THE SWEEPS : Even Series Do Sweeps Specials

Natalie Green could have saved her virginity for marriage.

Instead, she will lose it during sweeps.

Tonight, 21-year-old Natalie, one of the young boarding-house residents in NBC’s comedy series “The Facts of Life,” will have her first sexual experience with her truck-driver boyfriend, Snake. In life, it probably had to happen someday. In the competitive world of television, it had to happen during sweeps.

It’s a fact of life: While the networks flood their schedules with lavish new miniseries, movies and special programming to hype their ratings during the sweeps months of February, May and November, they also call on many of their regular series to make each episode a special event.

“It comes down from the very top, and it happens at all three networks,” says producer (“Rags to Riches”) and former network executive Leonard Hill. “They live by this irrationality. . . . They light firecrackers trying to get attention. It’s klieg lights: ‘Give us flash and sparkle at a certain time of year.’ ”

Some examples from the current month: The very tall, very bald winners of the nationwide Bull-Look-Alike contest will appear on NBC’s “Night Court” Thursday along with the real Bull Shannon (played by Richard Moll), as Bull prepares to attend a meeting of the Big, Bald, Burly Bailiffs of America. Michael Landon will lose his angel’s wings and fall in love on “Highway to Heaven.” Dolly Parton will go to Hawaii. “Mr. Belvedere” will go to Atlantic City.

Sherman Hemsley, former star of “The Jeffersons,” will lock horns once again with his former co-star, Marla Gibbs, on her current NBC comedy series “227.” Teen heartthrob Scott Baio will turn up on NBC’s “My Two Dads.” And viewers of NBC’s courtroom drama “Matlock” and Fox Broadcasting’s comedy “Married . . . With Children” will get a chance to cast a telephone vote on how a sweeps episode will end.

Most TV series producers deny that the sweeps control their creativity, but they agree that sweeps are no ordinary time of year. Early in the season, discussions begin with the network about which episodes might be earmarked for sweeps, the period when ratings are taken on every TV station in the country for the purpose of setting advertising rates.

Though no rules exist by which the network determines what is sweeps material, one can expect more births, deaths, murders, marriages, remote locations, outrageous stunts and guest stars. Or episodes that feature one key visual element that lends itself to promotion spots--such as another “Facts Of Life” episode this month in which Natalie’s housemate, Blair, accidentally dyes her hair green.

Irma Kalish, executive producer of “Facts of Life,” said the network is more interested in identifying appropriate sweeps episodes than in imposing its own ideas of what should be in them.

“They (the network) didn’t tell us to do a show about one of the girls having a sexual experience, but when they heard we were planning it, they slated it for sweeps,” she said. “We’ve never had any problem; we’re always thinking of shows that could be big for sweeps.”

But for at least a few producers such as Hill, catering to sweeps counts among the chief annoyances of trying to produce a series with creative integrity. Although Hill stressed that the networks are not to blame for the phenomenon (“They would love to see the sweeps go away”), he believes their “panic” on behalf of their affiliated stations often forces producers into compromising positions.

NBC pressured “Rags to Riches” to come up with special episodes for the sweeps last November, Hill said of his now-canceled series. He obliged with one about a beauty pageant.

“The network was saying, ‘OK, for sweeps we need high-concept, we need bikini beaches, we need beauty pageants. We’re going into sweeps, we need the concept s,’ ” he said. “You can’t say to them: ‘Yes, but I have this great idea for an episode about a child’s nuclear nightmares.’ ”

“Night Court” executive producer Reinhold Weege scoffs at the idea that such episodes as his own Bull look-alike show make much difference in the ratings.

“To tell you the truth, Bull with 10 Bull look-alikes is a cheap, flashy visual thing,” he said.

“I will move a story to a particular place in the production year if I think there is some promotable element the network might want--10 Bulls or whatever. I tend to let them do what they want,” he acknowledged. “(But) once you’re on our (popularity) level, unless the show gets terrible for a year or explodes or adds an element that is so much for the good, we know we’re pretty much going to stay around the same (ratings) numbers.”

For some producers, the attitude toward sweeps is studied indifference. “I have absolutely no conception of when we’re in a ratings sweep or not,” said Scott Goldstein, producer of NBC’s “L.A. Law.” “If you mention the word ‘sweep’ around here, people think you’re referring to the janitorial crew.”

Marshall Herskovitz, one of the executive producers of ABC’s “thirtysomething,” said the only time the network mentioned sweeps was to ask that the show not take a preemption during the period.

Hugh Wilson, executive producer of CBS’ offbeat “Frank’s Place,” confessed that he doesn’t know what sweeps are.

“I just know they’re real important and every now and then somebody says, ‘My God, it’s sweeps!’ ” he said. “I don’t know the religious significance of it. With ‘Frank’s Place,’ we’re so far behind (in the production schedule), we don’t have much of a choice--you can’t do much shopping over here (for special sweeps episodes).”

Bill Boulware, supervising producer of “227,” said he had wanted Sherman Hemsley to appear on the show since its inception and did not mind targeting the episode for sweeps. But, he added, guest-star mania can be overdone.

“Night Court’s” Weege scorns network requests for stunt-casting, since the only figures he believes could boost ratings are major non-TV names. “I say, ‘Fine--get me Frank Sinatra or Burt Reynolds,’ ” he said. “I can squeeze anybody into that New York City courtroom, but it’s hard to get Frank to come.”

Barney Rosenzweig, executive producer of the long-running hit “Cagney & Lacey,” said CBS “doesn’t mess with me” when it comes to ideas for his series, but he is shrewd enough to take advantage of the increased promotional opportunities during sweeps by providing strong shows. “I’m always cognizant of the importance of getting our name in the paper,” Rosenzweig said.

For all the attention to sweeps, however, Ted Harbert, ABC’s vice president of motion pictures and scheduling, said the networks take a more hands-off approach to their series during sweeps now than in years past. He explained that six or seven years ago there were fewer special programs and miniseries on the air, so networks had to concentrate on gimmicky series episodes to differentiate sweeps periods from the norm.

“I used to do that all the time--sit there and come up with hot ideas for a sweeps episode--but given the kinds of shows all the networks do now, I don’t think they (the producers) are as amenable,” Harbert said. “These shows are not like ‘Starsky and Hutch’ or ‘Matt Houston’ or ‘Charlie’s Angels.’ We would do ‘Angels in Hawaii,’ ‘Angels in the Caribbean.’ What we’re not going to do is force something on these shows that isn’t natural.”

Joel Steiger, supervising producer of “Matlock,” agreed with that philosophy. Although he is taking full advantage of the gimmick of call-ins to determine the ending of the Feb. 16 episode of his courtroom drama series, he cautioned against doing anything that really goes against the grain of the program--even in the name of sweeps.

“The people who tune in week to week are going to look at the thing and say, ‘What is that?’ ” he said. “What happens is, you knock your audience out of the box.”