May is sweeps month when networks try to juice ratings

Here’s a television viewing tip: If you’re not yet paralyzed with fear over the prospect of a bird flu pandemic, ABC will help you pump up the dread tomorrow night with a two-hour made-for-TV movie titled “Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America.”

May is sweeps month – that time of year when networks try to juice ratings that are used to set advertising rates – and apparently ABC execs are betting that millions will tune in to watch actors pretend to die in a pandemic that’s still stubbornly refusing to materialize.

I’m guessing that sometime around the 4th of July, people will start asking, “Hey, did you get the bird flu? Neither did I. Wonder what happened to that pandemic thing.”

Sir David King won’t be wondering. Sir David is Britain’s Chief Scientific Adviser. Last month in The Times, he described the prospect of a bird flu pandemic as “a very low possibility,” adding that the H5N1 virus is unlikely to be transmitted from one human to another.

I don’t think Sir David would make a good TV executive. You can’t dominate May sweeps by telling people there’s no need for fear.