TV Q&A with Rob Owen

Friday, May 02, 2008

This week's TV Q&A responds to questions about "Kitchen Nightmares," "The Price Is Right" and "The Mole." As always, thanks for reading, and keep those questions coming.

-- Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV editor

Q: The BBC recently aired a made for BBC film in London based on the book "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency." I've enjoyed reading that series and I would like to know if you would be able to track down whether there is to be a showing on the American BBC or any other subscription channel of that movie. Also, is there any word on a DVD release of the film?

-- Dan, O'Hara

Rob: Last month, HBO announced plans to air the movie and a subsequent series. I imagine it will air sometime in 2009.

Q: Is Chef Gordon Ramsay's "Kitchen Nightmares" coming back on Fox? It has been about six months since the last new episode and they were advertising for new restaurants on the last few shows.

-- Mike, Philadelphia

Rob: Yes, 13 more episodes have been ordered and produced, but no air date is set. The show is not on Fox's summer schedule, so my guess is it will be on in the fall.

Q: Far out, "Robin Hood" is back! Do you watch it and what do you think? I think it's kind of corny but in a cool way.

-- Robert, Pittsburgh

Rob: I gave the show a pretty positive review when it premiered last year. I haven't had a chance to catch the new episodes yet. Glad you're enjoying it!

Q: Your reference in the April 18 Question and Answer page to a spokesman for the USA Network leads me to ask you a question about "Law & Order SVU." Beside issues of censorship of certain words from daytime broadcasts of the show, which you covered on April 18, I am wondering if the USA "L&O SVU" episodes are the complete uncut versions originally broadcast by NBC, or, as is the case with some syndicated shows, 2-4 minutes are deleted to allow for extra commercials?

-- Eric, Columbus, Ohio

Rob: According to USA, only the objectionable material is deleted. No other program content is removed, although they do speed up the episode a bit, presumably to squeeze in more ads.

Q: Maybe I missed it, but I watch "The Insider" and am wondering what happened to Pat O'Brien? He has not been on in forever and nobody has said anything about his departure or return.

-- Jeannine, Baldwin

Rob: O'Brien checked into rehab again in early February and there were reports that Donny Osmond might permanently take his place. But those were not accurate and O'Brien has returned to the program.

Q: We watched the recently concluded "John Adams" series on HBO. We watched every minute of every episode, an indication of how much we valued this remarkable film. We are curious as to how the show did in the ratings. Any word on this?

-- Bruce, Charlotte, N.C.

Rob: Sunday's night's episode premieres averaged 2.2 million viewers, a good number for HBO and better than many of its recent series ("Tell Me You Love Me," "John from Cincinnati"). Across multiple nights, the episodes averaged 5 million viewers per episode, HBO's highest-rated TV movie/miniseries since 2004's "Something the Lord Made."

Q: Although I believe he is a nice person and seems to be rooting for the contestants, I find that Bob Barker's replacement on "The Price is Right" lacks somewhat in the "excitement" field. Drew Carey is funny, and is just trying to be himself while hosting the show but doesn't "build up" to any of the pricing game's "grand finales," doesn't thoroughly explain the games to the contestants, and occasionally appears to be unfamiliar with the rules of the games. I don't believe that he needs to be replaced, just trained better. I was wondering how "The Price is Right" has been doing in the ratings department since Bob left.

-- Kenny, Washington, Pa.

Rob: This isn't the first local complaint I've heard about Drew Carey seeing as how "Pittsburghers haaaate chaaaange" as a woman whined on my voice mail recently.

And they are voting with their remotes. In February 2007 when Barker was still host, the show scored a 6.4 rating and an 18 share. In February 2008 with Carey, the show drew a 5.1 rating and 14 share.

Q: Is ABC bringing back "The Mole"? Last Thursday, at the very last moment of the credits on "Grey's Anatomy," a sign flashed on the screen with the distinctive fingerprint and "The Mole was here" in text over it. I had seen a few other times recently when "Mole" messages have flashed on the screen and wondered about them before catching this last one on tape. So, is ABC resurrecting "The Mole" once again? I, for one, was a fan.

-- John, Green Tree

Rob: ABC announced in January that "The Mole" would be returning and in recent weeks there have been almost subliminally brief flashes that promote its May 26 return.

Q: Three of my favorite shows are entering the syndication market this fall, and I have read that they have been sold to numerous markets -- "House ," "Monk" and "Boston Legal" -- and was wondering what stations they were sold to here at home.

-- Luke, Bethel Park

Rob: "House" will air on WPCW this fall. WTAE has the rights to "Boston Legal" and "Monk," according to the studios distributing those programs.

Q: Why do we have another commercial station (WQED-TV)? The constant line of commercials is ridiculous. I thought there was a 10-second time limit on them.

-- Frank, Crafton

Rob: PBS has a whole raft of rules guiding on-air sponsorships, but the No. 1 rule according to a PBS spokeswoman is "that the on-air appearance and overall effect of each credit and credit sequence must be in keeping with the noncommercial nature of public television."

As for the duration question, in prime time, corporate underwriting announcements are limited to a total of 60 seconds. Most spots are 15 seconds in length, though some premiere underwriters qualify for a 30-second spot.

Q: I would like to know why WTAE had to show a weather special and move a new episode of "Samantha Who?" to 1 a.m.?

-- Elizabeth, Eighty Four

Rob: They didn't have to do it. WTAE chose to do it because they make more money on a local special in prime time than on an ABC program. With a local program, they get to sell all the ad time to local sponsors. With a network show, they only get to sell a few local commercials with most commercials sold nationally by the network.

WTAE did give viewers fair warning about the "Samantha Who?" time change with on-air promos and I also noted it in the Post-Gazette so "Samantha" fans could plan their late-night taping accordingly.

Q: WPXI is now ending its morning newscast two or three minutes early to run ads before the start of NBC's "Today" show. Why, exactly? I preferred when the end of the newscast transitioned directly into "Today."

-- Tyler, Penn Hills

Rob: Good observation. WPXI news director Corrie Harding said the change was made "to give viewers meatier news segments between 6:30 and 7 a.m. You'll see longer news segments a little earlier in that half hour," he said, "and in order to do that, we had to sacrifice the seamless approach."

Q: Have they hired a new traffic anchor for WTAE with the vacancy of Melanie Taylor?

-- Joe, Greenfield

Rob: Not yet, but Channel 4 news director Bob Longo said he intends to fill both that position and the weather slot vacated by Don Schwenneker in the near future.

Q: I'm in the habit of watching Channel 4 about 80 percent of the time and for the last several weeks I've noticed miniscule blips in the continuity of the transmission. I'm talking about little 1/2-second breaks, but they're very frequent. Maybe it's a problem with my Dish service, but I've read that stations use some sort of time-compression technology to fit in more ads, and I'm wondering if that's the cause. Since I watch one channel so steadily, I'm not sure if it's on the other channels. Any one else notice this?

-- Rose, Pittsburgh

Rob: I haven't heard from anyone else about it, but you're not seeing things. And WTAE is not using compression technology or a time machine.

Channel 4 director of engineering Dave Kasperek said the station is working on upgrading its engineering infrastructure for the conversion to digital next year, which has led to a few glitches.

"We hope to have the blips cleared up as soon as we can," he said.

FEEDBACK

Q: In last week's Q&A, you suggested local TV stations announce comings and goings of anchors/reporters on the station's Web sites. Doing some research to see if John Cater was still with WSB-TV in Atlanta, I found that the channel (part of Cox, which owns WPXI, as you know) announces anchor/reporter changes.

By the way, John Cater isn't listed.

-- Bob Cherry, Moon

Rob: Good find! Interestingly, WSB is a sister station to Pittsburgh's WPXI, but Channel 11's station page carries no personnel updates.

E-MAIL OF THE WEEK

Enjoy your work. I am in agreement with other viewers -- forget the banter, the teases, the hyperbole, and, the slurred syllables like "temp'ature."

In addition, I switch channels when female anchors/reporters appear in short sleeves, or even sleeveless, attire. All the males look professional in their suits, dress shirts, ties. If you expect equal pay, dress equally professional. This goes for the national programs, too.

I seldom watch "Pittsburgh Today Live" because Ms. Sorensen wears short sleeves and low-cut tops even in cold weather. So, off goes my TV. Others include Danielle Nottingham, Darieth Chisholm, Ann Curry, Hoda Kotb, Meredith Vieira and so on. This rule does not apply to guests on the shows, who, by the way, often look more professional than the interviewers.

Krista Villarreal always looks and sounds professional. So now I watch WPXI more often.

-- Female reader

First published on May 2, 2008 at 12:00 am