And Will the Soaps Sweep Up? Tune In Tomorrow . . .

When it comes to the sweeps, no one does it better than the soaps.

Although producers of daytime serials say they aim for drama, excitement, pathos and passion every week of the year, they know they have to bring it all to a crescendo during sweeps.

“Soaps (are) real conscious of the sweeps,” said Sally Sussman, a former writer on “The Young and the Restless” who is developing a new soap for NBC. “For years, we kind of geared ourselves along those lines: ‘Sweeps is in a week.’

“I always liked having something to shoot for,” she said. “It was almost like a deadline to build something, an exciting time creatively. You can’t really have a story self-contained in a month, but you can stack up major events. It’s nice to go in seasons; otherwise daytime TV is just endless.”

Those who create the soaps face a tougher challenge than prime-time series producers for several reasons.

First, many of the shows have been on for so many years that it’s more difficult to come up with something new. Second, the soaps routinely cruise at such high emotional altitude that it’s hard to go much higher. And the long-running characters have had so many marriages, divorces, tragic accidents, miraculous plastic surgeries and essential organs removed that there’s little left to befall them.

Over the years, the soaps have tried to freshen the action by having their marriages, divorces and tragic accidents occur in exotic locations. And this month is no different: “General Hospital” will take to the slopes Feb. 22-28 as the show goes to Big Bear to climax a story line “involving the frightening plight of Anna Devane at the hands of diabolical Grant Putnam.”

But even love in exotic locales loses its glamour after a while, says Paul Rauch, executive producer of ABC’s “One Life To Live.”

“To have your characters do a scene while walking down a street or standing in front of the Acropolis is not much different from playing it in the studio,” he said.

So his serial is throwing a new twist into going on location: The show is going to Tucson, Ariz., to relive a little of the Old West--and going back in time, too. The character of Clint Buchanan, who is blind, defiantly decides to go for a horseback ride and falls; when he regains consciousness, he discovers his sight has been restored and somehow he has blasted 100 years into the past.

Rauch maintained that these high-budget episodes, complete with wagon trains and period costumes, are a worthwhile expense, but more as a treat to longtime viewers than as a means of improving the ratings during sweeps.

Meanwhile, NBC’s “Another World” on Wednesday will have a tribute episode to its late cast member Brent Collins.

And Monday, ABC’s “All My Children” will present the second of two special episodes featuring series star Susan Lucci, devoted to the “life and loves” of her character, Erica Kane, and co-starring “all the men she’s ever loved” (there are nine), plus a guest appearance by her father, Eric Kane.

Such special episodes “are not written with thoughts of February, May and November,” said Jo Ann Emmerich, ABC’s vice president of daytime programs. “But (this one) fit in.”

She said one reason the soap decided to feature the Kane character is that Lucci’s contract is up this year. If she returns, the producers wanted to give new depth to her character; if she leaves, they wanted this year to be her grand finale.

“What we have found with the saturation of daytime serials is that plot lines tend to feel as if they’re being repeated or copied,” Emmerich said. “We’re looking for something fresh and new for the audience’s sake. They’ve been watching for 20 years--we want something that’s going to make them say, ‘Ooo, isn’t this fun?’ ”