TV Q&A: Will WPCW still air 10 p.m. news after dropping CW affiliation?

Q: If WPCW-TV will no longer have an affiliation with The CW come September, does that mean their 10 p.m. news and “Nightly Sports Call” programs will be canceled?

— Xavier, via email

Rob: It does not. I reported when I broke the news that WPCW will shed its CW affiliation — and surely those call letters will bite the dust too — the 10 p.m. news and “Nightly Sports Call” are produced locally and are not going anywhere.

WPCW only airs CW programs 8-10 p.m. nightly, so the vast majority of the station’s programing will remain the same.

What takes over those prime-time slots? CBS, which operates WPCW and KDKA-TV, has not made any programming announcements. However, per The Hollywood Reporter, the Paramount Global-owned, former CW stations will “program content from across Paramount’s sprawling portfolio (which likely will serve as a big promotional tool for Paramount+).”

Q: I was disappointed CBS canceled “East New York,” particularly when the CBS ads in the first few weeks showed positive comments and five-star reviews. Do you know why and at what point the decision was made to cancel?

— Joeta, Green Tree

Rob: Sometimes there are a combination of factors that go into a cancellation (beyond the generic “financial reasons” that can often be tied to ratings), and I can take some educated guesses that even one of “East New York’s” staff members suggested to me were likely reasons for the decision.

The ratings for “East New York” were not terrible. It averaged almost five million live and same day viewers and a .38 rating among adults 18-49, so it had better ratings than CBS’s “Blue Bloods,” “NCIS: Hawai’i,” “So Help Me Todd” and “CSI: Vegas,” which were all renewed. Perhaps the motivating factor was ownership: CBS owns or co-owns all those lower-rated series; “East New York” is owned by Warner Bros.

Similarly, Sony is the lead studio on “S.W.A.T.,” and CBS canceled that show only to reverse course and order a final season after social media blowback and additional negotiation. Once CBS reversed course on “S.W.A.T.,” which had better total viewer and demos numbers than “East New York,” CBS canceled “East New York.” It may have been a situation where CBS would only abide one show from outside studios among those two options, and, in the end, that slot went to “S.W.A.T.”

Q: I’ve read in several places that soap operas will soon be affected by the writers’ strike. Why didn’t the producers have the idea of stockpiling episodes?

— Eric, via Facebook

Rob: They did stockpile episodes. Daytime soaps usually are produced several weeks (or even several months) ahead of when they will air. I reported when the strike began that “Days of Our Lives” on Peacock had six months’ worth of episodes stockpiled.

One report suggests “General Hospital” will have to resort to reruns beginning June 2, but that is inaccurate. “GH” remained in production as of the last week of May filming scripts written before the strike began May 2.

Another report said “The Young & the Restless” may be in reruns by June 5. CBS publicists did not respond to a request for comment.

Q: What happened to the following programs on Paramount+:

• “1923” has not appeared since 2/26/23.

• “SEAL team” season six has not appeared since 11/19/22.

— Richard, Latrobe

Rob: Both series aired the final episodes of their most recent seasons on the dates Richard lists above. Both shows have been renewed, but I don’t expect new seasons to stream until late 2023 or more likely 2024 due to the writers’ strike.