February Sweeps Sweeps In

This has a small mention of Roswell, but some other cool stuff! The P05 episode sounds interesting!

February Sweeps Sweeps In

Usual array of crossovers, TV movies, miniseries, specials and other gimmicks pepper prime-time lineup
Updated 8:30 PM ET February 3, 2000

(From E! Online)
by Bridget Byrne
UPN says it’s going to be “Monster!” NBC and CBS insist it’ll be “Fabulous.” The WB says it’s filled with “Romance.” Fox is setting COPS loose on Mulder and Scully. ABC, already in the money, announces that “Love is all around” when Mary Tyler Moore and Valerie Harper reunite.

Yes, February sweeps is upon us. Beginning tonight and running through March 1, it’s one of the seasons when the six networks load up with stunts, spectacles and specials, trot out big-name guest stars and air miniseries ripped from the tabloids. The reason: to attract more viewers in order to get advertisers to pay higher rates.

Despite assurances from network suits, particularly those at Fox, that it’s going to be a kinder, gentler, less gross world on the boob tube, there seems to be the usual amount of sweeps sex and violence–particularly on Fox. That network’s gimmicks include 50 hopefuls competing on Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire, a round-up of commericials deemed too sexually taboo for display in the good old U.S. of A (but not apparently on this network) and one of two sweeps movies about the murdered tot beauty queen, JonBenet Ramsey.

Surprisingly, it’s the usually staid CBS that has the other version. The Eye Network really seems to be turning up the shock factor, also running a miniseries about Thomas Jefferson’s affair with his slave.

NBC’s lineup includes a crossover (between Law Reese Witherspoon on Friends and William Shatner back as the Big Giant Head on 3rd Rock from the Sun) and a spooky new show called The Others.

No big surprises at ABC, which is happily staying with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, three times a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays) along with more iffy fare like the Mary and Rhoda movie and the fun, fun, fun they hope we’ll all have with The Beach Boys.

The WB sticks to its girls-dorm mentality, with Valentine episodes of Charmed (a love spell goes awry) and The Steve Harvey Show (Cedric gets hitched). And a new shape-shifting alien will be unearthed on Roswell, but whether it will have a love life is still unknown.

UPN, of course, is sticking with stuff for the boys. The WWF superstars are not just in the ring but all over the netlet. The Rock’s on Star Trek: Voyager, Triple H visits Grown Ups and Hardcore Holly stars in the movie Operation Sandman. The mayhem culminates February 29 with Monster Trux 2000: The New Thrillennium. Honest.

Here’s a selection of some of the good, the bad and the ugly to take note of as the month roars on:

CBS: The Miss USA Pageant (February 4); a special goodbye to Charlie Brown (February 11); Sally Hemings: An American Scandal (February 13/16), J.A.G.’s 100th episode (February 8); Sammo and Chuck teaming up for a Martial Law/Walker, Texas Ranger crossover (February 19); the Grammys (February 23); and Perfect Murder, Perfect Town, based on Larry Schiller’s bestseller about JonBenet’s death (February 27/March 1).

NBC: The supernatural series The Others premieres February 5, immediately following a two-hour Pretender/Profiler crossover. Judy Parfitt is an overpowering mother on ER (February 10) and Victoria Principal also an overbearing mother on Providence (February 11). Rebecca Romijn-Stamos drops back in on Just Shoot Me (February 22).

ABC: Mary and Rhoda (February 7) and The Beach Boys miniseries (February 27/28) along with movie premieres like Liar, Liar (February 14, encore on February 18). There is also a Stupid Cupid version of America’s Funniest Home Videos (February 12) and All Star Bloopers (February 27).

Fox: The voice of Reese Witherspoon (not the body, which is booked in to NBC) is behind Debbie, who has an affair with Mr. Strickland on King of the Hill (February 6); The JonBenet Ramsey Story (February 16); the 150th episode of The X-Files–filmed reality style by a COPS camera crew trailing Mulder and Scully–(February 20); Party of Five asks what if the Salingers’ parents have never died? (February 22) and Robbie Knievel Train Jump Live gears up February 23.

The WB: Aside from all that romance, 7th Heaven, never a show to avoid a problem, tackles Tourette’s Syndrome (February 7) and Faith wakes from a coma to seek revenge on a two-part Buffy (February 22/29).

UPN: Not to be upstaged by Fox’ s Knievel, stunt coordinator Joe Skorpen jumps through (rather than over) a speeding train on I Dare You (February 8) and Jerry Seinfeld returns to TV as the voice of an arrogant super computer named “Comp-U-Comp” on Dilbert (February 22).