Battle of the networks’ stars
May 25, the final night of the 2004-05 TV season, could go down in history.
Three powerhouse attractions – the crowning of the fourth “American Idol,” the double-length season finale of freshman hit “Lost,” and the torn-from-the-headlines TV movie “Amber Frey: Witness for the Prosecution” – will collide in what might be the most contentious weeknight ever.
There have been other titanic showdowns, the most celebrated being Feb. 11, 1979, when “Gone With the Wind,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and the TV movie “Elvis” faced off in what many TV analysts regard as the most reckless scorched-earth scheduling ever. (Remember, this was pre-VCR, so most homes had to choose just one.)
However, almost all previous battles royal – including the one in 1979 – have been on Sundays, when typically the most viewers are available. That the latest will take place on a Wednesday, generally not a heavily trafficked night, is a matter of circumstance more than design.
Wednesday is results night on “American Idol.” “Lost” also is a Wednesday fixture.
And May 25 not only is the end of the TV season, but also the final night of the May “sweeps” – one of three four-week periods each season when ratings are used as the basis for setting ad prices.
That’s why CBS would jump into a seemingly hopeless situation with its Amber Frey/Scott Peterson movie (starring another familiar face from Wednesday night, Janel Moloney of “The West Wing”).
Fox and CBS are locked in a colossal struggle for season-long supremacy in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-49 demographic. CBS is extremely touchy that despite its dominance in recent years in total viewers, it has been dismissed as “the geezer network.”
So it will start “Witness for the Prosecution” at 9 p.m. and hope to pick up a share of the millions who are not devotees of “Idol” or “Lost.” At the very least, CBS has an audience lure for the 10 p.m. hour after “Idol” and “Lost” sign off – though ABC also will be airing the “Alias” season finale then.
Two other hastily thrown together specials illustrate how competitive the May sweeps will be for everyone but NBC, which is a hopeless fourth in the 18-49 demographic it used to dominate.
“Survivor” sweethearts Rob and Amber, who are encoring on “The Amazing Race,” became Mr. & Mrs. Mariano in the Bahamas on April 16. Highlights of the wedding will air in a two-hour CBS special on May 24.
And ABC will pre-empt its regular series that night for “Trump Unauthorized,” starring sitcom leading man Justin Louis as The Donald.
Speaking of “The Amazing Race,” it will get a relatively free ride, with no extraordinary competition, when the winning couple is crowned on May 10.
That won’t be the case when the third “Apprentice” is designated by Donald Trump on May 19. That night, “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” will end its season with an episode directed by Quentin Tarantino, and Fox will cobble together a clip show, “American Idol International: The Best of the Worst.”
CBS is probably in the best shape of all the networks for other super showdowns during the May sweeps, which actually began on Thursday.
“Everybody Loves Raymond,” TV’s most popular comedy, will say goodbye after nine years on May 16, with a one-hour retrospective leading into a standard 30-minute finale. NBC will attempt to blunt its impact with a new made-for-TV “Hercules” movie, and Fox will air the next-to-last episode of the addictive serial “24,” which will expand to two hours for its finale on May 23.
What the other networks are doing to “Everybody Loves Raymond,” CBS will attempt to do to ABC’s blockbuster rookie “Desperate Housewives,” scheduling a major attraction opposite it on three of the four sweeps Sundays. (It would have been four, but CBS decided to postpone its Martha Stewart docudrama, “Martha: Behind Bars,” until fall.)
Tonight, the “Hallmark Hall of Fame” production “Riding the Bus With My Sister,” featuring Rosie O’Donnell’s return to TV, will air in CBS’ regular movie time period.
Next Sunday will bring Part 1 of another “Elvis” miniseries, starring Irish actor Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. (Never bet against The King; on that notorious Sunday back in 1979, the earlier “Elvis” telepic shocked observers by beating both acclaimed theatrical features – a watershed in TV history.)
And on May 15, CBS will combat the women of Wisteria Lane with the decisive episode of “Survivor” – an event that has produced huge ratings in the past.