WHEN POOR PERFORMERS DISAPPEAR; 27 DAYS HATH NOVEMBER SWEEPS PERIOD.Byline: Keith Marder Daily News Television Writer It's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a once again for one of the three times each year when network television executives become magicians and make poorly performing shows disappear. The November sweeps period, which produces ratings that local stations use to set their ad rates for the next three months, begins today and will run through Nov. 25. It, and similar sweeps periods in February and May, are vital to the financial well-being of many local television stations, which have no other way to measure their audiences. There is another sweeps period during the summer, but it pretty much is ignored because of comparatively low viewership. During the three big periods, the four major networks fight for viewers' attentions with specials, miniseries, movies and stunt-casting. It is also a time to take low-rated shows off the schedule either temporarily or permanently. These shows often are replaced by big-budget programs such as the $12 million ``Cinderella,'' which will air Sunday on ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. , and, coincidentally co·in·ci·den·tal adj. 1. Occurring as or resulting from coincidence. 2. Happening or existing at the same time. co·in , in a few cases, magic specials. None of the four major networks is immune to low-rated shows, which include the following: ABC's ``Timecop,'' is history, and its Thursday night dramas, ``Nothing Sacred'' and ``Cracker,'' will air only twice in the four-week period because of major sweeps events. The Saturday night lineup of ``C16: FBI,'' ``Total Security'' and ``The Practice'' will bow out once, as will Tuesday night comedies ``Soul Man'' and ``Over the Top.'' CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. will drop ``Meego,'' ``Public Eye With Bryant Gumbel,'' ``48 Hours,'' ``Michael Hayes'' and ``Dellaventura,'' for all or part of sweeps. Fox's Thursday drama ``413 Hope St.'' and its Tuesday night movie franchise will drop out for a week. The Scott Baio Scott Vincent James Baio (born September 22, 1961 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American actor, who is perhaps best known for his work on the sitcoms Happy Days and Charles in Charge. comedy, ``Rewind,'' which was slated to debut in the fall, will not appear, the network said. NBC NBC in full National Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. commercial broadcasting company. It was formed in 1926 by RCA Corp., General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse and was the first U.S. company to operate a broadcast network. has dropped ``Built to Last'' from its lineup permanently and removed ``The Tony Danza Tony Danza (born Anthony Salvatore Iadanza[1] April 21, 1951 in Brooklyn, New York), is an American actor best known for starring in two popular TV series, Taxi and Who's the Boss? Show'' from its November schedule. ``Jenny'' and ``Men Behaving Badly Men Behaving Badly is a British comedy, which first broadcast in 1992 on the ITV network, however moved to BBC One (and a later timeslot) from the third series onwards. It was written and created by Simon Nye. ,'' will each miss a week, making way for theatrical movies. Monday's ``The Naked Truth,'' and ``Fired Up,'' will take a week off to make room for the second part of ``House of Frankenstein.'' Bad timing Networks don't like sweeps; neither do advertisers or local stations. The criticism is that packing good programming into one month out of three does not give a fair indication of what ratings the regular schedule will receive. Jamming all good programs into one month and interrupting the schedule irritates viewers as well. But Nielsen Media Research, the only television ratings Television ratings may refer to:
``It's safe to say that all of our shows that are underperforming will take some hits in sweeps,'' said Kelly Kahl, the vice president of program planning and scheduling at CBS. ``That's the unfortunate thing about sweeps. We'd like to change the rules. We're trying to build a schedule, and five weeks into it we have to mess things up again. It's the last thing television needs.'' Several network shows will be given a breather for all or part of the sweeps. These shows are on what the networks like to call a ``hiatus.'' Some to be retooled, others to be hidden and some to be buried forever and ever. ``Some of the shows that they say are on hiatus will never come back,'' said William Croasdale of Western International Media. ``The `Jenny' show on NBC, along with `The Tony Danza Show,' both of those have been given full-season commitments. They will be on the schedule and will probably be back after sweeps in mid to late December. Others are just going to bite the dust to fall in the agonies of death; as, he made his enemy bite the dust. See under Bite, v. t. os> See also: Bite Dust like `Timecop' and `413 Hope St.' Basically we'll see what happens with specials like `When Animals Attack' or `The World's Funniest Bloopers.' '' On their way out Croasdale said that we may have seen, or will soon see, the last of ``Timecop,'' ``Dellaventura,'' ``Nothing Sacred,'' ``Cracker,'' ``Meego,'' ``C16'' and ``Total Security.'' Other shows such as ``Danza'' will be revamped, but that does not usually do any good. ``Usually when a show is revamped,'' Croasdale said, ``it does the same number (rating) it did before.'' Some shows need drastic changes, he said. ``I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what to do with Jenny McCarthy Jennifer McCarthy (born November 1, 1972)[1] is an American model, comedian, actress and author. She first appeared in Playboy magazine in October 1993 and was named Playmate of the Year in its June 1994 issue. unless you put her back in a bikini, a tight sweater and skirts slit up to the you-know-where,'' Croasdale said. ``They are trying to turn her into a quasi-`Laverne & Shirley,' but to my knowledge, the young guys who watched her on MTV MTV in full Music Television U.S. cable television network, established in 1980 to present videos of musicians and singers performing new rock music. MTV won a wide following among rock-music fans worldwide and greatly affected the popular-music business. aren't interested in that.'' CAPTION(S): 4 Photos Photo: (1) By the time network television's November sweeps period commences, viewers may have seen, or will soon see, the last of ABC's ``Timecop.'' (2) Among CBS' November castoffs is ``Meego,'' which will disappear for all or part of sweeps. (3) Fox's Thursday drama ``413 Hope St.'' will disappear for a week. (4) Missing from NBC's November schedule, ``The Tony Danza Show'' had been given a full-season commitment. |
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