a television show which you have deemed "obscure"? That we, unlike the sheep-like majority of television viewers, have the desire and ability to communicate that which displeases us about the entertainment that we not only pipe into our homes but ultimately pay for?
I really hope that you have the guts to back up your bold, insulting and unprofessional statements of Friday, July 27, 2007 by answering my simple query.
-- Christina, Covington, Ken.
Rob: "Nutty" was a reference to the "Jericho" "nuts" campaign of earlier this summer. And, no, I have no problems with geeks or fans of "Stargate Atlantis," though I'll admit I'm not a fan of this particular show. But if you need any evidence that I'm a geek myself, look no further than here or here or especially here .
But Christina is right that a larger explanation is in order. So fans and future-fans take note: This is a guide to how to make friends, influence TV critics (rather than pester and annoy them) and get what you ultimately want, attention for your show.
1. Understand that TV critics have, oh, about 200 different shows to keep track of. And just because you like a show doesn't mean they will, nor does it mean they will support it. It's our job to write about TV, not to publicize every fan campaign that comes along.
2. Do not publish a list of TV critic names and e-mail addresses and then ask everyone in the chat room to e-mail these critics. This is where many fan campaigns go wrong. All that accomplishes is to annoy TV critics who suddenly find their inboxes flooded with spam. And it is spam, especially when every e-mail is the same form letter. Some "Jericho" fans made this mistake in the week before CBS's press tour, e-mailing TV critics and begging for information. Most TV critics were already planning to write about "Jericho;" its resurrection was big news. Critics didn't need fans to offer marching orders. When I suggested the e-mails were annoying and that if they didn't stop, some critics would use it as an excuse not to write about the show, I received nasty, profanity-laced e-mails back. But the damage was done: During press tour I heard another critic say the barrage of e-mails gave him the excuse he was looking for not to cover the show. I'm not saying his response was a mature one, but nobody likes being told how to do his or her job.
3. What's your best bet for getting the attention of a TV critic without annoying him or her? Assign a fan in each city with a TV critic to contact that critic. Have them send a personal e-mail, not a form letter. Make sure they note they are local to the newspaper's market; that's always bound to get more attention. Understand that the critic may not be interested in the show. Because every TV show that gets canceled seems to have a "save-the-show" campaign associated with it, my own policy is to not hop on the bandwagon unless I feel a show is deserving. But some campaigns are high-profile enough that I would write about them regardless of my personal feelings. If I'd known one of the founders of the "save 'Jericho' " campaign was a Pittsburgher before the show's resurrection, I would have been a lot more likely to write about it before it got renewed.
4. Finally, accept "no" as an answer. There's a lot on our plates, seemingly more shows every day. Throw in local TV, and the TV critic job is one that can take over a critic's life. Sometimes that means your cries will not be heard. But maybe, just maybe, your pleas will be published, perhaps with some mild mocking attached, that, if you step outside the genre culture, you'd see is not altogether unwarranted (also, remember that this is TV, not life and death, and it needn't be taken so seriously). But you got the word out; your letter was published by the mainstream media. Take that as a win and be happy for it.
First Published: August 2, 2007, 6:30 p.m.
