**Warning:
spoilers about The OC**
February
sweeps, running from February 3 to March 2 this year,
is one of several periods throughout the year in which programmers
try to generate blockbuster ratings to lure advertising dollars.
Ever since L.A. Law aired the first kiss between
women on primetime television in 1991, sweeps has been known
for packing in lesbian kisses to generate ratings. Even the
New York Times weighed in on the time-worn trend
earlier this month, outlining several characteristics of sweeps
lesbianism: it’s visual, inexpensive to produce, controversial,
and reversible.
Although
sweeps lesbianism took a bit of a breather last November,
when the only lesbian kiss occurred between two cartoon characters
on Comedy Central’s Drawn Together, this February
the lesbian kiss sweeps stunt has returned with a vengeance.
In
case you’re keeping score in the kissing game, so far
it’s Lesbians: 5, Fake Lesbians: 1, Man-Disguised-as-Lesbian:
1—and that’s not including coming-out storylines
or Melissa Etheridge's appearances on the Grammys
and Dateline.
All
My Children kicked off sweeps a couple of
days early when Maggie (Elizabeth Hendrickson) kissed Bianca
(Eden Riegel) on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. Look for some last-minute
lesbianism this week as Bianca and Maggie prepare to depart
the show.
The
O.C. also entered the sweeps fray a bit early with
Marissa’s (Mischa Barton) coming-out storyline, which
began in late January when her love interest, Alex (Olivia
Wilde), came out as bisexual. Their romance—which is
scheduled to wrap up right at the end of sweeps—escalated
to a chaste but romantic kiss on a moonlit beach on Feb. 10.
That same night, Dr. Kerry Weaver (Laura Innes) came out on
ER to her long-lost biological
mother. Although Dr. Weaver didn’t get to kiss anyone,
she did get to refer to the late Sandy Lopez as “my
lover, my wife, the mother of my child.”
But
just when you thought sweeps lesbianism was getting all realistic,
Jack and Bobby swooped in on Feb. 16 to deliver a
classic sweeps stunt. Trapped in a restaurant with no electricity,
Jack (Matthew Long) and his friends played a game of truth
or dare, which resulted in the girl he’s currently dating,
Katie (Kate Mara), kissing the girl he secretly wants to be
dating, Courtney (Jessica Pare). Although the girls didn’t
look like they hated it, it’s highly unlikely that either
of them are going to be turning gay anytime soon.
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