Submit your question to Rob Owen
This week's TV Q&A responds to questions about "Project Runway," "Gunsmoke" and the personal lives of local news anchors. As always, thanks for reading, and keep those questions coming.
-- Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV editor
Q: My husband and I watch "Dog the Bounty Hunter" and have been wondering what happened to Tim, Dog's brother.
-- Marylou, 53, Glenshaw
Rob: Tim Chapman was arrested in January 2008 and charged with "terroristic threats" and indecent exposure, which would explain his absence from the show. He was acquitted this past February.
Q: I was interested to see the first season of "thirtysomething" is now out on DVD. I'm curious as to why some TV shows are available within a very few years of their going off the air while some -- like "thirtysomething" -- take 22 years.
-- Sharon, 60, Lawrence County
Rob: There are a myriad of possible reasons but these are the most likely:
1) Music rights: The show used music negotiated contractually before the rise of DVD, making it cost-prohibitive to get DVD rights for the music after the fact. Another option some studios use: They replace the background music that was heard on TV with different music for DVD (see: "Everwood").
2) Sometimes, the ownership of DVD rights for a program is in dispute. That appeared to be the case with "Remember WENN" when I asked about it a few years ago.
3) The studio simply doesn't think there's a market for the show on DVD. "The Guardian," starring Simon Baker, was not slated for a DVD release until "The Mentalist," starring Baker, became a hit. Now the first season of "The Guardian" will be out on DVD in October.
Q: My wife an I have watched every season of "Project Runway," including the newest season that just started. I noticed that a lot of the camera work has changed as well as the production value with extra-tight facial shots and rapid camera changes from contestants to judges, especially during the elimination segments at the end.
Since the show switched from Bravo to Lifetime, and from New York to Los Angeles, did the behind the scenes crew switch as well? Still the same look overall but just not the same feel.
-- Ron, 31, West Mifflin
Rob: Maybe Ron is picking up on something I'm just missing. The show seems mostly the same to me, although Lifetime excluded the judging segment from the review copy I watched, so perhaps there are quicker cuts there. The production team did change in the move from Bravo to Lifetime but as far as I could tell, the series felt mostly identical.
Q: Do you know what criteria is used for TV shows to be placed on YouTube or Hulu or even NBC.com (my favorite shows come from the "Law & Order" franchise)? I missed a few from the past season due to travel, but I can never find the full episodes even on NBC.com.
-- Jonathon, 38, Bradenton, Fla.
Rob: The criteria is contracts. Networks strike different deals with individual program providers in terms of where shows will be made available after a broadcast. CBS and Warner Bros. are at an impasse, which is why "The Big Bang Theory" doesn't stream full episodes. I don't know the specifics about "Law & Order" but given that it's available on cable at seemingly every hour of every day, I could see a scenario where the right's holders might want to keep it off broadband and preserve the episodes for cable reruns.
Q: Is A&E burning off 'Flip this House' episodes? The show is only airing once a week on Saturday mornings with no replays through the week. Not that I care when it airs because my TiVo always catches it, but it seems to me a sign that the show is ending its run. Is it?
-- Mike, 40, South Fayette
Rob: It seems that could be the case but the network would not acknowledge that.
Q: I was wondering why hairstylist Nick on TLC's "What Not to Wear" was replaced by a new stylist.
-- Laura, 20, Shadyside
Rob: Networks are loathe to talk about the specifics behind recasting. This was all I could get from TLC: "The show is in it's seventh season and we have been making some changes to keep it fresh. This is one part of that."
Q: We enjoy watching old "Gunsmoke" reruns. Why aren't the "Gunsmoke" shows with Dennis Weaver ever shown on TV land?
-- Susan, 65, Danvers, Mass.
Rob: We've noted before that often only certain episodes are made available for stations or cable networks to run. Currently TV Land only has the license to air the last eight seasons of "Gunsmoke" (seasons 12 through 20). Per IMDB.com, Weaver appeared in the show's early seasons.
Q: Have you heard anything about a TV pilot potentially called "Munhall" with George Wendt? I was just wondering when it would air and what the story line is.
-- Linda, 41, Butler
Rob: I thought this was a Web series David Conrad was telling me about at press tour earlier this month but after leaving multiple messages over the past two weeks with the person I thought was the producer, I finally got a call back and it turns out she's working on a different project. So I'm back at square one. Anybody with information on "Munhall," please get in touch with me.
Q: I was enjoying "Time Team USA" on WQED and, after three episodes it seems to have disappeared. I know they planned on five or six and wonder if it's done for. I also enjoyed the BBC show which is still in production but hasn't been seen here for a couple of years. Any chance of either reappearing?
-- Don, 73, Pittsburgh
Rob: WQED aired four of five episodes produced. Why not the fifth?
"We just ran out of runway," explained director of programming Chris Fennimore. "We started our membership drive a little earlier than the national drive. The shows are all self-contained so they can stand alone. Since we have rights to the programs until 2019, I'm sure there will be opportunities to run it again at some time in the future. I am not aware of the BBC version of this program and I don't believe it was ever available to public television stations."
Q: While several of the female anchors in Pittsburgh such as Wendy Bell, Peggy Finnegan, etc. share news of their families readily on the air, for others like Stephanie Watson, Kelly Frey and Mary Robb Jackson nothing is said at all. Why is this?
-- Tom, Mt. Lebanon
Rob: I think it varies by anchor/reporter the degree to which they are willing to have their private lives to be made public. Even public figures are entitled to a degree of privacy, something I try to respect up to the point that it impacts what viewers see on the air.
Q: Is WTAE's Kelly Frey expecting?
-- Marcus, 32, South Hills
Rob: I've gotten this question about a dozen times in the past month and even though I've known the answer I sat on this one because of its sensitive nature. The story was not mine to tell, it was Frey's and she spoke with the Post-Gazette's Mackenzie Carpenter for a Health section story earlier this week about her pregnancy and her unborn baby boy, who has been given a terminal diagnosis.
Frey also addressed the situation briefly at the end of Wednesday morning's newscast, explaining on air the mix of joy and grief since her baby, Bennett Ryan, was diagnosed with a severe form of holoprosencephaly.
Q: I just saw an article by one of your counterparts at the Augusta Chronicle reporting that Comcast will begin adding a slew of high-definition channels there in September and October, including Comedy Central, The Weather Channel, MSNBC, TCM, IFC, MLB, and about 33 others.
Is there any news about a similar HD roll-out in Pittsburgh?
-- Mark, Squirrel Hill
Rob: Comcast is not going to tell their customers what to expect until they're ready to make the announcement. It's not in their nature.
"We have added dozens of HD channels to various parts of our system in the past 10 months alone, including the City of Pittsburgh, and we will continue additional HD launches in the City," said Comcast spokesman Bob Grove. "Plans for those are not yet finalized."
That said, it's probably a sure bet that HD channels that roll out on Comcast systems elsewhere will eventually come here. Comcast generally makes carriage deals on a national basis, not locally, especially when it comes to digital channels.
Q: Effective 8/3/09, Comcast stopped airing the station that broadcasts the noon daily mass from St. Mary's church Downtown. Many elderly people and other shut-ins really enjoy watching this. Any chance you can use your tremendous influence to get this back on the air?
-- Ralph, 49, Pittsburgh
Rob: If only my influence were tremendous. Comcast, which had been airing the mass on the channel formerly occupied by WBGN since it dropped WBGN in February, migrated the channel to a digital format on the basic tier earlier this month. It is now on Channel 190 at noon. (In the City of Pittsburgh, the mass is now on Channel 95 on the basic tier.)
"Your reader can easily continue to receive the mass and several more channels by taking advantage of the Comcast offer for a free cable box for one year," said Comcast spokeswoman Jody Doherty. "With the strong customer demand for additional services and programming, including more HD content and faster Internet speeds, we are adjusting the carriage of some analog channels to digital delivery. This does not impact the majority of our customers who are already experiencing digital cable."
This may be the incorrect area to voice this, but I, myself, as a senior feel the same as many critics about the early demise of "Three Rivers." You see it is a storyline that hits me, and many, as being rather morbid and depressing. Perhaps someone will not die every week but the whole premise of this show is basically based on someone's death and it being given to a match on a organ recipient list. It may be watched in the beginning to support a great young actor, Alex O'Loughlin, but the concept of this show will grow tiresome and bring more viewers down than lift up their spirits.
Yes, I am aware that there are other shows that show death, but this one will hit home too closely as the others basically are too unrealistic, even the medical shows now on TV.
I feel terribly sad for Alex because he does deserve support, but it won't hold, no matter how much his fans (and I am one due to his wonderful character in "Moonlight," Mick St. John) care about him. This poor man deserves a show that is more appealing to all ages and both genders, not something that leaves viewers upset as I feel this one will.
And as far as your stating the CBS is a top-rated network, I really must disagree with you. For too many years now they have become the most boring network on TV.
And in regards to Alex's rabid (I really do not, as a senior, appreciate being referred to as rabid like a diseased dog) fans not being able to keep "Moonlight" on the air, I think you need to find out the real reason "Moonlight" was canceled. It had not a darn thing to do with the archaic Nielsen Ratings. It was due to a disagreement between the head CBS honcho, Les Moonves, and Joel Silver, executive producer of "Moonlight." And like the unjust network CBS is, they took their toys away and went home which resulted in the cancellation of the best vampire show there was or will ever be.
-- Patricia, 63, Tucson, Ariz.
Rob: So this is going to be my fate until "Three Rivers" gets canceled or becomes a hit: Hearing from overly enthusiastic female fans of Alex O'Loughlin.
From what I can gather, these fans are split into a couple of camps -- one that will support whatever O'Loughlin appears in and another that remains resentful that "Moonlight" was canceled. Patricia, who doesn't understand that ratings denote the quantity of viewers not the quality of the programming, appears to fall into the latter camp.
First Published: August 28, 2009, 4:00 a.m.
