Anticipating the approach of May sweeps, Miami writer Corey Miller talked about what's in store for the show.

Miami sees its fair amount of shootouts and explosions on a regular basis, but the writer promised they will up the ante for May sweeps. "As we now write and shoot the last few episodes, which will air in May sweeps, we hope you'll enjoy a mix of action, high drama, and many surprises."

"Sweeps" is not a concept many fans are familiar with, however, Miller took the opportunity to enlighten his visitors. "For network prime time television, three months out of every year are set aside for special designation, the months of February, May, and November," he explained.

"Extra attention is paid to the ratings that each network and show achieves, because how they perform during sweeps periods helps to determine how much money advertisers will have to pay to buy commercial time during those time periods throughout the year."

The third season of CSI: Miami saw two 90-minute episodes, both jam-packed with action. The writers make it look easy, but the episodes take months of planning. "We do usually know at the beginning of the season which episodes will air during our sweeps periods, and we target those slots with our 'bigger' ideas, because since sweeps episodes have a tendency to cost more, we can then write 'smaller' episodes in between those periods to offset some of the costs. It's an inexact science, for sure."

"And seeing as we have received our official pickup for next season, we'll get another go at it for season five. A hundred episodes, here we come…"

Read more about sweeps period at CSI: Miami's online blog.

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