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The Neilson Company tracks the ratings to determine which networks, nights and programs have the biggest audience. Based on those ratings, networks can charge their advertisers different amounts. The shows with the biggest ratings charge the highest advertising rates. It’s not, however, simply a “bigger is better” decision because some ratings demographics are valued higher than others.

As young people, most of us fall into the most coveted demographics, in categories ages 16-26. This is the age when people begin to cement their loyalties to various products and companies. We go through the first two decades of our lives having our parents buy our toothpaste, detergent, and groceries. Then we hit college and start making these decisions ourselves. Once we’ve made a decision, there is a definite tendency to keep making it over and over again. Marketing executives know that if you convince somebody to buy your toothpaste at 21, you’ve got potential for a customer who will buy your product for the next 70 years.

Television ratings are very important to the success of the networks and the advertisers, but simply looking at weekly or daily ratings isn’t a level playing field. If “CSI” is playing a rerun one week, more people might tune into “The Apprentice” and show inaccurate ratings for the two programs. The television industry developed sweeps months where the ratings are all-important; each channel and program tries to put forth its best programming possible. That’s what levels out the playing field. It is known well in advance when they need to get out their best episodes. For whatever reason, the sweeps months have been chosen as November, February and May. When one of these months rolls around, it’s time to turn on your TV and see the best of the best television has to offer.

What is it that you should be watching? During sweeps, you need to look no further than your friendly, neighborhood, pop-culture critic to find out. Last year’s television phenomenon “Desperate Housewives” has gotten off to a rough start this season. Thankfully, November hit and the show got back on its feet with some amazingly dark and twisted comedy and scintillating drama. The highlights have been the out-of-nowhere murder of a therapist by the stalker of his patients, and the escape of a young man who has been locked in a basement. The show has definitely come back from the dead and announced itself as one to watch.

Other great shows include “Grey’s Anatomy,” which follows “Desperate Housewives,” “America’s Next Top Model,” still the best reality TV out there. For cartoon fans, the wonderfully crude “Drawn Together” and the new series “Boondocks,” which hilariously deals with race relations in modern day America. My pick as the single best show to watch is “The Gilmore Girls” on the WB, which is about the only series I can think of that can manage to have its best season in its sixth year. Our loveable mother-daughter duo have been separated all year after Rory dropped out of college and moved in with her grandparents. However, in a triumphant ending last week, they were reunited after a separation of several months, and our favorite bookworm is headed back to school. November is halfway over by now, so you’ve only got a few weeks left to catch the best television of the year, at least until February and May, that is.