TV Q&A: What happened to Heather Abraham?

Q: Why isn’t Heather Abraham anchoring KDKA-TV’s morning newscast anymore?

— Donna, Leechburg

Rob: We reported in September that after almost 12 years of early mornings, Abraham requested to step way from anchoring the morning newscasts. Lindsay Ward succeeded Abraham as morning co-anchor.

“It was not easy to come to this decision in my heart, but after talking with my wonderful bosses at KDKA, and with their blessing, I am stepping away from the anchor desk in the morning,” Abraham, a Shaler Area High School grad, wrote on her Facebook page. “It will allow me to expand my role on ‘PTL,’ still contribute to the morning show with valuable reports (fun stuff is planned!), and I’ll be able to help with additional creative content … which is a newfound passion of mine.”

Q: This week’s Steelers game celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Immaculate Reception and is nationally televised on NFL Network. Will the game be televised locally on Channel 2, 4 or 11? If Channel 11, will they show NBC’s annual broadcast of “It’s A Wonderful Life” on a tape-delayed basis?

— Giovanni, Pittsburgh

Rob: The Christmas Eve game will be on NFL Network and on KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, so “It’s a Wonderful Life” will air in its NBC time slot opposite the Steelers game on WPXI-TV.

Q: Looks like KDKA-TV has joined WPXI-TV in the Local Steals and Deals fun. Why is this even allowed on news programming anyway? Nothing screams your company isn’t doing well more than this segment, “CBS Deals.” I feel so bad for Heather Abraham, who introduced it.

— Kenneth via Twitter

Rob: CBS Deals appears to be an income driver for CBS. When people order items from cbsdeals.com, CBS gets a commission. It does seem like a miserly, short-term play that cheapens viewer impressions of stations’ newscasts in the long run.

KDKA general manager Chris Cotugno did not respond to a request for comment.

Q: Earlier this month, WTAE-TV was doing the newscasts from inside the newsroom. Is this a permanent change, or are they doing updates to the main studio?

— Benji, via Twitter

Rob: That was temporary. Despite station executives swearing in the spring that the anchor desk was large enough for their three-anchor (plus weathercaster, plus traffic reporter) morning team, evidently they eventually came to the same conclusion viewers had pretty immediately: It looked too crowded.

Although the design style of the front of the anchor desk remains pretty much the same, at least the top of it changed into a wider half-circle on the anchor side to create more space for more anchors. WTAE executives did not respond to Benji’s question.

Q: I think the best version of “A Christmas Carol” is the 1984 version, made for TV starring George C. Scott. For many years, it had been a staple on network television during the Christmas season. Now, over the past few years, I’ve not seen it broadcast on any of the regular TV networks. I do believe I read somewhere that it may be carried on some of the streaming services, but no longer on mainstream TV channels. Do you have any idea why those imbeciles at the network choose not to broadcast the best version of the Charles Dickens classic on a channel that everyone can enjoy?

— Ron, via email

Rob: Nothing lasts forever, even period Christmas movies. Viewers move on and stop watching reruns. TV networks exist to make money. They don’t make money if few people watch, no matter how much you or I may like a program.

In the case of 1984’s “A Christmas Carol,” it’s actually pretty widely available, including on free ad-supported streaming TV channels Roku Channel, Tubi and Plex, and on Amazon’s subscription streaming service Prime Video.