Summertime's crazy new TV

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By Karen Goldberg Goff

Somewhere between potentially dead doctors on "Grey's Anatomy," Jack Bauer's potentially deadly germ exposure on "24" and the potential of a new fall season on network TV, there is this: a dating show with the lights out, aging former athletes in a tug-of-war and celebrities eating ox innards to raise money for charity.

The traditional television calendar offers fall debuts, sweeps-month cliffhangers and summer reruns is as outdated as Archie Bunker's chair. The new formula is to keep viewers tuned in through the summer with the outrageous, the cringeworthy and the truly tasteless.

For the most part, summer TV is the video version of the beach-bag book. For every quality summer show like "Mad Men" (AMC, returns Aug. 16) and "The Closer" (TNT, returned June 15), there are about a half-dozen breezy summer shows such as "Wipeout" (ABC), "Dating in the Dark" (ABC) and "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!" (NBC).

"Summer TV has become like summer cuisine," says Robert Thompson, professor of television and pop culture at Syracuse University. "It is like a hot dog on the grill. Aesthetically, it fills the time slot and the money crunch."

It seems viewers want their summer viewing options, particularly on the big four broadcast networks, as uncomplicated as that cookout fare. Unscripted, too, and with a plot simpler than a chick-lit best-seller.

Take these stats from the third week of July 2008: "America's Got Talent" (NBC) and "Wipeout" (ABC) were the two top-rated shows, with "So You Think You Can Dance" (Fox), "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader?" (Fox) and "Celebrity Family Feud" (NBC) helping round out the top 10.

"The networks got here by trial-and-error," says Mike Schneider, television editor for Variety. "It is still tough to put on a drama in the summer. It is hard to commit to it, and it is more expensive. Reality shows are less expensive, and they appeal to the lowest common denominator."

Also, in between folks velcroing themselves to a wall on "I Survived a Japanese Game Show," networks can heavy-handedly promote the traditional fall slate.

"Cable has come out with a lot more original programming," says Mr. Schneider. "Networks can't just hang out a 'gone fishing' sign or they will lose a large chunk of viewers. They need the space to promote the fall shows."

Actually, the medium began with year-round programming. It had no choice when television was live, Mr. Thompson points out. That evolved into 13-week replacement series in the summer, and finally into the fall TV premieres "and the big, fat TV Guide fall preview issue" from the 1950s to the 1980s, says Mr. Thompson.