A Green November

Wed., Oct. 31, 2007 3:30 PM PDT by Joal Ryan

Save the cheerleader, save the world. Spare the toilet paper, ditto.

Thursday marks the start of TV's November sweeps. And while it's been years since the networks, now girded for year-round ratings battles, have treated sweeps months like the blowout spectaculars of old, they do pay the calendar mind. And this fall, the environment, too.

From Sunday through Nov. 10, NBC will get sweep-y with corporate-mandated, green-friendly storylines and eco-minded guest stars.

The "Green Is Universal" campaign—the slogan a reference to NBC's parent company, NBC Universal—will find Chuck's Chuck attending a Green Festival, Heroes' West installing energy-efficient light bulbs and such, and 30 Rock's Jack terrorizing his underlings with his latest bright idea, Greenzo. (The Very Special 30 Rock, set to air Nov. 8, will also feature Inconvenient Truth sayer Al Gore, fresh from his Nobel Prize win.)

The eco effort will extend to daytime, where Days of Our Lives' drama queens will take a break from home wrecking on Nov. 5 to plant trees, and to Deal or No Deal, where Kermit the Frog, an early advocate of Gore's favorite color, puts in an appearance on Nov. 9.

The network's late-night shows are also supposed to get into the act, but those plans might not see the light of the global-warmed day if Hollywood's union writers strike.

A walkout likely would send all late-night shows, from NBC's Tonight to Comedy Central's Daily Show, straight into reruns. The union contract expires midnight Wednesday.

Per Variety, the threat of a writers' strike has discouraged networks from benching low-rated series this sweeps. Were it not for the labor woes, the trade paper speculates, ABC's Caveman would already be extinct. So far this fall, CBS' Viva Laughlin is the one and only scripted series—the kind that union writers write—to get axed.

With the networks having prepped for months for a possible strike (buying more scripts, shooting more episodes, etc.), an actual strike won't sweep away sweeps. Prime-time shows have several episodes, if not entire seasons, already in the collective can.

With sweeps business proceeding as usual, viewers are assured of The Simpsons' annual "Treehouse of Terror" episode (Nov. 4, Fox), a CSI-Without a Trace crossover (Nov. 8, CBS), and a Frankie Muniz sighting on Criminal Minds (Nov. 28, CBS).

Other programming highlights from the ratings period, which ends Nov. 28, include the 100th episode of Family Guy (Nov. 4, Fox), the season premiere of The Amazing Race (Nov. 4, CBS), the 700th episode of Fox's Cops (Nov. 10), the season opener of October Road (Nov. 22, ABC) and an all-new Shrek holiday special, Shrek the Halls (Nov. 28, ABC).

Thursday, the first night of sweeps, will see big-screen Supergirl Helen Slater return to her Kryptonian roots on the CW's Smallville as Clark Kent's alien mother.

And though the schedule will be devoid of miniseries, award shows will boost the spectacular quotient. On tap are the 41st annual Country Music Awards (Nov. 7, ABC), the 2007 American Music Awards (Nov. 18, ABC) and the 8th annual Latin Grammy Awards (Nov. 8, Univision).

And yes, the red carpet at the Latin Grammys will be green.