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: When the world news at 6:30 p.m. goes past 6:59 p.m., and the lottery drawing should be at 7 p.m., they do not show the drawing and go right into the regular programming. And they do this all the time. After the city news and before they go into the world news they always say, “Stay tuned for the 7 p.m. lottery drawings on WPXI,” and then for whatever reason the drawing at times is never shown. Then you have to wait until they scroll the numbers on the screen if you are still watching the current program. Whoever is in charge of this lottery drawing contract needs to do a better job. When KDKA and WTAE had the contracts they did a split screen with sound for the lottery drawing and had no problem in showing the drawing. WPXI needs to fix this problem. — ROSEANN, PITTSBURGH
Rob: I’m not sure why WPXI can’t employ the split-screen approach Roseann suggests, but here’s why this happens, according to Darren Moore, WPXI-TV’s director of sales.
“This is specific to how NBC goes seamlessly from ‘Nightly News’ into 7 p.m. programming,” he writes. “There is not time to show the live drawing in that circumstance. We show a crawl on those occasions. This happens when we have NBC programming at 7 p.m. That is typically on the weekends or possibly when we have live sports that begin following ‘NBC Nightly News.’”
Q: On one of the “Housewives of Wherever” shows that aired last week, it showed three of these “housewives” sitting in the back of a limo drinking white wine and talking gibberish. Since they were drinking alcohol and not wearing seat belts in a moving vehicle, is there any way they can be prosecuted and imprisoned for an indefinite length of time? — JOSEPH, GREENSBURG
Rob: That’s probably a question that’s better answered by law enforcement in the state where the show was filmed.
Drinking alcohol in a limo is usually legal as people do that all the time. And from what I can find, some state laws do not require seat belts to be worn in a limo — side seating vehicles with a large capacity are not even required to have seat belts in some states.
Q: Do you know if there's any chance that the TV show “Imposters” will be picked up by another network now that Bravo has canceled it? It was such a well-written show. We looked forward to each episode and are so disappointed that it was canceled. — MEGAN, CRAFTON
Rob: Producers talked of possibly shopping “Imposters” to another network when Bravo canceled it in June, but nothing has happened at this point, so it seems unlikely now that the show will return.
Q: Whatever happened to the game show “The Chase,” which was on the Game Show Network Monday thru Fridays from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. It just quit appearing in that time slot, and I have not been able to find it in any other time slot. “Family Feud” has taken its place. It was a really good show. Is there anyone I can write to encourage it be put back on? — CINDY, CRANBERRY
Rob: “The Chase” is not in production, but GSN is considering making more episodes.
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: November 1, 2018, 1:00 p.m.
