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May TV Sweeps May 13, 2003 |
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The television season winds down this month during the frenzy known as May sweeps, when networks present the finales to all of their high rated shows. There will be the usual cliffhangers, grand and shocking finales and overblown made-for-TV specials and mini series as the networks compete for ratings glory in the last major time period before the new fall season premieres in September. The bulk of the sweeps specials commence during the next two weeks before the long summer of reruns and (god help us) reality shows. I think the reality craze has waned a bit, but for summer programming they are ideal and cheap to produce as an alternative to reruns. It’s maddening for sure, but at least us purists can look forward to new, scripted seasons of memorable shows like HBO’s brilliant Baltimore sting operation cop drama “The Wire”, the swan song for Carrie and the girls on “Sex and the City” and a much anticipated return of Tony Shalhoub’s defective detective “Monk”. But before these series return for their summer runs, the business at hand is dissecting which of the May sweeps extravaganzas will truly be must-see TV. I have studied the list of shows and have chosen eight that deserve mentioning, based not primarily on the fact that they are my personal favorites, but have intriguing storylines that are sure to play out unexpectedly over the final two weeks of the season. The most anticipated finale on my list is easily the May 20th send off of “24”. The second season of Fox’s great real time thriller will see if Jack Bauer can finally get the proof needed to stop an unnecessary, oil fueled war in the Middle East. “24” throughout this second season, playing opposite the war in Iraq has made for great political, anti-reality-yet-grounded-in-realism television for the populace looking to escape war coverage and watch a fictional hero chase down a nuclear bomb planted by devious American government politicos to start a profitable war overseas. The storyline may be fiction, but it uncannily resembles the Bush administration’s involvement in an oil rich country and their questionable reasons for being there. Invariably Fox has said the finale will be a shocker, but fans of the show will tell you that it can’t get more shocking than last seasons dark finale which saw Jack cradling the body of his murdered wife. My prediction is that Bauer will get his evidence, President Palmer will be reinstated to office, and everybody can finally get to sleep. Needless to say, one of the great shows on TV, “24” will undoubtedly go out with a bang. On that same Tuesday, after “24” resolves its season, switch over to ABC for the season ender of “NYPD Blue”, ABC’s long running, but still riveting cop drama. The major plot thread to be resolved concerns Sipowitz and McDowell and their attempts to adopt her dead sisters baby. Which is proving difficult given his past as an alcoholic and her questionable past with an unwanted baby. Frankly, the notion that a beautiful woman like Connie McDowell would want to dedicate her life to living with a grouse like Andy Sipowitz was a stretch, but the couple has grown on me and the always great Dennis Franz has made Sipowitz into an all-time classic TV character, full of rage but with a sweet, likable and tender side, especially when concerning his little son, Theo. It’s enough to hope that all will turnout well for Andy and Connie, but given the shows reluctance to see its characters happy, don’t be surprised if it doesn’t. Moving now to NBC, two once great, now aging dramas wrap up their plot heavy seasons. On “The West Wing” President Bartlett deals with trouble overseas, a new Vice President and a kidnapped daughter while real life Martin Sheen feels the sting of being anti-war in a pro-Bush post-war period. In its fourth season “The West Wing” is no longer the great show that won three straight Best Drama Emmy’s over more worthy shows like “24”, “Six Feet Under” and “The Sopranos”, but it is still one of the smartest shows on TV, with a fine ensemble cast. The departure of creator Aaron Sorkin after this year will have one of two repercussions, it’ll either bring new life to the show, or kill any remaining interest in its liberal President and his staff of fast talking know-it-alls. The other long running NBC drama closing its season this week is “ER”, which will find Dr.’s Carter and Kovac on assignment in Africa. In the past when “ER” ventured away from the hospital (like the death of Mark Green in Hawaii last season) it proves a refreshing change of pace from the familiarity and often repetitive hospital goings on. One can only hope the promised cliffhanger isn’t as ridiculous as last years smallpox caused hospital shutdown. Given last weeks season best episode contrasting a hectic day and night shift by Carter and protégé Dr. Pratt, I’m thinking “ER” will continue on that high note and end strongly. In the world of the comedy sitcom, two storylines standout from the rest. On Thursday, “Friends” wraps up its post-Emmy season with an episode that takes place in Barbados where Rachael wrestles with her feelings for Joey and Ross gets to bore everybody with a speech on paleontology. “Friends” is always good for a much-debated cliffhanger, and hopefully this one will set things up nicely for next years final season of the popular comedy. The other comedy plot arch likely to be memorable is on “Everybody Loves Raymond”, CBS’s highest rated comedy where Robert and Amy finally get married on May 19th. If I’m certain about anything it’s that the wedding will not go off as planned, nothing ever goes off perfectly for the neurotic Barone clan, but you can be certain it’ll be hilarious, it usually is with this show. On the reality show circuit, “American Idol” crowns its second winner on May 21st to an adoring audience of teenage girls and people who believe in a truncated version of the American Dream. Personally I don’t watch “American Idol”, but lots of people do, and I see the final five minutes before “24” starts on Tuesday, so my guess will be that Clay Aiken will win. Not because he’s white or because he’s good looking, but because he can actually sing, and, who am I kidding, because he’s white and good looking, just look at last years winner Kelly Clarkson. In any event, big man Ruben Studdard, with a powerhouse set of pipes, should get a record contract anyway. Record companies would be foolish not to cash in. And finally, the most curious choice of sweeps topics, Hitler, gets a lavish CBS mini-series treatment with “Hitler: The Rise of Evil”. This is very odd scheduling by any standard, and to cast Robert Carlyle, an actor born and raised in Glasgow as the Nazi dictator is questionable, but if anything, it’ll be an interesting experiment. My only concern, will this film be in English? I mean how can you present a study of Hitler in the English language? It’s unnatural, but then again using the story of Hitler as a means to grab ratings is far from natural anyway. The one show missing from this column so far is “Boomtown”, the best show on TV this year, which had its premature finale three weeks ago with a brilliant episode that wrapped up loose ends in a satisfying and touching manner. I mention the show because it is still yet to be renewed by NBC, which will be a major travesty if it isn’t. In recent memory only “24” and “The Sopranos” have had equally masterful first seasons, mixed with stylish action, deep characterizations, and heartfelt storylines. If “Boomtown” (NBC’s only Peabody Award winner) is renewed when the networks announce their fall lineups later this month it’ll be the best news to come out of this overstuffed sweeps period. by Adam Suraf
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