SMASH's Safran 'Saddened' by Move to Saturdays; Final Episode Written as Series Finale

In an interview with TVline, SMASH showrunner Josh Safran admitted that he was "saddened" when he heard the news that his NBC musical dramedy would be moved to Saturday nights beginning April 6th.

"I didn't see it coming, being relegated to Saturday," he tells TVLine. "We're all aware the show is not successful, but I guess I had hoped we would see what happened when The Voice came back [or] maybe they'd move us to a better time slot. But I understand from the network's point of view. We hit a number and we stuck there."

The second season of the show has not been able to match the ratings success it delivered during its freshman year. The season premiere earned a 1.1 demo rating, amounting to a decline of 25 and 39 percent from its freshman finale. Ratings continued to slide during the second outing but stabilized in the third week. This past Tuesday's episode picked up a bit, averaging 2.9 million viewers and a 0.9 rating. However Safran acknowledged that ticking up just a tenth of a point "is not really going up."

He also revealed that the last episode of the season "was constructed as a series finale" explaining, "I don't want [viewers] to think they are going to be left hanging, because they won't be. The season has a beginning, middle and an end... [And] it just gets better and better," he assured viewers.

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