TV Q&A: Where’s WPXI’s Mike Holden been? Who’s the new WTAE-TV weekend morning anchor?

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Sunday Tribune-Review.

Q: Have you heard any updates on WPXI’s Mike Holden’s health? He hasn’t updated his Instagram in a while.

— Krissy via Facebook

Rob: In early September Holden, a reporter for Channel 11’s morning newscasts, announced on his social media channels he was suffering from popliteal artery entrapment syndrome that didn’t allow him to walk, run or put weight on his right foot. He’d gotten out of the hospital and was recovering at home.

In an update posted Monday, Holden thanked viewers for their cards, emails and expressions of concern. He said he’s in a holding pattern, waiting to be seen by one of the few doctors who treats his condition. In the meantime, Holden said he can’t walk, drive or lift anything, and if he puts weight on his foot it turns blue, purple, red and swells up.

Hi, guys! Thanks so much for your messages, calls & texts. I don’t know a lot at this point. Hanging in there. More testing & scans on the way w surgeon. I appreciate you all!
(How bout that current season of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills tho? ????) pic.twitter.com/fIy3rxGTFV

— Mike Holden (@WPXIMikeHolden) September 27, 2021

“So I am sitting here as I prep for the next step,” Holden said, unsure if that will entail surgery or therapy. “It sucks when you are so limited with what you can and can’t do and not knowing is not a great feeling. I am hopeful I will get some answers here in the next couple of weeks.”

Q: Has WTAE Channel 4 decided on a morning weekend anchor? Tom Garris does a good job.

— Mike via email

Rob: Garris is indeed the new weekend morning anchor at Hearst-owned WTAE-TV. He started at Channel 4 in mid-August and comes to Pittsburgh from Hearst sister station, WPTZ-TV, in Burlington, Vt.

A native of suburban Philadelphia, Garris studied journalism and economics at Ithaca College. In addition to anchoring weekend mornings on Channel 4, he’s also reporting some weekday mornings.

In addition to Garris, WTAE hired former Channel 4 intern Ashley Zilka as a reporter. Zilka, a Rostraver native who studied journalism at Duquesne University, comes to Channel 4 from KSTP-TV in the Minneapolis TV market following stints at stations in Cincinnati, Rochester and Zanesville, Ohio.

Q: I noticed that very few of the series I watched last season made reference to the pandemic or to wearing masks. I was particularly interested to see how shows like “Mayans M.C.” and “Animal Kingdom” would address this issue. Given that they are shows whose main characters are criminals I was wondering how those characters would, or would not, follow masking mandates.

Do you think shows in this new season will address the pandemic and mask mandates? Or will the plots be more of an “alternate universe” where the pandemic did not exist? Or, another option, will shows be set in a future where, hopefully, mask mandates did exist but do not now?

— Daniel via email

Rob: We wrote about this a good bit last fall when shows were returning to production mid-pandemic. Some series opted to incorporate the pandemic in their plots (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Superstore”) and others did not at all, preferring to give viewers entertainment that did not remind them of the real world.

At this point, if a show hasn’t worked the pandemic into its plot, it’s unlikely it will. I can also see how the shows Daniel cites would specifically not want to valorize their characters demonstrating anti-social behavior like anti-masking or anti-vaxxing.

Q: Where does “CBS Evening News” with Nora O’Donnell stand in the ratings?

— Merv via Facebook

Rob: For the 2020-21 TV season that ended in September, ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” was No. 1 in total views (9.4 million viewers on average) and the key demographic of viewers ages 25-54 (1.7 million).

“NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” was No. 2 in both measurements (7.3 million/1.4 million) and “CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell” was No. 3 (5.4 million/984,000).

All three national evening newscasts saw their ratings decline year-to-year.