If you're suffering from Pennsylvania primary fatigue -- and who's not at this point? -- your sweet relief will be delivered next week after all the votes have been tallied from Tuesday's returns.

Viewers at home can always turn off the TV, but for the news professionals covering the campaigns, it's a busy, down-to-the-wire time. National TV news outlets will be dropping into Pennsylvania, though their city assignments were not clear as of yesterday, in part because the networks are waiting to learn where the candidates plan to be Tuesday night. (Fox News Channel says it will have a correspondent reporting from Pittsburgh, but it hasn't yet figured out who that will be.)

PBS's "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer" (6 p.m. weekdays, WQED) will undoubtedly have the biggest presence in Pittsburgh. Lehrer and crew will move into WQED for two nights of broadcasts Monday and Tuesday, though reports from Pittsburgh will begin airing tonight.

"We haven't done this in years," Lehrer said by phone earlier this week of the show's travel plans. "Pittsburgh is very representative from a political standpoint. There are terrific stories to tell."

"NewsHour" executive producer Linda Winslow said the broadcast hasn't traveled often, except for attending the political conventions, since going to a one-anchor format in 1995 after the departure of anchor Robert MacNeil.

Winslow said "The NewsHour" picked Pittsburgh because of WQED's upgraded high definition facilities and a good relationship with the station. But why Pittsburgh and not Philadelphia, a larger market?

"We do have a contrarian streak in us," Winslow said. "We figure everyone goes to Philadelphia. That's the usual image of Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh represents a whole other part of the state. ... It's different to be in Pittsburgh. It's not the typical place to go for a Pennsylvania story."

Correspondents Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff will join Lehrer in the WQED studio -- the program will use the "On Q" backdrop but bring in an anchor desk -- and both will file reports from other parts of the commonwealth, with Ifill reporting from the Philadelphia suburbs and Woodruff in Pottsville, Schuylkill County.

Correspondents Ray Suarez, Paul Solman and Tom Bearden will all file stories from Pittsburgh that will air tonight, Monday or Tuesday. "The NewsHour" also will feature an essay about Pittsburgh by author and Pittsburgh native John Edgar Wideman and a poem by Terrance Hayes, who teaches poetry at Carnegie Mellon University.

In addition to anchoring his national show from Pittsburgh, Lehrer will host "WQED Vote 2008: A Town Hall Meeting" (6 p.m. Sunday), a live panel discussion with politicians, education leaders, philanthropists, foundation heads and community leaders that will be simulstreamed at WQED.org.

WQED's Chris Moore, Tonia Caruso and Michael Bartley will facilitate the panel and audience discussion from The Fred Rogers Studio at WQED, 4802 Fifth Ave., in Oakland. "On Q's" political analysts -- Republican Jim Roddey and Democrat Jim Mistick -- will provide commentary. The public is invited; to reserve a seat, call 1-888-622-1370.

After the regular 6 p.m. broadcast Tuesday, Lehrer will return with a special 9 p.m. edition of "The NewsHour," reporting on election returns. Both broadcasts will feature the same discussion among nine Pittsburgh voters -- three who support U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, three who support U.S. Sen. John McCain and three who support U.S. Sen. Barack Obama -- about big-picture issues in the campaign.

Commercial outlets have their own plans.

At WTAE, they'll offer local cut-ins "as needed" after the polls close, news director Bob Longo said. The station will convey information with on-screen graphics and "squeezebacks," where results wrap around two sides of the screen, shrinking the TV show image.

Channel 4 will try to avoid interrupting the ABC reality show "Dancing With the Stars" at 9 p.m.

"It's very popular and it's heavily dependent on graphics and numbers," Longo said. "If we do squeezebacks, it's sensory overload. We're trying to do the right thing by all accounts."

To that end, Channel 4 will pre-empt an 8:30 p.m. rerun of "According to Jim" (no loss there) for a half-hour election special. Longo said there are no plans to pre-empt "Boston Legal."

Representatives of KDKA and WPXI did not respond to queries about their plans, but CBS and NBC had no election specials planned as of yesterday. I'm sure they'll at least offer updates via cut-ins.

Expect CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel to go wall-to-wall with primary coverage. Comcast's CN8 will carry an extended edition of Lynn Doyle's "It's Your Call" beginning at 8 p.m. Tuesday. PCN plans primary coverage at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

I get requests to mention save-a-show campaigns all the time, and unless I feel the show is worth saving, I generally ignore them. But pleas on behalf of ABC's "Men in Trees" do not fall on deaf ears because ABC has so woefully mishandled the program. It has aired on multiple nights at so many different times that it's no wonder the ratings are low. Who could find it? After next week, "Trees" gets yanked again for about a month. (Locally, WTAE has made matters worse by delaying two recent episodes until late night in favor of a Myron Cope retrospective in February and local political coverage this week.)

"Men in Trees" is a decent series with likable characters and a gentleness of spirit too often lacking in prime time. That's why I share with you news of a "Men in Trees" fan campaign that's shaping up at sydney1106.tripod.com/id17.html.

Rather than sending nuts ("Jericho"), Tabasco sauce ("Rosewell") or just plain hate mail to the network carrying their favorite, "Men in Trees" fans have contributed more than 7,000 fruit-bearing trees through Trees for Life International for planting in impoverished countries. Certificates of the donations have been sent to ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson.

ABC will announce its fall schedule, and whether "Trees" survives, next month.

Fox's "Back to You" returned with a new episode Wednesday and some tweaks to the cast. Weathercaster Montana (Ayda Field) will appear in one more episode, but the character will disappear after that. Producers and the network decided the character had run its course, according to the show's publicist.

They also decided to go in a "different direction" and recast Gracie. Lily Jackson takes over the role from Laura Marano, who I thought did a good job. If only they'd get rid of the show's biggest misstep, the news director character, Ryan (Josh Gad), who is written as an over-the-top, unrealistic newsroom leader.

Comcast will make EWTN coverage of two Masses by Pope Benedict XVI available via On Demand through April 27. The first Mass aired yesterday and should be available On Demand by this morning; the second airs Sunday and will be available Monday. ... Canceled ABC drama "Day Break," starring Taye Diggs, will air on TV One at 10 p.m. Sunday beginning this weekend. ... "The Return of the Cuyahoga" (10 tonight, WQED) chronicles the rebirth of the Ohio river. ... A new episode of PBS's "National Geographic's Strange Days on Planet Earth," which gauges the health of the planet, premieres at 9 p.m. Wednesday on WQED. Series producer David Elisco is a Pittsburgh native. ... Cindy Hensley McCain, wife of U.S. Sen. and presumptive 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain, will co-host ABC's "The View" Monday (11 a.m., WTAE).

If you haven't voted yet, this is your last chance to cast a ballot in the Post-Gazette's annual poll, Readers' Remote: Keep or Cancel? You can access it at post-gazette.com/tv and vote for the shows you'd like to keep and those you would like to cancel. Votes will be tallied through Sunday and we'll publish the results in a few weeks.

In this week's Tuned In Podcast, Post-Gazette entertainment editor Sharon Eberson and I discuss "The Daily Show's" coverage of the Pennsylvania primary, the return of "The Office" and a new season of "Doctor Who." Listen or subscribe at post-gazette.com/podcast.

This week's TV Q&A responds to questions about "Entourage," digital conversion and closed captions in HD. Read it at post-gazette.com/tv.