The Season Is Over: Let the Reruns Begin

This is just an ordinary Wednesday, unless you happen to watch any prime-time television series on a regular basis. If you are in that category, then this is it. The end. The edge of a square Earth, which you are about to fall over into a yawning abyss of reruns.

Tonight represents the official conclusion of the prime-time television season, as measured by Nielsen Media Research. For decades, the season traditionally wrapped up in mid-April, at which point the Big Three networks switched to reruns. Viewers, most of whom received a mere handful of channels, had little choice but to stick around.

Gradually, however, the May rating sweeps took on greater significance, so networks began loading up the four-week survey with splashy movies and miniseries while trying to stretch their allotted 22 original episodes of top series from mid-September into May, a span of almost 36 weeks. In the mid-1990s, the networks finally declared the April cutoff passe and extended the television season through the May sweeps, which always wind up on a Wednesday, thus explaining the ungainly midweek finish.

As for prime time screeching to a halt, those of you who watch series (and you know who you are) understand this already. After all, networks have been beating you over the head for the last month with reminders to watch your favorite series because there are “Only two new episodes left!” or it’s “The explosive season finale!” or “Season Finale Thursday!” or “Angie Harmon’s final appearance!” on “Law & Order”--which, truth be told, is cause for mourning around my house.

In the annual hysteria that surrounds May, a key month local TV stations use as the basis to set ad rates for nearly half the year, networks trot out cliffhangers, weddings and deaths to boost ratings. Yet these episodes also send a not-so-subtle message--telling the audience, in essence, tune in now, because you won’t have any reason to again until after Labor Day.

The buildup toward May finales continues despite the fact television has changed dramatically, as the major networks grapple with how to fill the summer months when they no longer possess a monopoly on viewers.

For starters, there are financial limits on broadcasters, who have always relied on reruns as a source of profits without the additional expense paying for shows. In addition, television viewing historically dips from June through August, so the theory was, why throw big bucks at programming during that period?

At the same time, cable networks--ever vigilant about opportunities to get noticed--have sought to capitalize on this arid patch with high-profile movies, stunts and original programs. In just the next few weeks, HBO will begin the latest flight of “Sex and the City” episodes, while Cartoon Network presents a sweeping Bugs Bunny cartoon marathon--just the sort of stuff to divert viewers suddenly deprived of their favorite programs.

Networks have tried various approaches to “keep the lights on” during the summer and dispel the notion that they have hung out the “gone fishin’ ” sign, to use two of the more popular cliches.

Last summer, the result was “Survivor”--a mega-hit beyond anyone’s wildest expectations--and “Big Brother,” which drew modest ratings that were still reasonably good compared with summer-rerun standards. The year before, ABC launched “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

The common thread, in all three cases, is these shows cost relatively little to produce, reducing the risk, had they fallen on their faces.

As for new scripted shows, viewers have become reasonably adept at recognizing these for what they are: leftovers deemed too rancid to expose to air during any month ending in R; or offbeat concepts programmers would rather try when there is less formidable competition. This season’s entries include NBC’s sitcom “Kristin” and ABC’s drama “The Beast,” and let’s just say the order in which they were mentioned isn’t random.

So networks cobble together summer lineups sprinkled with fresh material, featuring inexpensive-to-produce fare such as newsmagazines, quiz shows, unscripted programs, sports and leftover episodes of canceled series. On Monday, NBC proudly noted a third of its summer lineup will be new thanks to “Weakest Link,” “Dateline NBC” and summer tryouts such as “Fear Factor,” in which people engage in gut-wrenching stunts in pursuit of $50,000, or about $3,333 per minute of fame.

It’s a brave front, but to fans who selectively show up for the likes of “ER,” “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “The Practice,” the networks have, indeed, gone fishin’ and turned the lights out.

Programmers have toyed with various ways to make summer repeats seem minty-fresh, from letting viewers choose episodes via the Internet to creative packaging of theme or hosted nights, taking a page from rerun-laden cable channels such as TV Land.

Perhaps the most inventive, if lampooned, gambit involved the “It’s New to You” campaign NBC inaugurated in 1998, inspired by research indicating even loyal viewers miss at least half a program’s episodes over the course of a season. Don’t dismiss reruns out of hand, the ads suggested, because if you missed it the first time, well, you get the idea.

Then-NBC West Coast President Don Ohlmeyer defended the “New to You” premise, noting that some people temporarily deserted the networks to watch even older reruns on cable, just as episodes of popular series repeat nightly in syndication for years on end.

“They’re not going to see something new. They’re going to see something different,” Ohlmeyer said. “People have seen some of those ‘Cheers’ episodes 10 times.”

The risk nevertheless remains that every summer, as viewers begin grazing, some will discover something new to distract them--from A&E;’s “Biography” to learning how to make steak flambe on the Food Network.

While many will return to “NYPD Blue” and “The Simpsons” once the weather cools, more marginal programs, and untested new series, would seem to become increasingly vulnerable as people gradually add to their menu of viewing options.

That said, until money becomes no object, or someone decides to clone “The West Wing’s” Aaron Sorkin so the two of him can churn out 50 brilliant scripts a year, there will be no simple solution to this dilemma. As a result, the TV season finale offers a cliffhanger no writer or executive can resolve--namely, how many of those viewers who drift away will faithfully reappear when the dinner bell rings again in September, announcing that the networks are serving up a new batch of episodes.

By the way, though sweeps and the TV season officially come to an end, original installments of “On TV” will still be available. There won’t be much interesting to say, of course, but if you haven’t been reading the column religiously, it’ll be new to you.

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Brian Lowry’s column appears on Wednesdays. He can be reached by e-mail at brian.lowry@latimes.com.