Post-Gazette TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions online every Friday in Tuned In Journal blog at post-gazette.com/tv. Here’s a selection of recent queries.
Q: I read in the PG that WGN America has canceled “Outsiders.” They’re nuts, and I told them so in a “Contact Us” link. Maybe everyone who watches the series should contact them at WGNAmerica@tribunemedia.com and express their displeasure.
— PAT, WEST MIFFLIN
Rob: I was shocked, too. As a rule, networks do not cancel their most-watched series in its second season.
Here’s my purely speculative analysis: WGN America would not have put out a press release one week earlier touting “Outsiders” as its most-watched show if WGN America executives planned to cancel it. I’m confident this was a decision made at WGN America parent company Tribune, which also killed a digital news site that was less than two weeks from its debut the day before canceling “Outsiders.”
There have been rumors that Tribune and Sinclair Broadcast Group may be looking to merge, and if that’s the case, Tribune would probably look to sell off non-core assets, which includes WGN America, and in the meantime try to cut costs. Canceling a show that cost roughly $60 million to produce per season is a pretty efficient way to accomplish that.
Another reason this came as such a shock was that although “Outsiders” had not officially been renewed by WGN America, if network executives planned to kill the show, they would not have authorized the writers room to reopen in Los Angeles or the production office to reopen in Pittsburgh, both of which had happened.
There are already fan campaign efforts afoot to resurrect “Outsiders,” including #ShayMustStay, a reference to the show’s fictional Shay Mountain, and a Change.org petition encouraging Netflix, TNT, Hulu and, most intriguingly, CMT, to pick up the series.
While serialized shows are the bread and butter of Netflix, the streaming service has also shied away from picking up existing series in recent years unless they have a larger audience (“Longmire” averaged almost twice as many viewers in its last season on A&E as “Outsiders” gets on WGN America) or nostalgia factor (“Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life”).
Another hurdle facing an “Outsiders” revival is that they’d have to make a deal lickety-split given that production on season three was already gearing up. Actors’ deals expire at some point, and the show is sitting on promised Pennsylvania Film Tax Credit program money that could go to other productions that actually intend to film locally.
Two weeks ago, “Outsiders” star Gillian Alexy tweeted, “Last two eps are so hot networks be fighting it out Hasil style to have us! Don’t loose hope peeps. #OutsidersWGN.”
Whether networks actually are vying to pick up the series or if that tweet was just wishful thinking remains to be seen.
Q: Is Janelle Hall on WTAE pregnant?
— JEANNE VIA TWITTER
Rob: Turns out, she is. Ms. Hall is eight months pregnant and due to give birth in May.
Q: Can you tell me if there will be other episodes of “The Good Witch” on Hallmark Channel? They left us in a lurch with the last one at Halloween.
— SUZANNE, OAKMONT
Rob: A new season of “The Good Witch” debuts at 9 p.m. Sunday on Hallmark Channel.
Ask TV questions by emailing rowen@post-gazette.com, including your first name and location, or submitting the form at post-gazette.com/tv.
First Published: April 30, 2017, 4:00 a.m.