This week in TV Guide: May 22, 1965

From time to time, TV Guide has presented an occasional series of articles called "If I had a network, in which prominent personages from various walks of life are asked the simple question, "What would you do if you were in complete charge of a network?" This week, the respondent is one of the magazine's most distinguished occasional essayists, British humorist and critic Malcolm Muggeridge. Now, that name should be familiar to you as a regular reader of this website, because I almost always feature Muggeridge's pieces when they appear. They're invariably shrewd, erudite, and witty, not to mention extremely perceptive. So what does Mr. M have to say about running an American television network?For starters, his first step would be "a furious, sustained and lethally well-documented assault on Nielsen ratings, with a view to undermining their acceptance," to be replaced by what he calls a "system of enquiry into viewing, both qualitative and quantitative, undertaken by, say, the…