So Long Sweeps

There may be nothing more indicative of how widely my television viewing habits have diverged from the expected norm than my almost total lack of interest in the programming for this year's May sweeps period. May sweeps is the time of year for epoch-ending series finales, wild cliffhanger season finales for shows coming back next year, and the final results shows of spring reality series like "American Idol." All of this is done in the name of ending the television broadcast year with a bang, boosting ratings during the final period when audience levels are measured to help set future advertising rates. In years past, the first three weeks of May meant no reruns, huge plot advancements in continuing serials, guest stars, stunts, and more.

For me, sweeps were a signal to pay closer attention to the programs I was only watching casually, and even the ones that I wasn't. I used to tune in to the finales of popular shows that I wasn't a regular viewer of, like "Lost" and "24," just to see what all the fuss was about. And though I stopped watching "American Idol" after two seasons, I would tune in to the final results shows in later years, just to enjoy the spectacle. The highlight was always the big fuss that people made over the series finales of the long-running, consistent performers like "Seinfeld" or "Everybody Loves Raymond." I always appreciate a good clip show and seeing familiar actors take their final bows. And then, of course, cable cutting and the internet ruined everything.

This year marked the end of "Desperate Housewives" and "One Tree Hill," a pair of soaps I never watched, but also "House," which I was a regular viewer of for years. I'd still been watching off and on this season, but online, catching up on multiple episodes at once. Thanks to FOX's insistence on delaying episodes a full week after their broadcast dates before being released online, I still haven't seen the "House" series finale. And after reading the various reviews and recaps, I don't know if I want to. The preceding clip show sounds fun, but already knowing all the surprise appearances and final fates for all the characters, any curiosity I had about the finale has mostly been satisfied. If live television was the only way I could watch it, and if I didn't know the AV Club and Slate and a dozen other sites would have reviews up the following day, I probably would have tuned in. And if I'd been watching FOX regularly and caught one of their endless stream of promos for the finale, that certainly would have helped too. But I didn't. Instead, on Monday night I was finishing up the last few episodes of "Grimm" and still freaking out over Dan Harmon's firing.

I did make a point of watching the last three episodes of "Community," which I'm glad I did because they may end up being the de facto series finale. However, I missed the season cappers for "Glee" and "Big Bang Theory." I want to see them, particularly for Howard getting shot into space at last, but the urgency is gone. Because I'm not seriously invested in watching either show, and I didn't care enough to follow them week to week this year, it feels like a chore to go track down the online versions, just to get myself up to speed for next season. In my little cord-cutter media universe, there's no longer such a thing as casual viewing. I'm on a Hulu Plus subscription this month, and I have thirty Criterion titles queued up, after reviewing the entire available catalog, replacing my old hunt-and-peck browsing habits at the physical Blockbuster stores. With television shows, I find myself juggling a growing list of episodes I need to catch up on, and figuring out how to prioritize. I still watch "60 Minutes" every Sunday night through the CBS website and I watch Jon Stewart most weeknights, but for everything else it often comes down to what I'm in the mood for and how much hassle I'm willing to go through to watch something. CBS is doing itself no favors with its haphazard approach to releasing content online.

I did not watch the "American Idol" finale this year, which had the lowest ratings of any "American Idol" final over its entire ten-year run. I'm sure this was due to a variety of different factors, including waning audience interest and increased competition from similar talent programs. However, I wonder if it's not another indication that the whole culture is shifting. "American Idol" is such a prized property because it draws a lot of young viewers, but those are the viewers who are spending less and less time watching live television, and more and more online. I’m fully aware that cord-cutters like me, who get the majority of their television shows from the internet, are a rarity right now. But that may not be true for long.

This year’s sweeps barely registered for me this year. Some post mortems have noted that the actual content of many finales were fairly subdued compared to past seasons. We didn’t get as many big stunts or crazy cliffhangers. However, I think the effectiveness of sweeps itself was drastically reduced by my changed watching habits. If I marathon three or four episodes of a show instead of watching them live, their airdates become less important, less noteworthy. It’s harder to build them up into events. And so May sweeps look like they're quickly becoming just another month of television.
---