The desirability of programming events may be determined using metadata for programming events that includes goodness of fit scores associated with categories of a classification hierarchy one or more of descriptive data and keyword data. The programming events are ranked in accordance with the viewing preferences of viewers as expressed in one or more viewer profiles. The viewer profiles may each include preference scores associated with categories of the classification hierarchy and may also include one or more keywords. Ranking is performed through category matching and keyword matching using the contents of the metadata and the viewer profiles. The viewer profile keywords may be qualified keywords that are associated with specific categories of the classification hierarchy. The ranking may be performed such that qualified keyword matches generally rank higher than keyword matches, and keyword matches generally rank higher than category matches. In alternative embodiments, scores may be calculated such that the ranges of scores for qualified keyword matches, keyword matches and category matches are overlapping but are generally ordered as previously described. Related embodiments may pertain to systems that implement such methods. Program rankings may be used to generate an alert schedule for providing alerts to viewers regarding programming events.