May promises to bring some sweeping changes

Hits wrap up, specials heat up, favorites hang it up
By MIKE MCDANIEL
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

Everybody says goodbye to Raymond, the Muppets pay a visit to the wizard of Oz, Britney Spears gets her own reality series, and Quentin Tarantino directs an episode of CSI.

American Idol and Survivor will crown new winners, as will America's Next Top Model, The Apprentice, The Contender and The Amazing Race. The Bachelor may or may not meet his match. And Rob and Amber's marriage vows will be sealed by a CBS kiss.

Elvis lives in the talented hands of young-Presley lookalike Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Bend It Like Beckham), Fox brings back Family Guy, Hercules flexes his muscles, and Dr. Phil makes two prime-time house calls.

Summer is more than a month away, but May looks like a scorcher for TV.

Need more evidence? Between April 28 and May 23, we'll face the finales of JAG, Third Watch and Enterprise; a movie that purports to take on Donald Trump; the 40th annual Academy of Country Music Awards; the 32nd annual Daytime Emmy Awards; and The West Wing's Janel Maloney portraying Amber Frey in a movie about the Scott Peterson case.

Oh, and did we mention the season finales that wrap up yearlong story lines on Lost, 24, Veronica Mars, Alias, Smallville and Desperate Housewives?

All this fuss is less about the enjoyment it gives viewers (however grateful we might be) and more about ratings, which can be translated into advertising rates. May is a "sweeps" month, when local stations use Nielsen Media Research's audience measurement to set future prices for commercials.

May is also the networks' backloaded way to win bragging rights for the 2004-2005 season. This year, CBS is running away in the total households and total viewers categories but is in a dogfight with Fox for age 18-49 supremacy. ABC is in position to finish in third place for the season, and NBC is in danger of finishing fourth in the 18-49 category for the first time ever.

With so much at stake, it's no wonder that the May sweeps, which starts Thursday, is looking like gangbusters. The most vicious confrontation comes May 25, last day of the sweeps, when the finale of Fox's wildly popular American Idol will compete with the finale of ABC's Lost and CBS' Amber Frey movie.

Or it could be "Fallen Idol," a May 4 Primetime Live report that ABC says will explore "explosive claims" about behind-the-scenes activities at American Idol.

Here's a network-by-network rundown:

ABC: Four fresh episodes of Desperate Housewives and Lost begin Sunday and May 2, respectively. Housewives' season finale is May 22. Lost concludes May 25 with a two-hour finale.

The Bachelor finale airs May 16.

Lena Olin returns for the season's final two episodes of Alias May 18 and 25.

Ashanti is Dorothy, Queen Latifah is Auntie Em, and Jeffrey Tambor is the wizard in The Muppets' Wizard of Oz May 20. Playing to her strengths, Miss Piggy fills four roles: the Wicked Witch of the East, West, North and South. Kermit stretches as the Scarecrow, Gonzo is the Tin Thing and Fozzie Bear plays the Lion.

Justin Louis stars in Trump Unauthorized, based on Gwenda Blair's Donald Trump biographies, on May 24.

CBS: The finale of JAG airs Friday.

Rosie O'Donnell plays a mentally challenged woman and Andie MacDowell is her sister in Riding the Bus With My Sister. The movie, directed by Anjelica Huston, airs Sunday.

The last episode of Everybody Loves Raymond airs May 16, preceded by a one-hour retrospective.

Dr. Phil McGraw hosts two prime-time specials, May 4 and 20.

Elvis, a two-parter, airs May 8 and 11. Randy Quaid is the King's manager, Colonel Tom Parker; Camryn Manheim is his mother, Gladys Presley; and Antonia Bernath plays wife Priscilla Presley. Elvis by the Presleys, an entertainment special promising never-before-seen performances, airs May 13.

The finale of Survivor: Palau airs May 15.

Academy of Country Music awards are handed out May 17, and the Daytime Emmys are awarded May 20.

CSI concludes its season May 19 with a two-hour episode in which one of the CSI team is buried alive. Quentin Tarantino directs, and Tony Curtis and Frank Gorshin make cameos.

On the May 23 season finale of CSI: Miami, Dean Winters (Oz) appears as Horatio's brother Ray.

Rob and Amber Get Married, including video of the Survivor and Amazing Race couple's recent wedding, is set for May 24, two weeks after the May 10 finale of Amazing Race. (Go, Uchenna! Go, Joyce!)

Fox: Family Guy bows Sunday along with another animated series, American Dad. The Simpsons' 350th episode, featuring guest voice Ray Romano, also runs Sunday.

24 concludes with a two-hour finale May 23.

Brace yourself: Four more episodes of The Simple Life will air beginning Thursday.

In addition to the last episodes leading up to the May 25 finale of American Idol, a special, American Idol: International Best of the Worst, is set for May 19.

Tate Donovan returns for the May 19 season finale of The O.C.

NBC: Third Watch comes to an end May 6.

Noah Wylie exits ER May 19. Danny Glover guest-stars.

Sean Astin, Leelee Sobieski, Elizabeth Perkins and Timothy Dalton star in the three-hour movie Hercules. Paul Telfer plays the lead in this latest Robert Halmi Sr. production.

Dr. Richard Massey (Bill Pullman) tries to stop the birth of the anti-Christ in the finale of Revelations, May 18.

The penultimate episode of The Contender, May 22, will determine who will fight in the million-dollar live finale May 24.

UPN: Britney Spears and husband Kevin Federline share their lives in a series premiering May 17.

Another new series, The Bad Girls' Guide, starring Jenny McCarthy, premieres May 24.

Veronica Mars solves who killed Lilly Kane in the May 10 season finale.

Star Trek: Enterprise goes into mothballs with a two-hour finale May 13.

America's Next Top Model crowns a winner May 18.

WB: Blue Collar funnyman Ron White gets his own comedy special, airing Thursday.

Comedian Bill Engvall leads an extreme makeover of a mobile home on Mobile Home Disaster, also on Thursday.

The May 11 season finale of Jack & Bobby reveals why Bobby, not Jack, embarked on a road to the presidency.

Clark begins to understand the reason for his being on a 90-minute season finale of Smallville, airing May 18. An eight-minute preview of the movie Batman Begins will be part of the telecast.
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