Submit your question to Rob Owen: www.post-gazette.com/tv/questions/qaform.asp

This week's TV Q&A responds to questions about "Cold Case," "Drop Dead Diva" and why shows are canceled. As always, thanks for reading, and keep those questions coming.

-- Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV editor

Q: Why did KDKA not show "Cold Case" after "Three Rivers" on Sunday night? The programs were running over an hour later than usual due to football. Right after "Three Rivers" their news came on, then their "Sunday Sports Showdown." I'm sure they all wanted to get home, but it shows a real lack of consideration for their viewers. Or maybe they think no one watches "Cold Case" anymore. Do they have any plans to air that episode?

-- Peg, 57, Speers

Rob: KDKA did not pre-empt "Cold Case." CBS chose not to air it Sunday because football overruns pushed prime-time more than an hour late. The episode will air this coming Sunday.

KDKA is owned by CBS. With rare exceptions, they do not pre-empt CBS shows, certainly not because of a long football game. Some people reported seeing "Cold Case" promos at the end of "Three Rivers." Those promos were pre-formatted before anyone knew the football game would run so long.

Q: Why would CBS continue to delay it's schedule on Sunday when New England was winning 59-0 over Tennessee? This wasn't a "Heidi Moment."

Delaying their schedule every Sunday like this makes it tough for programs such as "Three Rivers" to establish a following. And for fans of "The Amazing Race" to cool their heels.

Now they switched to the Jets-Bill game and it is still on at 7:25. 7:28 and they are still showing the Jets-Bills!! If they are going to do this, why not report the scheduled start of 60 Minutes as 7:30.

Now it's 7:30 and the Bills game is still on. tied at 13 with 1:49 to go. Now a 2-minute time out, with 4 seconds to go for a field goal try. He missed. I suppose that they are going to carry it to the finish in overtime. MY GOD!!!!!! Yup. 7:40 and we're still in overtime. Screw it, I'm switching to HBO for the rest of the evening. At least I know that Larry David will be on for certain at 9pm.

Got a lot off my chest, sorry. Can't you get this opinion in to them? Thank you

-- Mitchell, Belle Vernon

Rob: According to CBS chief spokesman Chris Ender, "We have an obligation to show a game to its conclusion. It was a close game in overtime and you have an obligation to serve that audience. It's just one of the factors you deal with when you carry football on a Sunday. You expect to have disruptions."

But he acknowledged Sunday was an unusually late game and he could not recall a time in the past when a football overrun forced CBS to pull a show from prime time as it did this week with "Cold Case."

Ender suggested viewers sign up for the CBS Eye-Alert, which I've suggested in the past. It notifies viewers by e-mail when programming will be delayed. Sign up at CBS.com.

As for what impact these football overruns have on Sunday night shows, Ender noted that football often drives viewers into "60 Minutes" and the halo effect benefits the programs that follow after "60."

As for newcomer "Three Rivers," already low-rated and scraping by on Sunday nights, this week's episode will be rerun tomorrow at 8 p.m.

Q: Stephen Cropper did all his weather forecasts sitting down at the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts on Wednesday. Do you know if he has a foot or leg injury? I know, I know, I'm one of those Pittsburghers that you think are obsessed with the goings-on of the local media.

-- Jean, Shadyside

Rob: Good eye.

Yes, Cropper had surgery for a torn meniscus on his left knee.

"Fortunately we have a sit down area [for weather] so it worked out well," said Cropper, who is walking with crutches. He tried standing by the weather wall green screen on Monday, but, he said, "I couldn't get out of the way of the graphic."

Cropper took previously scheduled vacation days yesterday and today.

Q: At Halloween over the past few years, the Travel Channel has done a British-produced "Most Haunted, Live!" show, which then kicked off the new season of "Most Haunted." This year, they are doing a live version of their American-produced "Ghost Adventures" instead. Will the Travel Channel be carrying a new season of "Most Haunted," and, if so, when will it begin? The "Most Haunted" Web site mentions February, but lists no year, so it may have been talking about this past February and not the coming one. [Pet peeve: Shows that don't regularly update their Web sites.]

-- John, 50, Green Tree

Rob: The Travel Channel folks will look into the Web site. A new season of the British-produced acquisition "Most Haunted" will return at 10 p.m. Jan. 29, 2010.

Q: Will "Drop Dead Diva" be back on TV any time soon? That's a great show!

-- Sandra, 60, Robinson

Rob: The show has been renewed and will return with new episodes next summer.

Q: What's your take on the chances of a 10th season for "Smallville"? I'm inclined to think it's in a precarious position since The CW has given it the kiss-off to Friday nights. On the other hand, I'm sure I join other fans of the show in breathing a sigh of relief that there's actually forward momentum on the series this year. After being stuck in a story rut for a LONG time, it actually seems to be going somewhere. I'd love to see the "Smallville" story progress further. What do you think?

-- Brian, 33, Columbia, S.C.

Rob: Moving "Smallville" to Friday was not a show of confidence on the part of CW executives. Last week the show drew a paltry 2.62 million viewers, according to The Programming Insider, and ranked fifth in its time period. The only upside: "Smallville" improved on the ratings of "Everybody Hates Chris" and "The Game" a year earlier.

Since The CW dropped its Sunday programming this fall, they couldn't afford to drop Friday at the same time and avoid looking like the network was in dire straits. But will they have the same concerns when it comes time to set the Fall 2010 schedule?

Personally, I quit watching "Smallville" before the show basically left its namesake town and got rid of the parents. I liked it in its younger, more innocent seasons.

Actually, I'm writing a story about breaking up with TV shows, so if you have examples of when you gave up on a TV series, when and why, I'd love to hear it. E-mail me at rowen@post-gazette.com and include your name, e-mail, daytime phone number and details about your TV breakup.

Q: Is the HBO Series "Hung" starring Thomas Jane over or is it coming back?

-- Barbara, 59, Pittsburgh

Rob: The show has been renewed and will return with new episodes next summer.

Q: What is the latest on the return of "Breaking Bad" for its third season? "Mad Men" gets all the press and awards, but I think "Breaking Bad" is a much better drama.

-- Ed, 72, Coraopolis

Rob: "Breaking Bad" was renewed for a third season in April and it's expected to return early in 2010. As for awards, star Bryan Cranston won the best actor Emmy two years in a row -- that's not too shabby.

Q: You always answer when a show is canceled that it is primarily because of low ratings. What do you think of the following shows past and present "Hart To Hart," "Diagnosis Murder," "Murder She Wrote," "Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman" and of late "Close to Home," "Shark," "Eleventh Hour" and "Moonlight." All of these shows were quality shows that were embraced by the public. Don't you think in a lot of these cases it is just as much a case of hates, jealousness and pettiness on the part of directors, sponsors and producers and it is being blamed on low ratings?

-- Janet, 61, East Liberty

Rob: Umm, no. Money rules all. You have no idea how poorly some people behave and have their shows renewed year after year.

Unless the star(s) calls it quits ("Friends," "Everybody Loves Raymond"), it's always a monetary issue, the root of which could be: Not enough people are watching, not enough young people are watching, the show is not holding the audience of its lead-in or the cost of production is just too high and a cheaper show is expected to draw a similar rating ("Without a Trace"), something like that.

I wasn't a professional TV critic back in 1984 when "Hart to Hart" was canceled so I don't know the circumstances surrounding it but I can give these reasons for the other shows:

"Diagnosis Murder": Skewed old.

"Murder She Wrote": Wasn't paying attention when it was canceled in 1996.

"Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman": Skewed old.

"Close to Home": Skewed old.

"Shark": Skewed old.

"Eleventh Hour": Not great ratings, particularly considering its "CSI" lead-in.

"Moonlight": Not gonna touch this one. Those crazy fans have all sorts of conspiracy theories and would pounce if I suggested it was ratings -- even though it probably was. Oops.

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