May Sweeps Kisses Up to Viewers

So, now that the major networks have your attention...

Aside from Thursday night's much-hyped, been-there-done-that celebrity guest-smooch on NBC's Friends, viewers can look forward to another month brimming with stunt programming, all-star guest spots, tearjerker weddings and cliffhanger season finales for this, the always-crucial May sweeps period.

Every November, February and May, networks trot out their, ahem, "best" stuff in a frenzied effort to snag ratings and, in turn, boost advertising rates. (And yes, we know it's still April. But sweeps must always begin on a Thursday. That's just the way things work.)

And the competition this month is especially tough, with the ratings race tightening among CBS (the Survivor/C.S.I. network), NBC (newly pumped by Weakest Link) and ABC (still counting on Regis).

All of which means we'll be seeing televised incidents like, say, Winona puckering up with Mrs. Pitt.

As for the month's biggest events, ABC's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is prepping for another celebrity edition (May 6, 8, 9, 10, 11) featuring Chevy Chase, Edie Falco and Ben Stiller, among others. CBS is wrapping up Survivor: The Australian Outback with not only the finale and live town-hall reunion (May 3), but a post-Outback "going home" special (May 10). And NBC's new British game-show import, Weakest Link, has plundered Survivor's original contestants for its own special edition--also set to air May 10.

But there's plenty more where that came from. Here's a brief rundown of May's highlights:

Rejoice! The people who brought us Temptation Island are back--this time, we're hoping, with more thorough background checks. Surprise Wedding 2, airing on Fox May 10 at 8 p.m., resurrects the cheeseball premise where women propose marriage to their commitment-phobe boyfriends on national television. If all goes well, they get married. If not, maybe they can sort out their differences on a tropical vacation to Temptation Island 2.
Chandler and Monica tie the knot for the Friends season finale. You know the story. You know the time. Just bring along some champagne. (May 17, 8 p.m., NBC.)
Once & Again goes through its own knot-tying dance with Rick and Lily in its season finale. (May 2, 10 p.m., ABC.)
The latest entry in the live TV drama trend reunites The Sound of Music's Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer for a live version of On Golden Pond, about an elderly couple who return to their summer home. (April 29, 9 p.m., CBS.)
He's kicked butt for nine years. Now, Chuck Norris and Walker: Texas Ranger are finally riding off into the sunset with a two-hour series finale. (May 19, 8 p.m., CBS.)
What do you do with a partially completed season finale and a costar who will be in rehab for the next six months? We'll find out May 21 at 9 p.m., when Ally McBeal wraps up--with or without Ally's lawyerly love interest, Larry (Robert Downey Jr.). In the meantime, Sting, Paul Reubens, Cheri Oteri and Cindy Margolis all stop by the show for its April 30 episode.
The bad news: UPN is losing its second highest-rated show, Star Trek: Voyager, with its two-hour series finale airing May 23 at 8 p.m. The good news: There's always another Star Trek, with the latest spinoff, Enterprise, due to beam down in the fall.
Speaking of space (and the final frontier), NBC will bid farewell to 3rd Rock From the Sun, in a series finale guest-starring John Cleese and Elvis Costello. (May 22, 8 p.m., NBC.)
Saturday Night Live gives props to moms in a prime-time Mother's Day special (May 13).
The Simpsons rounds up another batch of celebrity guest voices, with Frankie Muniz and Joe Mantegna (April 29), Shawn Colvin (May 6) and Ron Howard (May 13) all showing up.
Ben Kingsley, Brenda Blethyn and Hanna Taylor Gordon star in Anne Frank, a two-part adaptation of Melissa Muller's biography about the girl who represented the Holocaust's youngest victims. (May 20-21, ABC.)
What's sweeps without a Beatle or a Kennedy movie? This time, ABC brings us Wingspan, the authorized story of Paul and Linda McCartney's post-Fab Four band, Wings. (May 11, 9 p.m., ABC.)
Finally, just when you thought America would get a well-deserved break from awards shows, the networks are trotting out another healthy dose of glitz and glad-handing for May sweeps. The 36th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, hosted by embattled country princess LeAnn Rimes, airs May 9 on CBS. That's followed by the 50th Annual Miss Universe Pageant May 11 on CBS, and the 28th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, hosted by Kathie Lee Gifford May 18 on NBC.