TV Q&A with Rob Owen

Jan 22, 2010

5:00 AM

This week's TV Q&A responds to questions about new shows, network changes and a missing digital sub-channel. As always, thanks for reading, and keep those questions coming.

-- Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV editor

Q: What were the best new shows you previewed at the TV critics press tour?

-- Justin, Shadyside

Rob: It's a little bit difficult to say because in many cases I saw clips and not a whole episode. How about if I first tell you about the shows I saw bits of that looked the most intriguing:

"Warren the Ape" (MTV, June): The puppet from "Greg the Bunny" gets his own comedy series where he's in rehab for assorted addictions. Dr. Drew Pinsky is his counselor.
"The Beekman Boys" (Planet Green, June): Two city guys move to a farm and try a new way of life.
"Life" (Discovery, March): A new nature series from the producers of "Planet Earth."
"Episodes" (Showtime, fall): Matt LeBlanc stars as a version of himself who gets cast in a terrible American remake of a hit British sitcom.
"The Big C" (Showtime, fall): Laura Linney stars as a woman dying of cancer.

And now for a couple of programs I have seen full episodes of:

"Treme" (HBO, April): Drama series from the producers of "The Wire" set in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. It's languidly paced, which may be a turnoff to some viewers, but it's also more accessible than "The Wire" was. Or maybe "The Wire" just made it easier for me to absorb densely layered, character-driven storytelling.
"Justified" (FX, March): Timothy Olyphant ("Deadwood") plays a quiet, deadly U.S. Marshal in Kentucky in this moody series whose supporting cast has loads of potential.

Q: Why is that when the first season of a show is a hit the network changes it instead of leaving it alone? For example, the first season of "Dawson's Creek" was great and an unexpected hit but in the second season they added a bunch of new characters nobody cared about. There are so many examples like this. Why don't networks go with the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" strategy?

-- Kate, 47, Greentree

Rob: It's easy to blame the network but that's not always fair. Sometimes the network forces changes but just as often the producers of the show make the call.

In the case of "Dawson's Creek," I don't think the writers had much of a plan for the series beyond its first season, which was a perfect little package of storytelling and could easily have ended at that point. A few years ago, I wrote about a book that chronicled the behind-the-scenes drama on that particular TV show.

Q: I noticed that a lot of Olympic coverage will be on a channel called Universal Sports. Do you know if FiOS carries that channel? Is there a way to get it?

-- Melanie, E. Pittsburgh

Rob: Turns out this is a tricky one.

The folks at Verizon say Universal Sports is available on FiOS TV in markets where NBC affiliates carry the channel on a digital sub-channel. WPXI does not carry the channel, so it is not available from any TV provider in the Pittsburgh market.

WPXI program director Mark Barash said there are no plans to add Universal Sports to the WPXI digital sub-channel offerings.

"There will be no live Olympic event coverage on the Universal Sports Channel," Barash wrote in an e-mail.

I put this question to Comcast, too.

"NBC will televise all its events on networks available to all Comcast customers: NBC, CNBC, MSNBC and USA, with some live coverage available at NBCOlympics.com," according to Comcast spokesman Bob Grove. "Universal Sports, which we do not carry, will not carry any live events."

VOICE MAIL OF THE WEEK

"You talk too fast and I can't take shorthand. I'm gonna have to try to call again. I don't know who else I should call about this TV."

-- Female caller who's not a fan of my voice mail message

First Published: January 22, 2010, 5:00 a.m.

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