EDITION: U.S.
Rain Man
Barry Levinson urges TV to take back Saturday night
by Allison Waldman, posted Oct 28th 2009 10:00AM
For the longest time, I've kvetched about the fact that the television industry has stopped programming for Saturday night. For years, Saturday was a great night of television. I remember M*A*S*H and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, not to mention guilty pleasures like The Facts of Life and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. Even NBC's thrillogy, The Pretender and Profiler were fun. All those shows were Saturday night hits (some bigger than others).Well, I'm not alone in missing Saturday TV; Oscar-winner Barry Levinson feels the same. Levinson is also a TV producer -- he did Homicide: Life on the Street and The Philanthropist -- and he thinks the networks are making a big mistake by not seizing on Saturday primetime. He knows the business pretty well and he's confused by the networks' strategy.
"I don't think the answer is to retreat," he told the New York Daily News. "When you give up Saturday night, you open the door for people to go somewhere else. Basically, they're shrinking their own audience."
TV Squad Hot Topics
Most Popular Articles
From Our Partners
- Summer Cookout: Recipes from Our Favorite Cooking Shows
- From Kelly to Candice: Ranking the 'American Idol' Winners
- 'The Vampire Diaries' Rankings: Who Was the Baddest Character in Season 4?
- 'American Idol': Ranking the Winners' Coronation Songs
- 'How I Met Your Mother' Promotes Cristin Milioti to Series Regular
- More From BuddyTV
- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2013: Ann and Nancy Wilson bring the Heart
- 'American Idol' runner-up Kree Harrison to make her Grand Ole Opry debut on June 4
- Mariah Carey did not lip-sync on 'American Idol,' according to her rep
- TV ratings: 'Nikita' finale rises slightly while 'Shark Tank' dominates a night of news and reruns
- 'Doctor Who' Season 7 finale: Watch Matt Smith, Jenna-Louise Coleman introduce 'Name of the Doctor' and the prequel episode
- More From Zap2it
- What to Watch This Weekend: The Doctor Is Out, Ben Affleck on SNL, Simpsons Finale and More
- Exclusive First Look: The Goodwin Games Cast Takes Part in a Violent Beatdown!
- TVLine's Performer of the Week: Nikita's Maggie Q
- Exclusive First Look: AMC's New Showville Puts Spotlight on Townie Talent
- Mike & Molly Creator Steps Down as Showrunner
- More From TVLine
