Submit your question to Rob Owen
This week's TV Q&A responds to questions about "CSI," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and KDKA reporters standing in the cold outside their office. As always, thanks for reading, and keep those questions coming.
-- Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV editor
Q: On the Jan. 22 episode of "CSI," a minor character mentioned a relative coming from McKeesport, Pennsylvania. Do you know if one of the writers has a local connection?
-- Jill, 43, McKeesport
Rob: "CSI" writer/supervising producer David Weddle said he added the local reference.
"My father's family is from McKeesport and I lived there for a year in 1985 while writing an unpublished novel about the town and my family," Weddle wrote in an e-mail. "The family ring that was mentioned in that episode is an actual ring that was given to my grandmother, Hilda O'Neal, by my grandfather, William S. Weddle in 1914 when he proposed marriage to her.
"William S. Weddle was a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and a prominent dentist in McKeesport who had an office in the People's Bank Building on 5th Avenue. My grandmother was the daughter of Buck O'Neal, who owned a saloon on 5th Avenue in McKeesport before prohibition wiped him out. My father, James Weddle, and uncle, William Weddle, were raised by their mother in an apartment at 1401 Union Street in McKeesport.
"I am very proud of my McKeesport heritage. I have called the high school a number of times over the years and gotten them to ship me McKeesport Tiger t-shirts, which I often wear around the offices of 'CSI.'"
Q: What are your thoughts about Laurence Fishburne as a replacement for William Petersen on "CSI"? It appears that if they were looking to keep the same demographics with their audience they picked the wrong actor. Petersen had a large following of 30-40-something females. Fishburne doesn't have the same appeal. What were they thinking ?
-- Debora, 47, North Hills
Rob: At the risk of answering a question that may have racist undercurrents ...
I'd say Debora is speaking for herself only. I'm sure there are women who like Fishburne or who will grow to like him. Also, I don't recall any William Petersen fan clubs existing when "CSI" first came on the air. It takes time for viewers to build a rapport with TV characters.
That said, Petersen did have a warmer vibe than Fishburne has shown in his initial appearances. That may change over time as he settles into the role and as viewers get to know his character. To me, casting Fishburne was an attempt to go with someone who is not a duplicate for Petersen. Time will tell whether or not that was a wise move.
Q: I know you were mad at USA because they changed the premiere date "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" after you did that great cover story, but is there ANY news at all about when the show will be back? I keep checking the "L&O: CI" site, and find just the usual old news, blogs, photos., etc. but NOTHING about what's happening.
In your professional capacity, can you get any more info for those of us who have been patiently waiting for so long?
-- Alison, 76, Edgewood
Rob: In the fall, USA said the show would air early this year. Now the show has been pushed back until summer. There have been reports of behind-the-scenes problems particular to the Jeff Goldblum episodes. The executive producer I interviewed at the time has been ousted and it looks like they're starting over.
A spokeswoman for Dick Wolf, executive producer of the show, calls the behind-the-scenes executive producer shakeup a "pitching change." A network spokeswoman said the network delayed the show so it can air alongside other USA series this summer.
Q: I understand that "Dirty Sexy Money" has been canceled. Are there any new episodes yet to air or is that it for this show?
-- Carrie, 41, Franklin Park
Q: Could you please tell me if "Dirty Sexy Money" has been canceled? It has not been on for several weeks and another show is in its time slot.
-- Donna, 65, Plum Boro
Rob: We reported the show was canceled and just a few weeks ago noted that the remaining, unaired episodes probably will never air on ABC.
Q: Do you have any information on the show "Breaking Bad" on AMC? The show was great, but I'm not sure if I've seen any episodes after season one. Bryan Cranston is great in this drama.
-- Joe, 36, Verona
Rob: We reported earlier this month on the new season of "Breaking Bad", which returns March 8.
Q: I've noticed for the past few weeks that "The Office" on Thursday nights doesn't have the "N" denoting a new program in the listing, yet it is new. I've almost missed a few episodes because of this. Why is this? Thank you.
-- Dana, 40, Upper St. Clair
Rob: Because of the length of the show's title in a half-hour box, it was cutting off the "N" for New. I've instructed our listing service to reduce it from "The Office" to "Office" in the future.
But here's a good rule of thumb: If the 9:30 show is new, which "30 Rock" was listed as last week, the 9 p.m. show is almost always going to be new, too.
Q: We just installed our converter box and ended up losing channels which is very disappointing. We bought a high quality box, but apparently we are stuck. I am intrigued by Retro Television Network on WPXI. Where can I find a program guide? I've never heard of half these shows and it is positively a treasure trove of mid to late century pop culture.
-- Sue, 38, Manchester
Rob: Listings for RTN can be found at our Web site by clicking on "Check Schedules" in the "More TV & Radio" box. RTN listings are also at WPXI.com.
As for losing channels after installing a digital-to-analog converter box, I've heard that from others folks. I'd suggest experimenting with both indoor and outdoor antennas. That may or may not help but the only way to know is to experiment.
Q: I know I'm beating a dead horse but darn it, it's fun. Why in the name of all that's holy do ALL the local TV stations have to do such long-winded, tedious, repetitive, long-winded, weathercasts? I understand that most people don't have enough sense to look out the window and see for themselves whether or not it's raining, snowing or sunny, but 8-to-10-minutes of Kevin Benson must be against the Geneva Convention. All I need is some weatherbabe looking cute and telling me what the weather might do tomorrow. 60 seconds and I'm good to go. Am I asking too much?
-- Mike, 46, Weirton
Rob: No TV station will ever satisfy every viewer. For every Mike I hear from, there's the guy who called to complain when one of the stations was leaving out average temperatures for the day.
Q: Any idea what is going on with WQEX 16.1 digital over the air? It has been off the air for past several days.
-- Charlie, 73, New Eagle
Rob: According to WQED, the analog transmitter was down last week -- Saturday, Jan. 17 to Tuesday, Jan. 20.
"Cold temps caused a break in one of the lines which froze the heat exchanger and we had to get a plumber in the middle of the night to make repairs," a station representative wrote in an e-mail. "Depending on how the viewer was watching the station, he/she would or would not have been affected. Some cable companies still had the feed, satellite companies had the feed, etc. Not sure which cable companies are taking the digital feed and which ones are taking it from the analog transmitter. For the most part, the people who did not see anything were over-the-air viewers in analog and digital. There was no overlap in when the analog and the digital were off the air. Then another part of the transmitter became inoperable and we had to get a replacement part, which arrived on Tuesday and we were back on the air later that day. Then on Wednesday we took our digital transmitter down because we had to move it to make room for the new WQED 13 digital transmitter."
Q: Do you know why KDKA has its reporters conduct their live reports right outside the KDKA building? Are they trying to make viewers think that the reporters are "live on the scene"? It's just very odd. The reporters get all bundled up to walk out the door. They can look inside and see the newscast. Why not just let them stay inside? It's the same story either way. It's silly I know, but it bugs me!
On Jan. 14 at 5:25 p.m., Mary Robb Jackson was reporting about a jewelry store in the South Hills that was burglarized. She had done the story earlier in the day and then stood outside of the KDKA studios to do her report. It was below zero that evening -- why didn't they let her just stay inside?
-- Raina, Pittsburgh
Rob: This practice certainly encourages sympathy for local TV news reporters in the winter.
"We believe it's important to have our reporters live, as opposed to on tape, to deliver the most up-to-date information on the story," wrote KDKA news director John Verrilli in an e-mail. "Our preference is to have them live on location, but when live trucks are not available reporters will be live at the station, either at our "flashcam" on the newsroom set, or outside our studio.
"As far as being outside, there are two considerations. On the practical side, we often have two reporters live in the same block of news so we need two separate locations -- one inside, one outside. Also, stylistically we like to mix up the look of the shots, so they are not all at our flashcam. It is not our intention to deceive the viewer -- to make people believe our reporters are on location when they are not."
Hmmm... I understand the reasons for this practice, but I'm not sure a live report really comes across as superior in the minds of many viewers, particularly when I hear from so many these days who feel that it's pointless for a TV station to be live from a location where a news event happened hours earlier.
Q: When is MLB Network going to be in HD on Comcast?
-- Chad, 30, Monongahela
Rob: Comcast has no date scheduled for such an addition.
A few responses to last week's Tuned In were published yesterday in Weekend Mag's Feedback column, but there were many more in agreement (surprisingly, nobody contacted me to disagree with what I wrote). Here's a sampling:
Let me say at the outset that I LOVE the Steelers, and I watch WTAE/ABC consistently, for both news and entertainment; however, let me vent about this issue, which has become VERY annoying ...
All Steelers coverage has become a "special report" for WTAE. The fact that ABC doesn't have the contract to air the game doesn't stop WTAE from horning in on the action. Having the "ticker" on the bottom of the screen, or interrupting with a "SHORT" report would be acceptable. Their "special report" getting "crushed" (your word) by other viewing options this past Sunday night, as you reported, proves my point: People out here just don't want to hear another lengthy re-hash, particularly by somebody who wasn't at the game in the first place! They watched it on TV just like we did!
Continuing on with extended coverage by whichever network has aired the game is one thing, but WTAE is just so desperate to be part of the Steelers hoopla, and it shows. Their "six degrees of separation" connection is, I guess, that Bill Hillgrove, head of the WTAE sports department, is also "Voice of the Steelers." But the thing is, he doesn't appear on these "special reports" all that much. If HE's not going to be giving first-hand highlights and insider information, why on earth would I listen to the anchors -- not even the sports team?! They all forget: We know how it ends! In addition, on Sunday night WTAE kept cutting back to "interviews" on the street. Trying to interview a bunch of drunks after the big game who nearly maul the interviewers, well, that's neither sports nor entertainment, in my view. Completely unneccessary. And now this week, leading into the Super Bowl, we are subjected to more and more coverage by WTAE. Sally Wiggin and Andrew Stockey have been in Tampa all week, and the local evening news is basically coming from there! And guess what, ABC/WTAE doesn't have the Super Bowl ... it's on NBC!!
Yoi, and double Yoi!
-- Charlene, Middlesex Twp, Butler County
I think your Jan. 23 column about WTAE interrupting regular programming for Steelers news reflected the over-the-top cheerleading approach of WTAE toward Steelers news. Granted, it's a big story, but is it the most important, critical story each and every night? For example, last Friday's 6 p.m. broadcast lead with Steelers news (a critical pep rally?) and ended with a story about which Steeler was the best at "staring down" his teammates. Take away the dual weather segments and there wasn't much time left for news of any other substance. Is the station now part of the Steelers promotional department?
-- Thomas, Cranberry
I was one of the many disgruntled WTAE viewers who complained to the station about its poor decision to pre-empt "Brothers & Sisters." In its response to me, online viewing was suggested. As you said in today's column, not only is this not a reasonable expectation given the graying demographics of the Pittsburgh market, there's another reason.
As I told WTAE, I was unable to watch the episode online -- and believe me, I tried, before the alternate broadcast time was announced -- because it was not closed captioned. Despite closed captions now being available on ABC.com, for some reason they do not show up on some/all online episodes, "Brothers & Sisters" being one of them.
Because I'm deaf, this meant I was shut out from understanding the episode until WTAE decided to air it again. Clearly, WTAE was not thinking on many levels.
-- Lisa, Mt. Lebanon
This issue with "Brothers and Sisters" versus the Steelers makes the point that too much emphasis is put on sports and little consideration for others.
Don't get me wrong. I'm happy the Steelers won. Even though we're originally not from Pittsburgh so we don't become so involved.
There are more important factors in this country and sports should not be the main priority in everyone's life.
Somehow we have gone wrong and this is why in our home WTAE will be a bad memory on their poor judgment to subject us to such nonsense. Everyone that cared knew the Steelers were going to the Super Bowl.
-- Beverly, South Park
"I just had to complain. On Channel 4, WTAE, every night at 7 they took off 'Inside Edition' to put Steelers on every night at 7 for the week. I'm all for the Steelers, but they shouldn't be ramming it down everybody's throat. They should put it on some other time when it's not prime time in the middle of the evening. I called and complained and they said they would pass it on but I guess there's nothing you can do but I just thought I would let you know."
-- Female caller upset at WTAE's pre-emptions
First Published: January 30, 2009, 5:00 a.m.