TV Q&A: Why no substitute when one of the WTAE morning anchors is absent?

Q: For more than a year, WTAE-TV has used three anchors on its morning newscasts and when one of the anchors is off, they never use a substitute anchor in order to keep three people at the anchor desk at any one time. Why don’t they ever use a substitute anchor whenever one of the show’s three anchors is off?

— Joseph, South Fayette

Rob: WTAE-TV general manager Charles Wolfertz III said while the station prefers three anchors in the morning, if they’re down one, he’d rather keep the remaining team in intact rather than bring in someone from outside the core team.

“If we were ever really down two, we would bring somebody in,” he said. “But we would just prefer to keep our team as-is.”

Q: First there was HBO, which owned Cinemax and just as Showtime went by SHO, Cinemax went by the shortened MAX.

When HBO started its streaming channel HBO Max, one would assume it is a combination of both HBO and Cinemax. But now it has been rebranded as just Max. Does Cinemax still exist? And why would HBO use the designation formerly used to identify Cinemax for their streaming channel? It is very confusing.

— John, Green Tree

Rob: Yeah, confusion has reigned supreme over the titling of that particular streaming service given its predecessors included HBO Now (or was it HBO Go?).

I never heard anyone at HBO Max suggest the “Max” came from Cinemax, but that it was more about the idea of “HBO and more stuff” and a way to avoid calling it HBO+. (As for the shortening of Cinemax to Max, my sense is that was a choice made by newspaper editors for TV listings and never an official edict from Cinemax, which still exists as a linear cable channel.) The reality is, Cinemax became an afterthought as a brand around 2019, before the creation of HBO Max, once Cinemax stopped programming original content.

HBO Max launched under the corporate ownership of Warner Media, which saw value in hitching its streaming service to the HBO brand. But then the company changed hands and Warner Bros. Discovery bosses decided the HBO name was limiting because it supposedly scared off families with children, which is why the streaming service will be known simply as Max (again, as in “lots of stuff” not at all related to Cinemax) from May 23 onward.

Q: What happened with “Bob (Hearts) Abishola?” I read a report that the entire supporting cast did not have their contracts renewed but will have the option to continue on the show in a recurring capacity, appearing in fewer episodes. I feel like we had all those characters to flesh out the tale of Bob and Abishola, but are they now going to concentrate on the basic relationship?

— Jennifer, via Facebook

Rob: “Bob (Hearts) Abishola” grew to have an inordinate number of series regulars — 13 according to the CBS press site, way more than most TV comedies. That was probably a mistake on the part of the showrunners because it made the show ripe for the picking off of cast members.

But the decision to gut the cast is emblematic of the sad state of prime-time broadcast TV. Media companies see themselves as managing the decline of broadcast television, even though it makes money, while throwing billions at their streaming services, which have yet to turn a profit. This upside-down approach to management of media companies’ assets is at the heart of the current writers’ strike.

Regarding “Bob (Hearts) Abishola” specifically, it seems like the supporting cast members will be offered recurring guest roles in at least five episodes. The show’s writers will have to figure out how to deploy those characters strategically. Will that change the show’s focus? Possibly. There’s also talk that the upcoming fifth season will be the end for the series.