Television Q&A: Saturday nights, 'Grimm,' 'The Fugitive'

Q: Why are there no decent programs (in my opinion) scheduled for Saturday nights? The networks put all the weekly continuing programs on during the week, competing with each other for ratings and we don't know what to watch first. Then Saturday night it's mostly reruns or some other junk.

A: On the commercial broadcast networks, Saturday prime-time programming for the most part consists of sports, nonfiction programs, reruns and the burning off of episodes of shows that have not done well in weeknight time slots. The reason is simple: The Saturday night audience is neither large enough nor young enough to justify the networks' spending on scripted comedies and dramas.

This is not a new issue. In 2001, USA Today's Bill Keveney wrote that video recorders and rentals, cable TV and evenings out all reduced the number of young adults at home watching TV on Saturdays — and young adults were the audience most prized by advertisers.

"The economics of Saturday night are such that it makes expensive shows very difficult propositions," a top NBC executive told Keveney. The old WB and UPN networks never bothered to program Saturdays, nor does their successor, the CW.

These days, with even more viewing options, Saturdays remain a tough place to find new scripted shows. This also explains why sports have become so much a part of Saturday.

One remedy: Record some shows Monday through Friday and save them for Saturday. My DVR is usually groaning before a week is done.

Q: I'm writing to see if you know when the new season for "Grimm" will start. We love this show.

Q: Years ago, I saw movie where a woman had three or four men from World War II believing they were the father of her child. When asked her name, she saw a can of Campbell soup and said it's "Mrs. Campbell." The men finally met and discovered each other. It was so funny. Do you know the name of it?

A: That would be "Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell," a 1968 comedy starring Gina Lollobrigida. The three men were played by Phil Silvers, Peter Lawford and Telly Savalas.

Q: Sadly, I missed the final episode of "Zoo." Will it be rerun at any time?

A: I do not know of any current rerun plans. I did see it listed as available as an On Demand offering and for a fee on iTunes and Amazon.com.