Gentlemen, start your egos.
The first ratings sweeps month of the 1989-90 television season begins Wednesday and the race is on.
”It`s a battle for bragging rights,” one network executive said.
But sweeps mean more than being able to lord it over competitors. It means big money. And to fully understand the importance of the sweeps months- November, February and May-one must know that:
– Though programs are rated exactly the same in every month of the year, sweeps months are important to local stations because advertisers use the ratings recorded in them to plan their local advertising buys.
– All of the nation`s television markets are measured by both A.C. Nielsen Co. (whose November rating period begins Thursday and ends Nov. 29)
and Arbitron Co. (which starts Wednesday and ends Nov. 28). The information for each market, including demographic breakdowns of audiences, goes into the ratings books.
– Because these are the only months with complete demographic information for every market, they have a large effect on local stations, where electronic meters provide daily rating information.
That is why the networks do all they can to help local stations. This is what the networks are doing:
– CBS (WBBM-Ch. 2) has the two-part, five-hour ”Till We Meet Again,” an adaptation of Judith Krantz` ”writing.” Scheduled for Nov. 19 (8-10 p.m.)
and Nov. 20 (7-10 p.m.), it stars Bruce Boxleitner, Michael York, Courtney Cox and Barry Bostwick.
”The Return of Sam McCloud,” brings Dennis Weaver back to television for two hours at 8 p.m. Nov. 12. No longer the cowpoke-in-Manhatta n, McCloud`s a senator and environmentalist.
”Taken Away,” at 8 p.m. Saturday, is two-hours` worth of Valerie Bertinelli and Chicago actor Kevin Dunn in a child custody battle.
In its so-called ”Special Thanksgiving Menu,” the network will offer
”The 11th Annual Circus of the Stars” at 8 p.m. Nov. 22, preceeded by
”Garfield`s Thanksgiving” and ”Bugs Bunny`s Thanksgiving”; ”Grammy`s Living Legends” at 8 p.m. Nov. 24; and a two-hour ”50 Years of Television” on Nov. 26.
– NBC (WMAQ-Ch. 5) starts with ”Cross of Fire” at 8 p.m. Sunday and Monday. It`s a 1920s drama of death and the Ku Klux Klan, starring Mel Harris, Lloyd Bridges and John Heard.
”Manhunt: The Search for the Night Stalker” at 8 p.m. Nov. 12, stars Richard Jordan and Lisa Eilbacher and covers the search for a California killer.
”Cast the First Stone,” at 8 p.m. Nov. 13, stars Jill Eikenberry as a teacher whose religious beliefs compel her to fight to keep the baby that she carries as the result of rape.
In the fictional-movie category, there is ”Turn Back the Clock” at 8 p.m. Nov. 20, which captures in flashbacks the events that led up to a New Year`s Eve murder. It stars Connie Selleca, David Dukes, Dina Merrill and Gene Barry.
On the non-movie front, the network will offer the season premiere of
”L.A. Law,” 9 p.m. Thursday, and two-part episodes of ”Night Court” and
”227.”
– ABC (WLS-Ch. 7) starts sweeps with that proven ratings winner Barbara Walters and one of her gab-fests. This edition, at 8 p.m. Wednesday, features Ted Danson, Kathleen Turner and the Duchess of York.
Two former ”Charlie`s Angels” seek to work ratings magic. Farrah Fawcett stars with hubby Ryan O`Neal in ”Small Sacrifices” at 8 p.m. Nov. 12 and 14, as a woman convicted of shooting her three children. Jaclyn Smith debuts on Nov. 11 as ”Christine Cromwell,” one fourth of the network`s revolving ”Saturday Mystery Movie” series.
– Fox Broadcasting (WFLD-Ch. 32) is enhancing its regular lineup by expanding ”America`s Most Wanted” at 8 p.m. Nov. 19; offering a two-parter, beginning on ”Booker” (6 p.m. Nov. 26) and concluding on ”21 Jump Street” (7 p.m. Nov. 27); having a date-rape episode on ”Open House” (8:30 p.m. Nov. 12) and having Steven Spielberg as a guest star on the ”Tracey Ullman Show” (9 p.m. Saturday).
What`s missing from this lineup? Think back to last November.
That`s when ABC offered ”War and Remembrance,” the mini-series that gobbled up 18 hours of prime time and lost the network an estimated $20 million.
That bottom-line bombshell sent shock waves throughout television and probably signaled the end of the big mini-series. (There is only one mini-series on the horizon, ABC`s ”The Kennedys of Massachusetts,” starring local actor William L. Petersen and scheduled for February.)
Add to the absence of mini-series the lack of special programs-it was once traditional for networks to drop a special into their least successful time slots to artificially inflate ratings-and one can tell that series have become the keys for the networks.
Let the series, and the occasional two-part movie do the ratings talking, the networks are saying, and how loudly they are able to do so will determine Chicago`s No. 1 station.
On the local front, the principal battleground is, as always, the 10 p.m. Monday-Friday news slots.
WLS-Ch. 7 is the favorite to retain its first-place ranking, though WMAQ- Ch. 5, perhaps energized by its Oct. 1 move to new high-tech headquarters at the NBC Tower, will make a strong bid for bragging rights. WBBM-Ch. 2 will do the most with the least, saddled as it is with a sorry network schedule.
Each of the stations is reluctant to divulge the topics of the sweeps pieces that they will unveil during November.
”So competitive are we that most sweeps pieces are guarded like state secrets,” a local executive said.
But a few are already known.
– WBBM has investigative wiz Pam Zekman beginning a three-part series Wednesday on a dangerous cult, and Linda MacLennan reporting Monday on people who are ”Spying for Love.”
– WLS, according to a spokesperson, ”has for a number of years not participated in the traditional sweeps mentality. We try our best to cover stories when they happen rather than saving them to exploit during sweeps.”
– WMAQ on Wednesday starts a three-part Unit Five investigation of electromagnetic forces, with Joan Esposito reporting. Saturday, Barry Kaufman takes a look at shyness; Monday, Ray Suarez answers the question, ”Is there really such a thing as an American car?”; and Nov. 8, Bob Sirott and Rick Salinger examine the crazy cable biz in ”Please Stand By.”
Which is just what anxious station bosses will do over the next few weeks: stand by and hope that when the dust clears, they`ll be crossing the finish line first in the November ratings race.
