Ontario movie fans rally to save 'Saturday Night at the Movies' from the axe

TORONTO - Ontario movie buffs want their Saturday Night back.

Fans are rallying to save the TV Ontario show "Saturday Night at the Movies," which is getting the axe as part of the publicly funded broadcaster's budget cuts.

Social media sites are abuzz with fans lamenting the demise of the nearly 40-year-old educational program, which stood out among modern movie shows dominated by celebrity sound bites.

Cinephiles are being urged to sign an online petition to stop the cancellation of the show. It launched Tuesday and had collected more than 400 signatures as of 10:30 a.m. Wednesday morning.

"Save #SNAM" is the call to arms on Twitter, with fans pleading with TVO to save the program.

A London, Ont. woman, Jo-Anne Bishop, tweeted that she grew up with the program and now her children are as well.

"Don't end it," she tweeted. "Please?!"

Toronto Star columnist Peter Howell slammed TVO's "ill-considered decision" to kill the program.

"This would have broken Elwy Yost's heart," he tweeted, referring to the beloved former host of the show.

"Film lovers, rise!"

The show's longtime affable and enthusiastic host conducted interviews with classic film stars and the directors, composers and screenwriters behind the camera that would run between films shown on Saturday night.

Yost hosted the show for 25 years before retiring in 1999. He died last year at the age of 85.

TVO is also cutting staff and two other programs as part of an effort to save $2 million.

It said it will put more resources into "digital innovation in children's educational media" and current affairs and have fewer staff dedicated to traditional TV production as it addresses reduced government funding.

Its plan will see 35 to 40 current employees "leave" TVO between now and the end of March 2013.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said every agency funded by the government is feeling the squeeze as the province faces a $14.4-billion deficit.

"I think our public broadcaster is one that's valued by Ontarians — both TVO and TFO — and I would hope that the programming that they provide continues to keep Ontarians interested," she said Wednesday.

The current season of "Saturday Night at the Movies" is scheduled to be its last. "Allan Gregg in Conversation" and "Big Ideas" will also go off the air in the spring.

TVO says it plans to include some "Big Ideas" lectures as part of "The Agenda with Steve Paikin."

"These are tough decisions but times change and we have to adapt and innovate," CEO Lisa de Wilde said Tuesday in a release.

"When 'Saturday Night at the Movies' began almost 40 years ago, it broke new ground but now entire TV networks and web services are dedicated to movies."

The Ontario government indicated in this year's budget that all public agencies, including TVO, need to reduce their reliance on government money, TVO noted.

"TVO's plan responds to this fiscal reality and allows the organization to build a sustainable financial model in 2013-14 and beyond," the broadcaster said.

"Streamlined production processes will allow us to create the kind of distinct content that delivers on our mission and to be more productive with every dollar we have."

TVO said its total operating budget for the current fiscal year is $64 million, of which the Ontario Ministry of Education contributes $42 million.

The additional $22 million comes from revenue TVO generates through donations and corporate sponsorships, among other things.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2012