Who else thinks that sweeps produces the WORST television of the season? (1 Viewer)

[Mitty]

Guest stars, weddings, characters battling life-threatening illnesses, babies, etc., etc., blah, blah, blah.
What you end up getting are overhyped crap-fests, shark-jumping episodes, if you'll allow me to used that weary phrase. What it feels like is the network wrestling control away from the people who create it on a week to week basis and creating a false and forced "event" show. NBC seems to be the biggest offender in this regard, although maybe that's because of their shameless promotion (ie. "Will & Grace - The Wedding").
I guess it works though. :frowning:

 

[Paul McElligott]

Frequently true, sad to say.

I've heard that advertisers are growing skeptical of "sweeps" ratings because of the stunts that the networks always try to juice up the ratings.

 

[MickeS]

I don't see the point of sweeps anymore. Aren't ratings tracked 365/24/7 these days anyway?

And NBC is really terrible... so we had a wedding on "Will & Grace", surgery on "Frasier" and a wedding on "Providence" too, right? It's a wonder they didn't make Phoebe get married right away to the guy she's dating on "Friends".

 

[teapot2001]

NBC had a wedding on Ed too.

~T

 

[Kenneth Cummings]

Meahwhile on WB we have tons of "Angel : Rain of Fire" or "Everwood : Snow storm" or other dramatic action episode titles.

 

[Hanson]

I don't see the point of sweeps anymore. Aren't ratings tracked 365/24/7 these days anyway?

Sweeps is when the networks set their ad rates, not when they track ratings. Since the ad rates are based on ratings, the networks go all out to attract viewers and artificially pump up their ratings. Also happens in Feb and May.

 

[Jason Seaver]

It's also worth mentioning that sweeps are actually used more by local stations than networks - while there's generally a good sampling of NYC/Chicago/LA going on year-round, there isn't a large enough sample size for Bangor, ME to set ad rates except during sweeps (when there are many more people keeping diaries).

 

[Chad R]

I still don't understand how advertisers go for this. How does a special 90 minute version of 'Will and Grace' set the ad rate for the 9:30 slot usually occupied by the less than spectacular "Good Morning Miami"?

If I was an advertiser and they tried to sell me ad time during that show at rates achieved from "Will and Grace" I'd figure out the difference in ratings between the two and offer them back the percentage difference.

The rates should be set by a show's average rating over several months, not a specific few moths every year.