EDITION: U.S.
RainMan
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
- ?Dancing with the Stars? Week 10 Performance Rankings
- 'Nashville' Season Finale Photos: Rayna Performs with Brad Paisley, Juliette Buries Her Mother
- BuddyTV Free Auctions: Win a Copy of the 'Game of Thrones' Book 1 or 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' on DVD
- 'The Voice' Predictions: Who Will Go Home from the Top 10?
- 'True Blood' Beginnings: Everything You Need to Know About Jessica Hamby
- More From BuddyTV
- 'Dancing With the Stars' costumes get played by ear on a weekly basis
- 'Suits' Season 3 spoiler roundup: Harvey dumps Mike, Mike dates Rachel and more
- 'Arrested Development' Rewatch Season 3, episode 9 - 'S.O.B.s'
- 'Dancing with the Stars' Season 16 finale: Winner predictions and technical difficulties
- 'Men at Work': Gibbs gets inside Tyler's head
- More From Zap2it
- TVLine Items: XBox Orders Live-Action Halo Series, Rena Sofer to Bold and Beautiful and More
- Fall TV Schedule Moves in Review: The Savvy, the Shocking and the Sorta Snoozeworthy
- Criminal Minds Boss Previews Finale Face-Off With The Replicator: 'He Throws the First Punch'
- Ratings: Voice Dips, DWTS Rises, Five-0 Finale Tops Hour, Goodwin Games No Winner
- Nashville Finale First Look: The Truth Comes Out – Are Rayna and Deacon Finished?
- More From TVLine
