Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Sunday Tribune-Review.
Q: I saw a morning promo for Channel 11 news and Liz Kilmer is not in it. How come?
— Robyn, via email
Rob: It’s unclear if WPXI has named anyone as Gordon Loesch’s morning news anchor replacement after his elevation to evenings following the December retirement of David Johnson.
As far as I know, the station has not chosen anyone to take over Loesch’s role permanently (or as permanent as any TV news role can be).
Channel 11 news director Scott Trabandt did not respond to an inquiry.
When station executives decide on a replacement, don’t expect them to announce it.
After Katherine Amenta was sent packing last April, WPXI never named her replacement. Ten months later, it’s clear — from the same promo Robyn referred to — that Jennifer Tomazik inherited Amenta’s chair, but the station never made an announcement to that effect.
So maybe Kilmer has been appointed the Loesch replacement. Or perhaps she’s still just filling in. I guess we’ll find out if she (or someone else) shows up in a Channel 11 promo 10 months from now.
Q: I noticed the Pirates spring training game on March 1 was a simulcast of the Baltimore Orioles broadcast with the Orioles’ broadcast team. The March 2 game was a normal Pirates broadcast. Is simulcasting with other teams’ broadcasters a money-saving tactic for SNP? I don’t particularly enjoy turning on a Bucco game but hearing/watching the opposition’s broadcast team.
— Bill, Washington
Rob: Yes, it surely saves money to simply take the rival away-team’s broadcast feed than to pay to send the Pirates broadcasters to the away game.
Per a SNP spokeswoman, “The spring training games where we’re airing the away team’s broadcast is merely additive to our broadcast schedule in order to make more games available to our Pirates fans. This is only an initiative for spring training.”
Q: Reading the paper March 6, I find out CBS canceled “FBI: Most Wanted” and “FBI: International.” I watch all three “FBI” shows on Tuesday night and love them all. Why cancel them? What are they going to put in their place, another game show? TV sure knows how to mess things up.
— Jane, Greensburg
Rob: As with almost all decisions in TV these days, cancellations usually come down to financial reasons. As shows age, they become more expensive as cast and crew generally get raises each season. “Most Wanted” is currently in its sixth season; “International” is in its fourth season. While the former usually wins its time slot and both draw a relatively healthy linear audience, the financial downside probably outweighs the incentives to continue these two shows.
It’s too soon to know what CBS will replace these programs with — broadcast networks announce their fall schedules in May — but CBS is developing another “FBI” spinoff, the ridiculously titled “FBI: CIA.”
Q: Since the first episode of “SNL” aired in October 1975, why didn’t they wait until October 2025 for the 50th anniversary show?
— John via email
Rob: In addition to finances, scheduling probably played into this one.
NBC airs NFL games on Sunday nights in the fall. If network execs wanted to air the anniversary special in that marquee Sunday time slot, which it’s fair to assume they did, NBC couldn’t program “SNL50” in the second half of the year. The number of homes using television are generally higher in the winter than the spring or summer, so that’s probably how “SNL50” wound up airing in February.